The verses in question say this:
12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
Would you agree with me that all of us Christians will receive different degrees of reward in Heaven?
Salvation itself cannot be lost (Yes...I am a Calvinist).....but it would seem to me that there are different degrees of reward for the Christian in heaven.
Your thoughts.....
2007-05-08 04:06:28 · 14 answers · asked by primoa1970 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Hello Linda...
There are no dumb questions.........I sent you an e-mail explaining the best I can about Calvinism.
Be blessed,
Primo
2007-05-08 06:21:12 · update #1
I'm Armenian not Calvinist. But I do believe there are different degrees of rewards in heaven...In the parable of the 10 minas (not 10 talents even though they are often confused.) it talks about the servants given different amounts to use. And how they were rewarded based on what they had done with the money. The master only says well done to the first one and gives him charge over 10 cities....the one with five gets 5 cities to rule over. The one who has only one has it taken away from him.
There are also a variety of crowns we'll receive. I think 5 different...ones....like you get one Primo for being the shepherd of a flock.
John Bravire has written a book Driven by Eternity that contains the allegory of Affabel which really describes the differences and what the rewards are biblically based upon.
It would take too long and too much space to write the things he said....but they were very profound.
2007-05-08 14:04:10 · answer #1 · answered by Jan P 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames
the bible speaks in idioms with message written in between words,.. reflect upon these verses? Maybe there are different degrees of reward in Heaven. But then why would that matter? We live life today according to our belief. We make decisions every second of the day and then deal with the after effects or consequences of the decision. Each life is viewed differently from different perspective of people from different walks of life. Thus, perspective of what Heaven and Hell is, will also differ.
My thoughts?..., i live today to follow Christ. For His Greater Glory and not for any expected rewards in Heaven.
2007-05-08 13:42:11 · answer #2 · answered by coco_loco 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Could there be any greater reward than eternity in the presence of God? For this reason, I do not believe that there will be degrees of reward in Heaven.
Besides, if you are doing good works in this life in order to gain greater rewards in Heaven, there is no love in your heart for your fellow man and you may not even make it to heaven with such an attitude.
The verse that you quoted is the basis for the catholic doctrine of Purgatory. We will be judged by the love in our hearts and what we have done in this life. The works of sin will be burnt from our souls so all that is left is goodness. If there is any goodness left in our soul after this purging fire (Purgatory), we will be given our reward of Heaven. We will suffer loss, but we will be saved.
Notice how Paul said we WILL BE saved, not ARE saved.
Salvation is a gift from God that will never be taken away from us, but we can refuse or throw that gift away.
2007-05-08 11:32:43 · answer #3 · answered by Sldgman 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not a Calvinist I believe the Bible which says it is free will, and not some, no matter how hard they try to live holy will end up in Hell and some, no matter how hard they try to be the worst sinners will end up in heaven. It is a choice we make. We either choose to sin or choose not to when we are saved. It is
NOT
you sin, I sin, we all sin.
You will not find that in the Bible in any way shape or form.
As far as degrees of reward, I understand what you are saying but whether there will be or not, that will not be important when we get there.
2007-05-08 11:18:25 · answer #4 · answered by 1saintofGod 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Exactly.
The foundation is Christ--cannot be moved, cannot be earned, never changes, is the rock on which we build.
Wood, hay, and stubble - Works of the flesh that will be burned up by the judgment of God. - Galatians 5:19-21
Gold, silver, and precious stones - Fruit of the Spirit from which we will receive reward. - Galatians 5:19-22-23
One of my FAVORITE scriptures. The Lord gave it to me when I was at my lowest. It always reminds me of a song that was made in the late 70s by Keith Green. The lyrics went...
"Nothing that you've done remains, only what you do in Me."
2007-05-08 12:11:12 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I am not a calvinist.... but I do believe that rewards will be different based on how we live our lives, how we show the love of Christ to others, how we serve God here on earth...
Linda, from what I understand, calvinists believe in predestination... our paths are chosen for us before us and we are already in the book of life without choosing Christ
2007-05-08 11:22:31 · answer #6 · answered by livinintheword † 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Those of us who live the Christian life will be rewarded according to our works on Earth as well. Think about the parable of the talents in the NT. When the master returned and found that the two servants made a profit off of their original stake, he rewarded them accordingly. But, the one servant who digged in the Earth and hid his talent" was stripped of it and "cast into outer darkness." I realize this was a slightly off-center example, but I wanted you to focus on the two servants who put their TALENT TO WORK making a profit or in this case a spiritual gain. I disagree with only one part of your contention, which is the part of salvation not being lost. It CAN be lost, for the Apostle Paul said that "we are ALL APT (liable) to sin.....". "ALL APT" means EVERYONE (including saints) can POSSIBLY (or be 'apt' to) lose their relationship with God.
2007-05-08 13:44:55 · answer #7 · answered by bigvol662004 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Check out 2nd John 1:8 - "Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward" To this means you can receive less than a full reward. There are several places that discuss this in the bible.
2007-05-08 11:31:06 · answer #8 · answered by flatpicker23 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Dear Primo,
I really don't think about it because I trust the Creator. He knows what He is doing and I have found Him to be totally trustworthy!!!
I am really looking forward to spending eternity with the Author of life but for me to try to think what heaven will be like is kind of like looking at the 3-block "towers" my 18 month old grandson stacks up and calling it a city or maybe a house.
I think that each and everyone of us will be amazed beyond all of our biggest expectations added together!
For His glory,
JOYfilled
2007-05-08 12:29:39 · answer #9 · answered by JOYfilled - Romans 8:28 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I agree with you. I am not Calvinist, but I am Southern Baptist and believe that salvation cannot be lost. I also believe that we will receive rewards in heaven based on our conduct here, not that we are saved by our good deeds but that our good deeds here will not go unrewarded.
2007-05-08 12:48:27 · answer #10 · answered by new_creation2005 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋