On Judgment day..?Since our sins are forgiven..What are we being judged for?

Question

If we have accepted Christ..Aren't all of our sins forgiven?

Answer 1

Hi LIsa,
I see that you have received a variety of answers, most with elements of truth.
I must confess that I have never heard of the "bema" seat in judgment that a couple of respondents mention.

Peter writes, "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?"
1 Peter 4:17.

In effect there are two judgments - the 1st is the judging of God's people. Sadly there are those who claim to be Christians but don't behave like Christians. Mahatma Ghandi is recorded as saying, "Show me a Christian and I'll become one!"
He had read the Bible and he knew what God's people should be doing, but he never saw it manifested in so-called Christians lives.

Judgment begins with God's people. Jesus refers to this in the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46.
The sheep are those whose works reflected their Saviour.
"Those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus." Rev. 12:17.
This judgment must occur before Jesus returns because the Scripture says, "And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work." Rev.22:12.
This judgment actually began in 1844 with the cleansing of the Heavenly Sanctuary as recorded in Daniel 8:14. as the 2300 day prophecy, the last of the time prophecies given in Scripture.

If the judgment of God's people follows Christ's return it would follow that some who are raised at the first resurrection would then be kicked out of heaven when a judgment found them to belong to the goats!

Revelation 20 clearly speaks of TWO resurrections. Jesus also speaks of TWO resurrections, "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."John 5:28,29.
God's people who have been judged are safely tucked up in the New Jerusalem after the FIRST resurrection.

Several of your respondents have mentioned the great white throne judgment as the judgment of the wicked who are also judged by their works. This is the 2nd judgment. Sadly these people do not have their names written in the Book of Life. They have in effect judged themselves because of their unbelief.

By virtue of the fact that these are OUTSIDE the heavenly city indicates that they will be condemned to the second death from which there is NO resurrection.

If you are a faithful follower of Jesus your works will reflect His love and by that you will be judged as though you had never sinned. Symbolically when you stand before the judgment seat with Jesus as your mediator [1 Tim. 2:5; Heb.8:6; 9:15; 12:24.] God sees you clothed with Christ's righteousness and aquits you. You are then accepted as an heir to God's throne to be a priest and a king!

The implications of this are beyond our human understanding at present, but it seems that as the redeemed from the earth we will become God's representitives throughout the universe.
We will be the only creatures in the universe who have experienced sin, were redeemed from sin by the blood of The Lamb and therefore a permanent reminder of the cost of sin, so that should sin ever raise its ugly head again it will be stamped out immediately.
God will never again have to wait out the consequences of sin before He acts!
May God bless you in your Christian walk.
H'chat.

Answer 2

Your sins have been forgiven , Read Luke 19 . The money handed out is to born again people, which is the gospel and how much interest they have received on the money , The interest is witnessing the gospel and winning souls for the Lord . As you will read the last person kept the money in a napkin and got no interest .He just sat on his thumbs for the Lord .He didn't witness ,give out tracts, pray , support missions , tithe .God took away his rewards from that person that he would have gotten in heaven .Austere means harsh - rough ,not bending . All we can do is a least try to warn people of the punishment of eternal hell .

Answer 3

You will be judged, as a Christian, for your works. See 1 Corinthians 3:13-15.

Works done for selfish reasons or done in the strength of the flesh, are considered wood, hay, or straw. The "fire" of judgment will consume those works.

Works done out of selflessness and in the strength of the Spirit, are considered gold, silver, precious stones, and they withstand the "fire" of judgment. Such works will be rewarded.

1 Cor 3:10-15

10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 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.

Answer 4

This is some pretty deep teaching--if you are a new Christian, I certainly recommend that you pray and study the Bible on your own as well as talking to others in your church (or whom you trust) in the faith to help you understand this, but this is what I have been taught and believe about this.

Yes, our sins are forgiven when we accept Christ. The slate is wiped clean on everything we have done prior to that. Christians will appear before the "bema" seat in order to receive rewards for works done on earth in Jesus' name. We don't work for salvation, but when we work as Christians as a natural result of the Holy Spirit in our lives and our desire to follow Christ, we will have good works. The Bible teaches that our works will be tried by fire--the things that were done in the right Spirit will be gold, silver, and precious jewels, and those that are worthless will be burned up as wood, hay, and stubble. In other words, we will see what really mattered in life, and will be held accountable for idle thoughts, words, and deeds. The Bible speaks of different rewards, or crowns that we can receive, but they are not for us to keep but to lay at the feet of Jesus as we worship Him. Some people will be saved, yet have little or no works to show for themselves, and they will be disappointed and sad both to see all the blessings they missed, and to not have any crowns or rewards to lay at the feet of Jesus.

The Great White Throne Judgment is only for non-believers. They will all be judged for their sins and then cast into the Lake of Fire. I have been taught that there actual degrees of punishment in Hell and that the more evil an unsaved person is, or the more opportunity they had to accept the gospel yet rejected it, the worse it will be for them in Hell.

I am going to give you some Scriptures to look up and read to help you understand this further, but as I said, it is some deep doctrine, so I encourage you to keep asking questions and studying on your own, as well as praying and asking the Holy Spirit to guide you to an understanding and a peace about this teaching.

The Judgment (Bema) Seat of Christ is mentioned in :
Romans 14:10-12
1 Corinthians 3:11-15
2 Corinthians 5:10

Various crowns are described in these verses:
1 Corinthians 9:25, Revelation 2:10, 1 Peter 5:2-4, 2 Timothy 4:8. 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20

Great White Throne Judgment is described in Revelation 20:12-15. I have heard a couple of interpretations on this--either it is just the Lord being merciful and double-checking the Book of Life one last time to prove that their names are not written there and there is no mistake about whether or not they have believed, or it is because this judgment is delayed until the end of the millienial reign, and other people have been born, lived, and died since the Rapture of the Saints(Christians), and these people also have the opportunity to choose to serve Christ or not. Those who reject Him during this 1000 years will be cast into the Lake of Fire along with dead non-believers when He ultimately overthrows Satan.

I don't believe that the Final Judgment is something Christians should FEAR, but it is a sobering thought that we will be held accountable to Christ--none of us will be confident and worthy in that moment, and I'm sure all of us will regret not having served Him better. But to those of us who are Christians, He will offer compassion and forgiveness and wipe away all tears from our eyes.

It's the difference between the unconditional love of a parent for a child despite his wrongdoing vs. someone who is NOT a child---that's the distinction God makes. We that are believers have been adopted into His family.

I hope that helps! (I'm sure you will get lots of confusing and conflicting opinions on this, so please continue to seek out other resources as you study this for yourself!)

Answer 5

Judgment day is reserved for all those who have rejected Christ as Savior.....the great white throne judgment.

The "Bema" seat.......or the Christian judgment.....will be as stated above.....where we will give an account of what we did with Christ in this life. It is also where we will receive our rewards.

A good reference would be 1 Corinthians 3:9-15

Answer 6

Lisa,
Once we have become True Christians we are told to continue in faith until death (Rev 2:10). We are all sinful (Romans 3:23) and will be judged for those sins that occur after our "conversion". Have a wonderful week.
Thanks,
Eds


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Answer 7

at the judgment seat of Christ we will be given our rewards for service to God, and have rewards taken a way for sins, this doesn't mean that we can loose salvation its just some of us have mansions to look forward to and some have less

Answer 8

I am not a christian but i can tell you as a Muslim that is not what God says happens on Judgment day. All shall come to God behind who they followed in life. We have to answer for everything we have done in this life. Even forgetting to feed your cat is a sin. So if you think your going to be without sin on judgment day my hats of to you........the rest of us we all have sins however big or small.


(example bible says not to eat pork, do you?. A sin therein, no?)

Answer 9

We will be judged for our unforgiven sins that our acceptance to Christ wont forgive it at all

Answer 10

For us, judgement is more about what we've done with the gift of salvation. Have we hoarded it, or shared it.