Today we’ll continue with some of your favorites (or the passages you have questions about). Email (andy@stm-umc.org) or message me with any passages you’d like added or that you have a question about!

Today we are looking at 2 Corinthians 5:10‬: 

10 For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ so that each may receive due recompense for actions done in the body, whether good or evil.

Today’s passage deals with a concept that may seem a little off-putting, especially to us who are Christians. That concept is judgment. Paul spends a lot of time in 2 Corinthians talking about the resurrection, judgment, the second coming, all of these things. We know so many of these passages, and they can provide us with hope and encouragement. 

Except when we read today’s. It seems a little harsh. What is Paul saying that everyone will stand before Jesus’ judgment and receive judgment based on what they have done? Does this mean that we will be judged? Does it mean that those of us who are Christians will be judged as well? 

Yes, yes it does. All of us will be judged. Christian and non-Christian, all of us. We confess in the Apostles Creed:

From thence, He shall come to judge the quick (living) and the dead. 

In other words, everyone will be judged. 

But it doesn’t mean that everyone will be condemned. Judgment does not equal condemnation. For those of us in Christ Jesus, we have nothing to fear from the judgment. As we are told today, we will receive recompense (compensation) for what we have done. This lines up with what Jesus teaches us, those who love Him do His will (John 14:21). So if we are in Christ, we will be faithful (not perfect), and we will be “judged” worthy.  

We will not be judged worthy because of what we have done, however. We will be judged worthy because we are in Christ. Our works just show us that we are in Christ. That is what faithfulness does. It doesn’t earn Christ’s love for us; it simply shows that we are in Christ.   

So, we are judged not for what we do in actuality. We are judged for if we are in Christ or not. Our works flow from who we are. 

But all will stand before the judgment of Christ. As Paul says, every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess (Phillippians 2: 10-11). We will be judged. And for those of us in Christ, we will be found worthy to enter into God’s kingdom. Not because of what we have done, but because of what He has done.  

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