The Judgment Seat of Christ...

The Judgement Seat of Christ is often advocated as a place of rewards for the believer. Some would say that it will be place where loss and gain are made manifest. I do not disagree with this, but I do think it will be a place where false proffesors will be as well. There a many portions of scripture that reveal that false and true believers will stand before Christ in the day of judgement, and they will be separated. Even though many say the Bema Seat was a place of rewards where rewards were announced, it was also a place where death was sentenced as well. And apparently, I am not alone in this interpretative matter. Most classic commentators agree that the judgment seat will consist of "all" men, not just christians. Some are Matthew Henry, JFB commentary, John Gill, and many other old school preachers. I find it shocking to see that many preachers today, even ones I highly respect, overlook this obvious error. If you even take a historical perspective of the games that were played by the greeks, the bema seat still proclaimed death upon some of those that lost. There are some who run, but only one gets the prize, and others may suffer loss, but there were still some among them who lost there lives. Whether it was wrestling, or running, or any other sport, some were playing like their lives depended on it, because it did! I think this description is more fitting and accurate to portray what the text in 2 Cor.2:15 suggests. Especially since it mentions the "terror of the Lord" in the next verse. And it was this terror that Paul said motivated him to "persuade men".

So I say this and I ask: If this is the proper view of the text, why have we fallen for another? If you feel that this is not the proper view, please explain why? I woul love to hear your side.

Upon seeing this thread, I thought to myself, I just hope this doesn't turn into yet another long-winded, theological, cross every 't' and dot every 'i' debate.

Time will tell.

Old Joe,

I am not Amillenial, but Premellenial. Many who hold this view may be Amellenial, but I do not see a contradiction (yet) on how this opposes the premellenial view. You see, The judgment seat of Christ is not a single event for just believers, but for false proffesors and unbelievers. There might be different occurances when Christ will execute different judgments, but all those judgments are executed in the same seat. For the Scripture says, "we must ALL stand before the judgment seat of Christ." And this "all" is not exclusive to just believers as some most recently have placed it.

Unless any find any reason why there is a contradiction Premllenialism and my view, my two questions still stand. Please help me out here. I am trying to sharpen with others in order to refine or ditch this view.

Joe,

Without going to a concordance and seeing everytime we/us I cannot answer that question. Why do you ask?

Upon looking at a concordance and analyzing the we's and us', I have seen there is a common thread with the use (as I believe you are a insinuating). However, when you look at all the times Christ is to Judge, it is not always for Christians. I think Matthew 25 and all the other scriptures that reveal Christ separating sheep from goat (good fish, bad fish, wheat and tares, wise and foolish virgins) give the strong insinuation that the Judgement Seat isn't just Christians. Matthew 7 itself shows that Christ will be casting those who were false into Hell that have called him Lord Lord. The We and Us argument is plausible and convincing if you were to look at just Paul. But to overlook his comments on the Judgment Seat of Christ in light of the totality of Jesus's teachings, you can quickly see that not only will believers stand before this seat to recieve judgement, but also false proffesors and unbelievers at the Great White Throne (which will be Jesus too).

So, in context, I have no problem with Paul mentioning the Judgment Seat in light of believers receiving judgement, however, it does not negate the reality that this same seat is to be revealed to "all" irrespective of spiritual position. Please help me if you see a problem. Thanks for the conversation. :)