Chapter 5, Verses 9-10
The ninth verse, in our common English Bible has by careless readers, who missed the connection in which it stands with what has gone before, been thought to give support to the wholly unscriptural belief that one cannot know until the judgment seat of Christ whether he is to spend eternity in heaven or in hell. Such a doctrine would suit the aims of the father of lies, Satan, whose purpose is always to rob the believer of the peace and joy God has given him.
Several words in the original tongue (Greek) in which the epistles were written have been done into English by the translators as “accepted” or “acceptable,” but the one found here in the ninth verse means “well pleasing” or “agreeable.” See Titus 2:9; Hebrews 11:5-6, and 13:16, where the same Greek word appears in an injunction to Christian slaves to please their masters well; Enoch is spoken of as having had this testimony that he pleased God (and without faith it is impossible to please Him); with sacrifices of praise, doing good and giving, God is well pleased (Heb. 13:15-16).
Verse 9 then, rightly understood, expresses the Apostle’s active purpose or aim in view of what he had just written,
“Wherefore also we are zealous, whether present or absent, to be agreeable to Him” (JND).
And should not the same be your purpose, too, young Christian, whether present in the body, or absent from it and therefore present with the Lord?
Paul’s thoughts, guided by the Holy Spirit, are next led to consider, and to present to the saints at Corinth for their sober consideration, the judgment seat of Christ. It is a solemn theme; for all that are without the knowledge of God’s salvation, who will come before it, the result will be eternity in the lake of fire.
But for believers, what will it mean? Let us see:
For the benefit of those young in the knowledge of the truth of God’s Word, it may be well to assemble first a number of scriptures on which the faith of His people may rest. Here are seven such passages, though the number might be multiplied.
1. John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
2. John 3:36, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.”
3. John 5:24, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation (literally, judgment), but is passed from death unto life.”
4. Romans 4:24-25; 5:1, “ ... us also, to whom it (righteousness) shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, Who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
5. Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
6. Colossians 1:12-14, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son, in Whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.”
7. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
God be praised for giving us such assuring words, sufficient to remove all dread from the feeblest believer as he thinks of the judgment seat of Christ.
Verse 10. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.” “We all” in this verse is not the same as in verse 18 of the third chapter, where only Christians are meant; this is a wider term, referring to everyone without exception; it takes in the human race. Each person will be manifested there, for that is the meaning of the word in the original; it means more than to appear. In the abundant language of classical Greek there are no less than seven words which the translators have expressed as “to appear.” Here it means to be made very evident, and that in the clear light of God’s presence.
In Romans 14:12, referring to the manifestation of believers before the judgment seat of Christ, it is said that we shall each give account of himself to God. It will be after the coming of the Lord for His heavenly people; after the change spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15:51-55; and in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; after the fulfillment of John 14:2-3, when we are at home in the scenes of unclouded bliss, that belong to the Father’s House. We may well suppose that it will shortly follow our being taken there by the Lord Himself when He comes for us.
For the lost, the unbelieving, when will verse 10 be fulfilled? At the great white throne, Revelation 20:11-15:
“And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled, and place was not found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is that of life. And the dead were judged out of the things written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged each according to their works; and death and hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.” (JND)
A fearful day that will be for the neglectors and the rejectors of God’s salvation when books are opened, and they are judged out of the things written therein. But 2 Corinthians 5:10 deals with us too when it says, “that each may receive the things done in the body according to those he has done, whether it be good or evil.” For us who are saved, it will not be to be punished for our sins, for Christ has borne them all.
What we have done in the body, whether good or evil, will be made to appear, both for God’s glory and our blessing. We shall at last know as we are known (1 Corinthians 13:12), and we shall see in the clear light of His presence what in our lives was for Him, and what though perhaps unsuspected, really had self as its object.
What was for God was the result of His own operations in our souls, yet it will be rewarded as though the credit for it was due to ourselves. But what in our lives was not for Him, but for self-gratification—the works of the flesh (the old nature) where there should have been the fruit of the Spirit; what has sprung from neglect of our spiritual life; for these we shall suffer loss.
There we shall see not only the positive things in ways and words and thoughts that marred our lives, but also what in us led up to them, hindering the work of the indwelling Spirit of God, who would have ministered Christ, but we did not desire spiritual food.
(To be continued, D. V.)