How do you interpret Romans 14:12/2 Corinthians 5:10?

Burke Devlin

Puritan Board Freshman
How do you interpret Romans 14:12/2 Corinthians 5:10? How do you see the context of each passage influence your interpretation? They both more or less say the same thing.

“So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.”

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

A member was explaining that to him these passages refer to judgment in this life and not the next. I was explaining to him that there is a Final judgment based on grace not merit. Christ will reward His people according to the fruits of his grace in their lives. He had difficulty understanding what loss we would experience if Christ is our righteousness, and all our sins are forgiven.

Another member made reference to some discussion regarding purgatory in Reformed circles, which I’ve never heard of.

Chapter 33 - Of the Last Judgment​

  1. God hath appointed a day wherein he will judge the world in righteousness, by Jesus Christ; to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father; in which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon the earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.
    Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36,37; John 5:22,27; Acts 17:31; Romans 2:16; Romans 14:10,12; 1 Corinthians 6:3; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6.
 
From my reading, it seems that in Romans 14:12, Paul is referring to the Final judgment in the context of correcting people who are too eager or hasty to make judgments in their current church setting. Particularly in the context of secondary matters in the church, rather than primary.

2 Corinthians 5:10:
"But there is also a more sobering reason we aim to please Christ. We will one day stand before him as he renders judgment over our lives—“all” of us. Does a statement such as this (of which there are several; the closest to 2 Cor. 5:10 is Rom. 14:10) contradict Paul’s teaching on justification by faith? By no means. Here we can only sketch a few lines of thought.

First, the verb Paul uses here translated “he has done” is not the more common word for “do” (Gk. poieō) but the rarer prassō, which means to practice or make a habit of doing (cf. the other use in this letter at 12:21). While our lives will be judged comprehensively, this is not a nit-picky judgment. God knows we are weak and prone to err. It is a judgment of the whole of our life, the trajectories we set, the patterns, the habits. This is reinforced by the final phrase of the verse: “whether good or evil.” Paul’s use of the singular here for “good” and “evil” likewise signals general trajectories of life.

Second, that this judgment is not only for “evil” but also for “good” suggests that Paul is speaking of rewards that follow and do not threaten the decisive justifying verdict over our lives. Even these rewards are gifts of God’s own grace and not our own self-generated virtue (cf. 9:8). But God in his great kindness deigns to dignify us for our good works even though he is ultimately supplying them. As Augustine beautifully and famously put it, when God rewards us, “He crowns nothing but his own gifts.”

Third, bear in mind the context. Paul has been seeking to instill in his readers a deep awareness of the resurrection they have already begun to experience through the presence of the Spirit (5:5) as they carry around the resurrection life of Jesus (4:10–11). The deeds for which we are judged, we are heartened to know, are deeds wrought not out of self-manufactured energies but out of the new life into which we have been irreversibly swept. A life of good deeds is simply living in accord with who we now are as eschatological creatures.

Fourth, it is profoundly comforting to know that the universe in which we find ourselves, despite appearances at times to the contrary, is a place of utter and final moral seriousness. As Paul teaches in Galatians 6:7–10, everyone reaps what they sow. God is not mocked (Gal. 6:7). Devious motives will be exposed (1 Cor. 4:5). Justice will be served. Victims will be vindicated. We can live at peace now, knowing that God will right all wrongs"

- Ortlund, Dane. "2 Corinthians". ESV Expository Commentary vol. 10, Duiguid, Iain, et al, eds.
 
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Sinlessness is not infinite holiness, glory, or reward.

Turretin
Although election, justification, and adoption are equal in all believers... it does not follow that the glory ought to be equal... to whom Christ here has given a greater measure of holiness, upon them he will bestow a greater degree of glory also.
The inequality of glory supposed to be in the blessed is not a mark of imperfection in them who will have lesser glory. For such an inequality is maintained as does not detract from the full consolation of the blessed...
 
With these types of questions I always think of the children going down to the ocean to fill their buckets with water. Each one's bucket is full of the ocean. However, the size of the bucket will be different for each.
 
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1 Cor 3:14, “If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
The individual wondered how suffering loss does not somehow diminish the merits or finished work of Christ. What exactly do we lose?
 
1 Cor 3:14, “If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
The individual wondered how suffering loss does not somehow diminish the merits or finished work of Christ. What exactly do we lose?
I think this is loss compared to what he thought he had. There is no suffering for the blessed. But from the "pre-blessed" perspective maybe we should consider that if we are building with straw, it will be burned up in the judgment.

This is one of the passages Turrentin uses to prove there is an inequality of blessedness in glory by the way.
 
I always understood there to be inequality due to rewards, but not due to loss of some kind. The only one who suffered loss in the parable of the talents was what we would call a false professor or ultimately an unbeliever.
 
Turretin says "'he shall suffer loss' (i.e., shall be deprived of the reward of his work, which the good architect shall receive for his)."

Before the judgment, they thought they would get equal rewards. At the judgment, one of them found out he was deficient, and so he "lost" the reward he thought he would receive, but it never existed in reality. In @MW's analogy, one thought he would get a bucket the same size as his brother, but he didn't. But in glory, he won't suffer loss, because his bucket will be full; he will have never had the big bucket in the first place.
 
1 Cor 3:14, “If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”

 
I always understood there to be inequality due to rewards, but not due to loss of some kind.

A lot of people have struggled with these concepts.

I could write a lot, but instead, I will give a few bullet points to mull over.

Our Salvation has always and only been 100% according to grace, mercy, love and justice, all carried out by Jesus Christ on your behalf.

Then, there are all those seemingly contradictory statements about our judgment being according to our works. I assure you, and I'm speaking of many of you, to hear a Christian say that our judgment has most definitely always been according to works and always will be according to works. Rom 2:6,11; Gal 6:7; 2 Cor 5:10; Rev 20:12 (that's just the New Testament)

These things can be a little scary when only partially understood. But rather than go into a long explanation from the Bible, let me give you an example where Jesus showed us a taste of what that judgment will be like for the believer.

Matthew 25:31-46
1. Consider Jesus' teaching on the final judgment in Mathew 25.
Notice these two characteristics of that judgment for the child of God.
Jesus -- .vs 34-36 Jesus welcomes his own to their inheritance, the kingdom and pronounces their good works good.

2. Notice the reaction of the Saints in verses 37-40.
Notice the reaction of the stunned people who heard Jesus pronounce the specific good works for which they were being rewarded.

I pasted the whole passage below for your convenience.

Matthew 25:31-46
[31] When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: [32] and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
[33] He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

[34] ‘Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. [35] For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, [36] I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was ill and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

[37] ‘Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? [38] When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? [39] When did we see you ill or in prison and go to visit you?” [40] ‘The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

[41] ‘Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. [42] For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, [43] I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was ill and in prison and you did not look after me.” [44] ‘They also will answer, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or ill or in prison, and did not help you?” [45] ‘He will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” [46] ‘Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.’
 
Perhaps immediately, but it seems like the logic holds for all believers. Everyone's good works are rewarded according to their value.

Turretin thinks this just refers to the difficulty of salvation for the "less approved architect," like the rich man. Does not seem pleasant as your video illustrates.
So if you had a member that said good works are not that important. The least I will be saved as though by fire. How would you respond?
 
So if you had a member that said good works are not that important. The least I will be saved as though by fire. How would you respond?
Good works are very important and necessary for salvation. Someone with that attitude doesn't seem to evidence a true and lively faith (how that should be said will vary based on circumstance).
 
Good works are very important and necessary for salvation. Someone with that attitude doesn't seem to evidence a true and lively faith (how that should be said will vary based on circumstance).
It would depend on that person's practice as well as their stated belief. Someone may be very rigorous in their personal practice, but may feel a need to make a big deal, in verbal expression and intellectual summation, of downplaying good works lest they seem to be guilty of compromising Biblical soteriology. This could happen for any number of reasons of context or circumstance - maybe they were burned by legalism earlier in life, or maybe they have just never had to focus much on good works in their life (the Holy Spirist smoothed that path for them and they've taken it for granted).

But, if someone says good works aren't important, and their life indicates no desire for holiness or growth in grace, then yes, that's a serious problem.
 
Good works are very important and necessary for salvation. Someone with that attitude doesn't seem to evidence a true and lively faith (how that should be said will vary based on circumstance).
I am not the one here who uses 1 Cor. 3 to reference to all believers regarding works.

v.15 is the image of someone failing a test. Burnt. Naked. But yet he 'shall be saved'.
 
I am not the one here who uses 1 Cor. 3 to reference to all believers regarding works.

v.15 is the image of someone failing a test. Burnt. Naked. But yet he 'shall be saved'.
It's apparently one who sincerely strove to build on the foundation of Christ. It did fail to be of much value, but evidently came from a sincere heart with a true and lively faith.
 
It's apparently one who sincerely strove to build on the foundation of Christ. It did fail to be of much value, but evidently came from a sincere heart with a true and lively faith.
Read the context from v.10... who does it refer to and what activity?
 
Read the context from v.10... who does it refer to and what activity?
I think I acknowledged that the immediate context is ministers and ministry. I pointed out that Turretin uses this passage to prove there are degrees of glory, and that the same logic seems to hold for ministry as other good works with respect to the final judgment. I am not sure what your interpretation is based on your comments and questions.
 
I think I acknowledged that the immediate context is ministers and ministry. I pointed out that Turretin uses this passage to prove there are degrees of glory, and that the same logic seems to hold for ministry as other good works with respect to the final judgment. I am not sure what your interpretation is based on your comments and questions.
Disagree with Turretin. Commentators like Poole and Calvin all see it referring to ministers of the gospel.

So if you adopt Turretin's view you have to deal with how a believer can be going found naked by the fire judgment as v.15 alludes.
 
This passage applies to ministers in particular, and in a secondary sense— or principally, to all believers. Suffering loss must mean in some sense receiving less heavenly glory than we would have ultimately inherited had we been more consistently faithful—yet this is a judgment of grace, not merit.
 
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This passage applies to ministers in particular, and in a secondary sense— or principally, to all believers. Suffering loss must mean in some sense receiving less heavenly glory than we would have ultimately inherited had we been more consistently faithful—yet this is a judgment of grace, not merit.
There is no need to open a can of worms by using 1 Cor. 3 for this. 2 Cor. 5 and Rom. 2 suffices

1 Cor. 3.15 -

If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

There is a distinction between the man (minister) and his work (ministry). This failed minister may himself may have exhibited personal godliness (fulfilling the need for works to show genuine faith). That's why this man shall go to heaven with his failed ministry burnt down.
 
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