JUDGMENT
Definitions: Webster’s New American Dictionary;
Judge: 1. To form an authoritative opinion, 2. To decide as a judge, 3. To form an estimate or evaluation about something, 4. A public official authorized to decide questions brought before a court, 5. Umpire, 6. One who gives an authoritative opinion.
Judgment: 1. A decision or opinion given after judging; a formal decision given by a court, 2. The final judgment of mankind by God, 3. The process of forming an opinion by discerning and comparing, 4. The capacity for judging.
Judgment Day: The day of final judging of all human beings by God.
The judgment of God is a reality. God’s judgment of sin shows his righteousness and brings Him glory. His holy character requires that He judge sin. (Rom. 3:5,6).
Unbelievers will be judged for there sin, and believers, who have been freely forgiven of sin because of Christ’s work on the cross (Rom. 3:21-26) will be given degrees of reward in heaven according to their actions in this life. (Matt. 7:21; 16:27; 25:31-46; John 5:28,29; Rom. 2:6; 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:10-15; 2 Cor. 5:9,10; 11:15; Gal. 6:7-9; 1 Pet. 1:17; Rev. 2:23; 22:12)
Sinners who are not yet experiencing God’s judgment should not presume that God’s mercy would last even another hour. Judgment is withheld only to give them time to repent (Rom. 2:4).
Definitions: VINE’S Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words
A. Judge, din (deen) (to rule, legislate, govern) Deut. 32:36
B. Judge, shapath or sapat (shah-fhat) (to decide a matter or verdict) Judges2:18
C. Judge, krino (kree-no) (to make an opinion, pass decision) John 18:31
D. Judgment, krisis (kree-sis) (a separating) Matt. 5:22
E. Judgment, krima (kree-mah) (to judge or condemn) Rev. 20:4
F. Judgment, dikaioma (dik-i-oma) (an ordinance, righteous act) Rev. 15:4
G. Judgment, hupodikos (hupo-deek-os) (brought to trial, answer to) Rom. 3:19
H. Judgments, mishpat (meesh-paht) (judgment, rights) Num. 36:13
I. Judgment Seat, bema (bee-mah) (the divine tribunal) Matt. 27:19
A. Judge, din: to plead the cause of someone; contend with someone, contend for something. The noun derived from this word is translated as ‘plea’, ‘judgment’, or ‘cause’. From din comes the word medinah, meaning ‘state’, ‘province’ or ‘government’; it is literally ‘place of judgment or justice.’
B. Judge, shapat: one, who judges, governs, passes down judgment, pronounces sentence, and decides matters. In English both “to judge” and “judgment” have negative associations, but not so in Hebrew. Judgment is the balance, ethics, and wisdom, which if present in the rulers mind, enables him to govern fairly. Judgment when used of God is that divine faculty whereby He runs the universe righteously. Handing down decisions that will maintain or bring about a right state of affairs.
C. Judge, krino: to separate, decide, examine, question, select, choose, resolve, make an opinion, determine, decide favorably or unfavorably, pronounce judgment.
Used in Romans; Rom. 2:27 “to condemn”
Rom. 14:5 “to form an opinion”
D. Judgment, krisis: Carries the idea of a separating, the process of distinguishing and selecting, making a decision. The New Testament uses the word primarily in a forensic sense, especially of the divine judgment. Used in Romans; Rom. 2:5 dikaiokrisia “righteous judgment” combines the adjective dikaios, “righteous”, with krisis “judgment”.
E. Judgment, Krima: A legal term describing the judicial process of deciding guilt or innocence. The word is used chiefly for the verdict itself, reached after an investigation. The Lord forbids fault-finding decisions in Matthew 7:2 while in 1 Cor. 6:7 Paul discourages lawsuits against fellow Christians. Krima is used frequently of the judgment of God against the wrong doings of man. Used in Romans; Rom. 2:2,3; 3:8; 5:16; 11:33; 13:2.
F. Judgment, dikaioma: “an ordinance, a righteous act” is translated judgment. Used in Romans; Rom. 1:32
G. Judgment, under the, hupodikos: “brought to trial, answerable to “(hupo “under”, dike “justice”). Used in Romans; Rom. 3:19 (guilty)
H. Judgment, mishpat: A decision, determination, judgment, a personal cause or right; justice, rectification, correction, punishment. Judgment is that faculty found always in God and sometimes in man, which produces decisions based on justice, righteousness, truth, fairness, and equity. God Himself is called “a God of judgment” (Isa. 30:18).
I. Judgment Seat, bema: from baino, “to go” the word describes a step or a stride (Acts 7:5). Then it was used for a raised platform reached by steps, especially from which orations were made. Later it denoted the tribunal of a ruler where litigates stood trial. In the New Testament it mostly refers to earthly magistrates (Acts 18:12, 16, 17), but twice is used of the divine tribunal before which all believers will stand (2 Cor. 5:10; Rom. 14:10). At this bema believers are to be made manifest, that each may “receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether it be good or bad”. There they will receive rewards for their faithfulness to the Lord. For all that has been contrary in their lives to His will suffer loss (1 Cor. 3:15).
Judgment day will sift out the “gold, silver, costly stones”, and separate it from the “wood, hay or straw” (1 Cor. 3:12-15). It is important not to surrender the great truth that God saves by grace, but it is important also to bear in mind that final judgment is a reality. We are all accountable, the Christian at “The Bema Seat of Christ” and the non-believer at “The Great White Throne Judgment”.
The Great White Throne Judgment of Rev. 20:11-15; closes the millennial period and opens the “Age to Come”. It is the greatest of all judgments because it encompasses all the wicked from the beginning of man’s history. Jesus Christ is the one sitting on the great white throne, fulfilling John 5:22. Those who are judged are lost because they refused God’s salvation in Christ by grace through faith. Their doom is the second death.
Paul shows us that judgment has consequences for everybody, Jew and Gentile alike. If we are saved by grace through faith how does a judgment by our works relate to salvation by grace? A number of suggestions have been offered:
1. Direct Contradiction; Paul is engaged in a sustained argument that all are sinners and need God’s help (Rom. 1:18-3:20). It is not easy to think that he would lose sight of a central tenet in the middle of his argument.
2. Purely Hypothetical: Others think that Paul is not speaking of the way things are, but setting out in forthright terms the way things would be apart from grace. But Paul says that God “will render”, not “would render”. His words point to a fact, not a hypothesis.
3. Law, not Gospel; Paul is speaking of a real judgment, and one that applies to everybody.
4. The Entrance and The Life: God demands from the sinner, as the recipient of grace, the fruits of grace. Faith is not the dismal prerogative of being able to sin with impunity. A variant of this position sees the reference to “goodness of life”, not however as meriting God’s favor but as the “expression of faith”.
5. Justification is with Power: When God justifies anyone, it is a work of power (Rom. 1:16); the saved person is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17). When he is judged he is judged for what he is, that is, by his works. Judgment shatters all illusions.
Conclusion:
People are saved by faith alone, but in the life that follows, “works”, as the spontaneous expression of the life of faith (the fruit of the spirit), are no less an integral part of the life which will one day be judged by God. Christians are not to judge each other with reference to the practice of morally neutral issues, since each individual is responsible to God. As Lord, the right of such judgment belongs to Christ. Weak and strong Christians alike shall all stand, not at each other’s judgment seats, but before the judgment seat of Christ. That judgment will be based on what we have done in this life. It will not determine whether or not we enter heaven, but will determine degrees of rewards in heaven.
God Bless and Press On
Larry
No comments:
Post a Comment