Judgment in the Bible

[B-A-C]

Judgment in the Bible - Who gets judged, and who does the judging? How many judgments are there?

Matt 12:41; "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
Matt 12:42; "The Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Luke 11:31; "The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Luke 11:32; "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

A phrase you see a lot in the Bible is .. "the" judgment. Is this all one big event, or is it multiple events?
But it seems in the passage above, that the men of Nineveh who repented at Jonah's message, will at least judge the Jewish generation of Jesus's time.
Also it seems that the Queen of the South ( usually considered to be Sheba - 1Kings 10; ) will also judge that generation.

But is this simply one group of persons judging another group of persons?

1Cor 6:2; Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?
1Cor 6:3; Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

Paul says the saints will judge the world. He also says we will judge angels. I assume this is the fallen angels.

Jude 1:6; And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

... more questions coming, ... to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

1Cor 5:11; But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
1Cor 5:12; For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?
1Cor 5:13; But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

It seems we are to judge some people here on the Earth, in this life... but this isn't really the focus of this thread.
Perhaps that could be another thread, but my main concern here is... the judgments of the next life.

Heb 9:27; And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,

It seems that everyone dies... and everyone gets judged at some point or another.
There are over 150 verses in the Bible with the word "judgment".

Matt 12:36; "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.

It seems everyone will be judged by the careless words they speak. Some say Christians are exempt from this judgment.
Others say Christians are exempt for words they said before becoming a Christian, but held accountable for words said since becoming a Christian.

John 5:22; "For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,
John 5:23; so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
John 5:24; "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
John 5:25; "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
John 5:26; "For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
John 5:27; and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
John 5:28; "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
John 5:29; and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

This is probably the most famous and commonly quoted passage about judgment.
Some take verse 24 to mean that Christians will not be judged. But there are many other verses that seemingly say Christians will be judged. More about those later.
There are some verses that appear to conflict with each other here. I don't believe they really do... but it takes a deeper dive to reconcile some of those passages.

John 3:16; "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3:17; "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
John 3:18; "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
John 3:19; "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

For example.... in John 3:17; it says Jesus didn't come to judge the world.
But John 5:22; says all judgment has been given to Jesus. So is this a conflict... I don't think so.
John 3:18; says unbelievers are judged already. Of course there are multiple passages that say we are under condemnation until we come to Christ.

Rom 3:23; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom 3:24; being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

.. to be continued ...

 

[B-A-C]

2Cor 5:10; 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.

I said in the previous, that I didn't think there was a conflict about Jesus not coming to judge the world, this verse is one of the reasons why. He doesn't judge the world. he judges Christians.
Note that is the passage above, not only do these people get rewarded for good deeds, they get punished ( recompensed ) for bad deeds.

1Cor 3:11; For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1Cor 3:12; Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
1Cor 3:13; each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work.
1Cor 3:14; If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
1Cor 3:15; If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
1Cor 3:16; Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1Cor 3:17; If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.

In my Bible the wording here is important. Some people say... it doesn't matter what I do ( or don't do ) I will still be saved.
I believe that people will be saved despite having done good works, but that doesn't mean you can't do enough wicked works to disqualify yourself.

Rev 20:4; Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

It seems the martyrs of the tribulation, people who don't take the mark of the beast will also be given authority to judge... ( who? ) Best guess, those who take the mark and worship the beast.

 

[B-A-C]

Dan 7:9; "I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days took His seat; His vesture was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames, Its wheels were a burning fire.

Dan 7:13; "I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him.
Dan 7:22; until the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.

The one one who is like "a Son of Man" is Jesus. The Ancient of days is the Father. Judgment will still happen for the saints, but the judgment will be passed in favor of the saints.

Rev 20:11; Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.
Rev 20:12; And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Rev 20:13; 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, every one of them according to their deeds.
Rev 20:14; Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Rev 20:15; And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Rom 14:10; But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.

Romans 14:10 is always controversial, is this part of the great white throne judgement, or is the BEMA seat judgment of Christ? The word "brother" in this verse seems to imply a brother in Christ, a Christian.

 

[B-A-C]

It has been discussed at length in many thread about people who call themselves Christians.. but really aren't. What makes someone a Christian is usually divided
somewhere between faith and deeds. Usually both, but a percentage of one over the other. It's interesting to note that all the verses below say people will be judged
by there deeds. None of them say people will be judged by their faith or what they believe.

John 3:19; "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.
John 5:28; "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
John 5:29; and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
Matt 16:27 ; "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS. ( Psa 62:12; )

Rom 2:4; Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Rom 2:5; But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
Rom 2:6; who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:
Rom 2:7; to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life;

2Cor 5:10; 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.

Gal 5:19; Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality,
Gal 5:20; idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions,
Gal 5:21; envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Titus 1:16; They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

Rev 2:22; 'Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.

Rev 20:12; And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Rev 20:13; 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, every one of them according to their deeds.

... it's interesting how many verses in the Bible say we will be judged by what we did, rather than what we believed. Don't get me wrong, I believe there is love, mercy, grace and forgiveness.
It's likely none of us will be sinless and perfect. But there is a way people live their lives. Even people who call themselves Christians, who think that grace gives them a license to sin and live however they want to.

 

[B-A-C]

I don't really want to get into Calvinism and Armenianism here, other than to say... There is a such a thing as hyperArmenianism, ( just like hyperCalvinism )

But the thought here goes something like this... ( I'm sure someone will correct me ). Jesus is with us, He doesn't leave us or forsake us, He doesn't cast us out, He chases the lost sheep, etc....
... until the judgment. Then He casts some out.

This is like God leading the Jews through the wilderness for 40 years. He is with them, He doesn't forsake them. He parts the Red sea for them, He feeds them manna and Quail, He covers them
with a cloud during the day, and gives them a flame of fire at night. He gives them water from the rock. He makes sure their clothes and shoes don't wear out... He is WITH them, all through the 40 years
until they get to Canaan ( the promised land of rest ). But then, just as they reach the border and the end is in sight. God says they can't enter.

HyperAmrmenians view the judgment the same way. Yes God is with us, He protects us.. He doesn't leave us... etc... But then at the judgment He will cast some out.
The thought is, judgment will even be more extreme for these people. They have no excuse. They knew about God/Jesus, they saw Him working in their midst and lives.

A lot of this comes from verses like Matt 25:30; Luke 19:22; and Matt 13:41; as well as most of the verses in post #5 above.

.. to be continued ...

 

[KingJ]

1Cor 6:2; Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts?
1Cor 6:3; Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?

Paul says the saints will judge the world. He also says we will judge angels. I assume this is the fallen angels.

I don't agree. The context of 1 Cor 61-11 is 'disputes among believers'. Paul admonishing believers to judge matters among themselves and not go to the unsaved. He presses his point hard by stating that we will judge ''''even'''' the angels in verse 3. All evidence points to angels in heaven. Fallen angels have already been judged. They are already cast out of heaven for all eternity. They are awaiting their second judgement of sentencing and further punishment. Angels in heaven are 'not' perfect. Most Christians do not grasp the significance of what Jesus states in Mark 10:18 '''Only God is good''.

Jude 1:6; And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

... more questions coming, ... to be continued ...

This speaks to a once off judgement. Whereas 1 Cor 6 I believe implies a ''live'' judgement. Paul is teaching the believers to put in place a system whereby they judge one another on an on-going basis.

Rev 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 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, every one of them according to their deeds.

Note the underlined. There is no mention of 'saints' standing with 'Him who sat upon it'. All fallen angels and doomed humans stand before the throne, only God sits on the throne.