by Keith Sharp
One of the people Sandy is sending the Bible correspondence course to sent Sandy a lesson from Dr. Charles Stanley with the lesson to be graded. The lesson the lady sent, entitled “Your Convictions About the Judgment of the Believer,” teaches there will be two divine judgments, one of believers (2 Corinthians 5:6-10) and one of unbelievers, which Dr. Stanley calls “the Great White Throne Judgment” (Revelation 20:11-13).
Dr. Stanley gave no evidence from Scripture that these are two separate judgments. In Matthew 25:31-46 the Master Himself taught there will be one final judgment at which all will be present (verses 31-32). At that time the saved will be separated from the lost (verses 32-33). Some there “will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (Matthew 25:46).
Dr. Stanley assumes that, when Paul states, “we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:10), he means all the saved. Why then does Paul reason in the next verse “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men” (2 Corinthians 5:11)? “Therefore” indicates he is drawing a conclusion from what he has just said. The judgment of 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 will involve terror. Does that sound like its just a matter of degrees of reward for those already saved in heaven?
There is no scriptural basis for teaching multiple final judgments. Matthew 25:31-46; John 12:48; Romans 14:10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:6-10; and Revelation 20:11-13 all speak of the same day. There is one judgment of “all,” and “all who are ungodly among them” will be convicted at that time (Jude verses 14-15).
There is no scriptural basis for the doctrine of degrees of reward for the saved. We must work to be saved (Philippians 2:12), but, having done all we are commanded, we are yet “unprofitable servants” (Luke 17:10). Our sins have earned us death (Romans 6:23). A man justly condemned to die cannot do enough good works to earn life, and certainly not to earn rewards. You cannot do enough community service to negate capital murder. All the saved will receive the same reward, whether they “have borne the burden and heat of the day” or “labored only one hour” (Matthew 20:1-16).
Believers who fail to live obediently to the Lord will be eternally lost (Matthew 7:21-27). What will be your sentence on “the judgment of the great day”? (Jude verse 6)
