By Kathryn Wright
INTRODUCTION
Many years ago, I lived in a small town in Texas. Once a fairly affluent area, the city had fallen on hard times. Certain businesses had moved away, as had many of the wealthy citizens. Many of the town’s buildings, especially its houses, stood vacant.
Beautiful Victorian-style homes lined the streets. Three-story houses with grand staircases, ornate stained-glass windows, and wrap-around porches were common. One in particular stands out in my memory. A stunning yellow Victorian, it had half-moon arches framing the wrap-around porch. However, the floorboards around the entry were warping, and the once sunshiny-yellow paint had faded and was chipping away. The house, which had stood empty for some time, could have been the set for a horror film.
The history of the house was equally grim. The man who owned it had gone through a divorce. During the legal proceedings, it was determined that when he sold the property–which was worth a small fortune––his ex-wife would get half the profit. In order to cheat the system and keep his ex-wife from the money, the man never sold the home. He moved out and allowed the architectural beauty to rot and fall apart.
CONDEMNED IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
By the time I saw the once-magnificent house, it had been condemned, a legal term meaning that the property was dangerous and uninhabitable. The NT also uses the terms condemned and condemnation. When people see the word condemned in the Bible, most probably assume that it refers to being cast into the lake of fire. They believe it almost always refers to unbelievers who are being condemned to hell.
However, in the NT the word has a much broader meaning. It usually means “sentencing someone or something to destruction” or “passing judgment.” These concepts can be applied to a variety of situations, so context must determine how the word is being used in any specific occurrence.
For example, in Matt 20:18 the Lord Jesus predicted that the Jewish religious leaders would “condemn Him to death.” Obviously, the Lord was not cast into the lake of fire. He was sentenced to physical death.
In Noah’s day, the entire worldi was condemned: “Noah…condemned the world [to destruction]” (Heb 11:7; see also 2 Pet 2:5).
God turned “…the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction…” (2 Pet 2:6, italics added).
None of these examples concern unbelievers’ being cast into the lake of fire.ii Instead, they describe Jesus’ death sentence and the physical destruction of the world and two cities. Like a condemned house, they were sentenced to be torn down.
The Scriptures warn believers of possible condemnation. This has caused some confusion. Since born-again people cannot lose eternal life (John 4:10, 14; 10:28-29; 2 Tim 2:13) a believer’s being condemned must refer to something other than being cast into the lake of fire.
It might be helpful to see how a believer can be condemned.
THE CONDEMNED GRUMBLER
James 5:9 speaks of a condemned believer. James makes this sobering statement:
Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
Notice that James identifies his readers as brethren (also see 1:2, 16 and eleven other times in the letter). These are believers who have been “brought forth by the word of truth” (Jas 1:18). He admonishes them to be patient in light of the Lord’s soon return. If they do, there will be a spiritual harvest (5:7-8). These instructions would be irrelevant to unbelievers. In verse 9, he gives instructions on how to treat other believers. We are not to grumble against one another. Unfortunately, this is a common sin within the church. This was of particular concern to James in light of the trials the readers were going through (1:2). There was a temptation to grumble against other believers during those difficult times.
James, therefore, reminds them of the Lord’s soon return. He stands at the door, ready to judge the Church at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Jas 5:9; 2 Cor 5:10; Rom 14:10).
Hodges comments:
Like a Roman lictor announcing a judge’s impending entry, as it were, James cries “Quiet!” His Christian readers must fully silence their complaints against each other in the realization that their Lord and Judge can at any moment appear and sit down on the Bema. (“James” in The Grace New Testament Commentary, p. 559).
The danger is that grumbling believers will stand before the Judge and give an account that results in disapproval at the Bema. James offers two possible outcomes for the believer at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Either he will have a fruitful crop and be rewarded, or he will be condemned. James is not threatening his readers with losing eternal life if they grumble against others. Such condemned believers will, however, have an unfruitful experience at the Bema.
THE CONDEMNED EATER
In another passage addressed to believers, the Apostle Paul states:
But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin (Rom 14:23, emphasis added).
Paul addressed the church in Rome regarding dietary sensitivities. Many Jewish believers had been taught that eating certain foods was wrong; they were therefore grieved when others in the church—this included most Gentile believers—ate such food (Rom 14:15). Paul stated that the meat, in and of itself, is not unclean (v 14). But he also admonished those believers who do eat it not to grieve their fellow Jewish believers who do not. They should respect one another’s dietary restrictions and not judge each other (v 3-4).
Paul said, “Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves” (Rom 14:22, italics added). But what about the person who eats what he believes he should not? “But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin” (Rom 14:23, italics added).
Hodges summarizes Paul’s point this way:
In other words, the way in which we live the Christian life is by living out what God has impressed upon us from His word (Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 3:18). If our actions are not by faith, that is, if our actions contradict what we believe the Scriptures teach, then they are sinful actions, not godly ones (Hodges, Romans: Deliverance from Wrath, p. 418).
The condemnation here cannot refer to a believer being condemned to hell. Instead, Paul says that the believer who eats meat that he is convinced is a sin has condemned himself. That is, he has judged himself as sinful.
THE CONDEMNED MIND
Paul describes another kind of condemned believer in Titus 3:10-11. He warns Titus about contentious believers:
Reject a divisive man after the first and second admonition, knowing that such a person is warped and sinning, being self-condemned.
The Greek term for condemned here adds the term auto (autokatakritos, used only here in the NT).iii It means that this condemnation is self-inflicted. Once again, the apostle is describing certain believers. They are within the church and cause divisions over frivolous issues, such as genealogies or the Law (v 9). Wilkin comments:
Unlike teaching that promotes the maintenance of good works, which is “good and profitable” (v 8), this sort of teaching is unprofitable and useless. Whereas Titus was to avoid foolish disputes and the like (v 9), Paul commands him to reject a divisive…man after the first and second admonition…Clearly, this refers not to false teachers, but to men within the local church (Wilkin, “Titus” in The Grace New Testament Commentary, p. 503).
While the church today might not debate genealogies, believers have been known to participate in equally foolish and profitless disputes. Issues such as what clothes to wear or what style of music a church uses—to name just two examples—have caused great damage to churches. A believer who engages in such petty disputes should be rebuked and stopped from causing pointless divisions.
Paul warns that such a believer is warped. His mind is fixated on the wrong issues. Like the floorboards of that yellow house in Texas, the believer who engages in such profitless debates will become twisted and useless. This kind of believer condemns himself to an unprofitable Christian experience. Like the abandoned, condemned house in Texas, such a believer’s work in the church will only come to ruin.
CONCLUSION
It is often profitable to do word studies in the NT. The word condemned is a case in point. When we see it in various passages, we should consider the context. We should not assume that it always describes unbelievers.
While believers can never be condemned to hell, we can experience a form of condemnation due to our sinful activity. When I think back on my time in Texas, I’m saddened when I remember the story of the man and his yellow house. His bitterness and resentment resulted in the total condemnation of his beautiful home. Because he did not sell the house when he could have made a good profit on it, he probably lost his savings and perhaps his retirement. Believers can live in such a way. They can experience the loss of their life’s work. Our Christian experience can bring ruin and judgment due to sin. Such a life could be compared to that yellow house in a small Texas town. How sad.
To avoid such an outcome, we should let James’ words echo in our minds as we look forward to our Savior’s soon return.
Behold, the Judge is standing at the door!
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Kathryn Wright and her husband, Dewey, live in Columbia, SC. She is the GES missions coordinator, women’s conference speaker, writer, and Zoom teacher.
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i The exceptions were those on the ark: eight people and two of each kind of animal.
ii While most of the people in Noah’s day and in Sodom and Gomorrah were probably unregenerate, the condemnation the Scriptures speak of was their physical deaths.
iii Without the auto prefix, the verbal cognate katakrinō occurs seventeen times in the NT, including four times in Romans (2:1; 8:3, 34; 14:23) and once in 1 Corinthians (11:32).