I received an email from Andrew Farley advertising an article he wrote titled, “Are Christians judged for their sins?” (see here).
I appreciate the fact that he exalts the grace of God and the freeness of everlasting life.i But his comments in this article do not accurately reflect what Scripture teaches about the Bema.
He said that “Christians will not face any judgment for their sins.” He added that Christians will not be judged for their bad deeds. He has a unique understanding of 2 Cor 5:10, which says, “we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that each one may receive the things done in the body, whether good or bad.” He understands “we…all” to refer to all of humanity. He understands good to refer to the works of believers and bad to the works of unbelievers. In his view, believers will have no bad works and unbelievers will have no good works
In the article, he said that there will be but one eschatological judgment and that both believers and unbelievers will be judged there. But then, in his concluding paragraph, he said, “A believer doesn’t need to worry about being judged by God.” I suppose he means that a believer will be judged according to his works, but since only good works will be judged, he has nothing to worry about.
His interpretations of Scripture do not stand up to scrutiny. There are at least three major flaws in his view.
First, “we…all” in 2 Cor 5:10 refers to the people Paul has been discussing in the previous nine verses. He was discussing those who will receive glorified bodies: “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven” (5:1–2). Unbelievers will not receive glorified bodies. Therefore, “we… all” in 2 Cor 5:10 refers to believers only.
Second, Luke 19:11-27 shows that some believers will be praised (“Well done, good servant”) and given authority over ten cities (Luke 19:17); others will not be praised but will be given authority over five cities (Luke 19:19); and still others will be rebuked (“you wicked servant”) and will not be given authority over any cities (Luke 19:20-26). But they will still get into the kingdom. They will not be slain (experience the second death of Rev 20:11-15) with the unbelievers (Luke 19:27). Even if only good works are considered, the judgment will not be pleasant for some believers. However, 2 Cor 5:10 indicates that all the works of believers will be judged, both good and bad. While the bad works will not be judged as sins, they will be judged as works.
Third, the Apostle John made it clear that if children of God do not abide in Him in this life, then we will shrink back in shame at His coming (1 John 2:28). The Lord Jesus said it first. He said that at the Bema, He will be ashamed of anyone who is ashamed of Him today (during one’s earthly life) (Mark 8:38).
Farley essentially denies the Biblical doctrine of accountability. We will all reap what we have sown in this life (Gal 6:7-9).
Keep grace in focus and you will long for the Lord’s soon return and for His approval at that time.
iUnfortunately, what one must do to have everlasting life is not always clear in his teachings. He says, for example, that 1 John 1:9 is a salvation verse. He says we are saved by confessing that we are sinners. But there is nothing in 1 John 1:9 about believing in Jesus for everlasting life that can never be lost.
