[Corpus-Paul] God's Elusive Judgment
Harold Holmyard
hholmyard3 at earthlink.net
Sat Jun 16 13:20:02 EDT 2007
Dear Loren,
> List-members --
>
> Did Paul believe that God would judge the righteous?
> That Christians, while guaranteed salvation, might
> still be punished for bad deeds? Or did he believe
> that God would judge only the wicked? That Christians
> would appear before God at the judgment and give an
> account of themselves, but would be waived through
> after receiving their reward?
>
Yes, the believers will be saved, but they will be judged. God judges
everything we do. That's why he disciplines us for our good.
> Not an easy question to answer, but I think the latter
> is correct, with a qualification. The key texts in
> question would be Rom 2, Rom 8:33-34, Rom 14:10-12, I
> Cor 3:10-15, I Cor 4:1-5, II Cor 5:10, and Philip
> 2:12b-13.
>
> Of those texts, I Cor 3:10-15 makes the strongest case
> for a judgment on the righteous: Paul speaks of those
> being "saved, but "only as through fire". But this
> passage is really about church founders, not believers
> in general. Paul seems to be saying that churches
> founded by rival apostles leave much to be desired,
> and are subject to judgment. The "builders" of these
> churches may be saved in the end, but will suffer
> serious punishment for leading others astray. Paul
> apparently held pastors like himself to a higher
> standard than "lay believers" who would not be judged.
>
I don't think the passage is only talking about church founders. I don't
see rival apostles in the picture in 1 Corinthians 3. Paul addresses the
same people to whom he is writing the letter, all the people of the
church of Corinth, and speaks about their behavior:
1Cor. 3:3 You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and
quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere
men?
He uses himself as an example of someone who acted with wisdom and calls
on them to do the same:
1Cor. 3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s
building.
1Cor. 3:10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an
expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should
be careful how he builds.
Each one of them in Corinth was building, I think. Paul is speaking
somewhat metaphorically. He laid a foundation, and they are building on
it with their life choices. He had led them to Christ but how they lived
their lives was their responsibility, and they would have to give an
account of it to the Lord. That is, God would judge them for their
thoughts and actions.
>
> For, as Philip Esler points out, Rom 8:33-34 implies
> that no charge will be brought against God's elect.
> And when we appreciate what Paul meant by DIKAIOSYNE,
> this is easy to understand. Righteousness, for him,
> was a form of ascribed honor, or privileged/blessed
> identity. It had nothing to do with
> forensic/declaratory categories, nor
> behavioral/ethical ones.
I don't agree with this. The NT language about righteousness is
thoroughly forensic at many points. But it is, as you say, as ascribed
righteousness through the merits of Christ, not a righteousness
fundamentally earned by the recipient of the status.
> The righteous were acceptable
> to God, period.
Right. But God can display displeasure even with his children:
Rev. 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and
repent.
> Their righteousness was gifted to them
> not because they'd done anything to deserve it, but
> because God had chosen them (Rom 4, 9).
Right, but this is a forensic process involving the imputed
righteousness of Christ.
> They would not
> be charged at the judgment: they would give an account
> of themselves, and then be waived on after receiving
> their reward. (See Conflict and Identity in Romans, pp
> 162, 265-266, as well as Esler's section on the
> meaning of righteousness.) For better or worse, that
> seems to be what Paul believed.
>
It seems incorrect to say that we will not be judged when the Bible uses
the term to describe us:
Rom. 14:10 You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look
down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
> Esler doesn't comment on I Cor 3:10-15, but I would
> reconcile it with his interpretation of Rom 8:33-34 as
> follows. It was competition and rivalry which brought
> out nuance in Paul's theology of the judgment -- much
> indeed as we might expect of a Mediterranean macho
> man. His belief that God would (naturally) not judge
> the elect whom He had righteoused was tempered by
> growing convictions that the deity might very well
> make certain apostles "pay the price" for misleading
> people in ways that were not pleasing to Paul.
>
> What do list-members think of this?
>
You are evidently denying judgment in the sense that our eternal destiny
will not hang in the balance. I agree with that, but there are a lot of
ways that God can judge us, and Romans 14 states that he will judge us.
Determination of rewards or lack of rewards is a significant judgment in
itself.
Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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