Judgment according to works

Revelation 20:11-15 is widely taken as a scene of final judgment. Despite some potential preterist doubts, it does appear to be a final judgment scene. It comes after the millennium, and the ones to be judged are raised from the dead.

The dead in v 12 includes all the dead, not only the wicked dead. The names of some of the dead are found written in the book of life, and they escape the lake of fire. Those names are not written are tossed into the lake of fire, with death and Hades.

Twice in this passage, John says that the dead are judged according to their works. They "were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds" (v. 12); and "they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds" (v. 13).

Would John fall afoul of the Westminster Standards as interpreted by the FV Study Committee?

As the prooftexts to WCF 33.1 show, this is the consistent teaching of Old and New Testaments:

2 Cor. 5:10. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad."

Eccl. 12:14. "For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil."

Rom. 2:16. "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel."

Rom. 14:10, 12. "But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.… So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God."

Matt. 12:36–37. "But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou
shalt be condemned."

Not to mention John 5:28-29: "for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 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."

Or 1 Corinthians 4:5: "Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God."

I haven't been able to find a single text that plausibly talks about final judgment - or about temporal judgments for that matter - that says anything different. God renders and will to each according to what he has done. It's entirely possible that I've missed some texts, though.

posted by Peter J. Leithart on Tuesday, June 19, 2007 at 02:25 PM

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