# Question: What are humans being judged on in the end? This one comes my brother-in-law. He asked me and it sparked some interesting conversation late one night. I am pretty confident that this will stir controversy, so I'm going to do my best to focus in on the exegesis and historical writings to answer the question. ## Synopsis There's clear language to describe our judgment being "according to our works." What this means in relation to our eternal disposition at the judgment, I need to research more. ## Exegesis ### Primary Context It seems like this should be an easy "here's where we find the answer" and refer to Revelation kind of question. I think I'll focus my efforts on Revelation, but the verses referenced here all support my analysis of Revelation at some layer or another. The Revelation of Saint John is an [[Apocalypse|apocalyptic writing.]] It serves to reveal something about the nature of God. Its primary purpose is to reveal Christ enthroned in the [[Messianic Age]] to the people at the time who were experiencing intense persecutions and martyrdom. Within this frame, we see Christ seated in judgement in Revelation 20:11-15 from the NET Bible. *Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne. Then books were opened, and another book was opened—the book of life. So the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their deeds. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each one was judged according to his deeds. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, that person was thrown into the lake of fire.* We need the rest of the context of the vision to understand full what is going on, but we see earlier in chapter 20 that Christ is seated on the throne. Through the remainder of the vision we do not get any indicator that Christ is no longer in the judgment seat. At the last day, everyone dead or alive, is judged by Christ. ### References In fact, there are a lot of references to "the end" throughout the scriptures. Here's a list of all the verses that have reference to "judgment day" in some form: - 1 Corinthians 4:5 - brings to light the hidden things and reveals the motives of the heart - 2 Corinthians 5:10 - stand before the judgment seat, paid back for what we did in the body - 2 Peter 2:4 - God knows how to judge rightly - Acts 17:31 - A day is set for judgment - Ecclesiastes 12:14 - God will evaluate every deed - Hebrews 9:27 - we all face judgment - John 12:48 - those who reject already have a judge - Matthew 12:36 - Trees and fruit - worthless words - Psalms 50:4 - God judges - Psalms 96:13 - God judges - Romans 2:16 - the secrets of human hearts - Ezekiel 7:7-8 - judgment has happened in the past - Revelation 20:11-15 - the judgment seat of Christ I am confident these are not the only references to judgment day. They are references that are clearly about the final judgment in most cases, other potential references are likely more vague or the focus is on "what it means to be saved." These are interrelated concepts, but we're focusing here entirely on judgment day itself. ## Detailed Answer & Discussion I think it's very easy to see that there *is* judgment coming. That's not even a question for my brother here. His question though is thoroughly connected to his upbringing. "What are we judged upon?" is a question that betrays an inkling of concern about his own learning to this point. I get it, it's frightening to hear one thing and read another. So let's break it down from the start. I, like him, grew up in a small Baptist church in Texas. My youth days were late 90s into early 2000s, his were 2010s. I grew up hearing a lot of fundamentalism, he not so much. I say this to point out there is some level of distinction between our upbringings even though we were both Baptist. I can't speak to the particulars of what he was taught, but I do know during this time that programs like [Evangelism Explosion](https://evangelismexplosion.org/) were booming, pun intended. I learned EE myself, so when I say the goal of EE was to convince the hearer to simply repeat after the speaker please hear me that that's what it was. Why was it this way? For my church, we were all taught that if they'd just say the prayer then when God judges them He'll see Jesus instead. It was our job to get these people to pray. I suspect that my BIL grew up with similar teachings. He was taught, whether explicitly or not, that at the judgment God the Father is judging and Jesus steps in and says "I know this guy, He's cool." (a very early 2000s kind of thought during the "Jesus is my homeboy" period). This teaching doesn't align with what the scripture teaches though, and I think that my BIL saw that and it sparked the question. If this idea that he's heard his whole life isn't accurate, then what is? Let's start with the primary answer, Revelation 20 describes the last judgment. At this judgment people are judged "κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν" (according to the works of them). Wait, that certainly doesn't line up with what we've been taught! Well, the way that many get around this is teaching that the "first resurrection" as referenced in Revelation 20:5 is a bodily resurrection in advance of this final resurrection in which only the sinners are judged. So, I could align with this if the only reference to the judgment was these few verses in Revelation. However, as noted above, there are a lot of references to the last judgment. Paul, in his letters to the Church at Corinth, writes about the judgment and humans paying for what we did in the body (ἔπραξεν, what we practiced). Peter talks about God's judgment being rightly ordered and explains it against the backdrop of the historical judgments of God against the unrighteous, those of evil actions. The writer of Ecclesiastes describes God judged all according to their deeds. Jesus Himself explains that every worthless word will be judged. There's more here than "Jesus is my homeboy and will step in for me." I would never say "you can work yourself into the Kingdom of Heaven." However, when the Scriptures say we're judged according to our works, that cannot mean that we're not judged by our works. What the ultimate role of works is in our salvation at the last judgment, I'm not positive. ## Closing Thoughts I need to keep researching. As I'm sitting here writing, [[Penal Substitutionary Atonement]] comes to mind and I am confident that this theory of the mechanism of the atonement is informing the understanding of modern American Evangelicals and potentially clouding the understanding. Honestly, PSA is something I have always rejected though I couldn't articulate why. But because I always rejected it, I've only done a cursory study on it, so I guess that means doing a deep dive into PSA so I can finish this article... --- Canonical Link: <a href="https://bryangarrison.com/Questions/What+are+humans+being+judged+on+in+the+end" rel="canonical">What are humans being judged on in the end?</a>