The next question is this: "If salvation is by grace alone, apart from works, then how can believers be rewarded in heaven for our works?" First we have to observe that the New Testament definitely states that we will be rewarded for our good works. As Jesus tells us in John 6:40, "Everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." That is a clear statement of justification at the end for all who look to Christ in faith. For instance, in this case we turn to Romans 8:1, which says, "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." On the basis of that one verse alone – and of course there are myriad others like it – we can conclude that while believers will be judged after death we will not be condemned and consigned to hell. "Might Christians be condemned in that judgment to come?" Here, we have an opportunity to employ the vital principle of Bible interpretation, that a difficult verse is interpreted according to others that bear on the subject. The first question has to do with the possibility of condemnation in that judgment. There are, I am sure, two questions lurking behind that one question. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ." The answer, therefore, is "Yes, Christians will be judged according to our works, as will everybody else." Backing up to verse 9, he writes, "So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. Then in chapter 5, Paul expresses his joy at the knowledge that death is followed by heavenly life. He had been talking, in chapter 4, about the struggles involved in Christian ministry, which he likened to an on-going death. The answer, very briefly, is, "Yes, Christians will be judged." That is exactly what the Apostle Paul is saying in that verse. Tonight's question for the Question Box is, "Will Christians Be Judged?" The Bible verse that prompts this question is 2 Corinthians 5:10, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."
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