Journal: Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society
Volume: JOTGES 28:54 (Spring 2015)
Article: Will The Bad Deeds Of Believers Be Considered At The Judgment Seat Of Christ?
Author: Robert N. Wilkin

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JOTGES 28:54 (Spring 2015) p. 17

Will The Bad Deeds Of Believers Be Considered At The Judgment Seat Of Christ?

Robert N. Wilkin

Executive Director
Grace Evangelical Society

I. Introduction

God makes an amazing promise to anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ: “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more” (Heb 10:17; cf. Jer 31:34). And again,

You, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross (Col 2:13-14).

The forgiveness of sins is one of the most blessed teachings of Scripture. Indeed, the more one matures in the faith, the more he or she appreciates this doctrine. For with increasing maturity comes an increasing awareness of our sins and shortcomings.

It is wonderful to realize that “He remembers our sins no more” and that “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12). He has hidden our lives with Christ (Col 3:3). We are perfected forever in God’s sight (Heb 10:10, 14).

Most people in Christianity today do not believe that the Judgment Seat of Christ (henceforth, the Bema) is a separate judgment for Christians to determine eternal rewards. Rather, they think the Bema

JOTGES 28:54 (Spring 2015) p. 18

(2 Cor 5:9-11) is another name for the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15).

For example, in a recent four-views books to which Thomas Schreiner and I contributed chapters, he criticizes me for distinguishing between these two judgments:

If his kind of dispensationalism collapses, so does Wilkin’s interpretation. I don’t have space to unpack all that could be said here. But it must be said that the dispensational reading offered [by Wilkin] is artificial and strained. When I first encountered solutions like Wilkin proposes regarding the judgment, I found it impossible to remember in the judgment passages whether the judgment of believers or unbelievers was in view.1

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