Our pastor made an interesting proposition yesterday, one that I’ve been leaning toward for a while now, but was still rather intrigued to hear it voiced from the pulpit. As Christians in the Protestant tradition, we accept that salvation by faith alone is a fundamental tenet and set aside any notion that our works have a role in God’s saving grace. However, does that mean that our works are meaningless? Of course not. They are, so to speak, the proof in the pudding, the taste test of our faith. And we will be judged on them.
What?! Judged on works? Isn’t accepting Christ by faith enough for admittance into heaven and the joys of paradise? I’m going to suggest that the first part, admittance into “heaven”, or the New Heavens/Earth if you will, is based on faith, but that the joys and reward we find there are based on something different, namely our works done “in Christ”.
Our starting point is 1 Peter 1.17-19:
Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
When we read about the Father’s judgment, we tend to jump to Revelation 20.11-15:
Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. [...] All whose names were not found written in the book of life were thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the separation of the sheep and goats, the eternal division of those who accepted the message and authority of Jesus Christ from those who did not. Once the sheep have been set aside, I’m suggesting that there is an additional “judgment”, based on these passages from Paul:
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:18-19)
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive what is due them for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Cor 5.10)
Each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved-even though only as one escaping through the flames. (1 Cor 3.10b-15)
That is, once we have been admitted to heaven as sheep in the Father’s judgment, we then face Christ’s judgment for our eternal reward, e.g. the treasure stored up for us based on our conduct and actions “in the body”. This is what I believe John is referring to in Revelation 20:10, where he notes that “the dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”
If admittance to heaven is based solely on our proclamation of faith, then nothing else we have done matters in the first judgment of the sheep and goats. Instead, works are only after we have been saved and admitted to heaven.
In a sense, there *is* a properity gospel, but it’s not the one preached by Osteen et al. It is, instead, one of eternal prosperity: work out the fact of your salvation with good deeds, in fear and trembling, and you not only improve the lot of those around you, but you build up the reward for yourself in the life to come. Those who enjoy riches now to their own pleasure may pass through the fire, but they will lose everything and will be the poorest people in Heaven, while those who forsake pleasure in the body for the work of the Kingdom will be rewarded and elevated to the highest status.
All of which has nothing to do with the purpose of this post, other than to explain my current offline forays into footnotes. In reviewing the texts about Leviathan and Behemoth in Job 41, I noticed a footnote for Job 41:18 that read:
Cool image! But what did they translate that as in the NEB text?
While I’m usually out the door to work before the kids have breakfast, we do have the chance to have dinner together as a family. Part of that time is the dinner prayer. Rather than some great expository proclamation, mealtime prayers tend to be fairly routine, especially when you’re teaching young kids to pray.
