Prelude To An Article On The Judgment Seat Of Christ In 2 Corinthians 5:10

2 responses to “Prelude To An Article On The Judgment Seat Of Christ In 2 Corinthians 5:10”

1. David Garland

   July 29, 2024

   Tom Peter’s exhaustive study of the grammar of 2 Corinthians 5:10 is to be commended. HiS interpretation fits well with Rom 1:24–32 (see my 2021 commentary on Romans). It also undergirds the theological truth that we are saved by faith and not by works.
   The grammar is so problematic, and my 2nd edition commentary on 2 Corinthians (2021) again, as he notes concerning the 1999 edition, fails properly to address it. Tom rightly points that one’s unexamined presuppositions about what the text says tends to predetermine the reading of the Greek grammar. If one assumes the interpretation is correct, one is less likely to probe as exhaustively as Tom has done the grammatical complications.
   However,
   1. the use of the verb to receive κομίζω elsewhere in the NT, except in a narrative context, does tend, in my view, to have eschatological connotations.
   Matt. 25:27; Lk. 7:37; Eph. 6:8; Col. 3:25; Heb. 10:36; 11:19, 39; 1 Pet. 1:9; 5:4
   [Matthew 25:27 (NRSV)
   27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. Luke 7:37 (NRSV)
   37 And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment.]

   Ephesians 6:8 (NRSV)
   8 knowing that whatever good we do, we will receive the same again from the Lord, whether we are slaves or free.

   Colossians 3:25 (NRSV)
   25 For the wrongdoer will be paid back for whatever wrong has been done, and there is no partiality.

   Hebrews 10:36 (NRSV)
   36 For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.

   Hebrews 11:19 (NRSV)
   19 He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

   Hebrews 11:39 (NRSV)
   39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised,

   1 Peter 1:9 (NRSV)
   9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

   1 Peter 5:4 (NRSV)
   4 And when the chief shepherd appears, you will win the crown of glory that never fades away.
   2. It ignores the use of βῆμα in Rom 14:10: “Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
   3. A major glitch in this interpretation, when read in the context of the whole of 2 Corinthians, is that the Corinthians might respond to Paul’s catalogs of his afflictions strewn throughout the letter by saying that his suffering is due punishment in his body for wrongs he has done.
   4. 1 Corinthians 3:11-16 implies an eschatological evaluation of how one has “built on the foundation,” though shoddy building does not affect one’s ultimate salvation. Paul assumes that one’s work will be judged, though one is not saved by them.

   Reply
   1. 

      Tom Peters

      August 5, 2024

      Thank you very much for reading and then responding to my article. It is an honor to have someone with your deep knowledge of the subject take an interest in my article. The fact that you have never previously responded to a blog before is a further mark of distinction.

      Your points regarding the general use of κομίζω as embodying eschatological implications are well taken, although I do not believe they are determinative here. Indeed, the use of the middle voice in 2 Cor. 5:10 denotes the idea of “receiving back for oneself,” which to me suggests a more immediate evaluation. Also, the whole point of a bodily evaluation, as opposed to one’s appearance before a post-death apocalyptic tribunal, is that it is an ongoing process, which, by definition, implies a future component. In other words, I will appear tomorrow before Christ’s judgment seat, Lord Willing, as I am appearing before it today. This, to me, is a quite comforting notion, since the point of Christ’s active involvement in the here and now is to make our existence richer in this life while preparing us for the next. As you point out, we are saved by faith not by works, so that Christ’s judgment seat is not for the purpose of deciding salvation or condemnation.

      Your argument respecting the use of βῆμα in Rom. 14:10 is also well made. Again, though, the term in its general sense seems to imply nothing more than some sort of judicial process. Indeed, one might read Rom. 14:10 (πάντες γὰρ παραστησόμεθα τῷ βήματι τοῦ θεοῦ) as implying an ongoing bodily judgment in this life, which again would, by definition, involve some future as well as a present component. Bear in mind that my article posits nothing about venue for the judgment of non-believers, which would presumably be before the Great White Throne. Here, we can easily find ourselves in some deep waters. Is it possible for non-believers to find their names written in the Book of Life? I point here to Jesus’s statement in Matt. 10:42: “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” There is no indication here that the persons providing the cup of cold water are themselves believers, and what is their reward for doing this?

      As far as the Corinthians reading this to indicate Paul’s punishment for his various wrongs, that is quite possible, though I think, as Furnish suggests, Paul is attempting to make a much larger point here. “The Greek phrase involved here (ta dia tou sōmatos) is textually, syntactically…and also grammatically problematic.” Furnish, 305, reasoned that this lack of clarity suggested that perhaps “Paul intrudes it in order to make a point of some importance to him.” It is also a much broader point than the German theologian Synofzik was advancing, although Synofzik was correct in arguing that Paul’s focus here is on the believer’s body, or the Soma.

      As far as 1 Cor. 3:11-16, it strikes me that Paul is thinking here of one’s work in spreading the Gospel of Christ, as opposed to the far more gritty and comprehensive evaluation of one’s daily behavior. As you indicated, the person is saved, but the person’s works on behalf of the Gospel may not endure. As I point out in my article reflecting on Dr. Jeannine Brown’s recent book on the impact of genres in Biblical interpretation, perhaps the best example we have of Christ’s judgment seat is the episode with the repentant thief on the cross. When Christ said to him, Today, you will be with me in paradise, he did not qualify his statement by adding, Of course, you need to appear before the Great White Throne first and maybe endure some preliminary, intermediate state for an indeterminate period. I don’t wish to be flippant, but I think Christ here is providing us an example for all time what his judgment venue consists of for his followers. The thief became a Christ-follower in the moments before his death and was thus not only saved but also comforted by Christ in this life by Christ’s assurance of his eternal home. No further judgment or evaluation is needed. Indeed, such a judgment would be entirely superfluous.

      The views advanced in my article have broad implications not only for eschatology, but for theology in general. That is why I am trying to persuade some bright young scholar looking to make their mark on the development of Christian doctrine to take up this challenge. Perhaps, they will cut my arguments to pieces, or perhaps not, but in the process, I believe they will broaden our understanding of the lengths Christ goes not only to save us, but to guide and sanctify us in this life. It should also focus the minds of believers on the need for constant reliance on Christ in all that we say, do, think, and feel.

      As I point out in the article, the key to understanding this passage both grammatically and conceptually is the cryptic phrase τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος. This phrase does not, as most commentators other than Furnish, Synofzik and perhaps a few others have assumed, form a pleonasm that essentially repeats the meaning of the following phrase πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν, that is, indicating the believer’s earthly activity. See, e.g., Windisch, Der zweite Korintherbrief , 172, where he concluded that the text’s difficult language (τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν) formed “eine Dublette” (meaning a duplicate, “ein doppelt vorhandenes Stück unmittelbar nacheinander,” Duden.de; that is, a repeated linguistic unit or phrase following directly one after the other; in other words, a pleonasm), and even considered striking one of the two phrases: “man ist versucht, eine der Wendungen als Glosse zu streichen.” He finally concluded, however, that the phrase τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος was simply too difficult (schwierig) not to be the original: “aber τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος ist für eine Glosse zu originell und zu schwierig, und πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξεν wäre auch nicht gerade die nächstliegende Glosse für τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος.” This suggestion of redundancy plagues all the conventional translations of the passage. See e.g., (NIV) “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

      The focus of the phrase τὰ διὰ τοῦ σώματος is on the body, the Soma, of the believer, not in the sense of what the believer does, that is, the believer’s earthly activity, but how Christ interacts with the believer in this life. As with salvation, the forgiveness of sins, redemption, sanctification and nearly everything else in Christian doctrine, what counts for eternity is not so much what we do, but what Christ does on our behalf. It is the same with judgment. As with the repentant thief on the Cross, Christ completes his examination of believers while we are here in this life. The purpose of this examination is not to determine salvation or condemnation (for we are saved not by works but by faith, Eph. 2:8-9) but to guide us to a richer and more fulfilling existence in this life and, likewise as with the repentant thief, to prepare us for eternity. Any further examination in the rather intimidating post-death apocalyptic venue of the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11-15) would thus be superfluous since it would serve no heavenly or earthly purpose. Believers have not only been saved by Christ’s grace, and therefore the possibility of condemnation is no longer at issue, but they have already undergone a full examination of their behavior by Christ Himself. There can be a no more personal or intimate means of interaction or instruction between Christ and his followers than through their Soma.

      Reply