Matthew 25:31-46 provides us with a vivid description of the final judgment and can be a perplexing passage for many of us who hold strongly to sola fide since it seems to imply (in contrast with Paul) that salvation is ultimately by works rather than by faith alone in Christ:
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (vv. 41-46)
Is there a contradiction in the Bible here? Does Paul teach sola gratia, while Jesus teaches works-righteousness? A number of solutions have been offered:
Solution 1: All Good People go to Heaven
This is the Liberal Protestant answer to this question which really isn't much of a solution at all. Those who deny the authority of God's Word, have no difficulty accepting that it contains irreconcilable contradictions because they do not believe that Scripture is Verbally Inspired (cf. 2 Tim 3:16). For many Liberals, the essence of Christianity can be boiled down to being a nice person, following the golden rule and trying to improve society through social reform - in a nutshell it is humanism dressed up in a clerical collar. If they retain a theology of eternal punishment then the criteria for judgment becomes how closely you followed the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. If they don't retain a theology of eternal punishment, it doesn't really matter in the end since hell is an invention of the early church that has been placed in the mouth of Jesus and therefore doesn't really exist.
The Liberal Protestant view interprets "the least of these brothers of mine" (v. 40) as a reference to all people generally.
Solution 2: There Are Multiple Eschatological Judgments
This solution is offered by Dispensationalists who claim that there is not one final judgment, but three. Matthew 25:31-46, they argue, is a judgment for the nations to determine which ones will enter into the thousand year Millennial Kingdom. This appears to solve the problem nicely, since Matthew 25 applies to believers living in another dispensation and does not apply to believers today who are saved by faith alone - (sigh of relief!) According to this view, "the least of these brothers of mine" is a reference to Jewish believers living during the time of the Great Tribulation. The criteria for entering the Millennium in this view, is how the Gentile nations treated the Jewish people during the Tribulation.
Dispensationalists hold that a second eschatological judgment is described in 2 Corinthians 5:10 and is a judgment for reward for Christians. This "Bema Seat Judgment", they say will occur in heaven during the Great Tribulation after the church has been raptured and before the final appearing of Christ (parousia) at the end of the Tribulation.
The third and final judgment is described in Rev 20:11-15 when non-believers will be resurrected and judged and the sheep (God's elect) will be separated from the goats (those who rejected Christ).
Although the Dispensational view seems to offer a plausible explanation to this passage which guards sola fide, it requires that you first accept the presuppositions of the theological system, which in my own view cannot be easily substantiated from Scripture itself. (A subject for another day)
Solution 3: One Final Judgment- Justified by Faith and Judged according to the Evidence
A third view, which I personally think is the best one makes matters very simple when it comes to eschatology. All passages in the New Testament and in the Old Testament prophetic books that refer to judgment are speaking of the same event, which is called the "Great White Throne Judgment" in Rev 20. There will be one eschatological judgment at the end of the age, at which time believers and non-believers will stand before Christ to give an account of their lives. This judgment will consist of an evaluation of both the object of one's faith (whether it was Jesus Christ alone or something else), and the righteous works that have been done during our pilgrimage on earth. The works performed by God's elect will, at this time, be graciously rewarded by the Lord as Paul teaches us in 1 Cor 5.
The answer to the dilemma concerning faith and works as they relate to the final judgment is resolved if one interprets these judgment passages in the light of the entirety of Scripture. The NT teaches two very important truths related to this issue which must both be equally affirmed. Emphasizing Proposition 1 to the exclusion of Proposition 2 leads to the heresy of Antinomianism. Emphasizing Proposition 2 to the exclusion of Proposition 1 leads to the opposite heresy of Legalism:
1) Salvation is a gift of God that cannot be earned. (Eph 2:8-9) We are justified by faith alone in Christ. (Rom 5:1).
2) True and saving faith perseveres to the end. (1 John 2:19) Genuine faith is always accompanied by good works, just as a good tree produces good fruit. (Eph 2:10, James 2:24; Matt 7:17-20) In other words, good works are an indispensible part of the Christian life.
So .... will we be judged on the basis of faith or of works?? The answer to this question is that the good works that the Spirit produces in our lives as believers is the ultimate evidence of saving faith. Works are not the ground of our salvation, but they are the evidence by which we can know whether or not we are truly saved. To put it another way - we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, but we will be judged on the basis of works which validate the genuineness of our faith in Christ. With this in mind, passages like Matthew 25 which stress the importance of good works should not distress us or cause us to drive a wedge between Jesus and Paul - they should cause us to examine ourselves to see whether we are truly in the faith (2 Cor 13:5). They should cause us to strive to make our calling and election sure. (2 Peter 1:10). They should serve as warnings that cause us to be ready for the return of our Lord and so that we will not be among the crowd of false professors on that final day (Matt 7:21-23), or that we would be ashamed at His appearing (1 John 2:28).
No comments:
Post a Comment