What Role Do Good Works Play at the Final Judgment?

This is a discussion of the role that good works play in the final judgment. How does justification by faith alone make sense with judgment according to obedience?

[poordoubloon]

You really ought to do a full program on this topic sometime

[hjc]

I think it would be greatly beneficial for you to continue this discussion going through the biblical texts as you mentioned. And perhaps doing a review of the book Four Views on the Role of Works at the Final Judgment by Alan Stanley

[wilwelch]

Smalcald Articles Part III Article 13 touches on the points you've brought up. Luther writes, for example, that "the entire man, both as to his person and his works, is to be called and to be righteous and holy
from pure grace and mercy, shed upon us [unfolded] and spread over us in Christ." Not only are we declared and made righteous through the means of grace but our works are delcared and made righteous t0o by Christ's righteousness. I heard that Dr. Norman Nagel once said that what makes a good work a good work is that God forgives it. Blessings.

[doraashby]

Scripture seems to tell us there are three coming judgements.

1. The Bema Seat of Christ
2. The Judgment of the Sheep and the Goats
3. The Great White Throne Judgement

Questions:

1. Which judgements will Christians be present at?
2. How can I store up treasures in heaven?
3. What does the analogy of wood hay and straw vs. gold, silver and precious stones mean?

[flashthompson]

Bless you for this brother I’ve seen your other videos and have been blessed by those thank you. You’re not alone brother! Stay strong stay bold

[Butterinthefield]

Thanks for this Jordan. I'd be interested to hear you interact with the recent works of Matthew W. Bates and Matthew J. Thomas on these issues. Both have written scholarly books claiming that works have a role in our ultimate justification and salvation, and that they are more than simply demonstrative.

I've always understood it to be that at the end of the day, any work that we have is created for us by Christ, and we are given strength to even do that work by and through Christ anyway, so it is of no merit of our own. This concept, too, is very Augustinian.

Great video.

[mariomene]

2:51 "Romans 2 is hypothetical"

I don't understand how you can argue it is hypothetical when he cites Gentile believers as his example of men who will be justified and repaid eternal life for doing the works of the Law (Ro 2:14, 15, 26, 27), which is nothing other than what he teaches in Galatians 6:6-10. He's making the argument to the Jewish believers in the Roman church because they are stuck on trusting in their Jewishness, and he wants to show them that God will judge based on righteous behavior, so that when Gentile believers perform righteousness (by grace through faith) they will be justified despite their being Gentiles.

I am looking to understand how to balance these two justifications--by faith apart from good deeds, so that it can be a gift, and the last judgment and justification by works of faith.

There is not only a coming judgment at which only doers of good will be justified, but there is also an ongoing assessment of our lives, and those who veer from walking by faith are "condemned" for "sin" (Ro 14:5, 23), because "God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith" (Ro 1:5, 16, 17)--so that "what ever is not of faith is sin".

[LilacDaisy]

Thank you. This is my greatest concern. I just texted an elder about it last night, especially in the light of the "widow" who lives with pleasures, in 1 Timothy. She's DEAD as she lives, and I don't want to be her, but I wonder if I am, because my life is easy, and I'm very prone to laziness.

[psalter]

Interested in you comment "All there is, is a judgement of the righteous things we have done" considering 2 Cor 5:10 which says, "For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil." This seems to indicate to me that our 'bad' works play a role in this judgement too. I have thought of it as a separation between our sin and bad works. Like you said, our sin has already been taken care of, but not all bad works are sin. For example, would God still reward works that on the outside looked good but on the inside were done with wrong motivation that wasn’t sin? Maybe that’s what it means by recompense for evil, that by missing out on the reward if that work was done with pure intentions is in and of its self recompense for evil work? But I am not a theology major, so definitely keen on your thoughts. appreciate you and your content =]

[danielboone]

I’m confused. How can good works be both demonstrative but also play a role in final judgment? God wouldn’t need to look to our works to verify our faith, and if He’s looking at our works in Christ then wouldn’t that be judgment by works to at least some extent?

[EmV-sieu]

From my understanding of Scripture, believers or the elect, more specifically go before the Judgment Seat or Bema Seat of Christ to be judged and we are not judged at the Great White Throne, even though we may be present there!

[billheyn]

Isn't anything that is not a good work consumed by the fire?

[peterw]

Sorry I am asking this question now. Your video was recommended to me three years later.

What went wrong for those Christians that Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7:21? I am calling them Christians because they received great gifts of the Holy Spirit. They prophesied, drove out demons, worked mighty deeds, but they were still called evil doers. Why were their evil deeds still visible to God? And lastly, how do you do God’s will?

[SuperSaiyanKrillin]

As a lay Catholic with obviously no professional theological education or background - I find the Parable/Prophecy of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25 to be the most confusing passage to square with the Faith Alone perspective. It would seem to me that in this parable Jesus had the perfect opportunity to be explicit that we cannot be saved by our works or obedience to the law but that we can only be saved by our faith and trust in him - yet the parable appears to emphasize the completely opposite message. If Christ's intention was to preach Sola Fide - in my opinion he couldn't possibly have preached a more confusing and contrary parable

[johnnyg.]

I'd say that Matthew 25: 31-46 is very clear on the matter. Notice among the "sheep & the goats" BOTH GROUPS ask
"WHEN DID WE SEE I find in interesting that Jesus never asks anything about their personal faith in Him through
Baptism or anything else. Also the Eight Beatitudes play a role here. So I'd say YES good works DO play a significant
role in our lives as Christians FOLLOWING Baptism

[Collin_Brooks]

"Though eternal life is a reward, it does not follow either that we are justified by works, or that works are meritorious of salvation. The undeserved kindness of God appears in the very act of honoring the works which his grace has enabled us to perform, by promising to them a
reward to which they are not entitled. Is a more complete solution of the question demanded? The good works which we perform by the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit, are the fruits of that adoption which is an act of free grace. They are not only unworthy of the smallest and most inconsiderable reward, but deserve to be wholly condemned, because they are always stained by many blemishes; and what have pollutions to do with the presence of God? Though a reward had been a thousand times promised to works, yet it is not due but by fulfilling the condition of obeying the law perfectly; and how widely distant are we all from that perfection! Let Papists now go and attempt to force their way into heaven by the merit of works. We cheerfully concur with Paul and the whole Bible that we are unable to do anything but by the free grace of God, and yet that the benefits resulting from our works receive the name of a reward." - John Calvin, Commentary on Galatians 6

[rogerplested]

In response to this video, I repeat the following assertions contained in Luthers Heidelberg Disputation 1518:
- The works of God (we speak of those that he does through man) are thus not merits as though they were sinless.
- In the sight of God sins are then truly venial when they are feared by men to be mortal.

[TheTrinityDelusion]

Why does Peter instruct born again believers to conduct themselves in fear since the Father will impartially judge them by their works?

[markhorton]

Paul is clear that our works will be tested as with fire. Those whose works burn up like straw are still saved. Those whose works are like gold and silver will be rewarded. We are saved by grace through faith, not by works. Jesus refered to first and last in the kingdom of God. It won't be good and bad. It will be good and even better.