Judged so we should not be condemned.

The disciplining judgment of God falls on us so we never will come under the condemning judgment of God.

In comparing John 5:24 and I Peter 4:17 we are not relying on any difference in usage of krisis and krima, the two Greek terms employed, but on the manner in which God's judgment operates under the new covenant.

This present paper has to do with the Judgment Seat (Greek, beema ) of Christ. We have inserted this prelude concerning the deductive approach to theology and seeming contradictions because otherwise some of our readers who know John 5:24 may throw out our entire argument as being unscriptural and irrelevant.

As soon as we begin to discuss the scriptural doctrine of the judgment of the believers, and the necessity for de facto righteousness, some of the believers think we are doing away with the atonement made by Christ. Please rest assured we are not discarding the atonement. Rather, we are placing the atonement in perspective so it does not become an excuse for sin.

Let us turn now to the fourth chapter of I Peter for our study of the disciplining of the saints by the Lord Jesus. Our principal thesis, which is based on Chapter Four, is that the Judgment Seat (beema ) was established when the Lord rose from the dead and has been in session until the present day.

The beema of Christ will remain in session throughout the thousand-year Kingdom Age. It will not be adjourned until after the Judge, the Lord Jesus who is seated on His white throne, makes the final decision as to who is placed in the Lake of Fire and who is brought forward to eternal life in the new world.

And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick [living] and dead. (Acts 10:42)

Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. (Acts 17:31)

The tribulations and sufferings we Christians experience are the judgment of Christ on us—a disciplining judgment leading to repentance and a holy life.

Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; (I Peter 4:1)

The purpose of suffering is to sanctify us, to make us holy. The Christian who does not arm himself to suffer will be caught off guard when fiery trials come on him and may turn away from Christ.

The sufferings of the Christian, if he is following the Lord as he should, are God's judgments on his life: not a judgment of condemnation and wrath but a judgment of discipline to salvation. We are saved by the judgment of discipline. Apart from Divine judgment we remain sinful, self-centered, and otherwise spiritually immature and subject to the authority of the Lake of Fire (Revelation 2:11; 20:6).

To be continued.