08/28/2023 – Chapter Fourteen excerpts – “God the Judge”
This is my second content post on J.I. Packer’s : “Knowing God” – Copyright @ 1973 – ISBN reference # 0-8308-1650-X. The first was on August 20th. If you are logged on, you can search “Knowing God” and it will pop right up. If you don’t have a logon to the blog and want one, please contact me, “Jimmy” via email at Semikkah7@protonmail.com.
I am going to share two summary excerpts, followed by a question of how we square what appear to be on the surface , two contradictory bible verses. Let scripture testify to scripture. So as an excellent illustration, I conclude with our author’s answer. And perhaps we can generate some prayer, discussion and fellowship from it.
Let’s get started!:
“Often we complain, as the gangster put it (not, in his case, with very good warrant), ‘There ain’t no justice.’ The problem of the psalmist who saw inoffensive people being victimized, and the ungodly ‘not in trouble as other men’ but prospering and at peace (Psalm 73), is echoed again and again in human experience. But the character of God is the guarantee that all wrongs will be righted someday; when ‘the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Romans 2:5) arrives, retribution will be exact, and no problems of cosmic unfairness will remain to haunt us. God is the Judge, so Justice will be done.
Why then, do we fight shy of the of the thought of God as a Judge? Why do we feel the thought to be unworthy of him? The truth is that part of God’s moral perfection is his perfection in judgment. Would a God who did not care about the difference between right and wrong be a good and admirable Being? Would a God who put no distinction between the beasts of history, the Hitlers and the Stalins (if we dare use names), and his own saints, be morally praiseworthy and perfect? Moral indifference would be an imperfection in God, not a perfection. But not to judge the world would be to show moral indifference. The final proof that God is a perfect moral Being, not indifferent to questions of right and wrong, is the fact that he has committed himself to judge the world.” (pg. # 143)
“The Christian view of judgment means that history moves to a goal … Judgment protects the idea of triumph of God and of good. It is unthinkable that the present conflict between god and evil should last throughout eternity. Judgment means that evil will be disposed of authoritatively, decisively, finally. Judgment means that in the end God’s will will be perfectly done. (pg #144. Author references: The Biblical Document of Judgment (pg. #72).”
Ok, here are our two statements from two separate bible verses:
“Jesus said, ‘Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life’ (John 5:24)”
“Paul said, ‘We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad’ (2 Corinthians 5:10),”
“How can these two statements be fitted together! How do free forgiveness and justification by faith square with judgment according to works?” (pgs. # 145 – #146)
“The answer seems to be as follows. First the gift of justification certainly shields believers from being condemned and banished from God’s presence as sinners. This appears from the vision of judgment in Revelation 20: 11-15, where alongside ‘the books’ recording each person’s works ‘the book of life’ is opened, and those whose names are written there are not ‘thrown into the lake of fire’ as the rest are. But, second, the gift of justification does not at all shield believers from being assessed as Christians, and from forfeiting good which others will enjoy if it turns out that as Christians they have been slack, mischievous and destructive. This appears from Paul’s warning to the Corinthians to be careful what lifestyle they build on Christ, the one foundation. ‘If any man builds on the foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work, shall 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 man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames (1 Corinthians 3: 12-15). Reward and loss signify an enriched or impoverished relationship with God, though in what ways it is beyond our present power to know.
Final judgment will also be according to our knowledge. All people know something of God’s will through general revelation, even if they have not been instructed in the law or the gospel, and all are guilty before God for falling short of the best they knew. But ill-desert is graded according to what the best was; see Romans 2:12 and Luke 12: 47-58. The principle operating here is that ‘where a man has been given much, much will be expected of him’ (v. 48 NEB). The justice of this is obvious. In every case the Judge of all the earth will do right.” (pg. # 146)
Soli Deo Gloria!