When am I acting as the Judge?
Question:
Hello Brother,
I hope you're doing well by God's grace. Thank you so much for your time. Please, I have a question.
On one of the web pages of a church of Christ, the question is asked, "Are my parents lost because they did not practice the things you teach?" The answer given by the writer begins with the statement,
"if you or I even attempt to answer such a question, then we have placed ourselves in the determining judgment seat that belongs to the Lord Jesus."
My question then is this: Am I sitting in the judgment seat if I say or think that because a person was not in the church and died, he or she won't be saved? Or if I say because someone was in an adulterous marriage until death, that person will not be saved? If I can clearly see disobedience and no repentance and conclude that a person won't be saved because of that, am I sitting in the judgment seat?
Thank you.
Answer:
There are two basic flaws in the original question:
- "They do not practice the things you teach." This assumes that what I teach is 100% accurate and it implies that whatever I teach is used by God for judgment. Neither is true. Everyone sins, including preachers (Romans 3:23). While the apostles and prophets were inspired by God, that revelation of God's will has stopped (Jude 3; I Corinthians 13:8-10).
- "Are my parents lost?" This assumes that people don't change. While Paul condemned various sins (I Corinthians 6:9-10; Galatians 5:19-21) and it is proper to say that people who remain in those sins will not reach heaven, I cannot apply it to any individual. I don't know if "Joe" might not change his mind in the future. I'm not aware of all the reasons why a person made the choices that he made. I don't know whether God will apply mercy in some cases.
Thus, I can say that the saved are in the church (Ephesians 5:23) and that if you are not in the church, then you are among the lost. But I don't know everything a person has done in his life. The Thief on the Cross is a good example of this. On the surface, one would conclude that a thief sentenced to death for stealing would not make it to heaven, but Jesus said he would be in Paradise that day.
In other words, I can teach what God said about sin and what it does to a person's eternal circumstances, but I stop short of deciding whether any individual will be in heaven or hell because that is God's decision.
