Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Thursday March 18, 2010

www.wenstrom.org

Romans: Romans 14:10b-Each And Every Christian Must Present Himself At God’s Judgment Seat

Lesson # 474

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 14:10.

Last evening we began a study Romans 14:10, which contains two rhetorical questions that are an implicit rebuke of the weak Christian for condemning the strong for his convictions as well as an implicit of the strong Christian for regarding and treating with contempt the weak believer for his convictions.

This evening we will complete the verb by noting the reason why the strong should never despise the weak and why the weak should never condemn the strong, namely, both groups will be evaluated by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church, which takes places immediately after the rapture.

Romans 14:10, “But you, why do you judge your brother?

Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?

For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”

“For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God” teaches that the weak are wrong for condemning the strong and the strong Christian are wrong for regarding and treating with contempt the weak Christian because both will have to give an account to the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church.

“We will all stand before” is composed of the nominative masculine plural form of the adjective pas (πᾶς), “all” and the first person plural future middle indicative form of the verb paristemi (παρίστημι) (pah-ree-sta-mee), “we will stand before.”

The verb paristemi means “to present himself” and is used in a judicial technical sense of presenting oneself at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church, which will be conducted by the Lord Jesus Christ immediately after the rapture.

This is indicated in that the noun bema, “judgment seat,” which was taken from Isthmian games where the contestants would compete for the prize under the careful scrutiny of judges who would make sure that every rule of the contest was obeyed.

The adjective pas refers to “each and every one” every Christian without exception, regardless of their race, gender or social status.

“The judgment seat of God” is compose of the articular dative neuter singular form of the noun bema (βῆμα) (vee-mah), “the judgment seat” and the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (θεός) (thay-oce), “of God.”

The NET Bible makes the following comment, “The judgment seat (βῆμα, bēma) was a raised platform mounted by steps and sometimes furnished with a seat, used by officials in addressing an assembly or making pronouncements, often on judicial matters.

The judgment seat was a familiar item in Greco-Roman culture, often located in the agora, the public square or marketplace in the center of a city.”

The noun appears in Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 for the judgment seat of Christ, which will take place immediately after the rapture of the church as indicated by the fact that Luke 14:12-14 teaches that rewarding a believer is associated with resurrection and the rapture is when the church is resurrected.

Also, Revelation 19:8 reveals that when the Lord returns to earth at His Second Advent to bring an end to Daniel’s Seventieth Week, the church is portrayed as already rewarded.

She is described as dressed in fine linen, which refer to the righteous acts of the saints, a reference to rewards.

Furthermore, 2 Timothy 4:8, 1 Corinthians 4:5 teach that rewards are associated with “that day” and with the Lord’s coming, which refers to the event described in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 that refers to the rapture.

1 Thessalonians 4:17, Revelation 4:2 and 19:8 make clear that the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church will take place somewhere either in the earth’s atmosphere or the stellar universe.

Every passage in the Greek New Testament that is either addressing rewards or the Bema Seat are addressed to believers or church age believers specifically (Romans 14:10-12; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10; 1 John 2:28; 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20; 1 Timothy 6:18-19; Titus 2:12-14).

Old Testament saints are resurrected and rewarded after the church age believers are resurrected and rewarded (Revelation 19:8; Daniel 12:1-2; Matthew 24).

The New Testament writers make clear that Jesus Christ Himself will be the judge of the church (John 5;22-29; Philippians 2:5-11; Revelation 1-2; 1 Corinthians 4:5f; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 John 2:28).

The bema seat of Christ is an evaluation of the Christian’s works to determine if they merit rewards or not.

Eternal salvation is not the issue at this judgment since this was determined the moment the Christian was declared justified through faith alone in Christ alone.

At the Bema Seat, the believer’s sins are never mentioned whether these sins were confessed by the believer on earth or were not since these sins were judged at the cross (1 John 2:12), thus, the Bema Seat is not punitive.

The purpose of the Bema Seat is to evaluate the quality of every believer’s work whether it is good in the sense of acceptable or bad in the sense of being unacceptable.

In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ is evaluated the church every day according to Revelation 2-3.

The Bema Seat Evaluation of the church is a time when those works that the believer performed in the energy of the sin nature will be destroyed (1 Corinthians 3:11-15).

It is a time when the believer will be rewarded for his actions that were empowered by the Spirit and in response to God’s love for him.

The believer who was properly motivated to serve Him and the body of Christ out of love and appreciation for what the Lord did for him will be rewarded at the Bema Seat.

Romans 14:10, “But you, why do you judge your brother?

Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?

For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”

“God” is the articular genitive masculine singular form of the noun theos (qeov$) (thay-oce), which refers to Jesus Christ with emphasis upon His deity as indicated by the fact that 2 Corinthians 5:10 teaches that the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church will be conducted by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Furthermore, John 5:22-29 and Philippians 2:5-11 make clear that He will be conducted all the judgments in history, which would include the Bema Seat.

To summarize our findings from Romans 14:10, we can have seen that Paul poses two rhetorical questions.

The first rhetorical question was addressed to a hypothetical weak Christian and implicitly rebuked them for condemning the strong Christian for his conviction that he does not have to observe the dietary restrictions and honor the special days prescribed by God for Israel in the Law.

The second rhetorical question was addressed to a hypothetical strong Christian and implicitly rebuked them for regarding and treating with contempt the weak Christian who observes the dietary restrictions and honor the special days prescribed by God for Israel in the Law.

Then, Paul presents another reason why the strong should never regard and treat the weak with contempt and why the weak should never condemn the strong, namely, both groups will be evaluated by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Bema Seat Evaluation of the church, which takes places immediately after the rapture.