Are Christians Really Immune from Hell at the Bema Seat?

There are many who say that Christians are immune from hell when they face Christ on His judgment seat. Many of these make an alleged distinction between the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation chapter 20 and the Bema Seat of Christ Judgment which (they say) only Christians will face. They claim that the Bema Seat Judgment only deals with rewards for service rather than punishment for sin. The implication in this is that Christians who practice sin won’t go to hell for doing so like others will. This is of course a great delusion. No one got this wacky, devilish doctrine from the Bible. We will eventually get to where this delusional concept actually came from and how it got to be so popular.

The Greek word “bema” is actually used several times in the Greek text of the New Testament to describe the judgment seat of Roman rulers (see Matthew 27:19, Acts 18:12, and Acts 25:6 for examples). Since Christ is a judge who sits on His throne, and all will face Him in judgment, then everyone will stand before the Bema Seat of Christ. There is therefore no good reason to distinguish between the Bema Seat of Christ Judgment and the Great White Throne Judgment.

The Bema Seat of Christ Judgment is not only for Christians; and no one is immune from being sentenced to hell when they stand before Christ in judgment.

Those who claim that a sexually immoral professing Christian will merely lose rewards in eternity and have regret over this at the Bema Seat of Christ, rather than being sent to hell there for dying in unrepentant sin, are deceived and speaking deceitfully. Revelation 21:8 and many other places in the Bible state directly (and many other passages obviously imply) that those who die unrepentant over sexual immorality and/or in any other transgression of God’s law will go to hell.

The concept that anyone can just accept Jesus’ blood as payment for their sins without turning from their sins and submitting to God’s authority is really just repackaged Satanism. Those who are more blatant and straightforward in teaching this will even say that a person can live like the devil and be saved.

The claim that someone who really repents and submits to Jesus’ Lordship can’t possibly turn away from Him afterwards and end up lost is also a great delusion.

Look at the two places where the word “bema” is actually used in the Greek text of the New Testament in reference to the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Romans 14:9-12: “For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living. But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment (bema) seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”

There is nothing in Romans chapter 14 teaching that the weaker brother or the stronger brother is living in sin. This is not teaching then that sinners should be tolerated in the church (1 Corinthians chapter 5 directly teaches the opposite). This is also not a command to not tell Christians who are doing evil that they are on track to go to hell (Paul and the other Apostles gave such warnings repeatedly- including in the Book of Romans itself in Romans 6:16, 6:21, 8:13, etc). In its context, Romans chapter 14 is a warning not to judge a brother in Christ in a matter that isn’t a blatant matter of right and wrong according to the Bible’s whole counsel.

2 Corinthians 5:8-11: “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment (bema) seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.”

Paul and Timothy were confident that they were ready to go and be with the Lord at death, and confident that they would be raised to a favorable Judgment Day, because they were currently suffering to be in line with the Word of God. Yet since it requires continued labor in order to continue in a living faith in Christ, they had to continue to labor to continue in a living faith in order to remain ready to be accepted by Him. Note also the association of the Bema Seat of Christ with “the terror of the Lord” which all men are endangered by. The concern here is about a lot more than loss of rewards.

There is absolutely nothing in these passages teaching that a Christian who returns to practicing sin, and dies in sin, isn’t going to be sent to hell at the Bema Seat of Christ.

All of the unconditional security and guaranteed perseverance preachers will tell Christians that the warnings in the Bible about eternal damnation don’t apply to them. The Apostles of Christ on the other hand told the Christians in their churches the very opposite (authentic ones whose valid conversion was not in doubt). They even stressed this over and over again.

Ephesians 5:5-8: “For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Be not ye therefore partakers with them. For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light…”

Being a child of light doesn’t guarantee that one will not return to darkness nor make one immune from being excluded from God’s kingdom if they do so. We also see by Ephesians 5:5 that the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of God are one and the same. This is another evidence that Jesus is God. It is also a proof against the theology of Dispensationalism- since Dispensationalism distinguishes between the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of God.

And if you think this might be a hint about where the delusion concerning the Bema Seat of Christ comes from, you are right. More on that soon.

Romans 11:17-22: “And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.”

How can you lose eternal life? That is simple. Be cut off from the root of eternal life. Jesus gave a similar illustration in John 15:1-6.

The warning to Christians in Romans 11:17-22 is based on the truth already established in the Book of Romans that Jews who reject Jesus Christ are not among the remnant which are in God’s grace. It is no wonder that many who don’t believe this warning also wrongly believe that Jews who reject Jesus Christ are an alternative people to faithful believers in Jesus which God also considers His people. And it is no wonder that this error is also a key concept of Dispensational theology.

The teachings that the Bema Seat of Christ is only a judgment for Christians and Christians need not fear being sent to hell there indeed stem from Dispensational theology.

Other foundational and popular concepts of Dispensationalism are that Christians aren’t bound by God’s moral law, that God has a separate covenant with Jewish people who reject Jesus that is distinct from His covenant with faithful believers in Jesus, and the pre-tribulation rapture.

As with these, the misrepresentation of the bema seat was made somewhat notable by John Nelson Darby in the mid-19th century- and then made very popular by Cyrus Scofield’s Scofield Reference Bible in the early 20th century. This evil book gained a foothold in American seminaries. Dispensationalism’s demonic doctrines were soon being taught in churches everywhere and quickly came to be erroneously labeled as sound doctrine.

A related concept of Dispensationalism is the 5 crowns delusion. The Bible does not teach that the incorruptible crown, the crown of rejoicing, the crown of righteousness, the crown of glory, and the crown of life which it speaks of are different crowns. It also does not teach that these crowns have only to do with rewards and not salvation itself. With the exception of the crown of rejoicing, which is obviously spoken of figuratively, there is no good reason to believe that the other four crowns are not one and the same crown which is directly linked to enduring on the narrow way to life in Christ and inheriting eternal life instead of being condemned to the lake of fire.

The presumption involved in Dispensationalism is vast. It is no wonder that promoters of Dispensationalism have to resort to drawing elaborate charts and talking for hours just to try to explain one of their delusional concepts.

The idea that winning a crown could not be equal to inheriting salvation, because salvation is a free gift, implies that God is a debtor to man if man submits to Him and obeys Him. This is devilish reasoning. The Bible teaches that salvation is free because we cannot atone for our own sins nor do anything else to work our way into God’s favor. There are still terms for obtaining His grace and remaining therein. We are still required to submit to God’s authority and cooperate with His goal of rescuing us from our sins through Jesus Christ. Doing so is not paying a price to Him which makes Him one’s debtor. That is because He has a legitimate right to every individual and we are all bound to His commandments anyways.

Matthew 22:15-21: “Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not? But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny (i.e. a denarius- about a day’s worth of pay for the common man then). And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar’s. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are God’s.”

The only place in the Bible where those who say a Christian’s judgment only involves rewards or the lack thereof might go to, and seem like they might have a case, is 1 Corinthians chapter 3.

1 Corinthians 3:11-15: “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.”

Some will go to these verses and say “see, a Christian who practices sin will be saved- yet he will lose everything as someone who has lost everything by fire.” Yet 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 is dealing with Gospel ministers who lived righteously yet were ineffective as Gospel ministers.

1 Corinthians 3:8-9: “Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.”

There is also a very high bar for being an effective Gospel minister. Those who teach easy grace and have a degraded view of salvation don’t properly regard that. They would also label a faithful minister of the Gospel a heretic if they knew of one.

The verses that follow 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, along with many other places in 1 Corinthians and the Apostles’ other epistles, show that Christians who morally corrupt themselves and others will indeed experience God’s wrath directly upon themselves.

1 Corinthians 3:16-17: “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.”

Whenever you hear someone telling others (no matter who they are) that practicing sin won’t send them to hell, just remember the Serpent in Genesis telling Eve that she would not surely die if she transgressed God’s authority and ate from the forbidden tree. That is who they are speaking on behalf of.