Does everyone deserve God's judgment?
In the honest witness of Scripture, yes: all have sinned and fall short of God's glory, the wages of sin is death, and every mouth is silenced before God. No one is righteous on their own, so judgment is not arbitrary but just. Yet this verdict is not the end of the story: it is the very verdict for which Christ died, and there is no condemnation for those who are in Him.
This question arose from studying What is sin, and where did it come from? and What does it mean to be made in God's image?.
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What the Scripture says
The diagnosis reaches everyone
Paul is not gentle with us about our condition: 'all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.' The psalmist says there is no one who does good, not even one, and Isaiah has us all confess: 'All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way.' This is not a few bad people; it is the diagnosis of the whole world.
for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
They have all gone aside. They have together become corrupt. There is no one who does good, no, not one.
All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The verdict is just, not arbitrary
God's judgment falls on every mouth and silences it: the whole world is accountable to God, and none has an excuse. David, after his own great sin, said his sin was 'against you, and you only... that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.' The judgment that rightly falls on sin is what a holy God must do; it is not cruelty but justice. The wages of sin is death.
Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.
Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
No one escapes by comparison
It is tempting to hope we escape judgment because we are not as bad as others. Paul dismantles that: whoever judges another condemns himself, for the same things are practiced. And Jesus said that not everyone who calls Him 'Lord' will enter the kingdom, but the one who does the will of His Father, and to those whom He never knew He will say, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.' We are not saved by being better than someone else; none of us is righteous enough on our own.
Therefore you are without excuse, O man, whoever you are who judge. For in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.
Do you think this, O man who judges those who practice such things, and do the same, that you will escape the judgment of God?
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Then I will tell them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.’
The judgment is real, and its end is solemn
Revelation does not soften the outcome: the dead stand before the throne and are judged by what is written in the books, and 'if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.' John adds that whoever does not believe 'has been judged already,' and Hebrews that after death comes judgment. These are not words meant to frighten us into denial but to be honest about the stakes.
I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
And that verdict is what grace answers
The point of the verdict is not despair but the cross. Because we all deserve judgment, God did what we could not: 'God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.' For those who are in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation: He who knew no sin became sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. And Paul says we are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, so that God is both just and the justifier. The judgment is real, and it has been carried by Another for all who trust Him.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus;
to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
As you read, you may wonder…
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Verses to meditate on
for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
Against you, and you only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
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