Judgment for Believers

John writes in his first epistle about praying for brothers (any believers) that sin.

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. (1 John 5:16-17)

Now, there is a question among believers what he meant by "a sin leading to death." Is that physical death or eternal? And I don't plan to figure that out for you here. What I want to address is the notion of consequences of sin.

Most of us understand that Christ, on the cross, declared with His last breath, "It is finished!" (John 19:30), and, by that, He meant, "Paid in full." It was done. For all who come to Him in faith, our sins are forgiven from top to bottom. Paul calls it "no condemnation" (Rom 8:1). And that's good news. We won't face the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20) because our names are written in the Lamb's book of life and we're forgiven, cleansed from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). Good news! So does this mean there are no consequences for Christians who sin?

Lots of Christians claim that's so. There is no "judgment" -- the Christianese term we banty about. But I don't think that's quite biblical. So maybe our Christianese needs some tuning.

The author of Hebrews says that "The Lord disciplines the one He loves, and chastises every son whom He receives." (Heb 12:6) That should be sufficient information to prove that there are consequences to our sin even if they aren't eternal consequences. The word there is "sons," so it's not everybody and His action is "chastises," referencing "a whipping," so it's not just "teaching." That should be clear enough, but we can find more. We know about Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11). There is nothing in their story to suggest they were not children of God, but when they lied to the Holy Spirit, they were struck dead. Pretty serious. Paul told about Corinthian believers who took the Lord's Supper "in an unworthy manner" (1 Cor 11:27) so that "many of you are weak and ill, and some have died." (1 Cor 11:30)

Look at that one for a moment. Paul explains why some are weak, ill, and even dead. "When we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world." (1 Cor 11:32) Paul says "we" are judged and he says we are judged "so that we may not be condemned." Thus, there is judgment for a Christian's sin, but not condemnation.

I've written in the past that many think that sin is not that bad. I think that our "Gospel Lite" version that says, "We have no consequences because we're in Christ" isn't accurate. It's not just the "antichrist" Christians (1 John 2:18-19) that underestimate sin. We can, too.

Does God sometimes judge us for sin? Yes. Is some of the suffering we encounter in our lives a corrective? Certainly. Now, Scripture is clear that not all that is unpleasant is just such judgment (e.g., Luke 13:1-5; John 9:3-4), but some is. So, in the end, we must "Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness." (James 1:2-3) That is, while some of our trials may be judgment, not all are, but all are aimed at producing patience which leads to completion (James 1:4), a goal we can joyfully embrace from the hand of God.