If Christians are forgiven, why are we going to be judged?

Question: It says in the Bible that those who are in Christ are free from condemnation. If this is so, why then will we face judgment? And child molesters, rapists, and murderers, are they also free from condemnation when they accept Christ and repent? What sort of judgment might they receive? Will we be judged according to our deeds? What does that mean? Christians say we should be free from guilt and shame and accept the free gift of grace and salvation. Then they say we will be judged. This is confusing to me. Should I fear for my salvation or just believe all is well? And honestly, where’s the justice? For those who lived a life of abuse and neglect, hurt, and shame caused by another, God says He will make things right for us. But if the perpetrator is forgiven completely, where’s justice for the victim?

Answer: There are several judgments mentioned in the Bible. The final judgment is mentioned in Revelation 20:11-15 and is often referred to as The Great White Throne Judgment because it depicts Jesus sitting on a white throne as he carries out this judgment. But only unbelievers are present at this judgment, only those whose names are not found written in the Lamb’s book of life. They are thus judged for not having believed in Christ and they are also judged on their works. This suggests that there are degrees of punishment in hell (see my article on this). Dante, in his book Inferno, sought to describe what these different degrees of punishment looked like, but there are no specific descriptions given in Scripture.

Believers, on the other hand, will appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10):

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Though it may sound as if this determines whether we are saved or not, Paul makes it clear in all his writings, and especially in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, that this judgment is really about determining our reward in heaven. Just as there are degrees of punishment in hell, there are degrees of reward in heaven. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (Romans 8:1). When we believe, we “pass from death to life” (John 5:24).

But your question suggests that for those who have been abused the presence of their perpetrator or any perpetrator in heaven because they repented and were forgiven may compromise your sense of reward. This assumes that the sin of the perpetrator is different in kind than your sin and less worthy of forgiveness. And truly, the sin of the perpetrator is egregious and heinous, having devastated and tortured the life of the victim in extraordinary ways. But we are all also rebels against God’s kingdom and rule. We too have rejected the love and grace of God until He visited us in grace and forgave us. We are equally undeserving of heaven.

Besides, when we are fully enveloped in the love of heaven, we will be able to love the perpetrator the way God loves the perpetrator and the way He loves us. We will be able to say as Christ did, “Father, forgive them.” The perpetrator will be able to acknowledge how deeply and gravely he injured those he abused and seek reconciliation. We have seen a bit of this miraculous transformation in the aftermath of the end of apartheid in South Africa and in the forgiveness offered after the slaughter of Tutsis and Hutus in Rwanda.

There is a need in human beings, generated by the uncompromising love and justice of God, to see justice done and to see hatred quashed. God has figured out a way to do both. If there is not justice for the least infraction, there is no justice. If there is not forgiveness for the worst infraction, there is no forgiveness.