On the one hand as Paul has emphasised earlier (14:4,10): God alone is the Judge. Paul is especially concerned to remind Christians that they will be among those who must ‘give an account’ of their behaviour before the sovereign and all-knowing Judge of history. This avoids the stupidity of taking God’s position as ultimate Judge and reminds us that on Judgement Day we are the ones who will face His judgement. Because God is the Judge and we are those who will be judged, ‘Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another’ (14:13). ‘So then, each of us (individually, not in mass) will give an account of himself to God’ (14:12). God has universal jurisdiction (‘every knee will bow before me every tongue will confess to God’). To confirm this Paul quotes Isaiah 45:23: “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me every tongue will confess to God.’” (14:11). God will pronounce ultimate judgement on that day over every believer’s status and actions when ‘each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad’ (2 Corinthians 5:15). We have no warrant to climb the stairs to the bench, place our fellow Christians in the dock, and start pronouncing judgement and sentence, because God alone is Judge and we are not, as we will be forcibly reminded when the roles are reversed. It is to God and not to other Christians that every believer is ultimately liable. We shouldn’t judge because we will ourselves be judged (Matthew 7:1). There is an obvious link between not judging our brother and our having to ‘stand before God’s judgment seat’ (14:10). We come now to the fourth and last reason Paul gives in this section for accepting the weaker brother: welcome him because we will all stand before God’s judgement seat. Whether we’re thinking of the weak or the strong, they are our brothers and sisters. Despising and judging fellow Christians is wrong because we are part of the same family. ‘You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother?’ (14:10). Paul now includes a third reason: accept him because he is your brother. Paul says we must accept the weaker Christian, firstly, because God accepts him (14:2,3) and secondly, because Christ died and rose again to be his Lord (14:7-9).
Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another Romans 14:10-13a So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat.
Day 22 We Will All Stand Before God’s Judgment Seat
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