2 Corinthians 5:6-10

            So we are always confident; even though we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord—for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we do have confidence, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil. (NRSV)

St Paul appears to do something rather alarming here: endorsing an approach to “works righteousness”, the notion that by our own actions we can be saved. This is alarming to Lutherans, because the Lutheran tradition hinges upon Paul’s writings about righteousness coming from God and not our actions.

            Context can help us understand the problem of judgment according to works. Second Corinthians Chapter 5 is the best explanation of forgiveness in the entire bible. Paul explains that in Jesus the Christ God gave up being better than we are—gave up being the one right, over against our being wrong or sinful—so that there would be nothing between us. We are sinners, and in order for that Sin to be sent away God had to let go of it and stop holding it over us. God does that naturally; Jesus the Christ is the sign to us that this is indeed how God works. This is the way all forgiveness works. If someone has hurt you, the relationship cannot heal until you let go of that hurt and no longer hold it against that person. (We know this, because we know how it feels to have our wrongdoings held against us…sometimes for a very long time.)

            Forgiveness feels so good that we’re able to do good things for other people. Forgiveness gives us faith, which in turn understands that forgiveness and receives it all the more, and we’re able to follow God, doing good works out of thanksgiving. (The technical term for this is The New Obedience, in case you’ve heard me use that and have wondered what I meant.)

St Paul can say with confidence that he and the rest of us will be judged according to what we have done in the body, and he can do this because he knows of the forgiveness that he has been given. St Paul ’s life, now lived in the faith of Christ, is a life of New Obedience. So is ours. Our sins have been sent away—they’ve been crucified, died, and been buried—and we rise daily out of baptism, able to live (albeit imperfectly) for the sake of God. It is on that basis that we are judged, and judged by the guy who rigged the whole thing in our favor to start with. God’s judgment is of our Newly Obedient selves, and God is not going to over look the mark of the cross on our foreheads when the time comes.

+ + +
Timothy A. Leitzke