20 Bible Verses About Judgement

Hebrews 9:27

“And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”

Reflection: The verse is the first half of a comparison. Hebrews sets Christ’s single offering against the high priest who enters the holy places “every year with blood not his own” (9:25), and the sentence continues: “so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him” (9:28). One death, then judgment, is the pattern the writer uses to explain one sacrifice, then Christ’s return.

Acts 17:31

“because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Reflection: Paul is speaking to the council of the Areopagus in Athens (17:22). He says God overlooked “the times of ignorance” but “now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (17:30), and the fixed day of judgment is the reason he gives. The judge is “a man whom he has appointed,” and the proof offered is his resurrection. At the mention of the resurrection of the dead, “some mocked” (17:32).

Ecclesiastes 12:14

“For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.”

Reflection: The book that says “all is vanity” (12:8) ends with “the end of the matter”: “Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man” (12:13). This verse gives the reason. The judgment reaches “every secret thing,” so deeds no one saw are included, and it covers good deeds as well as evil ones.

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.”

Reflection: Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, and his “we must all appear” includes himself. Just before, he says he would rather be “away from the body and at home with the Lord” and makes it his aim to please the Lord either way (5:8-9). The judgment seat is his reason, and the next verse draws the result: “Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others” (5:11).

Daniel 7:10

“A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened.”

Reflection: In Daniel’s night vision, thrones are set in place and “the Ancient of Days took his seat,” his throne “fiery flames” (7:9). Once the court sits and the books are opened, the verdict falls on the beasts of the vision: the fourth “was killed” and the rest lost their dominion (7:11-12). Then “one like a son of man” comes with the clouds of heaven and is given “an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away” (7:13-14).

Matthew 25:31-32

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

Reflection: Jesus calls the judge “the Son of Man,” the title from Daniel 7:13, and later “the King” (25:34). The sheep are those who fed, welcomed, clothed and visited “one of the least of these my brothers” (25:40). Both groups ask, “Lord, when did we see you…?”, so neither knew whom they had served or neglected. The passage ends: “these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life” (25:46).

Revelation 20:12

“And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.”

Reflection: John sees “a great white throne” from whose presence “earth and sky fled away” (20:11). Two kinds of book are opened: the books recording what the dead had done, and “the book of life.” The dead are judged by the first, and verse 15 turns on the second: “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Jeremiah 17:10

“I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Reflection: The verse before asks a question: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (17:9). Here the Lord replies that he searches the heart and tests the mind. The same Lord who reads the heart repays “according to the fruit of his deeds,” so what a person intends and what he does are both before him.

Psalm 7:11

“God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.”

Reflection: David asks to be judged: “judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me” (7:8). For him the righteous judge is protection, “My shield is with God, who saves the upright in heart” (7:10). The indignation has a target, named in the next verse: “If a man does not repent, God will whet his sword” (7:12).

Psalm 96:13

“…for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.”

Reflection: The psalm opens by calling “all the earth” to sing to the Lord (96:1) and to “say among the nations, ‘The Lord reigns!’”, adding that he “will judge the peoples with equity” (96:10). In verses 11-12 the heavens, earth, sea, field and trees are told to rejoice “before the Lord,” and verse 13 gives the reason: “for he comes to judge the earth.” Much of the psalm appears again in 1 Chronicles 16, where verses 31-33 repeat this call to the heavens, the sea and the trees.

John 3:17-18

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already…”

Reflection: These verses follow John 3:16 and state its purpose: the Son was sent to save the world, not to condemn it. Yet the one who does not believe “is condemned already.” Verse 19 explains what that judgment is: “the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

John 5:24

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

Reflection: Jesus is answering those who opposed him for healing on the Sabbath and for “calling God his own Father” (5:16-18). Two verses earlier he says “the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son” (5:22). The one who hears and believes “has passed from death to life,” in the past tense. The same speech still looks ahead to an hour when “all who are in the tombs” will come out, “those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment” (5:28-29).

John 12:47-48

“If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.”

Reflection: Jesus “cried out” these words in public (12:44). They repeat John 3:17, that he came “not to judge the world but to save the world,” and then add that rejecting his words has a judge of its own: “the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.” The reason follows at once: “For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment” (12:49).

Romans 8:1

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Reflection: “Therefore” follows the end of Romans 7: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (7:24-25). Verse 3 says where condemnation went: God, “by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin,” “condemned sin in the flesh.” The promise is limited to “those who are in Christ Jesus.”

1 John 4:17-18

“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

Reflection: John assumes a day of judgment and speaks of facing it with confidence. The ground is love: “God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (4:16). Fear “has to do with punishment,” and love perfected in a person drives that fear out.

Matthew 7:1-2

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

Reflection: Jesus says this in the teaching he gives on the mountain (5:1). The next verses show whom he means: the one who sees “the speck that is in your brother’s eye” but not “the log that is in your own eye” (7:3). The saying ends with correction that comes after self-examination: “first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (7:5). Luke 6:37 has the same command after “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful,” and adds “forgive, and you will be forgiven.”

Romans 2:1

“Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.”

Reflection: “Therefore” follows the list of sins at the end of Romans 1. The person who agrees with that verdict on others does “the very same things.” Paul goes on: “Do you suppose, O man… that you will escape the judgment of God?” (2:3), “He will render to each one according to his works” (2:6), and “God shows no partiality” (2:11).

James 4:11-12

“Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?”

Reflection: James treats speaking against a brother as a form of judging, and judging a brother as judging the law, which puts the speaker above the law instead of under it. Against that he sets “only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy.” The passage closes with a question: “But who are you to judge your neighbor?”

Romans 14:13

“Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.”

Reflection: The chapter concerns disputes over food and holy days: “let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him” (14:3). Paul’s reason is the coming judgment: “we will all stand before the judgment seat of God,” and “each of us will give an account of himself to God” (14:10, 12). In this verse Paul turns from passing judgment to a different decision, not to put a stumbling block in a brother’s way.

1 Corinthians 4:5

“Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

Reflection: Paul says he cares little about being judged by the Corinthians “or by any human court,” and he does not even judge himself: “I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me” (4:3-4). The command concerns timing, “before the time, before the Lord comes,” when the Lord will disclose “the purposes of the heart.” What each one then receives, in the verse’s last words, is “his commendation from God.”