Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment. (Heb 9:27 NIV)
This is perhaps the most commonly-cited "proof-text" against the Latter-day Saint belief in posthumous salvation. The argument is that one is judged at death and their eternal destiny is forever settled, so there is no opportunity, even for those who never heard the gospel in their mortal life, to accept or reject the gospel. Such an interpretation is problematic for a number of reasons. For instance, this passage never makes such a declaration, instead, it only states that judgment (read: final/eschatological) comes at some point after death. If man's final judgment took place at the moment of death, why would Peter say, "for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit?" (1 Pet 4:6; cf. 1 Pet 3:18-20)? Further, texts such as Rev 20:11-13 reveal that the final/eschatological judgment takes place at the time of the resurrection of mankind. One should also consider texts such has Matt 19:28 (cf. Luke 22:30) where the Twelve Apostles will play a role in the judgment of the Twelve Tribes, and 1 Cor 6:2-3 where Paul promises faithful Christians that they will judge the world/κοσμος as well as angels.
In 2014, Stephen Jonathan released a book entitled Grace Beyond the Grave: Is Salvation Possible in the Afterlife? (Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf & Stock). This is a book I would recommend (I have not seen any LDS engagement with this rather solid volume). Many texts that are often cited as negating posthumous salvation are cogently answered therein. On pp. 89-90, Jonathan presents an answer to his fellow Evangelical Protestants who cite Heb 9:27 as biblical evidence against such a theology:
The context of Heb 9:27 is the unique sacrifice of Christ . . . Christ’s sacrifice was unlike the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament in that he did not need to offer himself again and again. Rather, he has “appeared once for all” (v. 26) to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Then the author then introduces verses 27-28 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” The point of this verse is to illustrate the once-for-all aspect of the work of Christ, as opposed to the unfinished nature of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and it not a reference to personal eschatology . . . The writer of Hebrews uses this reference to show that human death is a once-for-all occurrence as a consequence of sin, so too Christ died once-for-all to take away the sins of many people. The phrase “and after that to face judgment” is often interpreted to mean immediately after death humans experience judgment, thereby ruling out the opportunity of post-mortem salvation. Boyd, however, contends that this “reads too much into the text.” He continues, “While this verse certainly rules out reincarnation, it does not rule out the possibility of intermediate events between death and judgment.” (Gregory A. Boyd and P.R. Eddy, Across the Spectrum: Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology, 188) He also reminds us that most evangelicals agree that there are other events between death and judgment, such as, Christ’s return and the bodily Resurrection, and the post-mortem view merely adds one more event or process, namely, the evangelization of the previously unevangelized. This passage offers no timescale as to how long after death that judgment comes, thereby failing to link death with loss opportunity, which is commonly taught in evangelical circles.
