Monday, July 25, 2022

Justin Martyr, First Apology 12: All, not just non-Christians, to be Judged at the Bema Seat

In First Apology 12, Justin wrote that "each man goes to everlasting punishment or salvation according to the value of his actions (Gk: αἰωνίαν κόλασιν ἢ σωτηρίαν κατʼ ἀξίαν τῶν πράξεων)" (ANF 1:166).

 

According to Leslie William Barnard in St. Justin Martyr: The First and Second Apologies,

 

Justin puts the judgment, when men and women will be judged before the throne of God according to their deeds, immediately after the second advent or at the close of the millennium. Every person—the living and the dead—reaching as far back as Adam will appear before the great assize. As Isaiah was sawn asunder so will Christ divide the human race at the judgment (Dial. 120). (St. Justin Martyr: The First and Second Apologies [trans. Leslie William Barnard; New York: Paulist Press, 1997], Logos Edition)