Christian Living

Varying Rewards In Heaven

by Rajkumar Richard
06/25/21
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Christians will be offered varying rewards in heaven (cf. Daniel 12:3; 1 Corinthians 3:14-15). The Bible says all Christians will stand before the judgment seat of God and each of us will give an account of himself to God (Romans 14:10,12). Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth tells the Corinthians, “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.” (2 Corinthians 5:10; cf. Luke 19:17,19).

            Christians need not fear; for during this judgment we will not be relegated to hell (cf. John 5:24; Romans 8:1). God will only judge the Christians to evaluate and offer varying degrees of rewards in heaven (cf. Revelations 11:18).

            It also seems that the sins of Christians would be revealed on the last day for the Lord, “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.” (1 Corinthians 4:5; cf. Colossians 3:24,25). The sins that will be exposed will be exposed as sins that have been forgiven, and thereby there will be the occasion for giving glory to God for the richness of HIS grace.

            While on earth, we, as Christians, should be careful as to how we live, “Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” (1 Corinthians 3:12-15, ESV).

            Even though there will be degrees of reward in heaven, the joy of each person will be full and complete for eternity. If we think that those with greater rewards or higher status would be more joyful in heaven, we are mistaken. For if those with higher status would be more joyful, the apostles and the heavenly creatures would be more joyful than the others. In a state of perfection, this disparity does not seem plausible.

            Millard J. Erickson in his work Christian Theology (Second Edition) offers a useful analogy. He compares the joy in heaven to the varying degrees of pleasure people derive from a concert. The same sound waves fall on everyone’s ears, but the reactions may range from boredom to ecstasy. A similar situation may well hold with respect to the joys in heaven, although the range of reactions will presumably be narrower. No one will be aware of the differences in the range of enjoyment, and thus there will be no dimming of the perfection of heaven.

            What should we do now to gain better rewards in heaven? Gotquestions.org describes this beautifully, “The closer we were to God during this life, the more centered on Him and aware of Him, the more dependent on Him, the more desperate for His mercy, the more there will be to celebrate.”¹

            Last but not the least, can a born-again Christian willfully disobey God and yet expect rewards in heaven? This question does not need an answer per se but a more significant aspect to consider is if a born-again Christian could even think of willfully disobeying God. If a Christian thinks so, would it not question his born-again status?

Endnotes:

¹https://www.gotquestions.org/rewards-in-heaven.html

Content sourced from: Systematic Theology (An Introduction To Biblical Doctrine) by Wayne Grudem and Christian Theology (Second Edition) by Millard J. Erickson.

The website last accessed on 30^th April 2021.