2 Corinthians 5:1-13

< Back to 2 Corinthians Index


TALKS FOR GROWING CHRISTIANS

The Resurrection of the Body and the Judgment Seat of Christ

BACKGROUND NOTES



DOCTRINAL POINT(S)

  1. Believers should live their lives in view of the resurrection of the body.

  2. Believers should live their lives in view of the Judgment Seat of Christ.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

  1. Are we willing to be called fanatics.

QUESTIONS

  1. Where had Paul written to the Corinthians previously concerning death and resurrection?

  2. What is the biblical view of a believer’s body?

  3. Related to this, what do believers have to look forward to?

  4. Where does a believer go when he dies?

  5. What was the Judgment Seat in Greek culture?

  6. What is decided at the Judgment Seat of Christ?

ANSWERS

  1. 1 Corinthians 15 and 2 Corinthians 4:14

  2. The believer’s body is a tent—a temporary dwelling.

  3. We look forward to our new, resurrected bodies which will be immortal and fit for our eternal live in heaven.

  4. When believers die their bodies go into the grave awaiting resurrection. Their souls and spirits go immediately into the presence of the Lord.

  5. The Judgment Seat, or Bema, was an outside raised platform with a bench or seat on which the judge would sit and review the cases of people gathered down below him. It also served as a reviewing stand for athletic races.

  6. The Judgment Seat of Christ does not determine our eternal destiny. Rather it is a review of our lives as believer. There will be rewards for faithful service.

DISCUSS/CONSIDER

  1. What is your attitude toward your body? Does it line up with the biblical view? How do cultural views of the body affect people’s priorities?

  2. Have you ever studied the Judgment Seat of Christ? Look at this passage as well as Romans 14:10-12 and 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. This can be a very sobering and motivating truth.

CHALLENGE

  1. Are you embarrassed to stand out because of your Christian faith? Or, like Paul, are you willing to be called a fanatic?

KEY VERSES

  • “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” 2 Corinthians 5:1

  • “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8

  • “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” 2 Corinthians 5:10



2 Corinthians, Talks, New TestamentDeb Harms2 Corinthians 5:1-13