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The Lord the righteous Judge, is clearly Christ for the context speaks of his appearing. Apart from this passage quoted from Paul, we have Peter saying as to Christ; “He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that he it is who has been determinately appointed of God [to be] judge of living and dead” (Acts 10:42). |
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Certain things should be noted. The Lord is the righteous Judge. This is an essential. Christ speaks of an unjust judge in Luke 18:6. However, Christ has been given the position He has because He loved righteousness and hated lawlessness (Hebrews 1:9). We can be thankful for this. Further, it is God that has made Christ judge. This can be confirmed by other passages of Scripture. Paul said in his address to the Athenians: “God ... has set a day in which he is going to judge the habitable earth in righteousness by [the] man whom he has appointed, giving the proof [of it] to all [in] having raised him from among [the] dead” (Acts 17: 30/31). It is clear that judgment should have a place in our preaching. Often what is spoken of is heaven and hell rather than “judgment about to come” (Acts 24:25). The statement in Hebrews should be noted in this regard: “It is the portion of men once to die, and after this judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). There is no reference to hell (Gehenna) in the preachings in the Acts. The Koran has many references to heaven and hell. Speaking a lot of hell fire may work on people’s imagination, but may not affect them morally. |
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Christ tells us why He has been appointed judge. It is because he is Son of man (John 5:27). He is not one who does not understand us or will overawe us. He is one of us. Job was concerned, because he knew that God was not a man as he was (Job 9, particularly verses 32 and 33). However, God has given us in Christ one that is a man, a man that is his Son. |
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Christ is not just a judge in a limited sense, but his jurisdiction embraces both the living and the dead as Paul says: “Christ Jesus, who is about to judge living and dead” (2 Timothy 4:1). Peter speaks similarly of: “Him who is ready to judge [the] living and [the] dead” (1 Peter 4:5). Apart from these passages we know “we must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of the Christ, that each may receive the things |