Last Judgment

Definition and Meaning

The Last Judgment is the doctrine that at the end of the world, at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, all people will be judged before God. It is one of the central themes of Christian eschatology, the teaching concerning the last things. According to this doctrine, the judgment results either in eternal life or in eternal punishment, that is, in heaven and hell. The Catholic Church calls it the "general judgment," distinguishing it from the "particular judgment" that each person undergoes immediately after death.

Biblical and Historical Background

In the Old Testament, Daniel 12:2 states that "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." The principal New Testament passages are the parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46, 2 Corinthians 5:10, and the vision of the "great white throne" in Revelation 20:11-15.

The early church incorporated this teaching into its confessions of faith. Examples include the line in the Apostles' Creed, "from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead," and the corresponding article of the Nicene Creed. After the Reformation, Protestants addressed the relationship between justification (being declared righteous through faith) and judgment. Protestant traditions generally hold that believers, too, will stand before the judgment seat but will not be condemned, and that their works serve as the measure that reveals the fruit of their faith or determines their rewards. The Westminster Confession of Faith treats the Last Judgment in its final chapter, Chapter 33.

Practice and Denominational Differences

Differences among denominations appear chiefly in how they understand the millennium.

• Premillennialism: Because this view places the millennial kingdom between the resurrection of the saints and the resurrection of the rest of the dead, it often describes the judgment as occurring at separate times. Dispensationalism in particular treats the "judgment seat of Christ," at which the saints' rewards are determined, and the "great white throne judgment," which unbelievers face after the millennium, as distinct events.
• Amillennialism and postmillennialism: These views see a single general judgment in which all people are judged together at the Second Coming.

Emphases also differ with regard to the assurance of salvation. The Calvinist tradition teaches, on the basis of the perseverance of the saints (the doctrine that true believers are preserved to the end), that believers need not fear the judgment. Methodist and Holiness churches that follow Wesleyan theology tend to preach on judgment in the context of calling believers to holy living.

In Korean Protestant churches, congregations reaffirm this doctrine by reciting the Apostles' Creed in worship, and it is a frequent subject of sermons during Advent, at New Year's Eve watch-night services, and at revival meetings. Within Korean Presbyterianism, both historic premillennialism and amillennialism have been taught, while dispensational explanations are reportedly widespread among Korean Pentecostal churches and some Baptist and independent churches. Citing Matthew 24:36, many Korean denominations have warned against so-called date-setting eschatology, which fixes and proclaims a specific date for the Second Coming and the judgment.