This Scripture reflection is set up slightly different than what you are used to. We are not dealing with a specific text, but a Biblical theme: the wages for believers. Because of the chosen setup, this reflection will take a bit more study and perseverance than usual.

But in this case that seemed warranted to us.

The reason for this article is the way that the wages for God’s children are described in a bestseller that quite a few Reformed people have read: Deadline, by Randy Alcorn.

The book has a clear purpose. Randy Alcorn has researched what Scripture says about life after this life, and in this novel, you will find the results of his findings. Alcorn finds it important to publish his opinions; he is the founder and director of ‘Eternal Perspective Ministries’.

Alcorn’s speaking about the wages which believers receive after this life has great ramifications for the practice of, and the motivation for our lives as Christians.

Via the electronic highway I received a few contributions from Alcorn, which give clarity to the theological background of his book Deadline.

In particular, an article titled Eternal Rewards is important in this regard. In summary, it comes down to the following.

Alcorn’s View of a “dual judgment”⤒🔗

On the final day of this world, there will be a dual judgment over our lives: one about our faith (which is decisive for our eternal salvation) and then one over our works (which is decisive for our wages). Our salvation is a gracious gift of God.

By the second judgment, about our works, God will pass by our sins. He will only look at our positive intentions and deeds, and will reward these, including the smallest deeds. What we have done during our life here on earth will determine the position and the honour that we will receive in eternal life. There will be a clear distinction between the Christian who has served the Lord during his entire lifetime, and the Christian who is saved from a selfish life on his deathbed.

Because the wages are not determined according to our faith, but according to what we do, Alcorn comes with a list of deeds which are especially rewarded by the Lord. They determine your welcome in the heavenly tents. It is not equally rich for every believer.

Because after our dying there is no ‘second chance’ to obtain an even more glorious position,

we must spend every effort to build up credit. There is, according to Alcorn, an eternal link between our service for Christ here on earth and our life later in heaven. With our dying, our life changes places, but there is no essential discontinuity between our life here and there.

We reap in heaven what we have sown on earth.

Also in Deadline ←⤒🔗

This thinking is also found in DEADLINE. I will point to a few passages.

• A believer who died and now is in heaven (Finney), hears (these words are even placed in the Lord’s mouth): ‘and one day, when the time is right, I will give you a place of service, a place you have earned by serving me in the dark world’ (page 51; italics mine).
   
• Of the main character (Jake), who eventually repents and then comes in a situation where he feels his death coming closer, it is said: ‘And yet he still experienced that strange peace, and he knew that his entry into the next world had already been paid with the shed blood of Someone else. In his last weeks on earth, he had done a few things, that had pleased the Someone, whose opinion really mattered’
   
• To explain his view of the difference between the effect of Christ’s work and our work Alcorn writes, ‘The fulfilled work of Jesus on the cross had purchased a house for him. His first true Christian baby-steps had already been stored up as reward to decorate the house with.’
   
• What this thinking leads to becomes clear when in heaven, Finney is told: ‘You have written your life story on earth. Now you read it yourself for the first time. People who handle their life with care, will enjoy reading this, just like you enjoy good books more than bad books. People, who have shaped their life according to a plan and a goal, have written books with enduring quality and depth. People who did not do this, can only look back to some hastily scribbled notes. They will look superficially at the faults and weak points (in their life) and wish that they had given it greater care. Of course, now nothing can be changed anymore. The deadline is past, it is the latest edition.’

The same idea is developed very explicitly later in the book when an angel in heaven has a conversation with Finney.

If someone in the world did not want to do what God desired of him, the angel says, then it is unavoidable that his capacity for understanding in heaven will be smaller. Many people do not realize this. They fill their spirit with things that are not of God, which causes their life to become unsatisfactory and without meaning. When they come into heaven, they are completely covered with Christ’s blood, for otherwise they would not come here at all, but they are dreadfully ill-prepared. Earth, after all, is the womb of heaven. The lives of God’s children continue, from the old to the new realm. What in that world was done is of great importance for this (new) world. In this realm, all people must be suited anew, and some are better prepared than others. It is not a matter of forgiveness. It is a matter of the choices that you made after your forgiveness, in what you invested in your life: in earthly treasures or in heavenly treasures. Forgiveness was the beginning of the story, but not the end. Forgiveness does not annihilate the law that you reap what you have sown, and neither the reality of choice and consequence. It does not wipe out your life in the other world, and it does not make the choices you made there irrelevant. The earth was the dress rehearsal for heaven. Or rather: it was the first act of the large play itself. And as such, whatever happened here on earth has eternal value.

Retribution According to Works Done←⤒🔗

Is this indeed what Scripture teaches?

Scripture certainly teaches that the Lord will repay us according to our works. This truth cannot be polished away without doing severe damage to the message of the Bible. But then it is about something else than what Alcorn is trying to have us believe.

1. Scripture does not know of a ‘judgment of our works’ as a second judgment for the believers after the judgment of their acquittal for Christ’s sake. Scripture knows only one judgment: it is for man to die once and after that ‘the judgment.’
    
2. When Scripture speaks of ‘wages’ and of ‘payment for works,, it is not about a judgement that is only for believers, and where their measure of glory is determined, but it is about a judgment in which a separation is made between believers and unbelievers, the righteous ones and the godless ones, the sheep and the goats (compare Psalm 62:10-13; Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 22:12-15).
    
3. Further, with those wages and that payment it is not about separate deeds which we, as it were, did on top of our faith, and which are determining for the ‘extra dressing’ of our eternal life. According to Alcorn, we receive eternal life by faith, and our wages consist of extras which we receive. But when Scripture speaks about our wages and about what we reap, it is about our whole life in faith and very specifically ‘eternal life’ is mentioned: whoever, for the Lord’s sake, gives up all kinds of things, will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:29); whoever sows the field of the flesh, will reap corruption; whoever sows the field of the Spirit, will reap eternal life (Galatians 6:8). God will repay everyone according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, he will give eternal life (Galatians 2:6-7). So, with the wages, it is not about extras, but about eternal life itself, and about the inheritance of God’s kingdom (Matthew 5).
    
4. The separation which Alcorn presents between faith and works is not supported by Scripture. Scripture always speaks about the works of faith. Without works faith is dead (James 2:14-26). And those works are not loose deeds, but infallible fruits of faith: service to Christ (Matthew 25:40; Mark 9:41); sacrifices made in Jesus’ name (Matthew 19:29); perseverance in persecution for Christ’s sake (Matthew 5:11-12)

No Earnings←⤒🔗

We saw that Alcorn speaks about the place which we ‘earn’ by our deeds. Our salvation we receive out of grace, but our wages (i.e., the concrete position and measure of glory which we receive in heaven) we earn with special deeds.

In contrast, we will just point out a few things here:

1. In the relationship between God and us, the idea of merit does not fit in any way. When Christ calls God our Father when he speaks about God who will ‘reward’ us for the things we do, not so that people would see it, but in secret (Matthew 6). The relationship with him is not that of a contractor and his master, but a covenant relationship: He is Father, and what He gives His children is out of grace.
    
2. Even when Scripture calls us ‘servants’ of the Lord, every thought of earnings is excluded. A worker earns, but not a servant - not even a ‘Thank you’ (Luke 17:7-10). And this teaching of the Lord contrasts even more strongly with Alcorn’s ideas when we see that Christ’s rebuke follows the request of the disciples: please increase our faith (Luke 17:5). Exactly the desire for extras above the faith makes Christ say: what do you want to earn? Even when you make a real effort, you have only done what was your duty as a servant (Luke 17:10).
    
3. Of ‘earnings’ we also cannot speak, because the good deeds which we do are the fruit of God’s work in us, and which are given to us by Him (1 Corinthians 4:7; Galatians 2:20, Ephesians 2:10; Philippians 1:6; 2:12-13; 4:13; Revelation 19:8). ‘I worked harder than any of them’, says Paul, ‘though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me’ (1 Corinthians 15:10).
    
4. The word ‘earning’ dies on our lips when we hear the Lord Jesus speak in a ‘wage passage’ about receiving a hundredfold, and in the age to come eternal life (Mark 10:30): that does not measure up at all to what we have brought! Who dares to speak of earnings here?
    
5. But ‘receiving a hundredfold’ – does that not indicate that differences in effort here on earth will be rewarded a ‘hundredfold’ in the future? Will there not be a difference, such as Alcorn described, between those who spend their whole life serving the Lord and him who came to the Lord on his deathbed? Whoever thinks that should continue reading the parable in Matthew 20 that follows Christ’s words about the ‘reward’ of eternal life (Matthew 19:27-30).
   
   The Lord continues speaking in Matthew 20 with the parable of the workers in the vineyard: there are those who have worked the whole day in the heat of the sun, and there are those who were hired at the eleventh hour; but they all receive the same: a shilling. And when they mutter about that, the master of the vineyard says: Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you angry because I am generous (Matthew 20:15)? Also here, there are no earnings for deeds done.
    
6. Alcorn strongly emphasizes the link between life here on earth and life later in heaven. That link is there. Whoever believes in the Son, does not receive life, but has it already; he or she has already moved from death to life. And whatever work is done in the Lord, is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58, Revelation 14:13). But I add immediately to this that, in my view, Alcorn underestimates the discontinuity between life here and our life later; it does go through the fire of God’s judgment over all sins (2 Peter 3). And sin is into everything, and very deep! In Alcorn’s own words: even the life-story of the most holy (people) will then turn out to be just a ‘scribble.’

Getting Better from this Yourself?←⤒🔗

The danger of Alcorn’s view seems to me, that we will start to work again to build up credit and to become better from this ourselves: a better life in heaven. That is a different yoke than that of Christ, who gives rest and makes us gentle (Matthew 11:28-30).

Scripture teaches us to abhor all selfishness. Whoever believes, must prepare for oppression and persecution: those are the ‘wages’ that you receive in the world (Matthew 5:11-12; Mark 10:30; 2 Timothy 3:12). Whoever believes, exhibits ‘selfless’ love (Matthew 5:44-47; 6:1, 5, 16; Luke 14:12-14). Those who are rewarded by God, are those who have not even thought about wages: their left hand did not know what their right hand was doing (Matthew 6:3), and they are very much surprised when they hear what they did for Christ (Matthew 25:37-39).

Whoever believes, does not have as their goal to become better from this themselves: he lives and dies for the Lord (Romans 14:7-8). He wants to serve and please the Lord (Colossians 1:10). And his wages are the affection and approval of God (Proverbs 3:4). The LORD is his portion (Psalm 16:5-6). And beside this he desires nothing. Not on earth, and not in heaven (Psalm 73:25-26).

Differences in Heaven←⤒🔗

Will there not be any differences at all then in heaven? Will we all be exactly the same there?

There will definitely be differences. There will be individual differences: Abraham is also in heaven recognizable as Abraham (Luke 16:23) and Elijah as Elijah (Matthew 17:3-4). We will recognize ethnic differences: it will be a multitude of people from east and west and north and south (Luke 13:29), from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages (Revelation 7:9). There will also be functional differences: the twelve apostles have a specific task (Luke 22:30; Revelation 21:14).

We will all keep our individual identity (‘this my flesh’ will be raised – Lord’s Day 22 of the Heidelberg Catechism, Book of Praise). Our works will follow us: there is continuity between the life here and our life later. We will all have our own place and task in the service of the Lord. But that is not a matter of earning (something)! There will not be any ranks and positions of Christians. There will not be a difference between ‘regular Christians’ and ‘Christians with something extra’. Whoever professes the Son, receives the Father; nothing more, nothing less! And whoever has the Son, has life: nothing is lacking for them!

But does the Bible not speak of servants of the Lord who have been given authority over five cities and some who are set over ten cities (Luke 19:17-19)? Is that not a difference? Yes, it surely is. But in this it is not, as Alcorn is trying to have us believe, about a reward for individual and extra good deeds that they have done above their faith, but it is about the reward of their whole life’s work that they have done in God’s strength and with the gifts that God gave to them. That (outcome) is different for every person. And therefore, the reward is also different - not as earnings, but instead a crown which God gives out of grace, together with and rewarding what the Spirit has accomplished in their lives.

But the builders on God’s church foundation then? Will the fire not bring to light if someone has worked with gold, silver, stone, or straw? And will they then not receive different wages (1 Corinthians 3:12-15)? That is also true. But of what kind of wages are they? Are they an extra reward for the builder himself? Or are they the appreciation of the Lord and the joy for the blessing you may see on your labour? When you read what Paul has written, then you will realize that they are the latter. My crown and joy are you, he says to the congregation at Philippi (Philippians 4:1; compare with 2 Corinthians 1:14). The wages which Paul longs for do not consist of an extra fancy place in heaven for him, but in the joy of the Lord over his work, and in his own future joy in the Lord and in His work, also because of Paul’s labour. Then he does not have to be afraid that later he will be confronted with his sins and ‘dark deeds.’ Those will be burned in the fire.

But then what about the hell? Will there not be a difference in punishment between those who knew less and those who knew more about the will of the Lord (Matthew 11:20-24; Luke 12:47-48)? Yes, that is true. But faith is not the ground for our acquittal in the same way as unbelief is the ground for the judgment for the unbelievers. Faith is the gift of God, while unbelief is our own rebellion.  In the same way the difference in punishment in hell cannot be raised as an argument for a difference in reward in heaven. The difference in punishment goes back to God’s justice. But the reward God gives us in eternal life is fully the fruit of His grace.

Wages←⤒🔗

When the Bible speaks about wages and retribution it is not about special good works from us ‘on top’ of our faith, but it is about our whole life’s work, good and bad (Ecclesiastes 12:14), and including our vain words (Matthew 12:36-37). Just as individual as our life is, will be the judgement over it. It will not be a second judgment after the judgement that has acquitted us. It will be the gracious retribution (Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 24), whereby God crowns His own gifts (Belgic Confession, Article 24).

When Scripture speaks about wages, then we do not see glowing saints who are there to cash in what they have earned, but we see suffering Christians who are being comforted in the judgments on earth and in the hate and enmity which they encounter from others on earth, they are being comforted with the salvation that they will receive from God (Isaiah 40:10; Revelation 22:12). We see Christians who do not see any embellishment in themselves, but we see Christians who in their sacrificial love for the Lord (Matthew 19:27-29) and for their neighbour take comfort from the expectation that they may have of their ‘reward’ of eternal life. When Scripture speaks about wages, it is so that Christians will endure in suffering and self-denial, and so that they would practice love even when they receive nothing in return from others. Eternal life contains for every believer vastly more – a hundredfold more (Mark 10:30) – than what he has to relinquish here.

Contrary to Alcorn, we agree with what W.H. Velema writes:

The wages do not consist of extra dividends, above what others receive. The wage is certainly not half of the admission ticket to eternal glory, earned by the people themselves.

The wages are the confirmation of the fact that suffering and fighting, worshipping, and believing, against all temptations, is not in vain but has eternal value.

In the realm of God’s grace, also the wages carry the character of grace.