Judgment-Seat

The judgment-seat names a tribunal where every person finally stands and gives account. In Paul's letter to the Romans, the image cuts the brother-against-brother judging that fractures the community: no Christian sits in that seat, because all of them stand before it.

Standing Before God

Paul checks two parties at once — the one who judges a brother and the one who despises him — by relocating both to a tribunal already set: "But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you set at nothing your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment-seat of God" (Rom 14:10). The seat is God's, and the assembly before it is universal.

Scripture is then cited to fill out the scene: "For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee will bow, And every tongue will confess to God" (Rom 14:11). The argument lands on personal accountability rather than on inter-Christian verdict: "So then each of us will give account of himself to God" (Rom 14:12).