Question from a reader:
I have a mentor in the faith who claims that there will be eternal consequences for sin on the resurrected bodies of the redeemed, based on a few passages (Romans 2:6, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 1 Corinthians 6:18). Do you agree, or how would you respond to this claim?
Answer from Doreen Button, EPM staff:
Your question is intriguing. The only person I know who will have scars for sin on the New Earth is the One who did not sin.
People always run into trouble when they pull a single verse out of a passage and build a doctrine out of it. Romans 2:5-8 says, “But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. God ‘will repay each one according to his deeds.’ To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.”
(Matthew 16:27 and Psalm 62:12 use the same phrase “repay each one according to his deeds,” which Paul quotes in Romans. In Matthew, Jesus talks about His return and glory and in Psalms, His power and how deserving He is of our devotion.)
As you can see, in the greater context, there is no mention or suggestion of physical marks remaining or being added to a redeemed person’s body. That’s got nothing to do with what Paul’s talking about. He says that those who are unrepentant will suffer God’s wrath. Those who repent will receive eternal life.
1 Corinthians 6:18 also has nothing to do with our eternal bodies. Here’s the paragraph it’s located in: “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.”
And finally, 2 Corinthians 5:10 in context (vv1-10): “For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling…
“Therefore we are always confident, although we know that while we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, then, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we aspire to please Him, whether we are at home in this body or away from it. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.”
It sounds like your “mentor” has read that last sentence very awkwardly: “receive his due for the things done in the body” as if it means that he will receive in his body either a good or bad “due.” What it’s really saying is that what we do here and now with our bodies matters for eternity.
In the Resurrection, we receive glorified bodies “without spot or blemish.” Ephesians 5:26-33 speaks to this, although it is in the general ‘body of the Church’ sense. But it’s hard to imagine a bunch of scarred and marred people making up a spotless or unblemished Church. Jesus didn’t die so we could take our sins into eternity with us. “But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself, will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body” (Philippians 3:20). And even if that means our new bodies will be scarred like His (and I don’t believe it does), those scars would be a glorious reminder of His great love for us, and not of our great sin against Him. It’s all about Him; when we take our eyes off ourselves and focus on Him, many things become clear.
I’m glad you’re thinking critically about your “mentor’s” teachings and not swallowing them whole. God bless you as you continue to dig deeply into His Word. The more you know Scripture, the easier it will be for you to spot when something you hear or read doesn’t match up with Truth.
