What is the "terror of the Lord" in 2 Corinthians 5:11?

The apostle had been speaking (2 Cor. 5) about the judgment seat of Christ, as that tribunal before which we all must appear, and where our whole responsible career must be examined into in the presence of the Judge. This possesses no terror for believers, who have boldness for that day, for Christ is already our righteousness, and we are taken into favour in Him, sharers in all that love of which He is the Object, and when that day comes we will be in bodies of glory like Him. But what of those who must appear there naked, destitute of righteousness, exposed without shelter to the wrath of which they are heirs? The apostle thinks of such, as that throne comes before his vision, and, with reference to them, he calls it the terror of the Lord. It was no terror to him, but to those appearing there Christless. This the apostle could use, in his preaching, to awaken up the consciences of his hearers. He reasoned before Felix of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come till the Roman governor trembled. There does not appear any lasting effect to have followed, because where the goodness of God is not apprehended there will be no turning to Him. Still men must be warned of the danger to which they are exposed, and the apostle says, “knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.”

Why then, you may ask, does the verse mention the terror of the Lord (v.11)? This question is answered by the verse itself: knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade (not ourselves, but) men. In verse 10, the apostle speaks about 'us all' including believers and unbelievers. All must be made manifest. In verse 11, he speaks about the unbelievers only, and to make this change clear he uses the term 'men'. Although our appearing before the judgment seat will lead to joy and increased communion, it is a solemn matter to think that nothing in our lives can just be 'forgotten about'. Impressed by this certainty, we persuade men. We know what awaits those that have only done 'bad' things (v.10), for these are the only actions unbelievers can produce.

Further, it appears to me that this is the reason why the Spirit of God uses the remarkable language found here; for there is nothing expressed about being judged in the passage. It would not be true, as may be proved by other Scriptures, to say, "we must all be judged before the judgment-seat of Christ." None but the unjust, the unbeliever, will ever come into judgment; but every soul, good or bad, believer or unbeliever, must be equally and perfectly manifested before His judgment-seat. And what makes this still more evident is not only the choice of the language, "we must all appear," or "be manifested;" and then again that which follows — "knowing therefore the terror of the Lord" (which there is no ground whatever to weaken) "knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." This is the strongest possible proof of the large scope of the preceding verse 10, because we are here shown the effect of that future final manifestation upon the spirit as regards not ourselves but others. Thus, properly understood, this portion of Scripture supposes the fullest rest in the grace of God, even when we contemplate solemnly the judgment-seat of Christ. There is no question of perturbation about our own souls; but it fills us with anxiety about "men" as such. Why about men rather than about saints? Evidently and only because the judgment-seat of Christ will not in the smallest degree jeopard the safety of a single saint. The language is therefore changed, and instead of adopting the word "we," or continuing the former phrase "us all," or anything that would either present the believer alone, or the believer with the unbeliever to a certain extent, we have the word changed — "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." That is, we go forth animated with the deep feeling of what that judgment-seat must be to the unbeliever. We know that it is a solemn, though a most blessed, thought to a believer. We know nothing but the mighty grace of God in Christ could have made it to be a happy prospect for us. But the deeper and more solid the conviction, that only His grace gives us stable peace in presence of the judgment-seat, the more in proportion do we feel what that judgment-seat will be to those who have not Christ. Hence then the apostle proceeds to speak of it as the common feeling of himself and other Christians, from the awful import of the judgment-seat to the unbeliever, to "persuade men," as he calls it; i.e. to seek to bring them to the knowledge of Christ. "But we are made manifest to God," he carefully adds here. In other words, even now the spirit of the judgment-seat is true of the believer; not that he will not appear there by and by, but that now also we are made manifest unto God. This is most true, and important too. "We are made manifest unto God, and, I trust, also are made manifest in your consciences." He could speak in an absolute manner of being made manifest to God; he could speak but in a hopeful way of being manifested to the consciences of believers, because there might be disturbing influences in their case. After all, this could only be a comparative thing, while to God, I repeat, they were already made manifest absolutely. Thus the passage contains the most weighty truth, fully asserting the present manifestation of the believer to God, while it also insists on what is future and perfect before the judgment-seat of Christ for the believer by and by, and intimates the effect of grace on his heart to seek unbelievers, knowing, as we know, the terror of the Lord for them by and by; for we shall all be made manifest there; not only the unbeliever, but the believer. He presumes in the strongest manner the peace of the believer, even in contemplating the judgment-seat. On him the effect of this disclosure is to awaken not a single alarm as to himself or his brethren. What a witness of a full, and present, and eternal salvation! All his soul's energies are thrown out in behalf of men who are living for the present and for the earth, little thinking that they must stand before Christ's judgment-seat, ignorant of its real character, and heedless of its issues.

Further, it appears to me that this is the reason why the Spirit of God uses the remarkable language found here; for there is nothing expressed about being judged in the passage. It would not be true, as may be proved by other Scriptures, to say, "we must all be judged before the judgment-seat of Christ." None but the unjust, the unbeliever, will ever come into judgment; but every soul, good or bad, believer or unbeliever, must be equally and perfectly manifested before His judgment-seat. And what makes this still more evident is not only the choice of the language, "we must all appear," or "be manifested;" and then again that which follows — "knowing therefore the terror of the Lord" (which there is no ground whatever to weaken) — "knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men." This is the strongest possible proof of the large scope of the preceding verse 10, because we are here shown the effect of that future final manifestation upon the spirit as regards not ourselves but others. Thus, properly understood, this portion of Scripture supposes the fullest rest in the grace of God, even when we contemplate solemnly the judgment-seat of Christ. There is no question of perturbation about our own souls; but it fills us with anxiety about "men" as such. Why about men rather than about saints? Evidently and only because the judgment-seat of Christ will not in the smallest degree jeopard the safety of a single saint. The language is therefore changed, and instead of adopting the word "we," or continuing the former phrase "us all," or anything that would either present the believer alone, or the believer with the unbeliever to a certain extent, we have the word changed — "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." That is, we go forth animated with the deep feeling of what that judgment-seat must be to the unbeliever. We know that it is a solemn, though a most blessed, thought to a believer. We know nothing but the mighty grace of God in Christ could have made it to be a happy prospect for us. But the deeper and more solid the conviction, that only His grace gives us stable peace in presence of the judgment-seat, the more in proportion do we feel what that judgment-seat will be to those who have not Christ.

Hence, then, the apostle proceeds to speak of it as the common feeling of himself and other Christians, from the awful import of the judgment-seat to the unbeliever, to "persuade men," as he calls it; i.e. to seek to bring them to the knowledge of Christ. "But we are made manifest to God," he carefully adds here. In other words, even now the spirit of the judgment-seat is true of the believer; not that he will not appear there by and by, but that now also we are made manifest unto God. This is most true, and important too. "We are made manifest unto God, and, I trust, also are made manifest in your consciences." He could speak in an absolute manner of being made manifest to God; he could speak but in a hopeful way of being manifested to the consciences of believers, because there might be disturbing influences in their case. After all, this could only be a comparative thing, while to God, I repeat, they were already made manifest absolutely. Thus the passage contains the most weighty truth, fully asserting the present manifestation of the believer to God, while it also insists on what is future and perfect before the judgment-seat of Christ for the believer by and by, and intimates the effect of grace on his heart to seek unbelievers, knowing, as we do, the terror of the Lord for them by and by; for we shall all be made manifest there; not only the unbeliever, but the believer. He presumes in the strongest manner the peace of the believer, even in contemplating the judgment-seat. On him the effect of this disclosure is to awaken not a single alarm as to himself or his brethren. What a witness of a full, and a present, and eternal salvation! All his soul's energies are thrown out in behalf of men who are living for the present and for the earth, little thinking that they must stand before Christ's judgment-seat, ignorant of its real character, and heedless of its issues.

379 A striking instance of the effect of the thought of judgment according to scripture will be found in 2 Corinthians 5. The apostle first looks at the proper portion of the saint, not as death and judgment, or even death and happiness. It is mortality being swallowed up of life, the mortal body being changed into glory, without death's necessarily intervening at all. But death and judgment are fallen man's portion; and if death did thus intervene, confidence remained unmoved, for he had divine life, and, if he were absent from the body, he would be present with the Lord. Then he considers judgment, calls it the terror of the Lord, looks it fully in the face, knows it, states we shall all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ; and then, what-trembles or thinks of himself? In no wise; he persuades men. Its terror produces no effect of terror at all on his own mind. It was a judgment which, as such, affected others. It had however a powerful influence on his heart and conscience. Others were not free as he was. And the thought of that day stirs up the love of Christ constrainingly, and he persuades men who were not ready for it; but then, secondly, it brings him into God's judgment as a present thing in a sanctifying way. We are, says he (not shall be), manifested to God. And this is a most important effect; nothing more, practically, than bringing us into the presence of God to judge ourselves, and to do so as to good and evil, as it will be judged of in that day. Such then was the effect on Paul: no terror for him in that day of terror, but a stimulus to his seeking unconverted sinners, and keeping his soul in the presence and fear of God.

The language here again confirms and necessitates the universality of the manifestation already noticed. For as there is no reason to soften down "the terror of the Lord," so there seems no force in our persuading men if it does not mean the heart of the saint urged in love by the tremendous sense of divine judgment impending on the heedless yet guilty sinner. How deep and loud and constant the call for those who believe to arouse those who believe not, while the day of grace lingers, that they may not unwarned brave that judgment which will be their irremediable ruin — to "persuade men" on the one hand of the wickedness, the folly, and the danger of sin; on the other of the reality and freeness, of the fulness and certainty, of salvation in Christ. Fearing always ourselves, no less than knowing His love, we realise for them what unbelief easily forgets till too late, and would be therefore the more in earnest to call to repentance in the light of the gospel of God's grace. And in this we are the more free, because we have been and are manifested to God. Our guilt is gone; we are justified, and are children of light, though once darkness — light in the Lord. Hence we speak what we know and press a remedy, a deliverance, we have proved. We are already manifested to God; so that the manifestation before the judgment, let it be ever so profound or minute, awakens no alarm for ourselves but anxiety for "men," for all in their natural state, who have not Christ. "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men; but we have been manifested to God; and I hope also to have been manifested in your consciences." A most pressing motive was that judgment-seat, with the terror of the Lord for men, to preach the gospel far and wide; and the more because consciously before God, as he humbly but not without a reproof adds, "and I hope also to have been manifested in your consciences." Of the former he was sure and speaks absolutely; of the other he could only say "I hope also," not because it ought to have been doubtful, but because their state was not all he could desire. And a state that is not good is apt to suspect evil in those who reprove it. The Corinthian saints, though in a measure restored and restoring, had not dealt with the apostle as became them. Love ought always to be able to count on love; but he had to say of them that, the more abundantly he loved them, the less he was loved.

Then comes the second thing, what comes after death - "the judgment." Well, judgment he cannot talk of in that way; judgment cannot be gone, therefore he calls it "the terror of the Lord." And, let me tell you, that it is a very useful test to put the soul into the presence of the judgment. Here am I, a poor sinner, and I have nothing but the cross; the cross suits a sinner, surely, but you cannot say judgment suits a sinner. If he think of judgment he cannot be easy. But we read: "As he is, so are we in this world;" well, if I am as the Judge, of course I can be happy in view of the day of judgment. The righteousness of God puts me into the glory of heaven. If I talk of myself as the righteousness of God, of course the judgment day has no terror. If you still feel uneasy about the judgment day, I say you have to get clear about the righteousness of God. The apostle does not make light of it; it is the terror of the Lord. It is not gain. "When it was death it was gain, because it is to be present with the Lord; still when it is judgment he does not tremble as to himself; it urges him to go and preach to poor sinners, to persuade them. We shall all be manifested, saints and sinners; but it is no terror for me at all, because Christ is my righteousness, and as He is, so are we. But there was an effect on himself; he realized it as a present thing; we are manifested to God: so everything in his heart was judged continually as it will be in that day by Him. He says, as regards death, it is all gain to me, and as to the judgment, it has brought me into God's sight in such a way that I judge myself now as if it were already that day. If Paul got into a kind of ecstasy, it was not excitement; he was beside himself to God. If he comes down to sober reflection in himself it is to think of the saints for their good. A blessed way to spend his life between the two!

Indeed, those who take the place outwardly of being His children are the first who will come under the searching, testing fire of that judgment. So true is this, that for us (of whom it is said we shall never come into judgment, but are passed out of death into life) our works will be appraised at the judgment-seat of Christ; and the same holiness, which will devour the adversaries and would consume us did we come before God to be personally judged, will test, and as a consuming fire burn up everything in our works that has not been "gold, silver or precious stones." It is in the light of this that the apostle says: "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." The judgment-seat of Christ is such a holy place, the searching eye of God pierces so completely into the innermost secrets and recesses of the heart, that the believer, from whose bosom all false dread has been removed, still realizes what a dreadful thing it would be to stand before that piercing eye to be judged. Therefore, knowing the terror of the Lord, he persuades men.

Who can describe the awful terror of those words: "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire"? Who can exaggerate the dread of the irresistible judgment of the Great White Throne? No wonder when the kings of the earth and all men, both great and small, think the day of the Lord has come, and the time for the visitation of His fierce wrath, that they cry to the mountains and hills to fall upon them and cover them! "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." He is a silent God. Day by day the heavens pass silently over our heads, and night after night the silent stars look down upon us no voice from them. We travel the earth over, we witness evidence of God's presence in sea and shore, in the storm which breaks the rocks asunder and bows the trees of the forest before it, but we hear no voice of the living God. Men have come to believe that He is not a living God. They would fain think that He is removed so far from His creation that He can never again visit it. But our God does not slumber, though He is silent. The time is coming when He shall rise to shake terribly the earth, and who can describe the awful scene when the living God shall call men to answer for all their sin?

I hope, my Christian readers will pardon me for adducing such common-place illustrations, but as the writer of these lines prays and desires, that he may write them as in the sight of God and in Christ, he feels, from his own humbling experience, how little we have learnt in these days of boasted independence, where, nevertheless, the fear of men holds greater sway then ever, to realise the meaning of those words "In the fear of Christ." And why? Because we have understood so little, what it means, in the power of faith and of an ungrieved Spirit, to be really in His Presence, where we discover our nothingness, aye, and our own good-for-nothingness too. We have been too much in the presence of each other, or of the world and daily circumstances, permitting all kinds of things, such as testimony, the church, service (leave alone other things) to step in between Christ and our souls, instead of keeping Christ between us and circumstances. Thus it is that the "fear of Christ," which is produced by being in His Presence, is so feebly known amongst and within us. It is all right and well, talking of the constraining love of Christ, but let us not forget that His great apostle Paul knew also what "the terror of the Lord" means. Not, I repeat, as if that terror made him tremble in slavish fear, but it had impressed his conscience with its awful solemnity for others, so that he was able to "persuade" men, i.e., to appeal to their consciences first with the power of a preacher, whose own heart had been solemnized by the thought of the terror of the Lord, in His judgment — for others, of course, not for himself, and then feeling in his heart the constraining power of the love of Christ, he was enabled to "beseech poor sinners and enemies to be reconciled to God." — With a conscience, perfect and at ease in the Presence of God, but his heart solemnly impressed with what "the terror of the Lord" meant for His rejectors, i.e., for every unbeliever he could, in the power of that solemn impression, appeal to their consciences, and on the other hand, with the "small voice" of God's grace in his ministry of reconciliation, apply the balm of the gospel to brokenhearted and troubled ones.

We then have the judgment-seat of Christ. In Romans 2:16 Paul had written, "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel." He had also spoken of "The judgment-seat of God" in Romans 14:10. This is therefore one of the subjects connected with Paul's Gospel. All of us must appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; to receive the things done in the body, good and bad. The unsaved have nothing good to receive; through grace there will be for us as Christians that which the grace of God has wrought through us during our sojourn in this world. I sometimes liken the judgment-seat to the review after an examination, when the pupils receive back their papers with the remarks of the teacher, and the marks that have been awarded. The teacher is then able to show just where the pupils went wrong, and to praise what has been done well. At the judgment-seat of Christ we shall complete our education that is necessary for the kingdom. What has been judged here will not require to be judged there, although we shall no doubt have the Lord's mind on every detail of our lives. Often we have hesitated, not being quite certain which way to take; then we shall have the answer from Christ Himself. Every motive, every desire, every thought, every secret, every action, shall be gone into with Christ. How necessary for us and for the glory of God will that solemn hour be! It is unthinkable that we could enter into the rest and bliss of eternity, or into the glory of the kingdom, without the resolution of every exercise and every difficulty that has been raised in the complexity of earthly circumstances and conflicts. We shall be in our glorified bodies when we appear before Christ at His judgment-seat; and shall gladly say Amen! to all His estimates of our deeds. For the unsaved the judgment-seat will be the Great White Throne; that is why the Apostle speaks of "The terror of the Lord." Down here, for the unregenerate, death is The King of Terrors; but the terror of the Lord follows death. How this should stir us up to plead with men about the eternal destiny of their souls!