2 Corinthians 5:10Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Let us therefore imagine that this judgment has already come. Let each one examine his own conscience. Let him imagine that the Judge has already arrived, and that everything is uncovered and made manifest. For we shall not merely stand before Him. We shall also be convicted at the judgment.

Do you not blush? Are you not troubled? Even now the day of judgment has not yet come. We have only recalled it and pictured it in thought, yet we are punished by our conscience. What will become of us when it truly comes?

What will become of us when the whole universe stands before the judgment, with all the angels and archangels and the other heavenly powers? What will become of us when men stream together from all the ends of the earth, caught up on the clouds?

What will become of us when all are seized with fear, when trumpets sound everywhere, and unceasing voices are heard? Truly, even if there were no Gehenna, what a great punishment it would be to be rejected before so radiant an assembly and depart in dishonor.

Even now, when a king appears with his retinue, each of us is conscious of his own poverty. He takes less pleasure in the sight than sorrow that he has no share in the splendor surrounding the king, and is not near him.

What then will it be like at that time? Do you think it a small punishment not to be included in that company? Is it small not to be counted worthy of ineffable glory, and to be separated far away and for long from that festival and those ineffable blessings?

But there will also be darkness, gnashing of teeth, unbreakable bonds, the worm that does not die, and the fire that is not quenched. There will be distress and anguish, and the tongue suffering in the flame, as happened with the rich man.

When these become a man's portion, when we cry out and no one hears us, when we groan and are torn by unbearable pains, and no one heeds us, what shall we compare with the lot of those who suffer so?

When we look everywhere and receive consolation from nowhere, what can be more wretched than these souls? What can be more worthy of pity?

If we enter a prison and see some withered by grief, others weighed down with chains and suffering hunger, and others shut in darkness, we are horrified. We grow numb and take every care not to fall into such a place.

What will become of us when we are dragged by force to torment in Gehenna itself? There the chains are not made of iron, but of fire that is never quenched.

There the guards set over us will not be men of the same nature as we are, whom one can often move to compassion. They will be angels, terrible even to behold, because they will burn with great wrath against us for our disobedience to the Master.

There it will not be as it is here. To lighten your distress, one man will not bring you silver, another food, and another a word of consolation and relief. There everyone will be alien to you.

Even Noah, Job, and Daniel, if they were to see one of their own relatives suffering, would not then consent to intercede for the miserable. Then every compassion proper to our nature now will be taken from us.

Since pious parents sometimes have impious children, and pious children have impious parents, the joy of the righteous must remain pure. Those who enjoy the blessings must not be troubled by compassion.

For this reason, I say, compassion itself will be taken away. Together with the Master, they will burn with wrath even against their own blood relatives.

Indeed, even now ordinary parents sometimes renounce their children and cut them off from kinship when they see them living dissolutely. How much more will the righteous do this then?

Therefore let no one hope to have consolation in that life if he has done nothing good in this one, even if he has innumerable righteous ancestors. “For each will receive according to what he has done while in the body” (2 Cor 5:10).

It seems to me that the Apostle here has fornicators in mind. He wishes to bring them, and all other sinners as well, to fear by the punishments that await them.

Let us also listen. If the fire of fleshly desire burns you, set against it that fire of Gehenna. The fire of your desire will at once be extinguished and disappear.

Do you wish to say something shameful? Think of that gnashing of teeth, and fear will bridle your tongue.

Do you desire to commit some act of plunder? Listen to what the Judge commands and says: “Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into the outer darkness” (Mt 22:13). In this way you will drive out this passion as well.

If you are given over to drunkenness and live without self-restraint, listen to what the rich man said. He begged that Lazarus be sent to cool his tongue burning in the flame with the tip of his finger, yet he received no help (Lk 16:24-25).

Then you will withdraw from the passion of self-indulgence. If you love entertainments, reflect on the anguish and distress that will be there. After this, you will not even think about them.

If you are cruel and without mercy, remember those virgins who found themselves outside the bridal chamber because their lamps had gone out. Then you will quickly become humane.

Are you negligent and careless? Consider the fate of the man who hid his talent, and you will become swifter than fire.

Does the passion of seizing your neighbor's property consume you? Continually picture the worm that does not die. Then you will easily free yourself from this sickness as well, and will correct all your other weaknesses.

God has commanded us nothing difficult or burdensome. Why then do His commandments seem burdensome to us? Because of our slackness.

Just as the hardest thing becomes light and easy to accomplish through our diligence and zeal, so even an easy thing becomes burdensome through our laziness.

Therefore, as we reflect on all this, let us not look at how some give themselves over to luxury and self-indulgence. Let us look at what their end will be.

Their end in the present life is corruption and the fattening of the flesh. In the life to come, it is the worm and the fire.

Likewise, let us not look at how some commit acts of plunder, but at the end of their life. In the present life, they are consumed by anxiety, fear, and the torments of conscience. In the life to come, unbreakable bonds await them.

Let us not think about those who love glory, but about what follows love of glory. Here it will be servility and hypocrisy. There it will be unbearable torment in the eternal flame.

If we reason with ourselves in this way, and set such thoughts and others like them against our evil desires, we shall quickly expel from ourselves the love of present goods. We shall kindle within ourselves the love of the things to come.

Therefore let us kindle and inflame this love. If even a dim thought of the heavenly blessings gives us so much pleasure, consider how much joy the very enjoyment of them must bring.

Blessed, thrice blessed, and blessed beyond number are those who enjoy those blessings. By contrast, worthy of pity and thrice wretched are those who endure torment.

Therefore, that we may be among the first and not the last, let us love virtue. In this way we shall also inherit the blessings to come.

May we all be counted worthy to receive them by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ. With Him, to the Father and the Holy Spirit be glory, dominion, and honor, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Thus the Apostle, inspired by God and prophetically, immediately shatters the sophistic tricks of sensuality. Therefore they evidently do not understand that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive according to what he did while living in the body, whether good or evil," so that each may receive according to what he did while living in the body.

Thus it is clear that souls were not sent into bodies for correction from former sins, as they babble. Rather, God created body and soul simultaneously, that is, the complete man.

Therefore we await recompense for what we have done with the body, whether good or evil. The divine Apostle Paul also hands this down to us, saying that "we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each may receive the things done with the body, whether good or evil" (2 Cor 5:10).

Thus one must attend to the Apostle's words. He did not say that the one judged must receive recompense for what he did before the body.

But if man is punished by the Judge of the earth, or is counted worthy of fitting honor, only for what he did with the body, and if sins committed before this are not mentioned at all, then it is clear that souls do not exist before bodies.

For if they existed beforehand, the Apostle would have said: both with the body and before the body.

Therefore, since many are stirred not so much by promises of blessings as by threats of punishments, the Apostle considered it necessary to conclude his discourse here in this way: 'For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ.'

Yet again, after frightening and stirring the listener by the remembrance of that judgment, he did not leave sorrow without consolation. Rather, he tempered the bitter with the sweet, saying: 'that each may receive the things done with the body, whether good or evil.'

In saying this, he strengthens the upright and pious who are being persecuted with hopes. He also stirs the disorderly and negligent to correction by fear. At the same time, he confirms his teaching about the resurrection of bodies.

For he says that the body which served virtue or vice will not be excluded from participation in recompenses. Rather, together with the souls, some bodies will be handed over to torments, while others will be crowned with rewards" (St. Chrysostom).