by Romans 14:11-12 not only says that “every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God,” but also that “every one of us shall give account of himself to God.”
The word account is not a financial term, not a balance sheet, nor the tabulation of our good works minus our bad works. The word account is a grammatical or poetical term, a novel of our lives. The word account is the Greek word logos, where the Bible is our logos, the written Word, the narrative account of God. In John 1:1, logos is the Greek word for word, where “In the beginning was the Word [logos], and the Word [logos] was with God, and the Word [logos] was God.” Reading John chapter 1, it is John’s genealogy and narrative account of Jesus Christ.
One day, we will give a narrative account of our lives before God. Both good and bad will be revealed, nothing will be hidden. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 4:5, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.” This verse should stir joy in the believer as well as strike concern knowing that “Every man’s work shall be made manifest [visible]: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Corinthians 3:13).
Now, read 2 Corinthians 5:1-11. In 5:1-8 we see that Paul is speaking to believers, so salvation is not the issue. Paul is not saying that our labour is concerning or gaining our eternal life, but our rewards. In 5:9-11, as we labour in this life for our Lord, while also keeping a short account of our sins against Him, our narrative account will be righteously accepted of Him if our life’s labour has been with the right attitude. Paul teaches:
- We will account for our works (5:10)
- We will account for our motives (5:11a)
- We will account for our conscience (5:11b)
The stark reality is that every person, saved and unsaved, is accountable before God, and will one day have to bow before Jesus Christ. The question is, are you ready to account before God?
