Will Some Believers Really Be Ashamed at the Bema?

Summary

Grace in Focus
Episode Title: Will Some Believers Really Be Ashamed at the Bema?
Date: August 3, 2026
Hosts: Bob Wilkin & Ken Yates

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates respond to a listener's question about the possibility of believers experiencing shame at the judgment seat of Christ (the Bema). They explore scriptural passages, the nature of glorification, the doctrine of eternal rewards, and the Free Grace Theology perspective on post-salvation judgment. The discussion focuses on whether shame, pain, and regret will be part of the believer’s experience at the Bema and, if so, how this fits with the glorified state and promises about the absence of sorrow and tears in eternity.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Listener Question & Initial Framing

• Listener Brett’s Concern: He finds it difficult to reconcile the idea of a glorified believer being ashamed at the Bema since glorification seems to imply the absence of negative emotions. (01:18)
• Bob Wilkin’s Response: Bob affirms the question's validity and points out his own conviction has only strengthened that shame will occur for some believers at the judgment seat.

2. Biblical Foundations for Shame at the Bema

A. First John 2:28 as Foundational Text

• Bob & Ken Read the Verse (03:20)
  • “Abide in him; that when he appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” (03:39)
  • Bob Wilkin’s Emphasis: John isn’t warning unbelievers, but believers (referred to as “little children”), that they could be ashamed at Christ’s coming.
  • Greek Word Play: The terms for “confidence” (parrhesia) and “coming” (parousia) are intentionally similar, highlighting the contrast between boldness and shame. (04:12)
  • Quote:
    • Bob: “We want to have parrhesia, boldness at his coming. And the same thing occurs at the end of the main section of the letter in 4:17-19. But there’s an opposite option… shame.” (04:21)

B. Parable of the Minas (Luke 19:11-27)

• Explained as an illustration of rewards and loss thereof for believers, not salvation vs. non-salvation. (05:07)
  • “The second servant doesn’t hear, ‘Well done, good servant.’ He doesn’t get the commendation…but he does get rulership over five cities. The third servant is called a wicked servant…and he has his mina taken away…” — Bob (05:14–06:01)

C. 2 Timothy 2:12 and Denial of Reigning

• “If we endure, we’ll reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us [reigning].” — Bob (06:36)

D. Parables in Matthew 24–25

• The Olivet Discourse, focusing on the parable of the just and unjust servant, is highlighted as showing a painful, even shameful judgment for unfaithful believers. (07:15-08:11)
  • “This is going to be a verbal tongue lashing and it’s going to hurt. That’s what the shame is going to be like. It’s going to be like getting cut in two. It’s going to be painful.” — Bob (08:17)

3. Nature and Duration of Shame in Glorification

• Bob Wilkin argues that being glorified does not mean believers are incapable of negative emotions at the Bema. (08:12)
  • “At the judgment seat of Christ, it’s clear that unfaithful believers are going to experience negative emotions. There’s going to be pain at the Bema for the unfaithful…” — Bob (08:17)
• Distinctions on Duration:
  • Drawing on Zane Hodges, Bob explains that any shame or pain will be short-lived—possibly just minutes—not persisting into eternity or throughout the Millennial Kingdom. (10:15)
  • “A glorified saint would get over this grief in a matter of minutes. It’s not going to last for the millennium.” — Bob (10:15)

4. Theological Implications and Object Lessons

• While every glorified believer will experience eternal joy and abundant life, those who are unfaithful may have regrets and experience a degree of loss (such as ruling fewer cities or missing out on certain rewards). (12:10)
  • “Every glorified saint is going to be joyful forever. They’re going to have abundant life forever. But their life won’t be as abundant as it could have been…” — Bob (12:10)
  • Enduring Repercussion: Certain opportunities and rewards missed at the Bema will never be regained (e.g., ruling with Christ, receiving special honors). (12:08)
  • “If we don’t get the white stone, we’re never going to get the white stone with the special name on it, etc. And so those things will carry over.” — Bob (12:10)
• Nuanced View on Regret:
  • Even glorified saints like King David may retain some regret about sins committed, though it will not impair their joy in eternity.
  • “David’s going to regret forever having killed Uriah, wouldn’t you think? But as a glorified saint, it’s not going to bum him out, right?” — Bob (12:43)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the centrality of rewards:
  • “Rewards are on almost every single page of the New Testament.” — Zane Hodges, quoted by Bob (02:23)
• On the possibility of shame for believers:
  • “If we persevere, we’re going to have the boldness, but if we don’t, we’re going to have the shame.” — Bob (04:34)
• On negative emotions post-glorification:
  • “Part of the problem is Brett is thinking that glorified saint equals a person incapable of any negative emotions.” — Bob (08:12)
• On the ephemeral nature of Bema shame:
  • “Hodges argued that a glorified saint would get over this grief in a matter of minutes. It’s not going to last for the millennium.” — Bob (10:15)
• On enduring rewards and loss:
  • “If we don’t rule, we’re never going to rule... those things will carry over.” — Bob (12:08)
  • “Every glorified saint is going to be joyful forever... But their life won’t be as abundant as it could have been. Or let’s say I rule over five cities instead of ten.” — Bob (12:10)

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Important Timestamps

• 01:16 – Listener question posed about shame and glorification
• 03:10 – Introduction of 1 John 2:28 as primary text
• 04:35 – Contrast of boldness and shame for believers at Christ’s coming
• 05:07 – Analysis of the Parable of the Minas
• 06:36 – 2 Timothy 2:12 and consequences for unfaithfulness
• 08:17 – Parable of the unjust servant and the pain/shame metaphor
• 10:15 – Zane Hodges’ view on brief duration of Bema shame
• 12:08 – Unrecoupable nature of certain missed rewards
• 12:43 – Enduring regret and its compatibility with eternal joy

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Summary Conclusion

Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates argue, from a Free Grace perspective, that scriptural warnings about shame and loss at the judgment seat of Christ apply to genuine, glorified believers. While this shame or regret is real, it is not incompatible with glorification; instead, it is a transient experience that serves to emphasize the reality and importance of faithful living and eternal rewards. Ultimately, all believers will possess eternal joy and abundant life, but the fullness of their experience in the kingdom will be shaped by their earthly faithfulness.

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Transcript

[A]

The following is a listener supported ministry

[B]

from the Grace Evangelical Society.

[A]

This is Grace in Focus, the podcast and radio broadcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Thank you for joining us. Our question of the Will some believers really be ashamed at the judgment seat of Christ? Are not sorrow, tears and shame supposed to be done away with? Well, listen straight ahead for some clarity on this as Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates have a discussion about this. Our website is faithalone.org there you can read and research many of our hundreds of articles relating to the free grace message. And we want you to know about our free magazine published six times per year. It is called Grace in Focus, a full size, full color magazine suitable for your coffee table and great for reading. It is free all except if you live outside of the 48 contiguous United States. You do have to pay the postage. Otherwise absolutely free. We do want you to have it. Sign up for it [e-mail] and now with today's question and answer discussion, here are Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates.

[B]

This is Ken Yates and I'm here with the esteemed Bob Wilkin. That's right.

[C]

I don't know about esteem, but okay.

[B]

Well, the reason I did that is because I have a question here from Brett and he specifically mentions you and your great scholarship. That's what he says. He goes, I have very high regard for your scholarship. And here's his question. However, there's always the but.

[C]

Right? Right.

[B]

And here it is. In this article that you wrote. You speak about the fact that glorified believers. There will be some glorified believers at the judgment seat of Christ who are ashamed. And he goes, I just cannot see a glorified believer, whether he is a leader in the church or not, being ashamed at the judgment seat of Christ. The reason why is because he's glorified. So how can he be ashamed? How can that be?

[C]

Great question, Brett. And I have given this a lot more thought and my view strengthens. I remember and I think you may have. Did you take Hebrews from Zane Hodges at Dallas Seminary?

[B]

Yes, I did.

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You were probably in one of his last.

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I think I was in the very last one. He did well.

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I remember when I took him, he kept talking about being Christ partners in the life to come. We're going to rule with him if we're persevere, if we're faithful. And I. And man, I see an awful lot about rewards. I thought There were only two major passages. 1 Corinthians 3, 10, 15, 1 Corinthians 9, 2427. His response was no. Rewards are on almost every single page of the New Testament. And I was struck by that. And I think this idea of shame at the judgment seat of Christ, it's not on every page in the New Testament, but it's found in a lot of places. Let's just think of a few of them. Turn to First John 2:28, and you can find First John because it's before Second John.

[B]

Oh, wow. Wonder who thought that up.

[C]

That was genius. Way they've arranged this. But first John 2:28, Hodges suggests this is the theme verse for the whole book. Could you read that, Ken?

[B]

First John 2:28. Of course, John is speaking, and he's a believer, and he says, and now little children, Right? That's significant. Who's he talking to? Talking to believers abide in him that when he appears, we. So he includes himself.

[C]

Right.

[B]

May have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.

[C]

Yeah, not be ashamed. This word ashamed means ashamed.

[B]

Oh, really?

[C]

That's why it's translated ashamed. There's two options. And what's interesting is what's the Greek word for coming here?

[B]

Oh, well, you got. You got parresia.

[C]

That's it. That's the word here. And do you know, happen to know the word for confidence or boldness here?

[B]

It's very similar. Paresia or something.

[C]

Yes, paresia.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Well, that's how I pronounce it. I don't know. I'm bad at pronunciation. But it's parrhesia and parousia. And there's a play on words.

[B]

Right.

[C]

We want to have parrhesia, boldness at his coming. And the same thing occurs at the end of the main section of the letter in 4, 17, 19. But there's an opposite option.

[B]

We can either have boldness. That's one option.

[C]

Or shame.

[B]

Or shame.

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And so John is holding those out before us and saying, if we persevere, we're going to have the boldness, but if we don't, we're going to have the shame. Now, the same thing is found in the parable of the minas. In Luke 19:11, 27, especially verses 16 through 26, the first servant hears, well done, good servant, because you were faithful little to have authority over 10 cities. The second servant who goes from 1 to 5, Minas, he hears, you also be over 5 cities.

[B]

You mean from 10 to 5, not 1 to 5?

[C]

No, no one. No. Okay.

[B]

Oh, I see what you're saying. Right, right, right. Okay.

[C]

Well, yeah, the first servant goes from 1 to 10.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And the second servant could have had 10, but he goes from 1 to 5.

[B]

Okay, I got you.

[C]

Yeah. And so the second servant doesn't hear, well done, good servant. He doesn't get the commendation, but he does get rulership over five cities. But the third servant is not called a good servant like the first guy. Well done, good servant. He's called a bad or an evil or a wicked servant, depending on your translation. And so he judges him and rebukes him. Well, he's going to have shame because he was unfaithful. And he has his mina taken away and given to the one who has 10. And those Minas represent cities. So now the guy with 10 cities gets a bonus city, and the guy with one potential city gets no cities. So he doesn't get to rule.

[A]

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[C]

ties in with Paul in 2 Timothy, chapter 2, verse 12. If we endure, we'll reign with him. If we deny him, he will deny us. That is, if we fail to endure so that at the end of our life we're denying Christ, then he's going to deny us the privilege of ruling with Christ.

[B]

And what will that experience be like? You know, if you're denied this reward or this approval by the Lord, as the question by Brett brings out, you're a glorified believer. What will that denial do to you?

[C]

Well, it's going to be something which is painful. In fact, Matthew 24, 24 and 25 is the Olivet discourse, all about the second coming of Christ, looking forward to the rapture, then the judgment of the sheep and the goats, which is the end of Matthew 25. And in 24:45, 51 is the parable of the just and the unjust servant, which I believe is one servant who starts out doing well. He's feeding his fellow servants. He probably illustrates a pastor or a leader in a local church, like an elder. And then he says, my Lord delays his coming, and he begins to beat his fellow servants according to the Lord Jesus. And he begins to drink with the drunkards. And the Lord comes at a time when he doesn't expect him and he cuts him in two. Well, nobody believes that at the judgment seat of Christ or the great white throne judgment, anybody's going to be literally cut in two.

[B]

His words will.

[C]

His words. Because his tongue is like a sword, like a two edged sword.

[B]

His word. Right?

[C]

His word. This is going to be a verbal tongue lashing and it's going to hurt. And so that's what the shame is going to be like. It's going to be like getting cut in two. It's going to be painful. But the question that Brett has is how can a glorified saint experience shame? Part of the problem is Brett is thinking that glorified saint equals a person equ. Incapable of any negative emotions. I believe that at the judgment seat of Christ, it's clear that unfaithful believers are going to experience negative emotions. There's going to be pain at the bema for the unfaithful servant. And that's clear. Many passages in Matthew 25, 1:13, the parable of the ten virgins, all ten represent believers.

[B]

All ten go to sleep.

[C]

But only five have sufficient reserves of oil to keep their lamps burning. Only five persevere. Now, I think this looks at tribulation saints because the midnight cry is probably the abomination of desolation.

[B]

In the middle of the tribulation.

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In the middle of the tribulation. But the point is, the same five of them failed to persevere to the end of the tribulation. And so as a result, they're not going to be allowed to do the torch dance, which symbolizes, I think, ruling with Christ in the life to come.

[B]

Definitely a privilege, a reward, and they're

[C]

going to have shame.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And so Brett needs to recognize that at the judgment seat of Christ, there will be shame, there will be pain. However, it's going to be short lived. I talked to Zane Hodges about this on multiple occasions. And he said, we in this life, when we have grief, it can last hours or days or months or years. Right. If we lose a loved one. You lost your daughter, what, three years ago? Now, that grief, you're still not completely over. Right?

[B]

Right.

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But it got better over time.

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Yes.

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When she passed. Although you're joyful that she's with the Lord, there's great grief you have to experience, but you get over it to some degree and you will get over it fully when you're glorified, Right?

[B]

Right.

[C]

Well, Hodges argued that a glorified saint would get over this grief in a matter of minutes. It's not going to last for the millennium. You know, some people interpret Revelation 21:4, he's going to wipe away every tear to refer to saints who are glorified, who have shame during the whole millennium

[B]

because of the judgment seat of Christ. Yeah, no, right?

[C]

No, that's the tears of all the people in natural bodies. All people. There's going to be no more tears forever. That's the point of that. Because forever there's going to be no more death, no more pain, no more suffering. In my view, we in glorified bodies are going to have negative emotions. We're told that the tree of life will be for the healing for the nations. Might it be that people in non glorified bodies would experience some injuries that wouldn't cause pain, but certainly they would be annoyed by the blood or annoyed by the injury or whatever. And so it seems to me we in glorified bodies might experience some things that we call on the negative side. In fact, Hodges suggested if we had only positive emotions, the positive wouldn't be as great as they could be.

[B]

I think the bottom line for this whole discussion is we know scriptures tell us there will be shame at the judgment seat of Christ. For some believers, what that will mean in glorified bodies, we can't know exactly, but we know it will occur.

[C]

And so there's no question there will be negative consequences of the judgment seat of Christ. And by the way, some of this carries over, because if we don't rule, we're never going to rule. If we don't get the hidden man, and we'll never get the hidden manna, if we don't get the special white garments, we're never going to get the

[B]

special stone or the stone.

[C]

If we don't get the white stone, we're never going to get the white stone with a special name on it, etc. And so those things will carry over. But keep this in mind, Brett. Every glorified saint is going to be joyful forever. They're going to have abundant life forever. But their life won't be as abundant as it could have been if they miss out on ruling with Christ. Or let's say I rule over five cities instead of 10. And so in terms of negative things, I might have regrets. I mean, sure, David's going to regret forever having killed Uriah, wouldn't you think?

[B]

And his adultery with Bathsheba, Sure.

[C]

Wouldn't you think there'd be regret there?

[B]

Right?

[C]

But as a glorified saint, it's not going to bum him out, right? Well, I hope that makes sense. And remember, keep grace in focus.

[A]

Be sure to check out our daily [e-mail] they are short and full of great teaching, just like what you've heard today. Find [e-mail] resources blog. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you've got a question, comment, or some feedback. If you do, please don't hesitate to send us a message. Here's our email address. It's radioaithalone.org that's radioaithalone.org Please join us again for our next episode. What does it mean that we are created in the image of God? And until then, let's keep grace in focus.

[B]

The proceeding has been a listener supported ministry from the Grace Evangelical Society.