106. Judge World and Angels
1 Corinthians 6:2-3 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? And if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge he smallest matters? Know ye not that we shall judge angels? How much more things that pertain to this life?
It is awesome to realize that we the saints will judge the world; and it is even more terrifying to be given responsibility to judge angels. We are definitely not qualified to be judges (though our pride deceives us into thinking we can ”judge” anyone), yet here is a promise that we will judge the world and the angels. It must be that God qualifies us after death and resurrection, when sin is removed and Satan’s deceits disappear. The saints will sit on thrones and judge with Jesus those people in the world without Christ; this probably means that we agree and consent to the correct and eternal judgment of Jesus from the throne. In addition, we consent to the judgment rendered by God against the fallen angels and the Devil, when they are consigned to the eternal lake of fire. Jesus permits us to participate in His judgment.
So we will judge. Paul uses this promise to convince the Corinthian church that they should be worthy enough to judge in smaller internal matters. The church should settle its own affairs and not leave legal matters to the Kingdom of the Left Hand. If you by faith are worthy to judge in the next life, surely you can judge things that pertain to this life.
Jesus knows He can entrust such frightening responsibilities to us sinners because he has transformed us into saints. We get a sense of how complete the transformation is and how far we have come. Christians do not normally look that much different than unbelievers, but they really are profoundly different. This gift of being a wise judge, however, does not give us the understanding to judge the hearts and motivations of humans on the earth. We withhold judgment until we are given sight; after death and resurrection we will have the sight and insight to see the heart motivations. Then we eternally agree with the just judgment of God against the fallen world and fallen angels. Until then, we have this promise.