One area of theology that I feel is not taught about very often in church is the topic of heavenly rewards. As a result, I have seen even mature Christians show some confusion about some aspects of these amazing rewards that we can look forward to one day receiving from God.

I feel that this confusion and/or lack of teaching on this topic can set Christians up for two possible errors:

1. We may feel worried when we think about heaven and fear that we will be disappointed with how few heavenly rewards we will receive.
2. We may feel discouraged when we compare our lives, spiritual gifts, and ministries with other Christians who we imagine may receive more or better heavenly rewards than we will.

Neither of these errors will inspire and encourage us to do what we can now to maximize our use of the gifts God has given us.

I have mentioned heavenly rewards in a number of my blog posts, but it would likely be time-consuming for someone to go through them and pull out all the relevant sections to put together all of the information into one spot. Even then, I may have missed covering some aspects of heavenly rewards if this information wasn't related to the arguments I was making in those posts.

Therefore, I feel it is worth doing a few in-depth posts on this topic in order to clear up any possible misunderstandings Christians may have about heavenly rewards, and which can consolidate my thoughts on all aspects of this topic.

In my first post of this series, I covered all the things that every Christian can look forward to receiving in heaven simply because we believed in Jesus as our Savior at some point, regardless of how else we behaved in this life.

However, there are some additional rewards that the Bible reveals God will give to Christians which do depend on our actions in this life.

In my second post of the series, I covered 3 different eternal crowns that Christians can qualify for, and shared some advice about how Christians can spiritually discipline ourselves so that we do not become disqualified for these crowns.

In this final post, I'll cover the heavenly rewards that God promises to give Christians for our good works and charitable giving, and suggest that these rewards will translate into positions of eternal ruling authority with Christ.

I hope these posts will encourage Christians that even though we are eternally saved the very first moment we put our faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:13-14), there are still very good reasons to hold onto our faith and to do our best to serve God in this life.

Rewards for Good Works

One aspect of Christians' future in heaven which may make us nervous is the idea that even though we are eternally saved by putting our faith in Christ alone, the things we have done in our lives will still be judged by God:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. (2 Corinthians 5:10, NIV)

I think some Christians worry about this verse because they may think God is going to punish them for the bad things they did in this life. This is absolutely, 100%, NOT TRUE. And there's no need for any Christian to spend time in purgatory, either.

There is NO condemnation or wrath for anyone who has trusted in Jesus as his or her Savior (Romans 8:1, 5:9). Jesus' death on the cross paid for all our sins (1 John 1:7, Hebrews 10:10-14), and as a result, believers are credited with Christ's perfect righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21, Isaiah 61:10).

God no longer even remembers our sins (Hebrews 10:17). God has metaphorically thrown them into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19), and has effectively taken our sins away from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12), i.e., infinitely far, since it's always possible to go farther east or farther west.

We also know that this judgment of Christians' lives is not for eternal salvation. The Bible is extremely clear that the very first moment we believed in Jesus as our Savior who promises us eternal life, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our eternal salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14). In some sense, we are already seated in heaven with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-7) — it's that certain!

Thus, Christians can know for sure right now that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13). We don't have to wait for God to make a decision about this sometime in the future.

So then what does Paul mean when he says that Christians' lives and deeds will be judged?

In 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, Paul encourages us to imagine ourselves as being a construction worker or architect who is constructing a building.

The solid and unshakeable foundation of our Christian lives is our faith in Christ as our Savior (1 Corinthians 3:11). This faith is rewarded with eternal life, as well as many other amazing heavenly rewards for all Christians.

On top of this foundation, however, we can imagine ourselves constructing a structure made of different sorts of materials. These materials represent our good works, or our bad and/or worthless works.

When God judges these works, the works that were bad or worthless will burn up just like how wood, hay, and straw burn up completely in a fire, leaving only ashes. In contrast, our good works will survive the fire, just like how gold, precious metals, and gems are unhurt by fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-13).

So once we come face-to-face with Jesus after we are resurrected and/or changed from mortal to immortal and taken to heaven at the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18), each of us will have our lives evaluated by God to judge how well we lived for him (1 Peter 4:17).

Once this judgment is over, our good works can be pictured as being a metaphorical pile of gold, silver, and precious gems. This is likely what Jesus was referring to when he said that we can store up treasures in heaven:

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

We may think that only really spectacular good works could possibly deserve God's reward. Yet actually, Jesus said that even a good work as small as giving someone a cup of cold water because we are Jesus' disciples will be rewarded (Matthew 10:42). Hebrews 6:10 reaffirms that nothing we've ever done to serve God will be overlooked, no matter how small it seemed at the time.

The same is true for other spiritual good works such as fasting and praying, as long as we do not do these things only in order to impress others (Matthew 6:5-6, 6:16-17).

Jesus will also take into consideration the motivations that were behind each action, and our consciences (1 Corinthians 4:5, Romans 2:15-16). Paul says that even the most extreme 'spiritual' things we could do (e.g., dying for our faith or giving up everything we have) mean nothing if they were not done out of love for God or others (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

Yet I like what Lee Brainerd suggests when he notes that we can have mixed motives behind why we do things. So an action might partly be done out of love for God or others, and partly for some other reason. However, just as the bad or useless works we did in our lives will be burned up, Brainerd believes the same will be true for the bad motives we had, leaving only the good motives behind any work we did. Thus, a good work will still be rewardable as long as there was even a partially-loving motive behind it.1

So I think most Christians will be able to look forward to having a lot more metaphorical heavenly treasure than we might expect.

Rewards for Charitable Giving

Another way to store up these heavenly treasures is related to how we use our money. Jesus said,

Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. (Luke 12:33)

However, earning heavenly rewards by giving to the poor will only occur if we do not show off about it to others (Matthew 6:1-4).

Jesus told the rich young man to give his wealth to the poor and to come follow him, and promised the man that he would have treasure in heaven as a result (Matthew 19:21-22, Luke 18:22-24).

So actually, Jesus was inviting the rich young man to literally give up his past life and come be a disciple, which would have been a great privilege (Mark 10:21).

Many of Jesus' core disciples had given up their careers and ways of earning money in order to follow Jesus around on his mission of being an itinerant preacher (Matthew 4:18-22, 8:19-20, Luke 5:11, 5:27-28, 18:28). As a reward, Jesus said his twelve closest disciples would be rewarded with positions of ruling authority over Israel in Jesus' kingdom (Matthew 19:27-28).

Jesus also said that anyone who left family members or their homes in order to follow him would be rewarded by gaining hundreds of other loved ones who would welcome them into their homes as if they were their own family (Matthew 19:29). This promise became true for the first apostles who were welcomed into homes all around the Roman Empire as they traveled to spread the gospel and start new churches (Mark 10:29-30). It is also still true for many missionaries around the world who stay with the people God leads them to minister to.

I believe this promise will also be true in heaven, where every Christian would surely be honored to have any of these twelve disciples come visit us in our homes. We would also surely love to welcome in anyone who has ever contributed to our spiritual growth, whether past Christians whose writings we read, or our fellow Christians who encourage us today.

Admittedly, some Christians have felt convicted to take Jesus' words to the rich young man and apply them to themselves, literally. One famous example was the ancient Egyptian hermit Saint Anthony.2

However, we must remember that Jesus' and his disciples' needs were provided for by Jesus' wealthy followers (Luke 8:3), as well as by locals who invited them to stay in their homes and gave them food as they traveled around preaching and healing (e.g., Luke 9:3-6, 19:5-6). The same was true for Anthony, who basically became a reluctant spiritual leader for other hermits and local people of the region. Thus, his needs were provided for by the rest of the community, and so were those of his dependent sister, whom Anthony moved into an early convent/monastic community for women.

Therefore, I don't think it is wise to take Jesus' words to this particular rich man as if it is an instruction for every Christian. Today, if the average Christian gives up everything we have, we would just end up becoming a burden on someone else, whether our family, our friends, our church, or society as a whole, and that's not a good thing.

Providing for our families is something that God expects us to do, and this involves having possessions and money and managing these things wisely (1 Timothy 5:8). Working to earn money and save for our retirement so that we're not a burden on others (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12) and so that we can be charitable toward others is also recommended (Ephesians 4:28).

Paul took pride in supporting himself by being a tentmaker rather than needing churches to financially support him, in case his acceptance of money for his missionary work would turn people off from hearing the gospel message (1 Thessalonians 2:9, 1 Corinthians 9:11-18, 2 Thessalonians 3:7-9, Acts 18:2-3). However, Paul did sometimes accept financial support for parts of his ministry (2 Corinthians 11:8-9).

So we cannot say that Jesus wants all Christians to give up everything we have in order to give it all to the poor. Jesus said that poverty is an issue that will never be solved until his Millennial Kingdom (Mark 14:7, Isaiah 65:21-22, Micah 4:4).

Yet at the same time I do believe that giving to charities that help the poor is one way to earn heavenly rewards, along with being generous to provide for our church leaders and pay our churches' bills, and also support Christian ministries and missionaries that spread the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:13-14).

Although in the Old Testament it was required for the Israelites to give ten percent of their income to support their work of the priests in the Temple (Numbers 18:21-24), there is no such mandatory requirement for Christians today. Still, many Christians do find ten percent of their income to be reasonable to give to support their local church and/or other Christian charities.

And personally, I would recommend that Christians should primarily support reputable Christian charities, especially those charities that spread the gospel as part of their work. Although there are many secular charities that do lots of good work, there are also many wealthy secular people who support those charities. Yet sharing the gospel is done only by Christian missionaries, evangelists, churches, and other evangelical Christian charities, and so I think Christians should prioritize giving to these types of Christian causes.

When giving to these worthy causes we should remember an important principle that Jesus revealed regarding heavenly rewards: the amount of money we give to these causes is considered in God's sight as being relative to how much we have. So a person who has less money but who chooses to make personal financial sacrifices in order to be able to give a little to charity has actually given more than a very wealthy person who can give away large amounts of money without even noticing it (Mark 12:41-44).

Thus, the absolute amount that we give to charity isn't what matters, but our attitude, since God says he loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7). It's also true that "whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully" (2 Corinthians 9:6).

There is also the somewhat-strange verse which says:

The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. (Matthew 10:41)

Remember that at that time, welcoming a traveling preacher or prophet into your home was a major way of supporting that person's ministry (2 Kings 4:9-11).

So in today's context, I believe we can interpret this verse to say that anyone who financially supports another Christian's ministry will be rewarded the same way as if we were the actual person doing that ministry. This idea is quite mind-blowing, and can definitely encourage Christians to be generous when supporting other Christian ministries or missionaries.

In this way, every Christian has an equal opportunity to store up heavenly treasures by wisely using our money for God's kingdom, regardless of how much money we actually have.

Heavenly Treasures Translate To Positions of Ruling Authority

So in both of the previous sections we have discussed how our good works and charitable giving will be rewarded. Both of these sections have used the analogies of this reward being like heavenly treasure.

However, if you read my post about rewards all Christians will receive in heaven, you might recall the verses which say that all Christians will be heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). And if God is the creator of the entire universe, then it seems we will also inherit everything in the New Heaven and New Earth:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him. (1 Corinthians 2:9)

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (Psalm 16:11)

If this is true, then I don't think these additional heavenly treasures that we can store up in this life will be used to buy things that we will enjoy in heaven. These treasures won't go into some heavenly investment account that generates a certain amount of interest per month that we can spend on whatever we want.

And that's because there would be no point. There is nothing we would ever need or want to buy in heaven!

God will give us every physical or material thing we could ever want, simply because we are his children, and because he loves giving good gifts to his children (Matthew 7:11). We won't need these heavenly treasures to buy or furnish our perfect homes in heaven, or upgrade our already-perfect immortal bodies.

Furthermore, I've heard a joke that goes like this: A rich man dies and takes his most treasured possession to heaven with him: a gold bar. When he arrives in heaven, an angel asks him "So, why did you bring this chunk of pavement with you?" After all, the New Jerusalem is described as having streets that are paved with gold (Revelation 21:21), and foundations made of precious gems (Revelation 21:19-20).

So in the New Heaven and New Earth, gold and jewels will be construction materials — not things that are used to purchase goods or services. It will be like how today no one would walk into a store and try to buy something with an old brick, because a brick has very little value due to how common it is.

So then what will these heavenly treasures be good for? I believe the answer is found in the Parable of the Minas and the Parable of the Talents.

The Parable of the Minas and the Parable of the Talents

In Luke 19:12-27, Jesus told a story about a man who has ten servants. The man is preparing to go away on a journey to be crowned as king. In the meantime, the man gives each servant one mina, where a mina was an amount of money worth about three month's wages. The man tells his servants to engage in business until he returns. When their master returns, his servants report to him and return their earnings to him.

One servant managed to multiply his money ten times. Another multiplied his money only five times. As a reward, the man gives each servant a corresponding number of cities to rule over in their master's new kingdom: ten cities for the servant who earned ten times the money, and five cities for the servant who earned five times the money. Presumably, we can say the same ratio was applied for all the rest of the servants, also.

So in this parable, we see that the money earned by the servants translates into positions of service/rulership in their master's kingdom. Therefore, the same will be true for our heavenly treasure, since, again, there is nothing we will need money to buy in heaven, and a pile of literal gold and gems won't be anything special there, either.

However, positions of service/rulership are one way that Christians could be rewarded differently by God in heaven, depending on how well we served him in this life with everything that God had graciously given us: our time, money, physical possessions, skills and abilities, and the opportunities to do good works that God arranged ahead of time for us to do (Ephesians 2:10).

And yes, I do say these will be positions of service/rulership, because we must remember that in God's kingdom, rulership is not about bossing others around or making others serve us. It's actually the opposite: the greatest person in the kingdom of heaven will be everyone's servant (Mark 9:35, 10:42-44, Matthew 20:25-27, 23:11, Luke 22:25-27).

Jesus was the greatest servant due to how he laid down his life for everyone's sins (Mark 10:45, Matthew 20:28). As a result, Jesus is rewarded by becoming the King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:16) whose name is above every other power and name in the entire universe, and who is given authority over all things (Philippians 2:5-11, Ephesians 1:20-22).

Correspondingly, the Parable of the Minas reveals that Jesus will reward Christians with sub-positions of rulership/service in Jesus' government, which will vary according to how well we served God with everything we did or had in this life.

This idea makes sense. Those Christians who loved to serve God in this life and who therefore served him the best will be rewarded with more opportunities to do what they loved most and what they spent large amounts of effort or time or resources doing: serving God. Whereas Christians who didn't love to serve God or who didn't put as much effort or time or resources into doing this will be rewarded with lesser positions of service/rulership that will not require as much time or effort to do in heaven.

And in case any Christians are worried that they have had to spend most of their time in this life not serving God, but working to earn a living, then these Christians can be encouraged with the knowledge that serving their employer will be counted the same as serving God, if this work was done with the same level of care and the same attitude as if they were serving God (Ephesians 6:5-8).

Another principle for how God will judge Christians' lives for positions of service/rulership is revealed in the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30).

This parable is nearly identical to the Parable of the Minas, except for how the servants are given different amounts of money. One servant is given five talents (where a talent was about twenty years' worth of wages), and another servant is given only two talents.

Yet each servant manages to double their money, and so their master is equally pleased with each servant. It didn't matter that one servant started with five and another started with two.

When these parables are combined, they teach us about how God will judge Christians for positions of rulership in his kingdom. It doesn't matter exactly what we had, but only how well we used everything that we were given by God:

An example of this might be a world famous evangelist who maximizes the opportunities God gives to him and a washer woman who spends her life scrubbing floors and pinching pennies and sending off everything she can to the mission fields. The woman may maximize her opportunities in exactly the same measure and degree as the world famous evangelist maximizes his. We should never feel particularly inferior to other people because the Lord hasn’t given us the gift that we so much admire in some other servants of His. If we are faithful with the gifts we’ve been given in terms of our own abilities, then our reward will be the same as someone who has traveled the world and maximized his.3

This is very encouraging. I suspect that most Christians will definitely have earned at least some heavenly rewards, and possibly far more than we might have ever expected. This means that most Christians will likely be rewarded with at least some sort of position of service/ruling authority with Jesus.

What Will Ruling With Christ Mean?

But what will it mean to rule with Christ, and why should Christians care about being rewarded in this way?

The Bible shows it was always God's plan for humanity to rule the world and all the animals in it (Genesis 1:26-28). Randy Alcorn in his book Heaven (2004) explains that

God's intention for humans was that we would occupy the whole Earth and reign over it. This dominion would produce God-exalting societies in which we would exercise the creativity, imagination, intellect, and skills befitting beings created in God's image, thereby manifesting his attributes. To be made in God's image involves a communicative mandate: that through our creative industry as God's subcreators, we should together make the invisible God visible, thus glorifying him in the sight of all creation. 4

However, Alcorn also says

Many people have told me they're uncomfortable with the idea that mankind will rule the earth, govern cities, and reign forever. It sounds presumptuous and self-important. I would agree — if it was our idea to reign over the universe, it would indeed be presumptuous. But it was not our idea, it was God's.5

So let's not worry that discussing the topic of ruling with Christ is somehow arrogant or prideful. It's not, and it's actually an amazing topic that gives us a lot to look forward to in heaven. We won't just be sitting on clouds doing nothing forever, but will be creating culture and building societies, and doing so all for God's glory.

But if we're going to rule with Christ, then the next most natural question is:

Whom will we rule? Other people. Angels. If God wishes, he may create new beings for us to rule. Who will rule over us? Other people.6

Of course, not all positions of responsibility over others involve people. Adam and Eve governed animals before there were any other people. Some of us may be granted the privilege of caring for animals.... Perhaps some will care for forests. Ruling will likely involve the management of all of God's creation, not just people.7

However, I have heard some non-Christians claim that they don't want to go to heaven if some people are going to have more heavenly rewards than others, or if some people will be in higher positions of ruling authority than others. Supposedly, to these critics, it wouldn't be 'heaven' if everyone isn't totally equal.

The idea of some people having different levels of authority in heaven might sound very unappealing, even to some Christians. If so, it's probably because they're thinking about all the ways that this sort of authority has been abused in this world. As Alcorn explains,

Others may perceive that the New Earth will need no government or that differing levels of authority (e.g., some ruling over ten cities while others rule over five or one or none) are inherently corrupt or unfair. But the need for government didn't come about as a result of sin. God governed the universe before Satan fell. Likewise, he created mankind as his image-bearers, with the capacity for ruling, and before Adam and Eve sinned, God specifically commanded them to rule the earth. Ruling isn't a bad thing, it's a good thing. God has called us to it and has equipped us for it — to rule the earth, rule it well, and find pleasure in ruling it. Because we're sinners, power tends to corrupt us. But on the New Earth there will be no sin. Therefore, all ruling will be just and benevolent, devoid of abuse, corruption, or lust for power. 8

Similarly, the early church theologian Augustine also argued that in heaven, there will be varying degrees of honor awarded to Christians based on our merit, however, no one will envy one another or want someone else's position of service/rulership.9

Furthermore, I agree with Alcorn that we can be assured that no Christian will ever look down on one another in this system of government:

There will be a social hierarchy of government, but there's no indication of a relational hierarchy. In other words, the apostle Paul will be in a position of greater leadership than most of us, but that doesn't mean he'll be inaccessible. There will be no pride, envy, boasting, or anything sin-related.10

So no one will be upset that Jesus' twelve closest historic disciples will be rewarded by ruling over the twelve tribes of Israel, as Jesus promised they would (Matthew 19:28, Luke 22:30). No one will be upset if King David also has some special role ruling over the land of Israel, as is hinted in various verses (Jeremiah 30:9, Hosea 3:5, Ezekiel 34:23-24, 37:24-25).

However, Alcorn notes that he also frequently runs into another sort of objection to the idea of Christians ruling with Christ:

When I write and speak on this subject, people often respond, "But I don't want to rule. That's not my idea of Heaven." Well, it's God's idea of Heaven... It may sound spiritual to say we don't care to rule, but because God's the one who wants us to rule, the spiritual response is to be interested in his plans and purposes.11

Ruling involves responsibility — perhaps that's why some people don't look forward to it. Some people live in anticipation of retirement, when responsibilities will be removed. Why would they want to take on an eternal task of governing? But what they think they want now and what they'll really want as resurrected beings — with strong bodies and minds in a society untouched by sin — may be quite different.12

Imagine responsibility, service, and leadership that's pure joy. The responsibility that God will entrust to us as a reward can only be good for us, and we'll find delight in it. To rule on the New Earth will be to enable, equip and guide, offering wisdom and encouragement to those under our authority. We've so often seen leadership twisted that we've lost a biblical view of what ruling, or exercising dominion, really means.13

Service is a reward, not a punishment. This idea is foreign to people who dislike their work and only put up with it until retirement. We think that faithful work should be rewarded by a vacation for the rest of our lives. But God offers us something very different: more work, more responsibilities, increased opportunities, along with greater abilities, resources, wisdom, and empowerment. We will have sharp minds, strong bodies, clear purpose, and unabated joy. The more we serve Christ now, the greater our capacity will be to serve him in heaven.14

However, there will still be time for relaxation:

Reigning over cities will certainly not be "having nothing to do." I believe that those who rule cities on the New Earth will have leisure (Rest) and will fully enjoy it, but they will have plenty to do.15

So I hope this short overview of what it may be like to rule with Jesus in his Millennial Kingdom as well as in the New Heaven and New Earth has inspired anyone who was skeptical of the idea to be excited and look forward to this amazing eternal reward.

But if this is a reward, then is there any risk that some Christians might miss out on it? I'll discuss this in the next section.

Will Any Christians Experience Loss in Heaven?

In my previous post, I discussed how Christians can miss out on qualifying for three different eternal crowns, or even lose these crowns, if we disqualify ourselves or let someone else metaphorically take our crowns away.

Similarly, there does seem to be a risk that some Christians might experience 'loss' at the Judgment Seat of Christ, regarding our good works.

Let's return to 1 Corinthians 3:10-15. Here, it shows that there is a possibility that there might be some Christians who earn no heavenly rewards at all, because everything they did in their lives was effectively wood, hay, and straw — things that were worthless, as far as God is concerned. Yet these Christians obviously still get eternal life (1 Corinthians 3:15), and also all the heavenly rewards that every Christian will receive.

So in some sense, these sorts of Christians would "suffer loss", as the verse says — not because anything will be taken away from them, but because their opportunity to earn these rewards was lost/wasted. Remember, Jesus said that even the person who does the tiniest good work "will by no means lose his reward" (Mark 9:41).

Therefore, our bad works will NOT somehow cancel out or negate our good works, and we will never lose any reward that God promises to give us for these good works. The bad works will be totally burned up, gone, and will never be remembered again (Isaiah 65:17, 43:25, Hebrews 10:17).

The idea of Christians missing out on the opportunity to serve God is also taught by the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Minas.

There, we see the example of the servant who is given only one talent, which, we must remember, was still a very large amount of money. But instead of the servant choosing to wisely use and invest his money like the other servants did, he simply buries this incredible wealth in the ground. When the master returns, the servant hands this unused talent/mina back to his master (Matthew 25:24-25, Luke 19:20-21).

The master becomes angry with this servant for not even thinking to put the money in the bank, to earn the most minimal interest on it. As a result, the servant's talent/mina is taken away from him and is given to the servant who did the best (Matthew 25:26-29, Luke 19:23-28).

This means that for Christians who did do good works in this life, we may receive even greater abilities and opportunities to serve God eternally as a result of other Christians failing to qualify for these positions of service/ruling authority.

On top of this, the now-talent-less servant is thrown into the "outer darkness" where "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 25:30). So what does this mean?

The Outer Darkness Is Not Hell

Although many Bible interpreters say that Matthew 25:30 is a reference to hell, it actually cannot be.

We must note that the now-talent-less servant is still his master's servant, even though he was a failure.16 In the Parable of the Minas, the outer darkness is not mentioned, but we do see that the now-mina-less servant is NOT executed like his master the king's enemies are (Luke 19:27).

As an annihilationist, I believe the best understanding of hell is as, effectively, a sort of eternal 'execution'. So in Luke's Parable of the Minas, we should note that the servant is not executed, which means he is not thrown into the Lake of Fire that was created for Satan and the demons (Matthew 25:41) and that will be used to destroy everyone who is unsaved after the final judgment (Revelation 20:13-15).

And as I mentioned in my previous post, the expression "weeping and gnashing of teeth" should not be thought of as the activity of people who are being tortured in hell, since this behavior was simply a typical middle-eastern way of expressing intense grief.17

For some Christians to have wasted their entire lives and the opportunity to do good works that could have been rewarded with a position of eternal service/ruling authority would certainly be something worth weeping over. Yet this grief will be temporary, since the Bible says that in the New Heaven and New Earth God will wipe away all tears (Revelation 20:4).18

So again, as in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15, the Parable of the Talents and the Parable of the Minas teach that there may be some Christians who never did any good works at all in their entire lives. Their 'punishment' for this failure will be to miss out on being rewarded with positions of service/ruling authority, for which these Christians will be temporarily sad, but they will still be eternally saved.

So then the only question left is what actually is this 'outer darkness' that the talent-less servant is thrown into?

I think the answer comes from the Parable of the Wedding Feast.

The Outer Darkness and the Parable of the Wedding Feast

There are several different things going on in the Parable of the Wedding Feast in Matthew 22:1-14.

First, the king sends out his servants to invite several local nobles to come to his son's wedding feast, but the nobles all make excuses for why they can't attend, and some of them even abuse the king's servants. As a result, the king tells his servants to go out to invite anyone they find on the roads or in the countryside to his feast.

This part of the parable is a prophecy referring to how Jesus and the disciples first went to the Jews to share the good news (Matthew 10:5-6, 15:24), but once the Jewish religious authorities rejected Jesus and his disciples (Matthew 27:20-23, Acts 7:52-53, 7:54-60), the Jews have become partly 'hardened' toward the gospel (Romans 11:25-32). Since then, the gospel has spread mostly among the gentiles (i.e., non-Jews) due to the ministry of Paul and many others (Acts 13:46-47, Romans 11:11-16). This part of the parable is also in Luke 14:16-24.

So anyway, because the nobles rejected the invitation, all these other random people get invited to the king's feast, and they do show up. But then the king sees one man in his banquet hall who is not properly dressed for this wedding, and confronts him:

But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, "Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?" And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, "Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:11-14)

Now, there are two ways we could interpret this part of the parable, which is only found in the Gospel of Matthew.

First, if we wanted to say that the 'outer darkness' in this parable is hell, then the man without the wedding garment would have to be someone who was not saved, i.e. he was not wearing Christ's righteousness which is permanently given to all Christians the moment we first believe in Jesus as our Savior (e.g., Isaiah 61:10, Ephesians 1:13-14, Revelation 7:13-14, 3:4-5, 3:18).

However, if the man is an unbeliever, then it is rather strange for Jesus to say that the man apparently did respond to the king's invitation to attend the wedding feast, and actually showed up. It seems to me that if the man was an unbeliever, he shouldn't have even responded to the king's invitation, just like the other nobles who rejected it and who didn't show up to the feast.

So an alternate interpretation would be to say that the man's wedding garment (or lack thereof) represents a true Christian's good works.

But if so, then we cannot say that the 'outer darkness' in this parable represents hell, because that would be teaching treadmill theology, which is what I call the legalistic idea that Christians must do good works in order to be eternally saved.

As seen earlier in this post, the parable cannot be teaching that true Christians can lose their salvation for not doing enough good works, because 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 and the Parable of the Minas show that although some Christians may miss out on earning heavenly rewards, these Christian themselves will still be eternally saved.

However, there is an interesting verse in the Book of Revelation that I believe supports the interpretation that the wedding garment represents individual Christians' good works. If the Church, made up of all true Christians, is pictured as being Christ's bride (Ephesians 5:25-32), then in heaven, the Church's 'wedding dress' can be thought of as being made up of all Christians' good works:

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." (Revelation 19:7-9)

If this idea is applied to each individual Christian, then the Parable of the Wedding Feast may indicate that if a Christian does not have any good works, it would basically be as shameful and disrespectful as not showing up properly dressed for a king's wedding.

The king would be rightly justified in throwing this disrespectful guest outside of his beautiful, brightly-lit banquet hall, into the 'outer darkness', so that the guest does not get to enjoy the feast. Then the guest would feel regret as he looks through the banquet hall's windows from the outside and sees everyone else having a great time celebrating, and would weep and gnash his teeth as he realizes what he missed out on.19

Now, again, we know that the feast cannot be representing heaven or eternal life. But being booted out of a king's wedding celebration could certainly represent missing out on the fun that other Christians who did do good works will eternally enjoy as they rule with Christ.

If this is the proper interpretation, which I believe is the only one that fits with everything else we know about eternal salvation according to the rest of the Bible, then it also fits very well with my interpretation of the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids/Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13.

There, I argue that the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids/Virgins is addressing what happens to the saints who live during the seven-year Tribulation who do not care for their fellow persecuted believers. This category of saints does not appear at the Sheep and Goats Judgment in Matthew 25:31-46 which will occur after Jesus' second coming, before he sets up his thousand-year Millennial Kingdom on Earth. Thus, it appears that these 'unfaithful' Tribulation saints will die sometime before this judgment.

Yet unlike the martyred Tribulation saints who will be resurrected after Jesus' second coming, these saints will not be resurrected at this time, and so they will not get to enjoy the privilege of ruling with Christ during the Millennial Kingdom (Revelation 20:4). Thus, because of their lack of good works, the 'unfaithful' Tribulation saints will be 'locked out' of the wedding feast thrown by the bridegroom (and his bride — the raptured/resurrected Church who returned with Christ as part of his heavenly armies in Revelation 19:14 and Jude 14-15).

These unfaithful saints will only be resurrected after the Millennial Kingdom is over, probably when everyone else is also resurrected before the final judgment in Revelation 20:11-15.

So it's only fair to say the same sort of consequence would be given to Christians today who live before the Rapture, but who never did any good works. They will be denied the privilege of ruling with Christ.

As mentioned earlier, however, I suspect that the number of Christians who will have done absolutely no good works or given nothing to charity, ever, is probably pretty small. If even the tiniest good work of giving someone a cup of water will be rewarded (Matthew 10:42), then it would seem to be very hard to actually not do any good works.

Sure, there might be a few Christians out there, perhaps those who, like the thief on the cross, have mostly lived a selfish or sinful life of wickedness, but somehow believe in Jesus just as they are about to die (Luke 23:39-43). Perhaps it is these sorts of Christians who might end up with very little heavenly reward, but I think they would just be happy to even be in heaven, in that case.

How To Not End Up As The Talent-Less Servant in the Outer Darkness

Now, some Christians might worry that in comparison to other famous, influential, or highly-gifted Christians, they themselves have hardly anything to offer God. It is these Christians who may be the most tempted to not even bother trying to serve God, perhaps out of fear that it won't make any difference, or that there's nothing useful they can do for God, or that they might just mess something up if they do try to serve God.20

But as the Parable of the Talents and Parable of the Minas teach, every Christian should aim to do something for God, rather than 'bury' our opportunities for doing good works, or we may miss out on being rewarded with a position of eternal service/rulership with Christ.

However, there are also a few other ways that the Bible warns Christians may be prevented from maximizing the use of our opportunities for God.

In the Parable of the Four Soils in Matthew 13:3-9, 13:18-23, and Luke 8:5-15, a farmer scatters seeds on four different types of soil.

Only the first type of soil — the hardened path — represents an unbeliever, because the seed does not grow at all and is snatched away by birds before it can sprout (Luke 8:12). In all the other three types of soil, the seed takes root and sprouts, so these types of soil represent believers who are eternally saved the very first minute they believe (Ephesians 1:13-14).

Yet only the plant that grows in the last type of soil successfully produces fruit. Even then, the productivity of this plant can vary from thirty to sixty to a hundredfold (Matthew 13:23), perhaps echoing the servants who earn different amounts of money based on how they invest it in the Parable of the Minas (Luke 19:12-26).

Therefore, the Parable of the Four Soils is not about how to be eternally saved. This is a parable about things to watch out for that can negatively impact a Christian's 'fruitfulness' for God.21

Those two major things that can reduce our 'fruitfulness' are shown in the next two categories of soil.

Some of the farmer's seeds land in soil that has thorns growing in it which eventually choke out the plant from becoming fruitful. Jesus said these thorns represent "the cares and riches and pleasures of life" (Luke 8:14).

So this teaches that if Christians become too wrapped up in their own concerns and pleasure, it can keep them from doing good works for God. In this way, their faith, although real, becomes 'dead' (i.e. useless) in terms of producing good works in this life that can both earn eternal rewards and help others who are suffering (James 2:15-17).

In the rocky soil, the seed sprouts and grows quickly, but when this Christian experiences persecution or suffering for their faith, they fall away (Luke 8:13). As I said in my previous post, Christians can truly fall away from their faith, but if they do, they will not qualify for the Crown of Life. And as shown in this parable, if a Christian has walked away from an active relationship with God, that obviously makes it impossible to serve God productively.

After all, we must stay connected to Christ in order to be fruitful for him, just like how grape branches must stay connected to their larger vine in order to produce grapes (John 15:4-5). If Christians sever themselves from the vine, their branches will dry up and be unable to produce fruit, and so these branches become only worthy of being burned up (John 15:6).

This warning is similar to how the worthless works of Christians will be burned up and not earn any reward at the Judgment Seat of Christ, as we examined earlier (1 Corinthians 3:15).

As I noted in my previous post, there is a verse that suggests that true Christians who apostasize (e.g. give up their faith in Christ and never return to it in this life) will also miss out on the privilege of ruling with Christ:

The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:11-13, NRSVA)

So let's unpack this verse again, just to solidify this teaching in our minds:

All Christians have already died with Christ (Colossians 3:3, Romans 6:3-4) in that our old selves are now gone, and our inner spirits have been made new and are no longer bound to sin or the Old Testament law (2 Corinthians 5:17, Romans 6:6-7, 7:1-6). This spiritual rebirth guarantees that we will one day live forever with Christ (Romans 6:5, 6:8).

And Jesus says that whoever comes to him he will never cast out (John 6:37). Jesus cannot lie, and therefore, he "cannot deny himself" (i.e. go against his own promise). Therefore, even if we lose our faith, we will still be eternally saved, because Jesus is faithful to us, even if we are not faithful to him.

So the only part of 2 Timothy 2:11-13 that seems to be conditional for true Christians is verse 12: "if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us."

Thus, this verse must be referring not to eternal life, but to the privilege of ruling with Christ, which this verse does seem to say depends on Christians persevering in our faith until the end of our earthly lives.22

In the Book of Revelation, Jesus says,

The one who overcomes, and the one who keeps My deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are shattered, as I also have received authority from My Father. (Revelation 2:26-27, NASB)

"Overcoming" in the above verse is the same as having faith in Jesus, as explained elsewhere by John (the same author as the Book of Revelation):

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:4-5)

So again, when these verses are combined, it seems clear that ruling with Jesus does depend on Christians persevering in our faith (i.e. not falling away into apostasy) until the end of our earthly lives, as well as doing at least some good works during that time.23

Two Possible Conundrums

Yet 2 Timothy 2:12 does, I admit, potentially throw a little wrench into what I've argued earlier in this post, and it does make me somewhat perplexed.

If every Christian's good works and generous giving will be judged by God and will be rewarded with positions of ruling authority, and if it is impossible to lose the reward that God promises us for even the tiniest good work we do (Matthew 10:42), then it seems that it could lead to two possible conundrums:

1. Will Christians who fall away from their faith still be rewarded with a position of service/rulership for the good works they did when they were Christians?
2. But if all Christians are metaphorically represented as the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ, then shouldn't all Christians rule with Christ?

I will discuss these possible issues in the next two subsections. If you're not interested in these questions, then you can skip down to the conclusion by clicking this link here.

Rewards for Good Works by Apostate Christians?

What if, let's say, someone becomes a Christian and does do good works, gives to charity, and serves God for a time. But for some reason, they later lose their faith, and never return to it until they see Jesus face-to-face after death or at the Rapture.

It seems that, based on my earlier analysis of 2 Timothy 2:11-13, this person should lose out on ruling with Christ.

But, if their good works from the time when they were a Christian are still worthy of an eternal reward which cannot be lost, and which would have otherwise led to this person being rewarded with a position of ruling authority if they had kept their faith, then what will happen for this 'unfaithful' Christian?

As I argued earlier in this post, rewards for our good works cannot translate into some sort of physical/material possessions or money in heaven, because every physical/material thing we could ever want or need will be simply given to us by God as part of every Christian's divine inheritance.

Thus, the only reward that it seems the Bible teaches can be earned by Christians based on our good works are these positions of eternal service/ruling authority. I can't think of any other category of heavenly rewards that we haven't yet accounted for that these 'unfaithful' Christians could still be rewarded with, despite missing out on ruling with Christ.

Now, maybe we could solve this conundrum by making the claim that all Christians who mature to the point of producing good works will also endure in their faith to the end of their lives. However, I haven't done any research to back that up, and given the huge variety of Christians' personal experiences out there, I can't say this is definitely true.

And if even something as small as giving a free cup of water to someone in Christ's name will be eternally rewarded, then again, I find it hard to imagine that any true Christian would not have at least a few good works stored up in their heavenly 'treasure' account, even if this person later turns away from Christ for whatever reason.

2 John 1:7-9 might answer the question, where in context, John is warning Christians to not fall away from the faith by denying that Jesus was truly human, or by going beyond what the disciples taught about Jesus in other ways. John warns:

Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. (2 John 1:8)

So maybe God will reward Christians for all the good works they did while they were still building on that foundation of faith in Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10-15). However, if Christians metaphorically step off that foundation by losing their faith or by wandering away into some anti-Christian or pseudo-Christian heresy, then anything they 'build' after that point will not count for a reward?

In that way, perhaps these former Christians would only receive a 'partial' reward from God, rather than the 'full' reward they would have received if they had remained faithful? But again, I can't figure out what a 'partial' reward would be in this instance, since the only reward we're talking about qualifying for here is a position of eternal service/rulership.

And again, 2 Timothy 2:11-13 seems to say that if a Christian loses their faith, they will miss out on ruling with Christ completely, not just partially.

So it seems I'll have to leave this conundrum to God. In this life, no human has all the answers or knows how to perfectly interpret every verse of Scripture (1 Corinthians 13:12). And obviously, that definitely includes me (as well as all other theologians, Bible teachers, pastors, etc. who've ever lived).

The Entire Bride of Christ Should Rule With Christ?

Another conundrum that you may be thinking of at this point is this:

If all true Christians make up the body of Christ, because we can all be compared to different sorts of body parts that all function together in harmony (1 Corinthians 12:12–13, 12:27, Romans 12:4–5), and Christ will be eternally ruling as the King of Kings (Revelation 19:16) and spiritual 'head' of the body (Ephesians 4:15–16), then it does seem strange to say that only some parts of Christ's body will rule with him, while others will not.

Likewise, if all true Christians also collectively make up the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25–33, Revelation 19:7,) who is spiritually 'married' to Christ, then it seems strange to say that Jesus will rule as King of Kings, but only some parts of his Bride will help rule alongside him.

So it could be simply the case that the above two metaphors, while they do accurately reveal certain spiritual truths, cannot answer every question or fully explain every detail of the complex relationship between Jesus and his saints. If we press the metaphors too far, they may break. This happens for all metaphors, or they would no longer be a metaphor, but an exact description.

Of course, there are situations where a king has all the ruling authority, and the queen is only an important public figure who lives in the royal court but who doesn't have any real power (e.g. Queen Esther). So technically, kings and queens can "reign" (i.e., sit on a throne, act as a figurehead, attend ceremonies, receive honor, etc.) and not actually have any decision-making power that would let them "rule" (e.g., exercise authority or control over the kingdom's affairs).24

So there could possibly be some distinction between Christians "ruling" with Christ (i.e. having those lesser positions of service/rulership under Christ as King of Kings), and "reigning" with Christ.

In this case, we could say that all Christians will "reign" with Christ in terms of having some sort of special royal honor/status in heaven, but only faithful Christians who did at least some good works will "rule" with Christ in terms of being the ones to make real decisions that can affect things in the Millennial Kingdom and/or the New Heaven and New Earth.

However, as far as I can tell, the Bible never makes this clear distinction. Based on my examination of 2 Timothy 2:12 in a variety of translations, it seems the English terms "rule" and "reign" are used as synonyms.

William Mounce notes that the Greek verb basileuo can mean both to "to rule" and "to reign". He doesn't specify any distinctions based on context that could give hints about when to use "rule" or when to use "reign" in translating the New Testament verses about Christians ruling/reigning with Christ (e.g. Revelation 5:10, 20:4, 22:5).25

But just to be on the safe side, if Christians today are concerned with maximizing our heavenly rewards, then we should be careful to not fall away from faith during our lives.

In this way, not only will we be able to do the greatest number of good works for Christ, but we will also not be disqualified for any crowns that we may be earning. We will also be guaranteed that our heavenly 'treasure' we store up will definitely be converted into some sort of position of service/ruling authority in Christ's eternal kingdom that will bring us additional eternal happiness and honor.

Conclusion

So this brings me to the end of my three-post series on heavenly rewards in which I've covered the three major aspects of eternal rewards.

There are rewards that all Christians can look forward to, including:

• eternal life
• a glorious immortal body
• a perfect home custom made for us by God in the New Jerusalem.
• an inheritance from God that will include the entire universe

There are three different eternal crowns that every Christian has an opportunity to qualify for:

• the Crown of Righteousness for continually loving and longing for Jesus to return.
• the Crown of Glory for faithfully caring for fellow Christians' spiritual development.
• the Crown of Life for enduring persecution without giving up our faith.

And in this last post, we've covered how God promises that he will reward Christians' good deeds and charitable giving with eternal positions of service/rulership under Jesus Christ, depending on how well we served God in this life now. Because eternity is infinitely longer than this life, I also think that Christians should primarily live for eternity, rather than for things that are temporary (2 Corinthians 4:18).

In summary, there truly is a lot for Christians to look forward to in our eternal future.

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58, NIV)

Footnotes:

• 1. Lee Brainerd, "Rapture Nugget — Glorious Reward", Soothkeep at YouTube, June 8 2025.
• 2. "Anthony the Great", Wikipedia.org, accessed February 28, 2026.
• 3. Zane C. Hodges and Robert N. Wilkin, Tough Texts: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 74. An online version of this chapter is posted as Zane Hodges and Robert Wilkin, "The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)", Grace Evangelical Society, June 1, 2017.
• 4. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 226.
• 5. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 221-222.
• 6. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 219.
• 7. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 221.
• 8. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 222.
• 9. "But who can conceive, not to say describe, what degrees of honor and glory shall be awarded to the various degrees of merit? Yet it cannot be doubted that there shall be degrees. And in that blessed city there shall be this great blessing, that no inferior shall envy any superior, as now the archangels are not envied by the angels, because no one will wish to be what he has not received, though bound in strictest concord with him who has received; as in the body the finger does not seek to be the eye, though both members are harmoniously included in the complete structure of the body. And thus, along with his gift, greater or less, each shall receive this further gift of contentment to desire no more than he has." Augustine, The City of God, Book XXII, Chapter 30, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 2. Ed. Philip Schaff, trans. Marcus Dods (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887). Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.
• 10. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 220.
• 11. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 219.
• 12. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 220.
• 13. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 220.
• 14. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 234.
• 15. Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House, 2004), 234.
• 16. Zane C. Hodges and Robert N. Wilkin, Tough Texts: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 75. An online version of this chapter is posted as Zane Hodges and Robert Wilkin, "The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)", Grace Evangelical Society, June 1, 2017.
• 17. "In such passages, the real problem is that we westerners have a tendency to be more restrained in our expressions of grief.... but in the Middle East it is not unusual for a person who has lost a young child, a beloved wife, or somebody near to him to weep, wail, and gnash his teeth. Frequently in the Bible we read of people who weep, wail, rend their clothes, wallow in ashes and put dirt in their hair. These are Middle Eastern ways of showing intense grief. This is how Matt 24:51 should be understood. There is nothing about this description of grief that must always be interpreted in connection with hell. I don't think anybody in Jesus' day would have automatically connected this description with eternal torment." Zane C. Hodges and Robert N. Wilkin, Tough Texts: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 59.
• 18. "So since this passage is about a real servant of Christ who has lost the promotion and the rewards that could have been his by being faithful, he experiences intense grief. Some Christians experience a muted form of this grief now when they look back at wasted years and opportunities, but when we stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, we will no longer have our sin nature and the grief will be intensely acute. We will be perfect and will be able to see with painful clarity what we have lost. Grief is an appropriate response to that. This does not mean that such servants will weep and gnash their teeth forever, for we know that God will wipe away all tears from every eye (Revelation 21:4)." Zane C. Hodges and Robert N. Wilkin, Tough Texts: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 59.
• 19. "In Matthew 22... the outer darkness is fully fleshed out in terms of a wedding supper which was customarily held at night. An individual arrives at the wedding supper without the proper garment. He's tied up hands and feet and cast into the darkness outside, which means he's put out of the brightly lighted banqueting hall and put out on the grounds. The parable does not say there are some torturers out there who inflict unending torture on this poor guy that's tied up hands and feet. All of this is parabolic. Nobody believes that even the lost are going to be tied up hands and feet. What this means is that the man's activities are restricted and he is excluded from the brightly lighted banqueting hall where there's joy and festivity." Zane C. Hodges and Robert N. Wilkin, Tough Texts: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 76. An online version of this chapter is posted as Zane Hodges and Robert Wilkin, The Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)", Grace Evangelical Society, June 1, 2017.
• 20. Zane Hodges suspects that "in the Christian church there are people who realize, correctly, that they don't have a whole lot of talent. They don't have a whole lot of giftedness. They should realize they have something because the Scriptures assure us that all Christians have a spiritual gift. But it is easier for the man with the small gift to say 'What can I do? I could never be a world famous evangelist. I couldn't pastor a church. I can't even teach a Sunday school class. I just won't do anything. I've got so little talent that if I tried to use it, I'd probably squander it and mess things up like I do with a lot of other things in my life. And so I just won't do anything. This way, at least I won't harm anything'." Zane C. Hodges and Robert N. Wilkin, Tough Texts: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 80.
• 21. Zane C. Hodges and Robert N. Wilkin, Tough Texts: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 105-110.
• 22. Robert N. Wilkin, "2 Timothy" in The Grace New Testament Commentary, Vol. 2, ed. Robert N. Wilkin (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2010), 1000-1001.
• 23. Zane C. Hodges and Robert N. Wilkin, Tough Texts: Did Jesus Teach Salvation by Works? (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2017), 60-61.
• 24. "Reign" and "Rule", Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online, accessed February 27, 2026.
• 25. "Rule" and "Reign" in William D. Mounce, Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), 570-571 and 604-605.