Dr. Paul N. Benware is Professor of Bible and Doctrine at Philadelphia Biblical University.  He has also taught at the Moody Bible Institute and at the Los Angeles Baptist College.  He has written a book entitled The Believer's Payday--Why Standing Before Christ Should Be Our Greatest Moment. 

Brother Benware is to be commended for seeking to write a detailed theology on the Judgment Seat of Christ.  Very few, if any, have even attempted to do this.  It is a crucially important future event and Benware has given it the attention it deserves.  He is correct in suggesting that most believers do not give the doctrine of the judgment seat of Christ enough careful consideration.  Benware has done this, and most of the book is very practical, helpful and Biblical, and serves as an incentive to faithful Christian living in the light of our awesome accountability when we someday will stand before the One who bought us with His own blood. 

Benware makes a good distinction between salvation which is a free gift and rewards which are earned.  He does a good study on what the Judge will be looking for and how the Judge evaluates.  He presents some interesting case studies regarding the sin of certain men (David, Peter, the Apostles, Zerubbabel), and how they repented, recovered and someday would be rewarded.  He offers practical suggestions as to how believers may prepare for the judgment seat of Christ.  His discussions of all of these important issues are profitable.

The main problem of the book is that Benware follows the "free grace" view that all believers will ultimately be placed into two distinct groups:

Let us deal with these issues, one at a time.

1)  Will only some believers be joint-heirs with Christ or is this true for all of the blood-bought children of God?

It is true for all of God's saints.  Every believer is an heir of God and every believer is a joint-heir with Christ.  Every believer is a partaker of Christ's sufferings and every believer will also share in Christ's glory.  Suffering is not optional for the believer; neither is glorification.

For a complete refutation of the view that only some believers are joint-heirs with Christ, see our Discussion of Romans 8:17.  See also the very helpful discussion of Romans 8:17 by James Ventilato.

2)  Who are the ones who will not inherit the kingdom?  Are they saved people or unsaved people?

For a refutation of the view which teaches that wicked, immoral saved people will not inherit the kingdom, see our Discussion of 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.  See also the excellent study by James Ventilato.

3)  Do only some believers qualify to be partakers of Christ?

Hebrews 3:14 and Hebrews 3:6 must stand or fall together:

"For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end" (Heb. 3:14).

"But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end" (Heb. 3:6).

If not all believers are partakers of Christ (verse 14), then it would follow that not all believers are part of Christ's house (verse 6).  But the consistent testimony of the New Testament is that every single child of God is a part of Christ's house (1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Peter 2:5).   The point of Hebrews 3:6 is that continuance in the faith is the evidence of being part of the true building.  Scaffolding is not part of the building, as evidenced by the fact that it does not remain (compare 1 John 2:19). In the spiritual realm there are many "temporary attachments" which in time fall away (Luke 8:13).  There is a difference between an apostate faith which rejects the Saviour and turns away from him, and a continuing faith with holds onto Christ to the end, even if it be at times a weak grasp.  In 1 Peter 1:5 we learn that we are kept by the power of God through faith, not apart from faith.  The Lord Jesus prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail (Luke 22:32), and every believer today enjoys similar intercession on the part of our Saviour (Rom. 8:34).

4)  Do only some believers rule and reign with Christ?

For a detailed and lengthy study on this issue, see Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth--Will This Be the Fate of True Christians?   The reader is urged to give this article careful consideration.

2.  Benware quotes frequently from Hodges, Wilkin and Dillow of the free grace camp, especially on matters pertaining to his belief that God will divide the body and bride of Christ into two distinct groups, with only one of these groups reigning with Christ.   For a full examination as to why many of the teachings of Hodges, Wilkin and Dillow are troubling, see The Theology of Zane Hodges and Joseph Dillow and the Grace Evangelical Society.

3.  Benware frequently quotes from books published by Schoettle Publishing company.  This publishing company is highly selective in the authors that they choose to publish, publishing only the writings of men who believe in kingdom exclusion. This is the doctrine that certain unfaithful believers will be excluded from the kingdom, or at least from reigning with Christ during that kingdom.  Benware cites  Dillow, Neighbour, Dodson, Panton, Philip Mauro--all authors of books published by Schoettle.  Dillow's book, The Reign of the Servant Kings, seems to be the theology textbook of the free grace movement.  Dillow teaches, as does Benware, that in the future kingdom, the glorious Bride and Body of Christ (the Church) will be divided into two distinct groups, and only the faithful group will rule and reign with Christ. Neighbour taught that unfaithful Christians will suffer weeping and gnashing of teeth and will be cast into outer darkness and will have no place in the kingdom [J. D. Faust, The Rod: Will God Spare It? p. 319].  Panton taught that unfaithful believers will suffer "millennial death," and will be cut asunder at the Bema, excluded from the kingdom, and some will be temporarily in Gehenna [Faust, The Rod, p. 323].  Panton was also a partial rapturist.  Philip Mauro taught that unfaithful Christians would suffer greatly and be excluded from the kingdom [Faust, The Rod, pages 330-331].  Kingdom exclusion is a common theme among the men who author books published by Schoettle. 

J. D. Faust wrote the book, The Rod: Will God Spare It?, also published by Schoettle, in which he teaches that unfaithful Christians will be cast into the dungeon of hell for a thousand years:  "There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in this outer darkness (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). The unfaithful Christian goes to the same place as the unbeliever and hypocrite until after the millennium (Luke 12:46)" (page 408).  Thus Faust teaches a fearful doctrine of purgatory, although he prefers to call it "millennial exclusion."  Thankfully Benware has avoided the extreme positions of Faust and never quotes from him, and yet he, like Faust, divides all believers into two distinct groups, with the unfaithful group being disqualified from kingdom blessing. 

4.  Benware dedicates his book to four men:  Dr. Herbert V. Hotchkiss, Dr. Charles Ryrie, Dr. John Walvoord, and Dr. John C. Whitcomb.  He sat under the teaching ministry of these men.  It is interesting to note that Ryrie, Walvoord and Whitcomb do not share his view that all believers will be divided into two distinct groups, nor do they share his view that unfaithful Christians will be excluded from reigning with Christ in His kingdom.  I do not know Dr. Hotchkiss and I don't know his position on this. 

5.  Hodges, Wilkin, Dillow, Faust and Benware place all believers into two distinct classes: