God the Judge

Scripture focus

...Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

Genesis 18:25 KJV

At a glance

Summary of the chapter

Packer acknowledges that God as Judge sits uneasily with contemporary preferences for a God who is only ever comforting or fatherly, yet insists the theme runs throughout both Testaments, from the judgment of Adam and Eve and the Flood through to New Testament warnings addressed to Ananias and Sapphira and to those who rejected Christ.

He identifies what qualifies God, and God alone, to judge rightly: unrivaled authority as both lawgiver and judge, a goodness and rightness that make his verdicts trustworthy, wisdom sufficient to see through every human pretense, and the power to carry out whatever he decides. Divine judgment, in this light, is not arbitrary but the necessary outworking of God's own moral perfection, giving genuine weight to human choices and assuring that justice will ultimately prevail.

The chapter turns to Christ's own role as the one entrusted with final judgment, and to the standard of that judgment — a person's works, understood as evidence of the heart. For those in Christ, though shielded from condemnation, this remains a call to present and future accountability. Packer's closing note reframes the doctrine as an invitation rather than a threat: the right response to a coming Judge is to run to him now as Savior, not to flee the subject altogether.

Key points

• God's role as Judge runs consistently through both Old and New Testaments, not as an isolated or minor theme.
• God alone has the authority, goodness, wisdom and power to judge with complete rightness.
• Divine judgment is not arbitrary; it flows directly from God's own unshakeable moral character.
• Christ himself is entrusted with final judgment, and a person's works serve as evidence of the heart's true state.
• The doctrine of judgment is meant to drive people toward Christ as Savior now, not simply to unsettle them.

Related Scripture

• Genesis 18:25
• Acts 17:31
• 2 Corinthians 5:10
• John 5:22

For reflection and discussion

1. Why might holding God's justice and his fatherly love together actually deepen trust rather than create tension?
2. How does the certainty of final judgment change how seriously you take your own present choices?
3. In what way is the doctrine of judgment ultimately good news for someone who has already run to Christ?