332. Three categories of persons at the judgment
332. THREE CATEGORIES OF PERSONS AT THE JUDGMENT
What, exactly, will be judged at the Last Judgment? And how will this explain why there will be three assignments, to Heaven immediately, to Heaven through Purgatory, and to Hell?
The judgment comprises two things, namely the discussion of merits and the payment of rewards. As regards the payment of rewards, all will be judged, even the good, since the divine sentence will appoint to each one the reward corresponding to his merit. But there is no discussion of merits save where good and evil merits are mingled together.
Now (1) those who build on the foundation of faith gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12), by devoting themselves wholly to the divine service, and who have no notable admixture of evil merit, are not subjected to a discussion of their merits. Such are those who have entirely renounced the things of the world and are solicitously thoughtful of the things that are of God. . . . [T]hey will be saved but will not be judged.
(2) Others, however, build on the foundation of faith wood, hay, stubble: they, in fact, love worldly things and are busy about earthly concerns, yet so as to prefer nothing to Christ, but strive to redeem their sins with alms; and these have an admixture of good with evil merits. Hence they are subjected to a discussion of their merits, and consequently in this account will be judged, and yet they will be saved (S89,6).
(3) The judgment as regards the sentencing to punishment for sin concerns all the wicked, whereas the judgment as regards the discussion of merits concerns only believers, because in unbelievers the foundation of faith is lacking, without which all subsequent works are deprived of . . . perfection. . . (S89,7).
What distinguishes the saved from the damned is their relation to Christ. This is not St. Thomas’ opinion, this is Christ’s own clear teaching. What is not clear is just what the minimum is for being accounted a “believer”—i.e., how much good will, i.e., a will that seeks God and what God is (goodness), and how much explicit knowledge of God in the mind, there must be to qualify for salvation. Since we do not know the answers to these questions; since only God, and not we, know the secrets of men’s hearts; we do not know the comparative population statistics of Heaven and Hell, and should we not claim we do, even implicitly. When His disciples asked Christ “Are many saved?” His answer was simply: “Strive to enter” (Lk 13:24).
We do know, however, that God is perfectly just as well as perfectly loving. He cannot compromise either of these two eternal attributes of His own nature. How He will reconcile the apparently contradictory demands of justice and love, we cannot fathom; but He will. Part of the answer, surely, is that He offers total mercy and forgiveness to all who will accept it by trusting Him and repenting of their sins, but He does not, and cannot, give forgiveness to those who will not receive His gift. Gifts are freely given and freely received. Heaven cannot be forced on a creature with free will.
And since God is perfectly just, therefore we will all be rewarded and punished with perfect justice. This means two things: what St. Thomas calls “rewards”, i.e., our eternal destinies (whether we will get a ticket to Heaven’s stadium or not, and if so, whether we will need to practice first in the minor leagues of Purgatory); and what he calls “merits”, i.e., how high our place will be in the stadium. (The analogy is only barely serious and certainly not to be taken literally.)
Notice that St. Thomas, like Scripture (St. Thomas is always “like Scripture”!), sees faith as the foundation for works; thus we will be judged both on our faith and our works (Scripture clearly teaches both): our faith (i.e., our relation to Christ) will determine what he calls the judgment according to rewards, and our works will determine the judgment according to merits. The first is pure mercy, the second is pure justice.