Christ's Merit

You know, the Bible teaches that revelation brings responsibility; the more you know, the greater is your accountability. So I think the Scriptures teach clearly that there are degrees of punishment for those who die apart from Christ, but there are also degrees of reward for those who are in Christ. Certainly we stand before God because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Nevertheless, the Bible speaks of the judgment seat of Christ where we are also judged on the basis not of our salvation, but of the things we've done in Christ. And so, I expect there'll be degrees of reward in heaven based upon our faithfulness both in terms of actions, but also in terms of the intention of the heart.