Particular judgment

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In Christian eschatology, particular judgment is the doctrine that immediately after death the eternal destiny of each separated soul is decided by the just judgment of God. In Western Christianity, the soul is generally said to go to Heaven, Hell, or (in Roman Catholicism) Purgatory prior to Heaven. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, souls go to hades, where the saved rest and the damned suffer ^[1]. Particular judgment is the common belief of most Christians, as opposed to the belief that the soul sleeps unconsciously until the General Judgment, or that the soul is annihilated at death, to be recreated on Judgment Day.

1 Particular judgment in the Bible
2 Early Christian writing
3 Medieval concepts
4 Reformation concepts
5 Particular judgment in other religions
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Particular judgment in the Bible

Ecclesiastes 11:9; 12:1 sq.; and Hebrews 9:27, are sometimes quoted in proof of the particular judgment, but though these passages speak of a judgment after death, neither the context nor the force of the words proves that the sacred writer had in mind a judgment distinct from that at the end of the world. The scriptural arguments in defence of the particular judgment must be indirect. There is no text of which we can certainly say that it expressly affirms this dogma but there are several which teach an immediate retribution after death and thereby clearly imply a particular judgment. Christ represents Lazarus and Dives as receiving their respective rewards immediately after death. They have always been regarded as types of the just man and the sinner. To the penitent thief it was promised that his soul instantly on leaving the body would be in the state of the blessed: "This day thou shalt be with me in Paradise" (Luke 23:43). Saint Paul (II Corinthians 5) longs to be absent from the body that he may be present to the Lord, evidently understanding death to be the entrance into his reward (cf. Philemon 1:21 sq.).

[edit] Early Christian writing

The Testament of Abraham includes a clear account of particular judgment, in which souls go either through the wide gate of destruction or the narrow gate of salvation. By this account, only one in seven thousand earn salvation.

Hippolytus of Rome described the particular judgment of souls in hades, with the righteous resting in one section and the unrighteous suffering in another ^[2].

Tertullian (c. AD 200) argued against the pagan belief that the souls of the wise ascended into the heavens, or the belief among Christians that the souls of the faithful attain heaven before Judgment Day: "How, indeed, shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father's right hand, when as yet the archangel's trumpet has not been heard by the command of God. . .?"^[3] He argued instead that the reward believers receive immediately after death takes place in hades.

Saint Augustine wrote that the righteous dead would rest "in the secret receptacles and abodes of disembodied spirits,"^[4] awaiting Judgment Day. Centuries later, Thomas Aquinas argued that Augustine's teaching was nevertheless consistent with particular judgment.

[edit] Medieval concepts

In his Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas argued that the soul departs for heaven or hell immediately on death ^[5].

[edit] Reformation concepts

Martin Luther argued that the dead sleep unconsciously until Judgment Day. In response, John Calvin argued that the dead are conscious while awaiting Judgment Day, either in bliss or torment depending on their fate.^[6]

[edit] Particular judgment in other religions

In his Myth of Er, Plato (c. 400 BC) wrote that each soul is judged after death and either sent to heaven for a reward or to the underworld for punishment. After its reward or punishment, the soul is reincarnated. He also described the judgment of souls immediately after death in the Gorgias.

According to the 9th century Zoroastrian text Dadestan-i Denig ("Religious Decisions"), a soul is judged three days after death. Depending on the soul's balance of good and bad deeds, it goes to heaven, hell, or hamistagan, a neutral place. In its appropriate place, the soul awaits Judgment Day.

In Islam, the angels Nakir and Munkar interrogate a recently deceased soul, which then remains in its grave in a state of bliss or torment until Judgment Day.