Judgment seat

The judgment seat — the Greek bema — was an elevated platform or tribunal from which a magistrate delivered official rulings, awarded prizes, or pronounced verdicts. In the Gospels and Acts it designates the official tribunal of Pilate at the Pavement (Gabbatha) and later the judgment seats of Gallio at Corinth and Festus at Caesarea. The New Testament authors adopt the term for eschatological purposes: Paul writes in Romans and 2 Corinthians that all believers will stand before the judgment seat (bema) of Christ or of God to give account of their deeds, though the context in 2 Corinthians emphasizes reward rather than condemnation for the justified.