Byblos,
Let me just preface this by saying that I want to be really careful about avoiding pushing a particular belief in this thread. I have other threads for that
. Seriously, there are some discussions in which I advocate and others in which I question. This is one of the latter, so please don't take any of the below as an argument. I'll simply explain my position as related to the questions you asked.
Your primary question relates to judgment. Who is judged and why? My position tells me that
everyone will be judged. Being the premillennial dispensationalist that I am, I see several major judgments in Scripture. For Christians, the primary judgment (in fact, the only eschatological judgment, so far as I see it, although I may be willing to tweak this in one area I can think of off the top of my head) is the
bema seat as recorded in 1 Cor. 3:12-15. This is the judgment of every person who has ever been justified before God, from the time of Adam until the advent of the New Creation. It does
not determine one's salvation. It is to determine the rewards one receives in the life to come. So far as the time it happens, there are two possibilities, as I see it. The first is that it is progressive. That is, it happens for each believer at the moment of death. The other possibility is that it occurs immediately prior to the Second Coming, near the same time as the judgment of the Sheep and Goats (see below). In this case, it is not for every person who has ever been justified from Creation to Consummation, but it is limited to those who have been justified from Creation to the Second Coming. Those justified after that time will take part in the Great White Throne Judgment. I lean to the former of these two, but, so far as my studies have taken me, either of these seems plausible.
The next major judgment (in order of importance) is the Great White Throne Judgment, as recorded in Rev. 20:11-15. It takes place after the Millennial Reign and coincides with the resurrection of the wicked. It is at this time that all the unrighteous, from Creation to Consummation (of that, there is no question) shall be resurrected and judged. It appears that everyone who takes place in this judgment will be condemned, but note that they are not condemned for their works as recorded in the books. Rather, they are condemned because they are not found in the Book of Life. I contend that their works are used to determine what the level of their punishment will be. The only extra comment we need on this is in the case that the
bema seat is a one time event. That would imply that some justified people will take part in this judgement (those who survive the Millennial Reign and the events that follow). In that case, those in the Book would not be condemned, and their works would be judged in the same way as those in the
bema seat judgement.
The final major judgement I see is the Sheep and the Goats, as recorded in Matthew 25:31-46. This judgement will apply only to those who have survived the Great Tribulation and are alive at the time of Christ's Second Coming. This judgement will determine who enters into the Millennial Kingdom. Some take this to be an eschatological judgement in that it determines salvation, while others don't (I'm in the latter camp).
Now, you asked specifically about two verses . . . Matt. 12:36 is a general warning concerning the universal nature of judgement. It does not limit itself to one particular event. 1 John 4:17 refers specifically to the
bema seat. We know this because it is a reference to the judgement of Christians. The general rule for deciding which judgement a verse refers to is to find out the audience being addressed. If Christian, it refers to the
bema seat. If unbeliever, it refers to the Great White Throne. If it relates to those entering into the Millennial Kingdom, it would probably be the Sheep and Goats. If general, it is simply a universal warning of the inevitability of judgement.
Next, you asked about the verses that deal with baptism and repentance . . . I have dealt with many of those in the "Seven Reasons . . . " thread and also the "Repentance and its necessity" thread, both in the Christian Theology board. Repentance is easier to deal with in that I can make a very broad statement: it is required to avoid the temporal wrath of God. In other words, in all cases, repentance from sin results in deliverance from chastisement, but it is NOT necessary for salvation. This is, of course, a very different view from most Protestants, but then again, most Protestants are Lordship Salvationists. I'm not.
Baptism is a little trickier only because you can't seem to lay down a general rule so easily. When Peter talks about it, he is usually referring to the Jews who had just killed Christ. As such, it was an expression of their identification with Him, which was necessary, again to avoid temporal judgement, because they had previously rejected Him. Context is the key in all of these. I thoroughly reject the notion that baptism washes away original sin. As a matter of fact, I hold that original sin has been removed from every human being who has ever lived already. I hold to Universal Atonement (1 John 2:2). For details on this position, see my discussion with Puritan Lad in the "Is Calvinism Heresy?" thread . . . especially on the first page, my formal argument against the position. In summation, I hold that man is not condemned for his sins, but rather for his unbelief, as death seals him in a state of spiritual deadness. It is belief in Christ, however, that results in the imputation of life--that is, the New Birth, as described especially in John 3. Through belief, we come alive in Christ . . . we have eternal life the moment we believe (John 5:24). That is why the GWT judgement condemns to the Lake of Fire only those who were not found in the Book of Life.
Finally, you asked about the other verses that deal with works in general. Each of these would have to be taken on a case by case basis. Somewhere on this board I have offered a thorough exegesis of James 2:14-21. It shouldn't be hard to find in a search, and it will provide an example of how I take these types of verses. However, I would point out that Scripture cannot contradict itself, so if salvation is truly be faith plus works, then Eph. 2 and Rom. 4 must teach that same thing as well. That is why I try to avoid a proof-text method, because we end up with two people "stacking Scripture." The person with the biggest pile wins. That just is bad interpretation!
Let me just comment on one last thing. You said:
Like I said before, either we are saved and we do good works as a result, or we do good works and we are saved.
My position would not agree with this. I don't believe we do good works
as a result of being saved, although most Protestants hold to this view. Read through the Lordship Salvation verses Free Grace thread for a thorough explanation of what I mean here. In my mind, we do good works because we love Christ and we want to, but this is in no way a necessary result of justification. To be pithy, we may say that "We do good works because we are saved; we do not do good works as a result of being saved." The subtle differences in the apparent synonyms in that statement should, hopefully, highlight my position. Phrased another way, I could simply say (and often do), "We should do good works because we are saved," which is very different from "We will do good works because we are saved."
For the record, I am in 100% agreement, though, with your statement that the two positions you contrasted are, in the end, the same thing. That is one of the reasons I believe like I do. In his book
Absolutely Free, Zane Hodges said, "Anything that is a necessary result of an event is actually a condition of it." (Or something very similar . . . I may have the wording wrong).
Sorry for the length of this.
God bless
).