Beyond Salvation: Eternal Rewards Now for the Afterlife -1 Corinthians 9

Do we all get eternal rewards?

1 Corinthians  9.

Paul emphasized in 1 Corinthians 9 how he had the right to certain privileges and to take a paycheck for preaching the Gospel, but he didn’t want to receive compensation and he didn’t want men to boast on him for doing so either. He did take money to help him spread the Gospel, he just wasn’t taking money from the Corinthians.

What about our reward?

Paul said if he preached the Gospel out of his own will, then he will get a reward, but Jesus had given him a ministry, so Paul was obligated to preach the Gospel because his ministry was a stewardship from the Lord. Paul had talked about eternal rewards beyond salvation before, but Jesus talked about them a lot.

Many people do not believe in rewards. I have encountered a lot of people online who think Jesus is a socialist, handing out the same reward to all people, regardless of what they do for the Kingdom of God. This thinking is based on Colossians 3:23-24,

     Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.

This word here for reward is the Greek word antapódosis and it is only found in Colossians 3:24. It is a unique Greek word used only in the context here. All other times the word reward is mentioned in the New Testament, it means something different.

antapódosis means Heavenly payback. It is an award of compensation, a paycheck from God, where God gives us our glorified bodies as the payment we deserve just for being a Believer. Our individually unique glorified body is the equal reward all Believers will get from God. That is our salvation.

This word for reward actually focuses on God. It does not focus on Believers. It focuses on what God gives us that He thinks we deserve. All people who ever lived will get this reward from God, but not all people’s reward will be salvation.

Some people’s reward will be judgment, retribution, punishment based on their performance while they were alive on earth: hell. This type of repayment is also mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 1:6. God will pay every person back the full equivalent of what is deserved. That is where our reward is equal for everyone, either a reward of Heaven or a reward of hell.

What about individual rewards?

–1 Corinthians 9:17

Paul wrote, “For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me.“

What is the reward?

This word for reward is misthós and it means compensation for a certain action. Unlike the previous word for reward where that reward is given to us by God based on what He thinks we deserve, this reward is given to us based on what we do, based on our decisions.

Paul was saying that God decided this ministry for Paul, he did not decide it for himself. Paul is just doing the will of God and not doing his own will, so his reward is that he gets to preach the Gospel for free. He does not get an extra reward for that. He will receive salvation, which is why God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.” –2 Corinthians 12:9.

This word misthós is used 29 times in the New Testament, and it usually means God rewarding Believers for walking in faith. Jesus used this word a lot and so did some of His apostles in their writings. It is used twice in the future tense after we get our glorified bodies from God.

When will we get our rewards?

Jesus tells us in Revelation 11:18 when we will get our rewards (misthós) for what we did on earth:

“And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

Revelation 11:18 happens just after the two witnesses are raptured up into Heaven by God.

The other time misthós (reward) is used in our future tense is Revelation 22:12, where Jesus says, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.“

Each person will receive a unique glorified body, and each body will respond to God differently based on our life on earth. There will be different types of glorification based on how well we knew Jesus while we were alive on earth.

Many people think some teach different levels of Heaven, but that is not what we are saying here. Heaven is Heaven. There will be varying individual rewards just as there will be varying different punishments in hell, but that is another teaching for another Day.