Are There Degrees of Reward?

The question for this issue is one that is often asked: "I would be pleased to learn your views re rewards - are there degrees of these?"  We suppose that the difficulty is (1) that the idea of rewards seems foreign to salvation by grace alone; and (2) that if we speak of degrees of reward, this seems to emphasize even more strongly that somehow merit or works are after all involved in our salvation.

That Scripture speaks of rewards cannot be doubted.  Not only is the English word "reward" used innumerable times, but it is often a translation of words that mean "recompense," "wage," "repayment."  Then, too, there are the many passages, that do not use the word, but have the idea of reward in them, passages such as Romans 2:6-11 and II Corinthians 5:10.

That there are degrees of reward seems clear from Scripture.  Whether we think of it as reward or not, Scripture certainly speaks of different degrees of heavenly glory and blessing.  There are first and last (Matt. 19:30; 20:16; Mk. 9:35; Lk. 13:30), greatest and least (Matt. 5:19; 11:11; Lk. 7:28) in the kingdom of heaven.  The apostles will sit on twelve thrones, judging Israel (Matt. 19:28).  Even in relation to the angels there are degrees, for the saints shall judge them (I Cor. 6:3) and they themselves are and shall be servants, ministering spirits, to God's people (Heb. 1:14).

Not only that, but when Scripture says that the "reward" shall be "according to works," it also implies different degrees of reward, for no matter what we say about those works, it is evident that not all have the same works.  I Corinthians 3:11-15 confirms this when it tells us that some men's work shall abide and some shall be burned even though they themselves are saved.

All this seems to contradict the teaching of Scripture concerning grace.  How can salvation be by grace alone without works, and there nevertheless be rewards?  And, how can that reward be "according to works?"

The answer to these questions lies in the fact that the works which are rewarded, or which are the measurement according to which the reward is given, are themselves a gift of God (Eph. 2:8-10).  That those works are rewarded, then, still leaves us with no merit or anything in which to glory before God.  Indeed, we cannot possibly merit anything with God, even if we do all that is required of us! (Lk. 17:10).

The truth is really that God rewards His own work in us!  He is both the sovereign, gracious Author of the works rewarded and of the reward itself.  We cannot possibly receive any credit for those works when it is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure (Phil. 2:13).

The reward, therefore, is the reward of grace.  It is grace added to grace - one gift added to another - and rather than bringing praise to us, it brings all praise and glory to God.  This is the reason, we believe, why Scripture so carefully says that the reward is "according to" works, and not "because of," works.

Our works, themselves a gracious gift of God, every one of them foreordained by God (Eph. 2:10), purchased by Christ, and given by the grace of the Holy Spirit, are only the measure of the reward, never the reason for it.  And for that reason they are also a motive and reason to continue in good works (Phil. 2:12, 13).