Last Judgment
The Last Judgment is the final reckoning after the resurrection of the dead, when God judges humanity according to its deeds. Coptic teaching presents it as universal and following Christ’s Second Coming.[^1][^2]
Also known as: Judgment, Last · Final Judgment
Definition and Coptic Teaching
The Last Judgment is the final reckoning after the resurrection of the dead, when God will judge human beings and reward them for their deeds.1 The supplied entry on the subject describes Coptic teaching as affirming one final, general judgment after Christ’s Second Coming and the general resurrection, encompassing sinners and the pious alike.2
Biblical Foundations
The entry identifies references to judgment throughout the Old and New Testaments, including Ecclesiastes 11:9 and 12:14, Isaiah 3:13, Acts 17:31, Hebrews 9:27, and 1 John 4:17.3 It associates the Second Coming with Matthew 24:30, Luke 21:27, and 1 Thessalonians 4:17, and the general resurrection and judgment with Matthew 25:31–46, 1 Thessalonians 4:16, and Hebrews 6:2.2
Patristic Teaching
John Chrysostom connects the expectation of judgment with repentance in the present life, urging diligence before the day when repentance can no longer benefit the sinner and the judge alone determines the sentence.4
Augustine distinguishes a present resurrection of souls from the future resurrection of bodies at the end of time. In his account, the Last Judgment leads some to the second death and others to life without death.5
The Departed Before Judgment
The supplied entry on Hades describes the departed as awaiting judgment: the pious in paradise and the sinful in Hades. According to this account, they enter heaven or hell only after the Last Judgment, and there is no preceding individual or “particular” judgment.6
The entry on eschatology presents a different account of some traditions. It reports that early Egyptian legends and canonical literature, as well as later sources, sometimes place individual judgment around forty days after death, while affirming that a person’s ultimate fate is sealed only at the Last Judgment.7 The sources also differ in terminology: the Hades entry reserves entry into hell for after the Last Judgment, whereas the eschatology entry describes the tormented dead as already being in hell.68
Finality and Hope
The eschatology entry states that before the Last Judgment there remains hope of deliverance from torment.7 Its continuation describes hell’s torments as everlasting in general Coptic theology, while reporting hope at the final judgment for those who die with unforgiven sins that are not deadly, with reference to 1 John 5:16.9
References
Sources
- 1.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 70)
JUDGMENT, LAST, belief in a final reckoning after the resurrection of the dead, when God will judge men and reward them for their deeds.
- 2.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 70)
In contrast to the Roman Catholic church, the Coptic church preaches one last and general judgment, which will take place after the Second Coming of Christ (Mt. 24:30; Lk. 21:27; 1 Thes. 4:17), and following the general resurrection (Mt. 25: 31-46; 1 Thes. 4:16; Heb. 6:2). It will be a universal judgment, of sinners and pious alike,
- 3.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 70)
There are copious references to the Last Judgment in both Old and New Testaments: Ecclesiastes 11:9, 12:14; Isaiah 3:13; Matthew 10:15, 11:22, 24; Luke 10:12; Acts 17:31; Hebrews 9:27; 2 Peter 2:9, 3:7; 1 John 4:17.
- 4.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 70)
Saint JOHN CHRYSOSTOM stated, "Let us therefore take courage at His love of mankind and let us be diligent in showing repentance before that day arrives which will preclude our benefiting from repentance. Now everything depends on us; but then He alone who judges will be master of the sentence"
- 5.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 5 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 70)
so too are there two resurrections: a first one, which takes place now and is of souls; . . . and the second resurrection, which takes place not now, but is to be at the end of time, and which is not of souls but of bodies, and which, through the last judgment, will send some to the second death and others to that life in which there is no death
- 6.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 4 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 459)
The Coptic church also teaches that there is only one final judgment on mankind, which will take place after the resurrection of the dead, to the exclusion of any immediate stage or so-called "particular" judgment. The souls of all the departed are kept in waiting—the pious in paradise and the sinful in Hades. It is only after the Last Judgment that the former go to heaven and the latter to hell.
- 7.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 764)
In legends and canonical literature of the early Egyptian church, and also later, the opinion can be found that judgment of the individual does not take place until around forty days after death. Throughout Coptic tradition it is held that the ultimate fate of the individual is sealed only in the Last Judgment, at the end of this world, and that before the Last Judgment there is still hope for deliverance from torment.
- 8.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 764)
In Coptic tradition, the dead who suffer torment are considered to be in hell.
- 9.The Coptic Encyclopedia, Volume 3 — Aziz S. Atiya (Editor in Chief) (p. 765)
In the theology of the Coptic church generally, however, hell with its torments is everlasting, although those who die with unforgiven sins that are not deadly (1 Jn. 5:16) still have the hope of being freed from their sins and their torment in the final judgment of the world.
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This article was drafted from the sources listed above with AI assistance and reviewed by an editor before publication.