KEY CONCEPTS

THE INTERVAL OF GRACE

The unrepeatable span between conversion and death when the clay is still soft, when the wheel is still turning, when who we are becoming remains responsive to the pressure of faithful choices and the hands of a patient Potter. This window will close. What we do within it—and who we become through it—shapes eternity.

THE TWO PILLARS: DOING AND BECOMING

The inseparable realities of the Christian life. Doing: What we do in this life—empowered by the Spirit, patterned after Christ—deposits treasure in heaven and qualifies us for responsibility in the coming kingdom. Becoming: Who we become through those same grace-enabled acts shapes the soul that will live forever. These are not separate tracks but two dimensions of the same faithful life.

THE KILN OF DEATH

Death fires the kiln. The clay that was still soft, still being shaped, becomes fixed. Not frozen in stasis—growth continues forever—but foundationally established. The trajectory is set. The orientation is permanent. The kiln establishes the foundation from which eternal growth proceeds; it does not impose a ceiling.

THIMBLE AND OCEAN

A metaphor for differentiated capacity in eternity. Both the thimble and the ocean are completely full—100% of what they can hold. Neither experiences lack or envy. The thimble does not feel 80% full while the ocean feels 100%. Both overflow. But the ocean holds more. The interval determines capacity; grace fills whatever capacity exists. The thimble loves being a thimble because being a thimble is what God willed for it.

Drawn from Thérèse of Lisieux and C.S. Lewis

THE THREEFOLD FRAMEWORK

Salvation by grace through faith. Formation by Spirit-enabled cooperation. Reward by grace-enabled faithfulness. Each is distinct. All are real. This framework defuses the works-righteousness objection while maintaining the eternal weight of present faithfulness. Grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning.

Language adapted from Dallas Willard

EPEKTASIS

From the Greek, meaning "stretching forward." Gregory of Nyssa's term for the soul's endless advance into the infinite God, even in glory. Since God cannot be exhausted, perfection consists not in stasis but in perpetual growth. If growth is eternal, starting points matter permanently. The soul that climbed higher during the interval begins the endless journey from a higher summit.

From Gregory of Nyssa (335–395)

DIFFERENTIATED REWARD

Scripture speaks of crowns given for specific faithfulness, cities governed in proportion to proven stewardship, glory varying as star differs from star. A judgment seat where every believer's works are tested—some surviving the fire as gold and silver, others burning up as wood and hay—the person saved either way, but one arriving wealthy, the other impoverished. Not all believers arrive at the same destination indistinguishable in glory.

See 1 Corinthians 3:12–15; Luke 19:17–19; 1 Corinthians 15:41

THE BEMA SEAT

The judgment seat of Christ before which every believer will stand (2 Corinthians 5:10). Not a courtroom determining condemnation—that verdict is already settled in Christ—but an evaluation of faithful stewardship. Here the quality of each person's work is revealed by fire, and reward is assigned according to what was built upon the foundation of Christ.

See 2 Corinthians 5:10; Romans 14:10–12