JUDGMENT SEAT

(bema, "a raised place," "platform," "tribune," Matthew 27:19; John 19:13; see GABBATHA ; Acts 12:21 margin (text "throne"); Acts 18:12,16 ff; Acts 25:6,17): In Greek law courts, one bema was provided for the accuser, another for the accused; but in the New Testament the word designates the official scat of a judge, usually of the Roman governor; also of the emperor (Acts 25:10); then of God (Romans 14:10), of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). The word kriterion, "a tribunal," "bench of judges" (James 2:6) occurs also in 1 Corinthians 6:2-4, and is there translated in the Revised Version margin by "tribunals."