About The Crowns

Q

I really can’t get the idea of even rewarding us with Crowns if they change nothing in regards to how we will be treated in the afterlife. Why even give them to us in the first place if we are to turn around and lay them at Christ’s feet? Does He need our crowns when He already wears the finest and most important crown of all? Will we be assigned some sort of rank due to the number of crowns we earn or the number of times we qualify for a certain crown or crowns? What am I missing?

A

The crowns believers can receive are identified as the Everlasting Crown (Victory) in 1 Cor 9:25, the Crown of the Soul Winner in Phil 4:1 and 1 Thes 2:19, the Crown of Righteousness in 2 Tim 4:8, the Crown of Life in James 1:12 and Rev 2:10, and the Crown of Glory in 1 Peter 5:4.

These crowns are a form of recognition from the Lord, and we’re not required to give them back. He doesn’t need our crowns or anything else we have. We’ll lay them at His feet as a way of acknowledging that every thing we will have accomplished has been at His urging and in His strength. In John 15:5 He said if we remain in Him we’ll bear much fruit but apart from Him we can do nothing.

As for whatever assignment we might receive, there’s nothing in Scripture that connects our crowns with our subsequent status or position. These are all things we’ll learn about as we go. But remember, the underlying feeling all these events will generate in our hearts is unbridled joy. That’s what you’re missing. We trust Him for our salvation, we can trust Him in this as well.