Introduction To Christianity - pg. 247

This implies a further and very important consequence.
If the breakthrough to the ultra-complexity of the final phase
is based on spirit and freedom, then it is by no means a neutral,
cosmic drift; it includes responsibility. It does not happen of
its own accord, like a physical progress, but rests on decisions.
That is why the return of the Lord is not only salvation, not
only the omega that sets everything right, but also judgment.
Indeed at this stage we can actually define the meaning of the
talk of judgment. It means precisely this, that the final stage
of the world is not the result of a natural current but the result
of responsibility based on freedom. This must also be regarded
as the key to understanding why the New Testament clings
fast, in spite of its message of grace, to the assertion that at
the end men are judged "by their works" and no one can escape
giving account of the way he has lived his life.