Some Christians do not give this verse all its power; they refer it simply to our position before God respecting the day of judgment.
Whatever judgment may come, the saint has nothing to do with it. For if there remains a question about judgment, there can be no boldness before God. There is nothing more comforting than the perfect confidence of having God as my Father.
I cannot get my heart’s affections in full play if I think God is going to judge me, but I have the Spirit of adoption, and if I sin or do wrong, I run to my Father directly, because I know my Father is not going to judge me for that sin.
God is my Father and will not judge (except as a Father, now, for my correction by the way). Therefore boldness is needed for the exercise of the spiritual affections in me.
We ought to remember this, for Christians often shrink from it, but it is evident that if I am hesitating whether God is going to bless me or to judge me, I cannot love Him.
J. N. Darby (adapted)