The Very Biblical Place of Purgatory

Intro

First of all, what is Purgatory? Many have the misconception that Purgatory is a place of waiting for one's fate (i.e., either Heaven or the place of eternal damnation, Gehenna.) Rather, the Church defines it as this: “All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven [CCC mxxx].” Purgatory is a place of purgation, hence the word Purgatory. The person who goes to Purgatory is purged of sin by Christ, and after being purified, they will enter into Eternal Life. Purgatory has a long history in Christianity, with even Eastern "Orthodox" and not solely Catholics acknowledge a place of purification after death and pray for those who are dead.

Views from Antiquity

As seen in II Maccabees xii. 41-45, even Jews prayed for the dead and still do. II Maccabees states, “So they all blessed the ways of the Lord, the righteous judge, who reveals the things that are hidden; and they turned to supplication, praying that the sin that had been committed might be wholly blotted out. The noble Judas exhorted the people to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened as the result of the sin of those who had fallen. He also took up a collection, man by man, to the amount of two thousand drachmas of silver, and sent it to Jerusalem to provide for a sin offering. In doing this he acted very well and honorably, taking account of the resurrection. For if he were not expecting that those who had fallen would rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. But if he was looking to the splendid reward that is laid up for those who fall asleep in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Therefore he made atonement for the dead, so that they might be delivered from their sin.” Why are they praying for the dead and why are they making atonement for their sins? Because there must be some from of purification after death.

“The view of Purgatory is still more clearly expressed in rabbinical passages, as in the teaching of the Shammaites: "In the last judgment day there shall be three classes of :souls: the righteous shall at once be written down for the life everlasting; the wicked, for Gehenna; but those whose virtues and sins counterbalance one another shall go down to Gehenna and float up and down until they rise purified; for of them it is said: 'I will bring the third part into the fire and refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried' [Zech. xiii. 9.]; also, 'He [the Lord] bringeth down to Sheol and bringeth up again'" (I Sam. ii. 6) [Jewish Encycploedia].” It is impossible to not recognize that even Jews believe in a place of purification after death. Another Old Testament example is Achan’s punishment in Joshua vii. Israel sinned, in particular Achan, since he took the valuables, meant to be for the Lord, for himself. Whenever Israel tried to conquer Ai, they failed because they had sin remaining in them. The people of God were not rewarded with triumph since they broke the law. John wrote, “Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness [I Jn. iii. 4].” John provides the definition of sin, which he says is lawlessness, thus making any infraction against Divine Law sinful. Since Israel was in a state of sin because of just one person, Achan, they would not be rewarded. Therefore, in order to be rewarded with triumph over Ai, they were ordered to kill Achan as a form of purgation. A single one of us is as Israel since the sin prevents us from reward. 

A potential other is II Sam. xiv. 14, where it is written, “We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up. But God will not take away a life; he will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished forever from his presence.” If this is speaking about Purgatory, then it describes it: The Lord God will not take away everlasting life of those who commit sin (that is not mortal) and will “devise a plan” for them to not be eternally banished from His presence. What makes this more convincing besides Purgatory being described, is the topic of death prior to the description, for Purgatory has to do with death since it is the finishing of a person’s purification since they were not purified while alive. Death and the spilt water are being compared, showing death is inevitable, just how water being picked up from the ground after being spilt on it is inevitable. Directly following it says, “God will not take away a life”, speaking of eternal life,for directly after it says “not to keep an outcast banished forever from his presence.” This is a possible mere pre-figuration of Christ's sacrfice in general, but if not in general, then in Purgatory.

Disregarding the Jews, the Early Church also believed in such a place. St. Augustine wrote, “Temporal punishments are suffered by some in this life only, by some after death, by some both here and hereafter, but all of them before that last and strictest judgment. But not all who suffer temporal punishments after death will come to eternal punishments, which are to follow after that judgment [The City of God 21:13]”, furhtermore, “That there should be some fire even after this life is not incredible, and it can be inquired into and either be discovered or left hidden whether some of the faithful may be saved, some more slowly and some more quickly in the greater or lesser degree in which they loved the good things that perish, through a certain purgatorial fire [Hope, and Charity 18:69].” Tertullian wrote, “A woman, after the death of her husband . . . prays for his soul and asks that he may, while waiting, find rest; and that he may share in the first resurrection. And each year, on the anniversary of his death, she offers the sacrifice [Monogamy 10:1–2].” Not just these, but more Early Christians believed in this place of purgation, such as St. Cyril of Jerusalem and St. John Chrysostom.

Purgatory in the New Testament

Martin Luther thought of Purgatory as being unbiblical just as Protestants do to this day. “Purgatory”, Luther wrote, “is the greatest falsehood because it is based on ungodliness and unbelief; for they deny that faith saves, and they maintain that satisfaction for sins is the cause of salvation. Therefore he who is in Purgatory is in hell itself; for these are his thoughts: ‘I am a sinner and must render satisfaction for my sins; therefore I shall make a will and shall bequeath a definite amount of money for building churches and for buying prayers and sacrifices for the dead by the monks and priests.’ Such people die in a faith in works and have no knowledge of Christ. Indeed, they hate Him. We die in faith in Christ, who died for our sins and rendered satisfaction for us. He is my Bosom, my Paradise, my Comfort, and my Hope [Luther on Genesis 25:5; AE 4].” 

Luther beliving it to be unbiblical is atrocious, for St. John the Apostle and even the Lord Jesus prove Purgatory to be true. John wrote, “If you see your brother or sister committing what is not a mortal sin, you will ask, and God will give life to such a one—to those whose sin is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not mortal [I Jn. v. 16-17].” Mortal means “subject to death;" therefore, commiting a mortal sin subjects the sinner to spiritual death (i.e., if the sinner does not repent, for that is blasphemy against the Spirit.) The spiritual death being everlasting fire.

But what does this have to do with purification after death? Christ said, “But nothing unclean will enter it...[Apoc. xxi. 27];” of which, Christ is speaking of Heaven. So according to John, we can die in a state of sin (i.e., sin that is not mortal (venial)) and still go to Heaven, but Christ said nothing unclean will enter Heaven. The solution being a state of purification, which is cleary necessary. Again, if one dies in non-mortal sin, one is not subject to death, and if one is not subject to death, one is subject to life. But if one is subject to life and still is unclean since one is in sin, one must go through purgation by Christ, since He is the savior and the cleanser.

There is yet another passage that comes directly from Christ, dealing with a place of temporal punishment posterior to death. 

In St. Luke xii. 42-48, Christ states, “Who then is the faithful and prudent manager whom his master will put in charge of his slaves, to give them their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. But if that slave says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and if he begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful. That slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating.” A master finds his slaves doing different things upon his arrival, who then are rewarded based on their conduct. There are two different slaves who represent everlasting fate: The first and the second. The first is found working (acting in proper conduct), but the second is found beating the others slaves and eating and getting drunk (acting in misconduct). The first is rewarded, for Christ said, “he will put that one in charge of all his possessions.” But the second is punished, for Christ said, “the master…will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful.” The reward of the first being everlasting life, but the punishment of the last being everlasting death (for being cut in pieces is death).

The third and fourth slaves, however, are different. This is for they are neither killed, nor immediately rewarded. Recall this: If one is not subject to death, they are subject to life. The third slave is not ignorant of the master’s command, which makes him similar to the second one; but what is strange is that the third slave is not killed. Although he is neither ignorant nor acted in proper conduct with the master’s will. So why is this one, seemingly the same as the second one, not put to death like the second one? 

This is because the second committed mortal sin while the third committed non-mortal sin. "For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be
met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent [CCC mdccclvii].”

Example: Adultery is committed (a grave sin), and when committed, the transgressor knows what they are doing is sinful, but they still transgress.

A mortal sin is based on “my will be done,” which is idolatry. “For if we willfully persist in sin after having received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries [Heb. x. 26-27].” This is mortal sin, for they will not receive Christ's sacrifice for the sins they deliberately commit. "To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him for ever by our own free choice. This state of definitive self-exclusion from communion with God and the blessed is called “hell" [CCC mxxxiii]. Knowing what a mortal sin is, non-mortal sin would have to be sin that is lacking one of the mortal sin criteria. Therefore, a non-mortal sin can be either grave or non-grave. So if it is grave, the transgressor must not consciously sin, but if the transgressor is consiously sinning, the sin cannot grave. Thus, the least grave transgression that can be committed is a non-mortal sin that is not grave, and is not done consciously. With this, it can be recognized that the third slave committed non-mortal sin since he was not put to death, but also still received a severe beating, for he knew what he was doing was wrong. Also, Christ did not mention what the third slave was doing, which is an implication to non-grave matter being committed, rather than to His mentioning of the wickedness committed by the second slave.

Now, the fourth slave is said to “not know" and "did what deserved a beating" but instead will receive a "light beating.” This is ignorant non-mortal sin. The lesser punishment shows this is a lesser sin than that of the third slave.

These last two slaves are not subject to death, but still acted against the master’s will. Since they are not subject to death, they must be subject to life. And if they are subject to life, but they are not pure so as to enter Heaven [Apoc. xxi. 27], what must be done with them? They must recieve a beating, either light or severe, and that beating is done in Purgatory. Some may object to a Purgatory saying, “Christ is the one who purifies, but if Purgatory were true, it would be the purifier.” This claim would be oppossed to Luke xii., for Christ says that the Master is the one who beats the last two slaves. Who is the Master? The Lord Jesus [Eph. vi. 6], the one who will purify them through punishment, but this punishment is temporal, for they are not subject to death (eternal punishment).

The fourth slave shows that those who are ignorant (through no fault of their own) of the Gospel can be saved, for the fourth slave was ignorant and was not subject to death. "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men [CCC dcccxlviii]," as well as, "Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity [CCC mcclx]."

With this Biblical evidence, Luther was very incorrect when he made the atrocious claim that Purgatory is a "great falsehood" based on "ungodliness." God is so merciful and gracious and loving, that He is kind enough to purify those who die in sin. And instead of putting them to death, He gives them everlasting life. How good our God is for not making all sin deadly and for purifying us even when we have died in filth.

Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the begginning, is now, and will be, forever and ever. Amen.