Perfected, Yet Being Made Holy

(Chapter Excerpt from My Book in Progress)

“For by a single offering, He has made perfect forever those being made holy.” Hebrews 10:14

Perfection.

            I was always told that perfection is not obtainable. I now believe this mindset to be an excuse to live in sin. If I can’t be perfect, then why truly repent? When I began to dive into Scripture as a teenager right out of high school this verse confused me because it contradicted what I was being taught. I have been praying and thinking about how I can spread not only the love of Jesus more because I daily fail there. I am devoted to proclaiming the truth within the mystery of the Eucharist. I am devoted to Christ’s church. If I claim this, and do not offer the wisdom I have gained from God’s graces, what have I accomplished for Him?

            I refer everyone, and have bought copies for some, to Brant Pietre’s The Jewish Roots of the Eucharist. I have warned those that read it and share beliefs that I once held with a tight grip, that once they read it, they will be opened to a truth that they will either accept or deny. I cannot open their eyes to the truth or change their hearts, but I can bring the truth to them to examine for themselves. I am at war with the product of the religious wars of history. The product being division and lies. I cannot change the past, but I can fight the lies with the truth of who Jesus is, was, and will always be. Thinking about all of this brought this verse found in Hebrews to my mind. This is not going to be about the Eucharist though. I have a more thought-provoking topic in mind for this verse. Purgatory. The topic that every Protestant that I know rolls their eyes at and says baloney. I know the arguments because I could argue with the best of them against this idea. Here are some of the most common objections:

“Jesus died once for us and cleansed us for good! We go straight to heaven!”

“To be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord!”

“What about the thief on the cross?”

“He went to hell and conquered death and took the keys!”

I have agreed with all this plus more. Maybe there is no purgatory anymore, once known as Sheol. Maybe Jesus really did shut it down when he went down there to release the earliest of fathers. If that is true, then so what? The topic of purgatory is not a deal breaker for heaven. If Protestants are correct, it just means we get to be with Jesus right away. We should aim for heaven every day, not Purgatory. But what if this place of preparation is real? What if our long passed loved ones are in this waiting room, being “sanitized” by this holy fire because of what they were taught from the pulpits every Sunday? What if they are there waiting longer because they were not willing to examine the topic by simply reading the church fathers or scholars before them? Maybe they were not willing to have conversations with those who had a different belief and test those spirits? The yoke of stubbornness and pride is a heavy weight in this world and a heavier one in the next if living in willful disobedience. So, now that I have given you the guilt trip of thinking of grandma, explore this one verse with me and why I believe it is one of several verses that supports purgatory.

Understanding the Origins of the Argument Against Purgatory

            It is important to understand why purgatory is a hot topic before getting into the verse. I will not get into the whole history but feel it is important to clarify several points. For the sake of time, I will not explain every detail I have found in the history books. Purgatory was not an official church doctrine for over 1000 years. This was because it was a common belief in Judaism which was understood within the church as an oral and cultural tradition. According to Diarmid MacCulloch, the Black Plague thrust society and the church into a concern for the dead. As a result, this idea of a “middle state” began to be included in practices that were considered corrupt, like the selling of indulgences. The Eastern Orthodox, now commonly known as The Orthodox Church, would not accept it as doctrine, and this was one of the many reasons they chose to split from Rome; otherwise known as the Great Schism.

            First, The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives specific church teachings on this starting at 1030. “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.”[1] Specific verses that speaks of this purifying fire can be found in Scripture. 1 Cor. 3:15 and 1 Pet. 1:7 are specific references to this holy fire. Matthew 12:32 implies that there are sins that can be forgiven “in the age to come.” These would be our venial sins like telling white lies, gossiping, deliberate hatred, etc. Nothing in this takes away from Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross.

            Catholics believe that it is only by God’s grace and sacrifice on the cross that we are saved. We must accept Christ to go to heaven. Simply put, He is our Savior. The argument I once had as a Protestant was that “Catholics are a works-based religion. Nothing we can do can get us to heaven except believe in Jesus.”  Catholics do believe that believers should work towards holiness and to be more Christlike, not that the works save us. I can reject Christ, but be the most charitable person on the planet, and go to hell. A purgatory for the charitable unbelievers does not exist. Works do not save us. They are a fruit of our Spirit. When Christ is truly Lord of your life, you want to work for Him and shine His light. This is a shared belief and a common misconception of Catholicism among Protestants.  

            I have concluded through my own experience as a Protestant that this argument is an excuse to do little. When we have the “I don’t have to work” mentality, it creates laziness and sows division. John Smith told the colonists at Jamestown that “if they did not work, they would not eat.”[2] If this holds true in our daily life, why would it not be true in our spiritual life? If we do not do the works God commands us to do, how will we eat the Spiritual fruits that are produced by obedience?

            The next argument against the doctrine of purgatory is that of the corruption in the Early Modern period. I have yet to meet a Catholic that will not agree that there have been corrupt Pope’s in history and corrupt clergy. The humanity of a Pope is another topic, but they are human just like us. They sin and fall short. Catholics do not worship the Pope. This is another common misconception. He is the head of the Catholic church, a special Bishop that holds the seat of Peter, and should model Christ on Earth. This is why he is held in high regard. Jesus chose Peter as a leader of His disciples, and that succession has continued. When corruption creeps in, it is his job to squash it, much like the image of Jesus squashing the head of the serpent in the Garden of Gethsemane. When the Pope is not obedient to keeping order, or allows Himself to be sinful with pride, corrupt things happen. EB Chamberlain wrote an entire book on this and titled it Bad Popes.[3]

            The Protestant Reformation was born due to corruption within the church. There are many examples, but the one related to purgatory is the buying and selling of indulgences. How much would you give to get a dead relative out of purgatory? Johann Tetzel is an example of one who abused this practice in Martin Luther’s community by fundraising for St. Peter’s Basilica. He intentionally targeted the poor, who would starve rather than allow a loved on to be in purgatory. Tetzel was corrupt. This is where Luther becomes famous for hanging the thesis on the door. This story is blown out of the water in a heroic fashion. Luther did not hammer the thesis onto the door. He pasted it with glue and wanted to have a scholarly debate.The Protestant Reformation was then aflame throughout all of Europe. Why? Because of the development of the printing press. Someone took the thesis, copied it, and spread it all over Europe. This turned Luther's situation into what it turned into. The Pope at the time actually had a civil relationship with Luther and gave him opportunity after opportunity to make things right. This is all verifiable through letters. The rest is history and an entirely different history lesson.

             In response to the abuse of the indulgences, at the Council of Trent, Pope Pius V forbade the sale of indulgences to stop the corrupt practice. What most history books in a Protestant dominated country won’t share is that there was a reformation happening within the church long before the Protestant Reformation took place. I will not delve into anymore of this history, but it is easily researched. Within this movement we have many of the great saints who blessed us with wisdom: St. Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross, St. Ignatius of Loyola, St. Francis Xavier, etc.

The Verse

           Perfect and holy should be aspirations of every Christian. The Scriptures, particularly this verse, tells us that Jesus makes us perfect through His sacrifice. Perfection is now obtainable, but maybe not with human standards. When we believe in Jesus as the Savior of the world, God looks down on us and sees us. Like the lamb’s blood applied on the door posts of the Israelites in Egypt, God sees the blood of His son on us, and His wrath passes over us. Death has no victory over us. But what does “being made holy” or “being sanctified” mean then?

          I am not a Greek scholar. When I want to thoroughly research the translation of the Greek, I refer to the original Greek word and then use references like Strongs Exhaustive Concordance to find the meaning.[4] The Greek word used in Hebrews 10:14 for “being sanctified” is ?γιαζομ?νους. According to Strong’s, this means to sanctify, continually or perpetually. Another translation of the word is to separate from things profane and dedicate to God, to consecrate and so render inviolable. It is continuous and passive. The literal interpretation is those who are continually in the process of being sanctified. Now looking at this entire verse one more time, “for by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are being made holy.”[5] Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross as the Paschal Lamb was the final sacrifice. But this implies that the work of holiness is not complete, it is an ongoing process. How, pray, do we reach holiness if this implies Christ’s sacrifice did not make us holy? The solution is purgatory.

            I fail and sin every day in my thoughts and actions. Sometimes those sins are so subtle that unless I do my daily examen, I miss or forget them. There are many verses in Scripture that tell us that unless we are holy, we cannot see the face of God or enter heaven.

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness: without which no man shall see God." Hebrews 12:14

"There shall not enter into it anything defiled, or that worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they that are written in the book of life of the Lamb." Revelation 21:27

"Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God." Matthew 5:8

"Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48

In Catholic theology, these specific translations highlight why purgatory is understood not as a place of secondary salvation, but as a necessary, grace-filled chamber of healing. Because Hebrews 12:14 states holiness is a strict prerequisite to see God, and Revelation 21:27 notes that absolutely nothing defiled can enter the New Jerusalem, a soul that dies in friendship with God (justified) but still retains the stains of venial sins or imperfect attachments must be thoroughly cleansed. The sacrifice of Christ on the cross remains the sole source of this cleansing, acting as a refining fire to make the soul entirely holy before it steps into the Beatific Vision.

            For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw- each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.[6]

Catholic biblical commentaries and church councils (such as Florence and Trent) historically point to this passage as a primary scriptural baseline for purgatory. The Haydock Commentary, St. Augustine, and St. Ambrose identify 1 Corinthians 3:15 as referring to a temporary, purgatorial fire that purifies souls with venial faults before entering heaven. This fire burns away earthly attachments ("wood, hay, and stubble") while the underlying faith in Christ ensures eventual salvation.

           Augustine clearly distinguishes this fire from the "everlasting fire" of hell. In City of God, he teaches that this specific fire is temporary and acts as a correctional treatment for those who die in a state of grace but are not yet perfectly holy. One of Augustine's most striking points is the intensity of this purification. In his Exposition on Psalm 37, he warns that while the soul is ultimately saved, the process is not trivial, "And because it is said, 'he shall be saved,' that fire is thought lightly of. Clearly, though saved by fire, yet that fire will be more grievous than anything that man can suffer in this life."[7] In his work On Faith and Works (De Fide et Operibus), Augustine famously admits that this specific verse is "one of the difficult and obscure passages" of Scripture.[8] However, he remains firm that it refers to a state where the "fire of tribulation" purges the soul of its lesser, temporal loves.

            While St. Augustine emphasized the painful, corrective nature of the fire for those with attachments to sin, St. Ambrose envisioned the fire as a final barrier or test located at the entrance of Paradise. He connects this fire to the Cherubim's flaming sword in Genesis that guards the Tree of Life. To return to Paradise, humanity must pass back through this sword.In his Commentary on Psalm 118 (specifically sermon 20), Ambrose states that everyone must pass through this fire, including the Apostles like Peter and John. Ambrose explains that the fire does not burn everyone the same way. It acts as a divine filter that reacts to the "wood, hay, and stubble" (sins and earthly attachments) mentioned in 1 Corinthians 3:15. When a saved but imperfect soul passes through, the fire ignites their "wood." They suffer burning and purification until the attachments are consumed, allowing them to enter heaven cleansed. "All must be tested by fire... If someone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as by fire. Whence we infer that this is a fire that purges, not a fire that consumes [destroys] the soul."[9]
 
(End of Excerpt) 

Conclusion

     I no longer see purgatory as a challenge to the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice, but as its merciful completion within us. The fire does not compete with the Cross; it flows from it. Christ has already won our salvation, yet in His love He continues to cleanse, heal, and sanctify us until nothing remains that could keep us from seeing God face to face. Purgatory, then, is not a second chance for the unsaved or a punishment added to Christ’s work. It is the final work of grace in those who belong to Him - the moment when those whom He has “made perfect forever” are at last made perfectly holy. St. Teresa of Ávila described the soul’s journey toward God as an ever-deepening passage into the interior castle, where He patiently removes all that prevents perfect union with Him. St. Thérèse of Lisieux teaches us how to make that journey: not by trusting in our own perfection, but by surrendering ourselves completely to the merciful love of Jesus. Whether that sanctification is completed in this life or the next, my prayer is the same:

Lord, remove from me everything that is not of You, so that I may enter Your presence fully healed, wholly purified, and finally home.
 

                  [1]  Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1030.
                  [2]  John Smith

 
                  [3]  Bad Popes

 
                  [4]  Strongs Exhaustive Concordance
                  [5]  Hebrews 10:14

 
                  [6]  1 Corinthians 3:11–1
                  [7] City of God

 
                  [8] St. Augustine On Faith and Works (De Fide et Operibus
                  [9]  St. Ambrose Psalms Commentary