Purgatory

"Purgatory is not some kind of supra-worldly concentration camp where one is forced to undergo punishments in a more or less arbitrary fashion. Rather it is the inwardly necessary process of transformation in which a person becomes capable of Christ, capable of God [i.e. capable of full unity with Christ and God] and thus capable of unity with the whole communion of saints… Encounter with the Lord is this transformation. It is the fire that burns away our dross and re-forms us to be vessels of eternal joy."

- Pope Benedict XVI, Eschatology: Death and Eternal Life

One of the post perplexing dogmas of the Church, to non-Catholics, is that of Purgatory. Upon death, Catholics hold that those who have unrepented mortal sin on their souls will be consigned to Hell, while those whose souls are untainted (by absolution of any sin) or which bear only venial sins are destined for eternity in Heaven. The untainted souls go directly to Heaven, but those whose souls are still impure to some degree spend a time in Purgatory where they are made fully clean before being united eternally with God. (To understand the difference between and significance of venial and mortal sin, please refer to my previous post on the subject.) This concept is particularly difficult for Protestants. There are two reasons, I believe, for this. The first is the foundational Protestant doctrine of sola scriptura, or "only Scripture"; the second is the other pillar of Protestantism, sola fide, or "faith alone." In combination, these two cornerstone doctrines make Purgatory a perplexing and troubling concept for many Protestants. Let me explain:

Protestants believe in the concept of sola scriptura, or "only Scripture." This means that only the documents of Scripture itself may be used authoritatively in order to understand God (and the Protestant Scripture differs somewhat from the Catholic and Orthodox Scriptures). Since Scripture does not speak explicitly and overtly about Purgatory (though, Purgatory is mentioned implicitly in many, many passages, as I will discuss in a moment), Protestants believe that we cannot assert a belief in it. For Catholics, Sacred Tradition--those teachings of the Church that are deemed to be explicitly Apostolic, meaning they come directly from the Apostles--is a lens through which we read and understand Sacred Scripture. The two work hand in hand, and it is through Sacred Tradition that we are able to discern those things which are referenced or alluded to but not explicity defined in the Scriptures. Catholics find Purgatory written about in Scripture, as well as in other Apostolic teaching about it that is not contained in the Biblical Canon.

Next, let's look at the doctrine of sola fide, "only faith." For Protestants, one's salvation, purchased by the grace of God through the Blood of Jesus Christ, is a matter of "faith alone". If you believe in the salvation of Jesus Christ and accept it, then you are saved; if you don't, then you will spend eternity in Hell. To be specific, Protestants do not believe that we are "saved by faith," but rather that we are saved by God's grace alone (just as Catholics believe) and justified by our faith. Catholics do not hold this latter belief. Catholics believe that we are justified by both faith and sanctifying works, which topic I have written about previously and will not discuss again here, though you can follow the preceding link to read more about it. Protestants merely believe that we are sanctified by works, not justified. There is also an understanding among many Protestant denominations that this sanctification does not have to be completed in life, and that each "saved" person will become fully sanctified upon death when they will be transported to Heaven to spend eternity in the Presence of God. For Catholics, sanctification is essential and a necessary prerequisite to entering Heaven, but it does not necessarily have to be completed entirely in this life.

Because our God is a just God, Catholics believe that there are two types of punishment which correspond to the two types of sin. Mortal sin, if left unabsolved, results in "eternal punishment"; if mortal sin is confessed, the eternal punishment (Hell) is removed by God's mercy from the sinner, but "temporal punishment" remains. Venial sin merits only "temporal punishment." As I discussed in my post on venial and mortal sin, though Jesus' suffering provides ful atonement for all sins, we must still participate in our own sanctification through good works and through penance for our sins. Through good works and penance, we are not meriting our salvation but rather mitigating the very real effects of our sins and participating in God's work of making us holy. For many of us, this work will not be entirely completed in life; thus we will continue our sanctification in death. As the above quote from Pope Benedict XVI (top of post) points out, this is not arbitrary punishment; it is the necessary precursor to and result of being united with God and with the entire communion of saints. In order to be one with ultimate holiness, we must be made fully holy.

"The forgiveness of sin and restoration of communion with God entail the remission of the eternal punishment of sin, but temporal punishment of sin remains. While patiently bearing sufferings and trials of all kinds and, when the day comes, serenely facing death, the Christian must strive to accept this temporal punishment of sin as a grace. He should strive by works of mercy and charity, as well as by prayer and the various practices of penance, to put off completely the 'old man' and to put on the 'new man.'" (CCC 1473)

Now that we've talked a bit about what Purgatory is, let's take a look at what Scripture says on the subject. Remember what I said earlier, however. There is no explicit or overt mention of Purgatory in Scripture; just as there is no explicit or overt mention of the Trinity. It is because of Sacred Tradition that we are able to discern mention of Purgatory in the Bible, similar to how we are able to understand many of the prophesies in the Old Testament about Jesus in light of His Death and Resurrection.

In Ecclesiastes 12:14, we are reminded that no deed will go unaccounted for: "For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil." This drives home the point that reparation will need to be made for our sins, whether through good deeds or by acts of penance and sacrifice. In 2 Corinthians 5:10, we read, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad."

Because of this necessary judgment, we are admonished to be sanctified:

"May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones." (1 Thessalonians 3:13)

"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 12:14)

"Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." (2 Corinthians 7:1)

Our goal is to complete reparation and perfect our sanctification in this life so that we may be immediately united with God upon death.

Let me repeat Hebrews 12:14: "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord" (emphasis my own). This is a vital point. Unless we are holy, we cannot be with God. This is one reason why God appears to Moses only in the burning bush or with His back to him; if Moses were to look fully upon the Lord, being unholy, he would perish. If this is true of Moses, how much more so for us? Revelation 21:27 further drives this point home: "Nothing impure will ever enter it [Heaven], nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life" (emphasis my own).

"Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the LORD's wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness." (Micah 7:8-9)

We see from these verses how Scripture is insistent that all deeds will be accounted for, that reparation for all sins will need to be made, and also that nothing impure or unholy may be united with God. But does that necessarily mean there must be a Purgatory? Doesn't Christ's atonement cover all our iniquities? Let us consider Jesus for a moment. Malachi 3:1-4 speaks to us of the coming Messiah as a "refiner":

"'See, I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,' says the LORD Almighty. But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner's fire or a launderer's soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the LORD will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the LORD, as in days gone by, as in former years." (emphasis my own)

1 Corinthians 3:11-15 points out that, while the foundation of our salvation is Jesus Christ, our works will still be "tested" and "revealed with fire." We further see that the "fire" spoken of will not necessarily destroy the sinner--if his or her foundation is in Christ:

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames." (emphasis my own)


To me, this passage, in particular, very clearly refers to Purgatory. A place where the deeds of those who already have their foundation in Christ are tested and revealed through God's refining fire. Such refining will result in "loss" if we have attached ourselves too much to the things of this world because we will need to be stripped of those things, yet we will be saved "as one escaping through the flames." Hebrews 12:19 tells us that "our 'God is a consuming fire.'" He is our purifier, our Holy Fire.

But, is Purgatory a real place, distinct from Heaven and Hell? If you've read Dante, you'll probably think that this is the orthodox understanding of Purgatory, and it was a prevailing conception of Purgatory in the past, particularly in the Middle Ages. It is drawn from passages like Philippians 2:10-11, which says "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." The thought was that Heaven was a real place located above the earth and Purgatory and Hell were real places located below the earth, but this conception of Purgatory is no longer the orthodox viewpoint. At an audience on August 4, 1999 Pope John Paul II said that Purgatory did not indicate a place, but "a condition of existence."

Though Purgatory may not be a real destination that we could map out in the cosmos, it is a very real "condition of existence." In many passages of Scripture, Jesus speaks of "Gehenna"; in Protestant Bibles this word is translated "Hell" or "grave" or "fire." In Catholic translations, it is left untranslated as "Gehenna." In order to understand the importance of this word, we must consider the Jewish understanding of it. For the Jews, Gehenna was a place of purification where sinners were thought to spend approximately one year before release. This is the understanding that Jesus had when He used the term in speaking with His disciples. Now, let's take a look at how the differences in translation may either show Gehenna to support the dogma of Purgatory in Scripture or not. I will use Matthew 5:29-30 to illustrate this point:

The NIV translation (arguably the most popular modern English translation among Protestants) of these verses can be read thus:
"If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell" (emphasis my own).

Look at the difference in the NAB (New American Bible), a Catholic English translation:
"If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna" (emphasis my own).

The NIV translation speaks of eternal punishment in Hell. The NAB speaks of temporal punishment in a purgatorial place or state, Gehenna. Consider the context from which these verses are drawn: Jesus is challenging His disciples not only to avoid mortal sins (such as adultery) but lesser manifestations of the same sinful roots (such as looking at a woman lustfully), which might easily lead to mortal sin. Since Christ is speaking, here, about venial sins, rather than mortal sins, it makes sense that He would be speaking about a place of corresponding temporary punishment rather than one of eternal punishment.

The final mention of Purgatory in Scripture that I would like to point to is one that most of my Protestant readers will dismiss, because it comes from the Book of 2 Maccabees. 2 Maccabees is a part of deuterocanonical Scripture, which is present in the Catholic Bible but absent in Protestant Bibles, unless it is tacked on as an appendix under the heading of "Apocrypha." A part of the Septuagint, Catholics hold that 1 and 2 Maccabees are a part of Sacred Scripture. After the Protestant Reformation, Protestants decided to use the Jewish canon that was codified sometime between the years 200 BC and 200 AD, rather than the Septuagint in forming their canon of the Old Testament. It is thought that this decision weighed heavily on the Protestant aversion to some doctrinal innovations, such as that in 2 Maccabees on the efficacy of prayers for the dead, which is discussed in the passage below. Prayer for the dead is a clear support of Purgatory. If there were not souls that were continuing to be refined in death, why would the deceased need our prayers? Yet, if Purgatory is real, then prayer for the dead makes perfect sense: those of us still journeying on earth may pray for our departed brothers and sisters, that their sufferings in Purgatory may be shortened and their entrance into full communion with God hastened.

Here is the passage from 2 Maccabees 12:39-46, which takes place following a battle between the Jews and the forces of Gorgias, governor of Idumea, after the Feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, in which "a few of the Jews were slain" (2 Maccabees 12:32-34).:

"On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs. But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain. They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden. Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver crachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin" (emphasis my own).

So, we've discussed what Purgatory is, and we've looked at what Scripture has to say about it. We've talked about the necessity for complete purification, and we've considered how Purgatory enables that purification. We've talked about the major barriers that many Protestants have in understanding and accepting a belief in Purgatory, namely the two pillar doctrines of sola Scriptura and sola fide. I hope I have helped to shed some light on the Catholic understanding of Purgatory and why it is important to us. I do not intend, and neither does the Church, for this doctrine to frighten or guilt anyone. Rather, I hope it will exhort us all to lead better lives here on earth and to pray for the repose of the souls of our departed brother and sisters, that they may be sped on their way to Eternal Joy in Heaven.

"Of course I pray for the dead. At our age the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to Him? I believe in purgatory. Our souls demand purgatory, don't they? My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist's chair. I hope that when the tooth of life is drawn, a voice will say, 'Rinse your mouth out with this.' This will be purgatory."

- C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer