Analysis of biblical texts in their contexts
Fire will go before God and will consume his enemies around (Sal 97, 3)
Love is strong like death… its embers, embers of fire, strong flame. Many waters cannot quench love (Cnt 8, 6-7)
(The burning fire of love is a divine flame. Good News Bible / Dios Habla Hoy)
“The Roman doctrines concerning purgatory, absolution, veneration and adoration, both of images and relics, and also the invocation of saints, are not only superstitions, vain inventions without any foundation in the Scriptures, but rather, they are repugnant to the Word of God.” (Art 24 of the Constitution of the Methodist Church of Mexico. It is article 14 in Discipline of the Methodist Church of Mexico, 1991, p. 53).
In the evangelical pamphlet Messages of God’s love, he says, “the Word of God assures us that there is no purgatory” (No.749).
When we read the arguments against purgatory, we see that the authors do not understand the doctrine.
First we need to clear up certain misunderstandings about Catholic teaching.
1) The work of our redemption through the Cross is finished. It is absolutely and totally fulfilled.
2) The application of this redemptive work of Christ by the Holy Spirit is not finished, in our lives God manifests the work of redemption through the Cross. This application of the merits that Jesus earned for us is equally essential, not because the work of redemption on the Cross is lacking.
3) Purgatory does not give people another chance after they die. It’s not a second chance. Those who go to purgatory died in a state of grace, They are saved. Those who die in a state of mortal sin, a sin of death (1 Jn 5, 16), they are enemies of God: they can do nothing after they die.
What is Purgatory according to the Bible?
We are used to thinking that purgatory is a place of fire. But this is a symbol. Throughout history, several theologians have said that fire symbolizes the love of God and the pain that someone suffers when they completely convert to the Lord:And who can endure the time of his coming? Or who can stand when he appears? For he is like a purifying fire... (Mal 3, 2)
This fire of God’s love purifies us from all impurity when we allow it to approach us. This purification is difficult. That is to say that when we leave our selfishness it costs us and it hurts us; Each of us is used to controlling something in our lives. But God wants all of our will, he wants us to be perfect.
Now, this conversion is a difficult struggle for us, because it means letting Jesus take first place. And there is always a place in our hearts that we don’t want to give to God. And as long as something is missing in our conversion, the love of God cannot completely fill us. The process of surrendering everything to the Lord is demanding. This is the purification of our being. We must do it here on Earth as the Lord says: If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. (Mt 16, 24). He who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. (Mt 10, 38). Indeed. Truly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies it bears much fruit (Jn 12, 24). Speaking of his relationship with Jesus, John the Baptist said: It is necessary that he grow, but that I decrease (Jn 3, 30). See Mt 5, 48 and 1 P 1, 15-16).
Coming completely close to God in all his infinite glory and majesty is not easy. Isaiah, one of the most righteous men, when he experienced the Holiness and greatness of God exclaimed: Woe is me! that I am dead; because I am a man of unclean lips… my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah… and one of the seraphim flew towards me, having in his hand a live coal, taken from the altar with tongs; and touching it upon my mouth, he said, Behold, this has touched your lips, and your guilt is taken away, and your sin is purged. Isaiah was purified and cleansed by fire carried from the heavenly altar.
God is holy and no one who dies with something unholy in his heart is ready to give up his selfishness and see God. This suffering by the fire of love, this purification of the “I” is hard: Behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud and all those who do evil will be stubble; that day that will come will burn them (Mal 4, 1).
If we die selfishly, although we are forgiven and will go to heaven, we are not yet ready to fully accept God’s will and love. The purification that is required to “deny self” and completely surrender to God costs us; It is a Purgatory. It can be in an instant, when we appear before the fire of God’s love or it can take time if we resist.
Remember the rich young ruler of whom the Bible says fulfilled everything. Even so, when Jesus asked for (a little) more If you want to reach perfection… (Mt 19, 21) the young man could not give it. I still couldn’t give everything to the Lord. He lacked something: purifying himself from the attraction to the things he had to be holy. Purification is symbolized by “the fire” of Purgatory: our God is a consuming fire (Heb 29). It wants to consume us! And there sat an Ancient of days, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head was like clean wool; His throne was a flame of fire, and the wheels thereof were burning fire. A river of fire came from him (Dn 7, 9-11). Our God will come, and will not be silent; Fire will consume before him (Sal 50, 3). And the God who answers by fire, that is God (1 Kings 18, 24). Elijah was taken to heaven through fire says Eclo 48, 1-10.
Only the cigars spotless They can enter heaven according to the book of Revelation (21, 27). Paul says that God: dwells in inaccessible light (1 Ti 6, 16). You are very clear-eyed to see evil, nor can you see grievance. (Hab 1, 13). In the letter to the Hebrews we read: Pursue peace with all, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord (Heb 12, 14). We must become perfect as God is perfect (Mt 5:48). It’s not easy. The door is narrow (Mt 7, 13). King David said that only the pure in heart can climb the mountain of the Lord (Sal 24, 3-4). This mountain prefigures heaven (Heb 12, 18-20 and Rev 14, 1). I am not saying that God is inaccessible. No. Jesus himself incarnated to be with us, but what He wants is a surrender, a total commitment. These were redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God…they are blameless before the throne of God (Ap 14, 5). They are blameless (Good News Bible / Dios Habla Hoy).
God is fire
The author of the Letter to the Hebrews makes this connection with Mount Horeb with all its fire in the sky: Because you have not approached the mountain that could be felt and that was burning with fire….You have approached Mount Zion, to the city of God, Jerusalem the heavenly (Heb 12, 18-22).
Paul says: Whatever the work of each person, the fire will test it….if anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, although he himself will be saved, although as by fire (1 Cor 3, 13-15). All those who have built in Christ will be saved. They are purified to have a perfect work. But some will have to be more purified. Some biblical experts say that 1 Cor 3 is about purification in the resurrection at the end of the world and not necessarily about Purgatory; could be. But the Church has always said that when a person dies, they also go through a trial that anticipates the final judgment and resurrection. At the end of the day we need to go through purification (that is why it can be neither heaven nor hell): For all will be saved by fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt (Mark 9, 49). It’s a sacrifice. The grain of wheat has to die said Jesus. Behold, the Lord will come with fire (Is 66, 15).
Below we quote from the book Home Sweet Rome (Rome Sweet Home)(1) of a Presbyterian couple (both theologians) who converted to the Catholic Church. They talk about the Purgatory in which they came to believe:
“The Bible shows how many times God revealed himself to his people through fire to renew his Covenant with them: like a smoking furnace, and a burning torch (Gn 15, 1); en la bush burning with fire with Moses (Ex 3, 2); in a column of fire for the Israelites (Ex 13, 21-22); in the heavenly fire that consumed David’s sacrifices (1 Cr 21, 26), Solomon (2 Cr 7, 1) yElijah (1 R 18, 38)(2) ; and the “tongues of fire” at Pentecost. When Hebrews 12:29 describes God as a “consuming fire” it is not necessarily talking about his rage. There is a fire from hell, but there is an infinitely stronger fire in Heaven: it is God himself. So “fire” refers to God’s infinite love rather than his rage. His nature is like an oven of love. That is why the Scriptures refer to the angels who are closest to God as Seraphim, which literally means THOSE WHO BURN in Hebrew. And that is why Paul describes in 1 Cor 3:13 that all the saints have to go through the fiery judgment when each one’s work will become manifest; for the day declares it, for it will be revealed by fire. Obviously he is not talking about hellfire because it is the saints who are judged. He is talking about a fire that prepares them for eternal life with God in Heaven; then God’s purpose is to manifest: reveal whether the works are pure (“gold and silver”) or impure (“wood, hay, leaf litter”). Verse 15 shows that some saints, who will go to Heaven, will go through fire and suffer: If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, although it is as if by fire.. The fire is to purify “purge” the saints. It is a purgatorial fire; one that purifies and prepares the saints to be enveloped in the consuming fire of God’s love for all eternity.”
In Leviticus 19:2 God commands the children of Israel to be Holy because He is holy. There is no option. Then he tells them what it means to be holy (sinless): not to steal, not to deceive, not to lie, not to swear falsely, not to profane one’s name, not to oppress one’s neighbor, not to steal, not to withhold a hired worker’s wages, not to curse, not to do injustice, not to gossip, not to attack another’s life, not to hate, not to take revenge, not to hold a grudge but to “love your neighbor as yourself” (vv. 11-18). Easy?
Who can accomplish all this to be a Saint? If we do not become completely Holy in this life, God will continue to help us with the fire of purification in the next to “be Holy AS God is Holy.”
On the day of Pentecost the Apostles, who were very afraid (although they had been with Jesus three years), were purified from this fear with cloven tongues, as of fire. We hope that praying, reading the Bible, loving, makes us clean, pure and separated from the world. But if we die with something that is an obstacle to fully receiving God’s love, He gives us another chance.
The suffering
Jesus Christ asked us to fast. In the Sermon on the Mount it assumes that the Christian would do this, it does not say “if they fast”, but when you fast (Mt 6, 16-17). Why make this sacrifice of fasting if the work on the Cross is complete?
Why do we need to suffer? It is not that something is missing in the redemptive work of Christ but it is to “fulfill” what others must do, because love demands it: Love is suffered… Everything suffers (1 Co 13, 4 y 7). Now I rejoice in what I suffer for you, and I fulfill in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for his body, which is the church. (Col 1, 24). Part of our works for others is to pray: If anyone sees his brother committing a sin other than death, he will ask, and God will give him life. (1 Jn 5, 16. See below: “indulgences”.)
Another reason to suffer is for ourselves when we sin: reign in our body (Rom 6, 12). This suffering is dying to the things of the flesh, and it hurts. The bad works that we do, or the good ones that we should have done, but due to laziness, indifference, resentment, pride we did not do them, lead to suffering:
Since Christ has suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same thought; for he who has suffered in the flesh is done with sin (1 P 4, 1).
And if children, also heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him, so that we may be glorified with him (Rom 8, 17). We will be tested by fire: each one’s work will be manifest; because the day will declare it. for by fire it will be revealed. The fire will test each person’s work, whatever it may be. (1 Cor 3, 13. See 2 Tim 2, 11-13).
If I destroy your car and then ask for your forgiveness, you will forgive me for being a Christian. But it doesn’t mean that, although forgiven, I won’t have to repair the damage (in this case replace the car). In fact, if I really am sorry, I’m going to want to do it because it’s fair. And maybe it’s going to cost me a lot of work.
God forgives us, but we have to suffer to make reparation on this earth: Truly I tell you, you will not get out of there until you pay the last quadrant. (Mt 5, 26). God loves us, he loves us too much to leave us immature and lukewarm. Suffering helps us grow. Nobody likes to admit this. It is more difficult for evangelicals who preach the prosperity gospel: the Christian never suffers but always prospers in health and money.
Does the Bible talk about another place besides heaven and hell?
In the book of Revelation (20, 4-5 and 11) we find two types of dead. In verse 4 we read: And I saw thrones, and those who were given authority to judge sat on them.(3); and I saw the souls of those who were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus (the martyrs)…and they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. This is the first resurrection, of those who went directly to Heaven by shedding their blood for Christ. Then we read: But the dead did not live again until the thousand years were completed.. This is the first resurrection (v. 5). These do not have life (God is life), that is, they are not in Heaven with Him. And I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the sky fled, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged by the things that were written in the books according to their works…. and they delivered the dead that were in them to Hades; and they were judged each according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire (vv. 11-15). We see two types of people who are judged according to his works. They can’t be the ones from vv 4-5 because they are already in Heaven. His “work” was to give his life for Christ. There is no need to judge them. These two guys who were in Hades (vv. 11-15). In addition to meaning Hell, Hades is also the Greek word for SHEOL of the OT, and Sheol is not hell but another place.(4).
Both types of people who came out of Hades in Revelation 20 are judged. Those in second place who have their name in the Book of life. They go to Heaven because their works were good. The others go to the lake of fire, which is Hell.
Some think that if God forgives us it means that there can be no satisfaction (penance) after we die. But forgiving does not necessarily exclude satisfaction afterwards. Sometimes justice, and the desire for the person who made the mistake to mature, justify it. The Bible itself shows us examples: Although God had forgiven Adam, he gave him a punishment of suffering and dying (Gen 3, 17-19). God forgave the Israelites, but they had to receive the punishment of not seeing the Promised Land (Num 14, 20-2 and 20, 12). Moses was punished for his sin although he was forgiven by God: He could not enter the Promised Land.
Jesus spoke of a sin that is not forgiven neither in this world nor in the next (Mt 12, 32 Good News Bible / Dios Habla Hoy). It suggests that there is another place and that atonement can happen after death.We have seen that Matthew says: Truly I say to you, you will not get out of there until you pay the last quadrant. (5, 26). This “prison” cannot be hell because no one leaves hell, it has to be another place.
Jesus gives us a parable of the rich man and the poor man (Lk 16, 22-26). The rich man is not in hell, because he asks for mercy for his brothers (vv. 27-28), and there is no love like that in hell. Nor could I talk to Abraham if he were in hell because there is no communication between the souls in hell and those in heaven. If this were the case, the souls in hell would have a little consolation by being able to relate to the Saints and God. In Hell there is no such consolation.
Purgatory is the place where Jesus went to preach to imprisoned spirits like King David, Isaac, and the prophet Jeremiah (1 Pet 3:19).
God loves us too much to leave us immature. An example of this doctrine can be understood with the school year: There are students who complete their homework and can graduate directly from the university. But there are others who do not comply and, then, in the “heat” of summer they must suffer, preparing the subjects to meet the university requirements before graduating. This is purgatory, a time to fulfill what was missing in life
Behold, I have purified you, and not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction (Is 48, 10. See Job 15, 34). Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial that has come upon you, …but rejoice because you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ… (1 Pet 4, 12-13). Why suffer, if Jesus’ suffering was complete on the Cross? Yes it was. It is exactly because Jesus suffered on the Cross that we have to suffer. We are imitators of Christ. We relive the life of Jesus on Earth. This includes their sufferings: I rejoice in what I suffer for you, I fulfill in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for his body, which is the church. (Col 1, 24). It is not because Christ did not suffer enough, but because his life is in us. And if we do not suffer for love on this earth, we will have to suffer in the next: He who has suffered in the flesh has ended sin (1 Pet 4, 1). Evangelicals think that the doctrine of purgatory diminishes the saving grace of Christ. But it’s not true. The focus is not so much on the saving power of God, but on our response to Him as free beings.
Hebrews 9 and 10, which the brothers quote, have nothing to do with refuting the doctrine of purgatory. These texts say that in the OT, the Jewish priest entered the holy of holies once a year. These priests had to offer again every year to renew the sacrifice. Jesus entered the Sanctuary (heaven) once and for all to perpetually offer himself to the Father. Nothing else. In fact, these texts prove that the Catholic Mass participates in this heavenly sacrifice where Jesus does not die but does sacrifice himself.(5).
Reading the Early Church Fathers (e.g. Tertullian) one sees that Christians have believed in this doctrine from the beginning. It is something they received from the Apostles.
The belief in Purgatory is related to what we saw in chapter 18, that the Christian is not only legally declared clean externally. How could Protestants enter Heaven if the impure remains inside? Although clean clothes cover the dirty body, they do not wash the body.
It is better to believe in the Bible. With the help of the Lord we have to “purge” everything that is not of God and deny ourselves, here on earth dying to our selfishness or after dying, in Purgatory.
Indulgences: offering prayers for the blessed souls(6).
We saw that God asks something of us even though he has forgiven us. Paul indicates that Christians have to face some type of judgment even if they are justified(7). After our justification God can get angry for the sins we commit. He was angry with the saints even though they had already been reconciled to God(8). And it was not only before Christ died on the Cross, because he died from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8).
Although we are forgiven by God, there are still things to repair. When Nathan the prophet confronts David for committing adultery we read: Then David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has forgiven your sin; you will not die. But because by this matter you have caused the enemies of Jehovah to blaspheme, the son who is born to you will surely die. (2 Sam 12, 13-14). God indicates that he had forgiven David, but he would have to suffer the loss of his son among other calamities (2 Sam 12, 18). Another example of paying the fine even after dying is death itself: Even people who have been forgiven die because of original sin.
In Paul’s second letter to Timothy we find the following wish of the Apostle regarding a man named Onesiphorus: May the Lord have mercy on the house of Onesiphorus, for he comforted me many times, and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently and found me. May the Lord grant him that he may find mercy with the Lord on that day. And how much he helped us in Ephesus, you know best (2 Tim 1, 16-18). Then Paul ends the letter saying: Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the house of Onesiphorus (2 Ti 4, 19).
Paul speaks of Onesiphorus in the past tense as if he had died. The biblical commentaries see this. Furthermore Paul distinguishes between himself and his house and greets only his house in 4:19 while greeting particular people (Prisca and Aquila). This means that Paul believes in the effectiveness of prayers for the dead and that Onesiphorus is in Purgatory.
Indulgences are prayers and sacrifices that we make for ourselves or for others, so that the merits of Christ are applied to souls and reduce their suffering (time of purification in Purgatory). Members of the Body of Christ, care for one another (1 Cor 12:26). (From v. 12 Paul speaks of the mystical body of Christ which is the Church). The Mass is the most important prayer where the merits that Christ won on the Cross for other people are applied.
Among the biblical examples of people who, through their prayers, lessen the punishment of others, is the case of Solomon who strayed from the Lord and God promised to take away his kingdom. But look what God said: And the LORD said to Solomon, Because this has been in you, and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes which I commanded you, I will break the kingdom from you, and give it to your servant. However, I will not do it in your days, for David your father’s sake… I will not break up the whole kingdom, but I will give a tribe to your son, for David my servant’s sake. (1 Kings 11, 11-13). God lessened his temporal punishment in two ways: he postpones taking away the kingdom until later when he punishes his children, and he leaves one tribe, Benjamin, under the control of Judah. It is clear why God does it: It is not for Solomon but for his father David.
Other examples include Gen 18:16-33, when God promised Abraham that He would not destroy the city of Sodom if He found a certain number of righteous people. In Romans 11 Paul speaks of the special place that the Jews occupy because of the Patriarchs (Rom 11, 28-29). Jewish theology speaks of “the merits of the ancestors.”
The Church never taught the sale of indulgences. It is true that in the time of Martin Luther there were individuals who did sell them (such as the Dominican Johann Tetzal (1465-1519), but in this they acted against the Church. Cardinal Cajetan (1469-1534) condemned people who acted “in the name of the Church without following its teachings.”
We have seen in chapter 6 that the brothers do not have the complete Bible. They lack the Revelation of God. In 2 Maccabees we read that Judas Maccabees: He had that sacrifice offered for the dead, so that God would forgive them (2 Mac 12, 45-46).
In the catacombs, Christians during the persecutions of the first three centuries wrote prayers for the dead.
Some epitaphs from the catacombs:
“80. On Agacius, sinful subdeacon, have mercy, God.
81. Flavia Prima Amevania, daughter of Aurelius Semnio. May the Lord cool your spirit.”
In short: We don’t have to go to Purgatory. Christ gives us the grace necessary to go directly to heaven if we “suffer” here on this earth by not letting sin dominate our lives. We add nothing to the work of Christ on the Cross. This work is manifested in us by the Holy Spirit, who by his fire purifies us from all evil, making us holy (sanctifying us). In Leviticus 19:2 God commands the children of Israel to be holy because He is Holy. There is no option. Then he tells them what it means to be holy (without sin): not to steal, not to deceive, not to lie…and to love your neighbor as yourself” (vv. 11-18). Who can fulfill the moral Law to become perfect? how the Father and I are perfect without the grace of God and our response to it that is not easily a total and complete surrender?
If the brothers can accept that, in addition to the work of Christ, faith is needed to save us, they should be able to understand the Catholic position on Purgatory.
What does the Early Church say?
Purgatory
Abercio (180 d.C.): Epitaph of Abertius.
Tertullian (211): The Crown, 3:3 y Monogamy, 10:1-2 (this after the year 213).
Lactation (304-310): divine institutions, 7:21:6.
Cyril of Jerusalem (350): Catechetical Lectures, 23; mystagogical 5:9
Author: Pbro. Daniel Gagnon / Redeem
NOTES
1. Scott & Kimberly Hahn. Ignatius Press. San Francisco Ca., 1993. pp 126-127.
2. Ver Eclo 48,1
3. The Saints have heavenly authority.
4. In the Creed we say that “Christ descended into hell (Hades)” but on this occasion Hades is poorly translated. Christ did not go to hell where the devil is.
5. When by e. j. The priest invites the community gathered at the Mass with the words, “let us lift up our hearts,” we participate in this liturgy in Heaven. It is interesting that the book of Revelation describes this heavenly celebration in the heavenly temple mentioned in Ezek 1:26 and 40-48, Hebrews (8:4-5 and 9:23-24), and Acts (7:44). What John saw on Sunday, the day of the Lord (Rev 1, 10) is more similar to Catholic worship than to that of Protestants. The Mass is a copy of the heavenly. We find an altar (Rev 6, 9 and 8, 3), the vestments worn by the elders/priests (6, 11 and 7, 13), the use of incense (8, 3-5), repeated prayers as in the Mass: Holy, Holy, Holy (4, 8) and forever and ever, Amen (7, 12), etc. Moses was also ordered to copy what he saw for the Jewish cult.
6. Thanks to the article Fatally flawed thinking by James Akin (This Rock, “Catholic Answers”, July 1993, pp. 7-13:9) for the ideas in this section.
7. Rom 14, 10 and 12; 1 Cor 11, 32; 2 Cor 5, 9-10 and Eph 5, 6-7.
8. Dt 3, 26 and 4, 21; 1 Kings 11, 9 and 1 Chron 19, 2-3.
