Purgatory

Intimately related to the Catholic concept of salvation is the notion of purgatory.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory in the following way:  "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."[7]   In this discussion about purgatory I will touch upon two points.  First, I will show that the Bible clearly points to the existence of an intermediate state between heaven and hell.  Second, I will explain why the existence of such a state is in agreement with Yeshua's completed work of redemption at the cross, and why purgatory is the logical and necessary completion of the process of salvation described in the preceding section.

The abode of the dead in the Old Testament is a place called Sheol, usually translated as "grave", "hell", or "pit".  It is not a pleasant place:  "The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me, the snares of death confronted me." (Ps. 18:5); David often pleads with God to deliver him from it: "Return, O Lord, deliver me!  Oh, save me for Your mercies' sake! For in death there is no remembrance of You; In the grave (Sheol) who will give You thanks?" (Ps 6:4-5).  He wishes God would send the wicked there: "Let death seize them; let them go down alive into hell (Sheol), for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them." (Ps. 55:15).  Prophetically, David also implies that Sheol is not a permanent place of rest: "For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption" (Ps. 16:10)

The equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol in the New Testament is the Greek word Hades.  We see this direct association in Acts 2:27, when Peter quotes Psalm 16:10.  The Greek reads: "for You will not leave my soul in Hades".

Obviously, Sheol or Hades is not heaven, because it is a place of suffering.  But neither is it hell (Greek: gehenna, from the Hebrew gehinnom), the place of eternal punishment of the damned, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched" (Mk 9:44).  We see a clear distinction between Hades and gehinnom in the book of Revelation, where at the end of times "death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire" (Rev 20:14).  In other words, at the end of times, when death will be no more, there will be no more need for Sheol or Hades.  It will be cast into hell, the eternal lake of fire.

The account of the rich man and Lazarus tells us more about Hades (Luke 16:19-31).  In this story, a rich man dies.  The text does not say that he was particularly wicked, merely that he had been rich and lived well.  Verse 23 tells us nonetheless that he was "in torments in Hades" (not gehenna or hell).  He engages in a dialogue with Abraham, first asking him to relieve his own suffering, and then pleading that his five brothers may be spared coming to "this place of torment" (v.28).  When I thought about this, I realized how much of a problem this passage poses to Protestant theology:  The rich man is in contact with another place where there is no suffering, called Abraham's bosom (whether this is heaven or not is unclear), and has mercy for his brothers, whom he still remembers.  We know that hell is a state of eternal separation from everything good, where there will certainly be no more love or mercy.  Yet the "place of torment" where the rich man is suffering is not permanently devoid of mercy or contact with a better place. 

Once we are willing to admit the existence of this intermediary state between heaven and hell, it becomes much easier to understand 1 Peter 3:19, where it is written that Christ "went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient".  This is likely the same event referred to by Paul when he writes that Yeshua "descended into the lower parts of the earth" (Eph 4:9).  Obviously, there would have been no point in going down to hell to preach since from there no escape is possible.  This leaves us with the option that he went down to Sheol, Hades, or the place Catholics call "purgatory".

Why a Purgatory?

But why is there a need for purgatory? The very idea seemed to be a complete contradiction of the Messiah's completed work of redemption at the cross.  I thought that the precious gift of forgiveness was ours, and that there was now "no condemnation to those who are in the Messiah Yeshua" (Rom 8:1).

As I now see it, purgatory does not contradict these truths.  The work of redemption is indeed accomplished and finished.  Purgatory is not a "second chance" for those who rejected God during their earthly lives.  Only the "saved" will have the "privilege" of entering purgatory.  One might compare it to a "waiting room" by the entrance of heaven.  In this way purgatory is much closer to heaven than it is to hell.

Neither is purgatory an "alternative" to Christ's work of redemption, implying that it was inadequate or insufficient.   Rather, purgatory is the final stage of the application of the redemptive work of Christ by the Holy Spirit.  The Bible says that nothing unclean will enter heaven (Rev 21:27).  We know that we are purified in this world through our sufferings.  Peter writes that "he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin" (1 Pet 4:1).  To suffer is to pass through a "holy fire", and every believer can testify how the greatest spiritual growth often comes after the most painful trials.  The Catholic Church does not merely teach that we are considered righteous on account of the work of the Messiah.  It teaches that we are actually made righteous by His grace and His work in us. Yeshua is the first born of multitudes of sons and daughters of God called to be conformed to his image in His life, sufferings, death and resurrection (Rom 8:16-17, Phil 3:10).  Paul compares this spiritual birth process to the labor pains of a woman: "My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you" (Gal 4:19).  If this process of purification is not completed in our earthly life, God will lovingly finish it in purgatory until Christ is completely reproduced in us, and all trace of selfishness and sin in our hearts will disappear. righteous by His grace and His work in us.

Some have problems with the concept of purgatory because they confuse forgiveness with purification and expiation of sins.  When we sincerely repent for a particular sin, by virtue of Yeshua's sacrifice we have instant access to the throne of grace and to God's complete forgiveness.  But sin always bears painful consequences that sometimes last up to a lifetime.  If I murder someone or commit adultery today, I may be forgiven tomorrow if I sincerely repent, but I will still bear the consequences of spending my life in jail, potentially destroying my family, bearing the resentment of the people I have hurt, and living with the painful memory of what I've done.  Does forgiveness always include expiation? The Bible shows that it doesn't.  Consider King David's case:  After he committed adultery with Bat Sheva and had her husband Uriah killed, he repented before God, and indeed obtained forgiveness (2 Sam 12:13).  But he still had to "expiate" his sin.  Despite having been forgiven, the child who was to be born to him would die (v.14).

In summary, God does not merely declare us to be holy.  He actually makes us holy.  We have seen that salvation is not a one-time event but a continuous process, the whole of our walk with God.  He loves us just as we are, but too much to leave us the way we are.  Nothing unclean will enter heaven, and through the holy fire of suffering, He forms us to His Son's image.  If this process is not completed in the process of our earthly life, it will continue in purgatory until we have reached our final glory.  On judgment day "each one's work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is" (1 Cor 3:13).  This does not undermine my assurance of salvation, "if I hold fast to the Word preached to [me]" (1 Cor 15:2).  I rejoice all the more that "He who has begun a good work in [me] will complete it until the day of Yeshua the Messiah" (Phil. 1:6), and am therefore eager to "work out my salvation in fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12) trusting in the infinite grace our Father will provide for this purpose.