Does the Bible Support the Idea That Purgatory Exists?
The following is a transcribed Video Q&A, so the text may not read like an edited article would. Scroll to the bottom to view this video in its entirety.
I would say, “No. The Bible doesn’t support purgatory at all.” To understand what the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is, according to one Roman Catholic individual, purgatory is “the state or condition of cleansing for one who dies in a state of grace but still has sins or punishment for which to atone.” So, what we are dealing with in the question of purgatory is how does a Christian enter God’s holy presence when there are still sins unconfessed in his/her life. That’s really what we are asking.
Sadly, Augustine, someone who got so much theology right was one of the people who was instrumental in promoting and developing this doctrine. In his book City of God, which goes all the way back to the 5th century, he refers to purgatory in particular. By the 16th century, in Martin Luther’s time, at least in the level of popular religion the belief was that you could buy a person’s way out of purgatory by purchasing an indulgence. The belief, then, was that people would spend time in purgatory, while people are atoning for their sins that are left over in their life, and you can spend that process up by buying an indulgence. The famous words from the monk, Tetzel, who apparently said, “as soon as a coin in a coffer does ring a soul from purgatory does spring”.
In past times, including in the Middle Ages and later, the emphasis was often on the time spent in purgatory and purgatory as a place. More recent Catholic discussion is more on the emphasis of purgatory as a state or condition. But the same problem remains; namely, it is requiring something more than the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross to make us right with God. It says we have to suffer the temporary penalty, a penance, for unconfessed sin. But the affirmation of Scripture is that Jesus already paid every penance, every penalty (temporary and eternal) on our behalf, on the Cross. There is nothing left for us to do because in Jesus Christ everything that needs to be done has already been done. All that God’s justice demands has already been delivered in Jesus Christ.
When we embrace the death, the life, the resurrection of Jesus Christ God justifies us right here and right now. Even though we will not be made perfect until we are glorified at the end of time, God goes ahead and gives us that verdict from the end of time he gives to us now. God gives us a verdict: completely justified, completely right with him, in the here and now. And the reason he can give us that verdict right now is because God’s planning never writes a check that his power will not cash. If God works in our life in that way he will bring it all the way through to completion.
As it says in Philippians 1:6
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
So, when our mortal time ends, rather it be death or the return of Jesus, God will complete at the end of time the work of sanctification that God began at our salvation. The real problem of purgatory then, is that for the Christian there is nothing left to purge. In Christ the full price has already been paid. Our sin has been purged and purification is already merited.
Photo Credit: ©GettyImages/MarcelloLand
Originally published December 12, 2022.