THERE IS NO PURGATORY
J. Grant Swank, Jr.
While attending Good Friday worship at the city cathedral, I picked up the January–February 2005 issue of THE CATHOLIC ANSWER. One of the readers asked the question as to whether or not purgatory actually exists. The editor proceeded to defend the traditional Roman Catholic position, that is, that there is a purgatory.
However, there isn’t. There is no purgatory.
It’s a figment of the Catholic imagination. There is absolutely no biblical evidence for purgatory — that is, a state for purging sins after a mortal breathes the last breath. There is no "purging chamber" where fire burns off the sins not taken care of in this earthly existence.
Truthfully there are many Catholics — both laity and clergy — who no longer believe in the traditional dogma of
purgatory. Yet at least this editor of this Catholic publication believes in it and he surely does represent a host of Catholics worldwide who do.
Why does the Catholic tradition teach purgatory? The answer is simple: For the traditional Catholic, salvation is by works. There is faith involved. But it is not faith alone as Martin Luther discovered when teaching the Letter to the Romans to fellow monks in the monastery.
He came upon the truth that "the just are saved by faith." That sparked his conversion from salvation by works to salvation by faith alone. That led to the Protestant Reformation in 1517. And so the divide between Roman Catholic teaching and biblical Protestant teaching concerning salvation.
Since Catholic doctrine states that one has to work his way into heaven, one can never accumulate enough righteous deeds to make it right through to glory upon death. There is always some nasty sin hanging on the soul at the last. Therefore, that sin or sins have to be cleansed — burned off in the purging place (purgatory) — before God can welcome the soul into eternal bliss.
Do you see how the Catholic teaching has worked itself into a theological corner. Since one cannot make it to Jesus’ embrace directly upon death, one must go through the torture of burning off the sin or sins just after death. Understand then how once one starts with an incorrect theological premise such as salvation by works, one reaches then an incorrect theological conclusion, hence the false teaching regarding purgatory.
What then is the biblical teaching concerning salvation? It is simply that one is saved by faith alone. Faith in what? Faith in the sinless sacrifice of Christ upon Calvary. In other words, His shed blood is quite sufficient to cleanse away the repentant soul’s sins. All of them. None left to haunt. Christ’s provision on the cross is not halfway, inefficient, incomplete, not quite good enough. It is holy, whole, and all-necessary as is.
This is Christ the Messiah God we are talking about. It is His spilled holy blood that we refer to. It is His obedience even unto the death of the cross that is underlined in the New Testament gospel. Therefore, what God did in Christ on that Good Friday is in need of no addition such as a purgatorial state to take care of so-called leftover sins.
When the New Testament states repeatedly that Christ forgives the sincerely repentant heart, that soul weeping in contrition, then that’s the good news that is to be taken for what it is — real, personal, entire, glorious and for sharing with others.
Once one realizes that Christ’s forgiveness of sins at conversion takes care of all past sins — ALL past sins, then there is no need to manufacture a burning fire to cleanse away tag-along sins that were missed somewhere along life’s way.
The editor of THE CATHOLIC ANSWER states that God cannot take home a soul immediately upon death. It is impossible, the editor accents. As soon as I read that, I asked : But why can’t God immediately receive a saved soul upon death?
If God is God, then God can see through His own plan of salvation, that including receiving pronto into heaven the eternal soul of the redeemed. There is no lack with God Almighty. There is no need for Him to tolerate a time lag when accepting into timeless eternity the soul saved by His shed blood upon Calvary.
That is what the Catholic mindset has yet to grasp when it teaches purgatory. It has yet to grasp the all-sufficiency of Christ’s sacrificial provision on the cross. He, being God, saw through the redemptive scheme and has no need of mortal "adding unto." His salvation gift is so total within itself that anything mortal would add to is not only impossible but insulting to the grace provision of Christ’s blood spilt.
Thank God that Christ died to save the repentant one of all his sins so that those sins stand as though never committed. The Judge of Eternity accepts the contrite soul, cleaned by Christ’s blood, and readies that soul for eternal life upon death. "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:8).
When Stephen was stoned to death, Christ stood at the right hand of the Father welcoming Stephen into eternal life. There was no purgatorial flame awaiting Stephen. There was the embrace of Christ awaiting Stephen — immediately.
So it is with all who repent, live for Christ and die in the Lord — immediately received into glory’s holiness and happiness.
"To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:8).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
So be it.
While attending Good Friday worship at the city cathedral, I picked up the January–February 2005 issue of THE CATHOLIC ANSWER. One of the readers asked the question as to whether or not purgatory actually exists. The editor proceeded to defend the traditional Roman Catholic position, that is, that there is a purgatory.
However, there isn’t. There is no purgatory.
It’s a figment of the Catholic imagination. There is absolutely no biblical evidence for purgatory — that is, a state for purging sins after a mortal breathes the last breath. There is no "purging chamber" where fire burns off the sins not taken care of in this earthly existence.
Truthfully there are many Catholics — both laity and clergy — who no longer believe in the traditional dogma of
purgatory. Yet at least this editor of this Catholic publication believes in it and he surely does represent a host of Catholics worldwide who do.
Why does the Catholic tradition teach purgatory? The answer is simple: For the traditional Catholic, salvation is by works. There is faith involved. But it is not faith alone as Martin Luther discovered when teaching the Letter to the Romans to fellow monks in the monastery.
He came upon the truth that "the just are saved by faith." That sparked his conversion from salvation by works to salvation by faith alone. That led to the Protestant Reformation in 1517. And so the divide between Roman Catholic teaching and biblical Protestant teaching concerning salvation.
Since Catholic doctrine states that one has to work his way into heaven, one can never accumulate enough righteous deeds to make it right through to glory upon death. There is always some nasty sin hanging on the soul at the last. Therefore, that sin or sins have to be cleansed — burned off in the purging place (purgatory) — before God can welcome the soul into eternal bliss.
Do you see how the Catholic teaching has worked itself into a theological corner. Since one cannot make it to Jesus’ embrace directly upon death, one must go through the torture of burning off the sin or sins just after death. Understand then how once one starts with an incorrect theological premise such as salvation by works, one reaches then an incorrect theological conclusion, hence the false teaching regarding purgatory.
What then is the biblical teaching concerning salvation? It is simply that one is saved by faith alone. Faith in what? Faith in the sinless sacrifice of Christ upon Calvary. In other words, His shed blood is quite sufficient to cleanse away the repentant soul’s sins. All of them. None left to haunt. Christ’s provision on the cross is not halfway, inefficient, incomplete, not quite good enough. It is holy, whole, and all-necessary as is.
This is Christ the Messiah God we are talking about. It is His spilled holy blood that we refer to. It is His obedience even unto the death of the cross that is underlined in the New Testament gospel. Therefore, what God did in Christ on that Good Friday is in need of no addition such as a purgatorial state to take care of so-called leftover sins.
When the New Testament states repeatedly that Christ forgives the sincerely repentant heart, that soul weeping in contrition, then that’s the good news that is to be taken for what it is — real, personal, entire, glorious and for sharing with others.
Once one realizes that Christ’s forgiveness of sins at conversion takes care of all past sins — ALL past sins, then there is no need to manufacture a burning fire to cleanse away tag-along sins that were missed somewhere along life’s way.
The editor of THE CATHOLIC ANSWER states that God cannot take home a soul immediately upon death. It is impossible, the editor accents. As soon as I read that, I asked : But why can’t God immediately receive a saved soul upon death?
If God is God, then God can see through His own plan of salvation, that including receiving pronto into heaven the eternal soul of the redeemed. There is no lack with God Almighty. There is no need for Him to tolerate a time lag when accepting into timeless eternity the soul saved by His shed blood upon Calvary.
That is what the Catholic mindset has yet to grasp when it teaches purgatory. It has yet to grasp the all-sufficiency of Christ’s sacrificial provision on the cross. He, being God, saw through the redemptive scheme and has no need of mortal "adding unto." His salvation gift is so total within itself that anything mortal would add to is not only impossible but insulting to the grace provision of Christ’s blood spilt.
Thank God that Christ died to save the repentant one of all his sins so that those sins stand as though never committed. The Judge of Eternity accepts the contrite soul, cleaned by Christ’s blood, and readies that soul for eternal life upon death. "To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:8).
When Stephen was stoned to death, Christ stood at the right hand of the Father welcoming Stephen into eternal life. There was no purgatorial flame awaiting Stephen. There was the embrace of Christ awaiting Stephen — immediately.
So it is with all who repent, live for Christ and die in the Lord — immediately received into glory’s holiness and happiness.
"To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord" (II Corinthians 5:8).
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
So be it.
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