So where is purgatory in the Bible anyway? Glad you asked!
Let’s take a look at a few of the Scriptural references to Purgatory. Let’s begin with Maccabees:
“He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, 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 in mind; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been superfluous and foolish to pray for the dead. 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 absolved from their sin.” [ 2 Maccabees 12:43-46]
Praying for the sins of the dead, it would seem, is very Jewish and very biblical.
Old Testament Purification
The Bible tells us that there is a need for purification after one’s sin has already been forgiven. The premier example from the Bible comes from David, in the book of 2 Samuel 12:13-14:
“Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan answered David: “For his part, the LORD has removed your sin. You shall not die, but since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed, the child born to you will surely die.”
Here we see God punishing David by taking the life of his son, even after God forgave David for killing Bathsheba’s husband (so David could take Bathsheba for his wife). This verse also warns us that our children may suffer mightily, even death, because of our own sins.
God Himself appeared to Moses as a non-consuming fire, which didn’t burn the bush (Exodus 3:2). Daniel 7:9 says that the very throne of God is fire:
“As I watched, Thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took his throne. His clothing was white as snow, the hair on his head like pure wool; His throne was flames of fire, with wheels of burning fire.”
And when God speaks, fire issues forth from His mouth:
“A river of fire surged forth, flowing from where he sat;” (Daniel 7:10).
New Testament Purification
In the New Testament, at Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit appeared as non-consuming tongues of fire to the apostles (Acts 2:3). So we see that God and non-consuming fire can be seen as one and the same.
In 1 Samuel 31:13, the survivors fasted for the dead, which makes no sense if the deceased were not in a place where that penance (fasting) could do some good for them. In Matthew 12:31-32, Jesus warns us that blaspheming the Holy Spirit (not believing that He is more powerful than your sinfulness) has everlasting repercussions:
“Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.”
Since sins aren’t forgiven in Hell, and those in Heaven are already forgiven for their sins, then this one statement indicates another place after death (the age to come) where sins can be forgiven.
When Jesus told the parable of the man beating up others who owed him money, after he himself had been forgiven his debts, he said in Matthew 18:34-35:
“Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”
Since there is no debtor’s prison in Hell, this also indicates that there is a temporary place of purification where sinners go who have not paid all of their debt for their sins. In fact, in Matthew 5: 25-26, Jesus says
“Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.”
The only possible prison that there could be that one gets out of eventually is purgatory.
In Hebrews 12:22-24, St. Paul says the following about the Holy Mass:
“No, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the spirits of the just made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and the sprinkled blood that speaks more eloquently than that of Abel.”
We know who the angels are, as well as the first born (those who go directly to heaven upon death), & God, but the spirits of just made perfect is another category of heavenly residents. Those would be the just who were not ready for heaven upon death, but who were cleansed in the fires of purgatory and made perfect.
In 2 Timothy 1:16-18, Paul prays for the departed Onesiphorus:
“May the Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus because he often gave me new heart and was not ashamed of my chains. But when he came to Rome, he promptly searched for me and found me. May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know very well the services he rendered in Ephesus.
Even in Revelation, we are cautioned that “Nothing unclean shall enter heaven.” [Revelation 21:27]
God’s Abundant Grace
Therefore, it seems that if we are still unclean when we die, thanks to God’s amazing grace, we shall still be able to enter heaven thanks to the cleansing fires of purgatory.
Even Isaiah, as good a prophet as there ever was, when he was caught up into Heaven (Isaiah 6:1-7), he proclaimed himself unclean. A seraphim angel (seraphim means “burning one”) then took a burning ember and stuck it to his tongue to cleanse him. Similarly, we may need be cleansed in the fire of purgatory before we see God. St. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 when he says,
“The work of each will come to light, for the Day will disclose it. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each one’s work. If the work stands that someone built upon the foundation, that person will receive a wage. But if someone’s work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire.”
And then there are these verses of Scripture that talk about God and fire:
Mark 9:49: “Everyone will be salted with fire.”
Hebrews 12:29: “For our God is a consuming fire.”
1 Peter 1:7: “so that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
In the 1 Peter 3:19, Peter says that after the crucifixion and death of Jesus, that Jesus“went to speak to the spirits in prison”.
This prison was basically a holding tank for Old Testament people who followed the teachings of God, and who looked forward to the coming of the Messiah, but who disobeyed God. Jesus told them that His sacrifice opened the doors of heaven to man, which had been shut since the sin of Adam. This Scripture also indicates that there is a place mentioned in the Bible besides Heaven and hell for dead people to go to before they can enter into Heaven. This place is known as “hades,” and is still around, according to Revelation 20:14.
The Church Militant
We, as the Church Militant (still alive), can help our relatives and friends (and enemies, by the way), who are in Purgatory (The Church Suffering) by praying for them, saying rosaries for them, offering up our sufferings here on earth for them, and most powerfully of all, having Holy Masses said for them anytime. Once they make it to heaven, they will remember our kindness, and become powerful intercessors with Jesus for our salvation. No sacrifice for the dead is ever wasted. For example, if your loved one is already in heaven, then God, in his infinite mercy, will apply the sacrifice you make to someone else who most needs it.
His Divine Mercy
The Church, under the direction of the Holy Spirit has always taught that Purgatory does exist. It is not a second chance to be saved after death, but rather, a place of cleansing for the already-saved before entering into heaven. Once purified of their sinful nature, they go to heaven and enjoy the Beatific Vision forever.
If you have suffered greatly in this life, or during your death, that pain and suffering alleviates your purgatory time, if it was done for Christ, and not wasted in anger at God. Purgatory detaches you from your love of sin, and pays your debt to God for all of the sins that you have committed. This is analogous to someone who robs a bank and then asks for forgiveness. While the bank president will probably forgive him, the thief still has to give back the money and pay his debt to society through prison time.
St. Therese, the Little Flower, and the 33rd Doctor of the Church, tells us that it offends God greatly when people say that they will surely have to spend time in purgatory after death. She says that Jesus would rather not send anybody there, and he would prefer that one has TOTAL TRUST in His Divine Mercy now so that they won’t have to spend one second in purgatory later. She says that by saying you will need to spend time in purgatory becomes a self-fulfilling desire to obtain God’s justice instead of his mercy! So pray for His mercy instead!
24 thoughts on “Purgatory: Is It a Dead Issue?”
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As a relatively recent convert (ten years), I don’t believe I have heard one homily spoken about purgatory or even mentioned in passing. The funeral masses I have attended haven’t mentioned it either. Such a shame.
Something tells me you would have enjoyed the old Requiem Mass (black) chasubles the priests wore, over the white vestment in use today. Maybe the (remembered) gloom of an EF funeral would put you more at ease.
That is a terrible reply. It certainly tells me you know nothing about an EF Requiem mass from a liturgical/theological point.
Bill, check out the word (remembered). I served at least 50 of these
things when I was an altar boy and let me tell you, today’s NO funeral
masses have them beat hands down. My reply was also based on
Sgt Chip’s longing for the priest to homolize the middle ground. Notice
he assumed (big time) that the persons the funeral masses were said for didn’t go to hell, noooo, he wouldn’t want a homily about that sad
possiblity and since purgatory is heaven delayed there was no need to
ask for that clarification either.
Sgt- You are correct. I have heard one, in my life, I believe. Most Catholics ignore purgatory. But it is in the Catechism, and it truly does exist. This needs to be corrected…Which is why i wrote about it…
This is excellent! I know that personal experience and the many experiences shared with us by the Saints is not the proof most demand, but I know Purgatory is real! St. Padre Pio is one of the best concerning Purgatory, St Catherine of Sienna..oh so many many of the Saints tell us and teach us to pray for the Holy Souls! When we pray for them, they go out of their way to help us. Thank you so much for writing this, God and His Holy Souls will surely bless you 🙂
An issue that has always bothered me: why does David’s son (“your son will surely die”) pay with his life for the sins of his father?
BXVI – For the same reason that we today are suffering for the sin of Adam and Eve. Sometimes, the sin of the parents is visited on their children, like with Abel. See Exodus 20:5: you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
Say a father goes out and spends all of the family’s money on drugs, booze, and prostitutes. The children suffer for the sin of the parent.
It’s a horrible thing, but it’s also true.
Yikes, that quote from the Little Flower hit me. I have often said that I will likely have to be in Purgatory for “infinity minus 1.” I won’t say that anymore!
I have found the concept of Purgatory fascinating for a long time. And, like many (most?) Catholics,
I struggled with the question of its existence for quite a while in the face of opposition from the Protestants. However, I did finally come to the conclusion that it really does exist. Many of the arguments you make in your article were part of the reason I accept Purgatory as real but I also found a more compelling (to me at least) explanation. It all has to do with Jesus’ passion and death.
The first thing that I had a difficult time reconciling was, as you mentioned in your article, Revelation 21:27 “Nothing unclean shall enter Heaven”. On the surface, that makes sense but 2 Cor 5:21 tells us that Jesus took on our sins as if He had committed them. To me, that means that Jesus’ soul carried the stain of sin. Our sins, to be sure, but sin nonetheless. That means that He would not be able to ascend to Heaven because doing so would violate Rev 21:27.
So, where did He go for those 3 days after His death? Purgatory. It is the only thing that makes sense in my mind. He went there to purify his own soul of our sins so that He could ascend into Heaven completely cleansed of the stain of sin.
As far as I know, that does not violate Catholic theology. If anyone sees any holes in my logic, I would appreciate it is they would point it out to me.
You quoted Maccabees, and, of course, Protestants do not recognize it as part of the Bible; however, it does raise the point that for the first 1,500 years of Christianity (including the New Testament itself), no one (even in the New Testament) saw anything wrong or pointless in praying for the dead. It is one Jewish practice that is not condemned ever in the New Testament. Indeed, Jews still pray for the dead. Whether or not one likes the word “purgatory” there is therefore a continuous belief that prayer is beneficial for the departed souls — in other words, they do not yet have the perfect joy of heaven and are not condemned to hell. This is the essence of the whole question. Protestants, following Luther, hate to admit that our entrance into heaven will have anything to do with anything other than our faith, however, there are various places that indicate that indeed our behavior on earth will be decisive for entering heaven as in the scene of Matthew where Jesus says “come Blessed of my Father” to some souls and “depart from me” to others (Matt. 25: 31-46).
” Nathan answered David: “For his part, the LORD has removed your sin. You shall not die, but since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed, the child born to you will surely die.”
This Nathan guy also induced David to anoint Solomon king after which Solomon had his brother, Adonias put to death along with Joab, a supporter. Solomon went on to spend so much money his subjects rose in revolt and later he worshiped false gods after gorging on 700 wives and 300 concubines. He ended up committing suicide. It’s a real stretch, Ray to link all this with purgatory. Sounds like Nathan was an after-the fact prophet and that as always, it’s politics as usual.
Nathan was sent by God to correct both King Saul and King David…Good enough for me….
The real “stretch” is when Protestants insist the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is “un-Biblical.” Well argued post, Ray.
It’s not un-biblical, it’s an unreasonable assumption.
It appears to me, or to anyone who can accept evidence, that Ray presented some excellent biblical evidence for a place of purgation following death. It is your comment that is unreasonable.
” …evidence for a place of purgation following death.”
Of course, Bill, and for the last 5 years at least I have postulated
that that place is back here on earth; the only logical place you can
work off karma in another one of these things called bodies.
Thanks Felix!
The Bible says Nathan was a great prophet sent by God. Sorry to hear that you reject the Bible.
Solomon was an extremely good and wise ruler in the early part of his reign. Later on he went downhill morally due to his own choices. God does not take away our free will. Our Lord also chose Judas Iscariot to be one of His 12 Apostles, knowing full well from the beginning (as the Gospels tell us) that Judas would betray him. Do you think our Lord is also “an after-the-fact prophet” playing “politics”?
Do you think our Lord is also “an after-the-fact prophet” playing “politics”?
The politics are evident throughout the OT. Kill your rivals, even family. I think
Nathan’s prophecy was recorded after the event. He helped the king arrange music
for the sanctuary and talked David out of building the temple, transferring this
to David’s son. No other prophecies, he just compiled some history.