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After we die, but before we get into heaven, we will be purified of all the punishments due to sin left on our soul. Purgatory is that purification. The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains only three paragraphs on the subject of purgatory:
(1) Scripture speaks of a fire that purifies the saved before they get into heaven; (paragraphs 1030-1031)
(2) The Church calls this purification purgatory; (paragraph 1031)
(3) We can help those who are undergoing purgatory by our prayers. (paragraph 1032)
This page is dedicated to explaining the first point from Scripture.
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These are specific passages in the Bible that teach the existence of purgatory!
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These are specific passages in the Bible that teach the existence of purgatory!
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Malachi 3:
2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fullers' soap;
3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present right offerings to the LORD.
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Argument:
This passage is explicit about the doctrine of purgatory -- it states that at Judgment Day, the "sons of Levi" will be "purified" before they are admitted into the presence of the Lord. Purgatory will happen for every justified person who dies with some sin still left on their soul; Malachi's description is just what it will look like for those who happen to survive this world until the Last Day. This whole passage is simply a prediction of the final purification of the elect as it shall happen at Judgment Day. And what it describes is exactly what the doctrine of purgatory says: those who will appear before the Lord will be "purified" (or "purged") before they enter God's presence.
Now, there is one question which I haven't addressed yet: who are the "sons of Levi" whose purification it is describing? Well, in the Old Covenant, the tribe of Levi was the tribe of priesthood; but in the New Covenant, every believer shares in a common priesthood -- so we all Christians are the new "sons of Levi," or "priesthood tribe," because we all offer spiritual sacrifices of prayer to God the Father. (See Revelation 1:6, 5:9-10, 1 Peter 2:5, and Hebrews 13:15.) So the new "sons of Levi," every member of the Church of Christ, must be purified before they come before the Lord. For those who die without perfect sanctity, this purification must still happen. And just as the Bible describes, so the Catholic Church teaches: this purification will be carried out by fire.
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These are specific passages in the Bible that teach the existence of purgatory!
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Zechariah 13:
8 In the whole land, says the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive.
9 And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, "They are my people"; and they will say, "The LORD is my God."
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Argument:
This passage is another slam-dunk in favor of purgatory! It is once again describing the Day of Judgment, and it is this explicit about the fate of those whom God has predestined for salvation: they shall be purified, refined in a furnace until they are ready to acclaim the Lord as their own. I ask you, what is the difference between this and purgatory? There isn't one! For they are the same thing. The Catholic doctrine is the same thing as the Bible mentions here: before a man becomes perfectly united to God, we say, he must be purified of his sins. It logically follows that at Judgment Day, those who are alive and who are going to go to heaven must be purified of their sins first -- and that is EXACTLY what the prophet foretells! A purification of those who will always be with the Lord!
And this doctrine isn't reserved only for the future judgment -- all of us who die before Judgment Day will get to go through judgment right away, before the end of the age, and if we have any sins, we will be purified of them and then brought to our judge once more to receive entrance into heaven. Zechariah sees this "particular judgment" (as opposed to the general judgment for everyone at the Last Day) prefigured in a vision of the High Priest Joshua in Zechariah 3:
1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
2 And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?"
3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.
4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel."
5 And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments; and the angel of the LORD was standing by.
6 And the angel of the LORD enjoined Joshua,
7 "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here."
Once again we have a beautiful description of Judgment, and this passage shows that purgatory will also happen to those who -- like Joshua -- die before the Last Day. Joshua is seen standing before the angel of God, "clothed with filthy garments" -- these represent his sins, because when the angel "removes the filthy garments from him," he says, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you." (verse 4) But notice this: the angel only takes away his iniquity because he had been plucked from "the fire" -- the fire of purgatory, where he was purified of his sins. Only then could the angel remove the filthy garment, and clothe him with the robe of salvation!
What beautiful descriptions of purgatory hath God given us in Zechariah! Fear ye no more this place of God's mercy -- for if we are not put through the refiner's fire, then we shall always remain in our utterly filthy garments, unhappy in the face of the Lord. In verses 1-2, it was the devil who tried to deny the power of purgatory, by saying that Joshua's sins should exclude him from heaven, though he had been through the fire of purgation. But what is the angel's answer? "This man has been plucked from the fire!" He has been saved by the One Same Refiner! His sins have been expiated by punishment, and so they may be removed, and he may be granted "the right of access among those who are standing [in heaven!]"
Blessed be God who has given us this place, so that we might have answer when the devil accuses us -- blessed be He who foresaw in His mercy, that we who are so full of stains and sins would need all our filth removed from us. But when we go before the Lord, they shall be removed. Zechariah tells of it twice, and he could be no clearer in his favor of Catholic teaching.
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These are specific passages in the Bible that teach the existence of purgatory!
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1 Corinthians 3:
13 each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work...survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
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Argument:
What fire will test our works? The fire of Judgment -- purgatory is part of Judgment because, if God judges that you have some sins left on your soul and therefore need to be cleansed, then He will purify you (which is purgatory) before He lets you into heaven. That is PRECISELY what this passage describes! What is the difference between saying that a man's evil works will be burned up, and saying that a man will be purified of his sins? The answer is, there is no difference.
This purification will hurt: "he will suffer loss." That ain't gonna be fun. Some protestants try to get around the purgatorial aspect of this loss by saying that the punishment is not temporal -- heaven's rewards are eternal, so (they say) losing rewards is not a temporal loss but the loss of some greater blessing that you would have otherwise received. However, verse 15 teaches that there is both suffering AND loss of rewards: it does say that the man who is purified of evil will "lose" something, but it also says that he will "suffer" from this. The suffering obviously has to be temporal, because eternal suffering is not what heaven is.
So in 1 Cor. 3:13-15, a man suffers temporal punishments for his sins before he enters heaven. And that, dear brother Christian, is the very definition of purgatory, a completely biblical doctrine.
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These are specific passages in the Bible that teach the existence of purgatory!
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Luke 12:
47 that servant who knew his master's will, but did not make ready or act according to his will, shall receive a severe beating.
48 But he who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, shall receive a light beating.
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Argument:
This passage teaches that God will not hold a man fully accountable for his sin if he did not fully understand what he was doing. A person will not be held accountable for living without the Gospel if he did not know about the Gospel. The servant who "did not know" the Master's will, therefore, will not be held fully accountable for his sin, because he did not fully understand that he was doing something wrong. Nevertheless, the punishment that he does receive is proportional to what he did know. Now this punishment cannot be the punishment of hell, because we just said that he isn't being held fully accountable for his sin. (Plus, who would ever call hell a "light beating"?)
Therefore he is not being punished in hell, but he is being punished. It follows that he must be suffering temporary punishment for his sin, because if his punishment was eternal, it would be the same thing as hell, where we just said he isn't going. When his temporary punishment, then, has expiated his sins, he will obviously not go to hell but to heaven. Therefore the servant in question goes to heaven, but first undergoes "a light beating" in recompense for his sin. And that is the definition of purgatory.
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These are specific passages in the Bible that teach the existence of purgatory!
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Luke 12:
58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison.
59 I tell you, you will never get out till you have paid the very last copper.
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Argument:
The debt that men owe is the sin of refusing to "settle with" the accuser. There is a supernatural prison that will hold men until they pay it. This supernatural prision is neither heaven nor hell. It is not heaven, because in heaven all our debts are forgiven, and it is not hell, because in hell the debt is infinite: there is no "last copper" to pay because the debt never ends. So Jesus is speaking here of a finite debt of sin (some temporal consequences of sin) which must be paid, and a temporary spiritual prison will hold men until this debt is expiated -- that is the definition of purgatory, and it is very biblical.
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These are specific passages in the Bible that teach the existence of purgatory!
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Mark 9:
47 It is better for you to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into hell.
48 There "the worms that eat them never die, and the fire that burns them is never put out."
49 Everyone will be purified by fire as a sacrifice is purified by salt.
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Argument:
Those who are thrown into hell will be consumed by an eternal fire. Those who enter the Kingdom of God will enjoy blessedness forever. Now it speaks of those in hell as suffering under "the fire that...is never put out" -- but is that the only fire? And are those the only ones who suffer the flames for their sins? No, says Christ, but "everyone will be purified by fire," so there is a fire that will punish everyone who dies with less-than-perfect holiness.
Now this purifying fire must be temporary. For the "purifying fire" is distinguished from "the fire that...is never put out;" and if it is distinguished from the eternal fire, it must be different from eternal fire. But it is still fire, so the difference must be that God's purifying fire is not eternal: therefore it must be temporary instead.
So a temporary flame shall purify those who are going to enter heaven, according to Christ and the Scriptures. Catholics simply call this purification purgatory. And if you refuse to believe it, dear Protestant reader, then you are not offending me, but you will have to answer to Christ, and I hope you are prepared to explain why you insist that you shall need no purification by fire, when the words of Christ are plain, that "everyone will be purified by fire."
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