Purgatory?

Question

What Scriptures support or describe Purgatory? Could someone direct me to them in the Bible. Not from the Catechism book please.

Answer 1

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1030, "All who die in Gods 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."

The Second Vatican Council, p. 63, says, "The truth has been divinely revealed that sins are followed by punishments. Gods holiness and justice inflict them. Sins must be expiated. This may be done on this earth through the sorrows, miseries and trials of this life and, above all, through death. Otherwise the expiation must be made in the next life through fire and torments or purifying punishments."

This process of purification occurs in a place designated by the Catholic church as purgatory. According to Catholic doctrine, purgatory is not supposed to be a place of punishment, but of purification. The nature of this purification, according to different Catholic theologians, ranges from an extreme awareness of loss to an intense, excruciatingly painful "purifying fire."

According to Roman Catholic Doctrine, though a person may be in a state of grace, he may not enter heaven until he is purified from sins that were not dealt with on earth. Baptism remits sins committed up to that point, but prayers, indulgences, penance, absolution, and the Mass are means by which the sinner is able to expiate sins committed after baptism. If sins are not remitted, after death he must suffer the flames of purification until he is sufficiently cleansed and pure so as to enter into the presence of God. Additionally, intercession can be made by Catholics on behalf of those who are presently in purgatory. This is also done through saying the Mass, certain acts of penance, saying the Rosary, or by indulgences where the benefit is applied to the dead in purgatory.

But purgatory is not for everyone. Baptized infants who have died before the age of accountability and Catholic saints who lived such holy lives are excused from the "purifying fires."

The length of time that someone must suffer in this state is never known, but it is considered to be proportional to the nature and severity of the sins committed. Therefore, it could be anywhere from a few hours to thousands of years.

Problems with the Doctrine of Purgatory
As a Christian who bases spiritual truth on the Bible alone, I see problems with the doctrine of purgatory. For example:

It is not explicitly found in the Bible.
It implies that the righteousness of Christ does not cleanse from all sin.
It implies that justification is not by faith alone.
It implies that there is something we must do in order to be cleansed of sin.
The Catholics will disagree with my perceived problems of the doctrine of purgatory. That is to be expected. They will cite church Fathers, the apocrypha, and various biblical references to fire and purification. Which ever side of the argument you fall into, my goal here is to present a biblical argument that examines the doctrine in an attempt to determine if it is biblical or not.

Of course, the Catholic will say that as a Protestant, I come to the argument with the preconceived belief that (1) Purgatory is unbiblical, (2) that I am biased against it, and (3) that I have an agenda to accomplish. To each of these accusations I admit guilt. None of us are perfectly unbiased and most everyone has personal beliefs that are reflected in their actions and words. In this case, having read and studied the Bible thoroughly, I find no place in it for the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory.

Answer 2

There is no scriptural support for this myth anywhere in the bible.As I understand it the idea of purgatory was brought into existence by the Catholic clergy some centuries ago to gain extra income.
During these days of it's inception there was a huge amount of illiteracy (even amongst the clergy) and ignorance abounded as much as superstition. It was explained to the faithful that when we die if we are not good enough for heaven but not bad enough for hell? Then we go to purgatory. But wait!! There's more said the clergy to the faithful. You can get your loved ones out of the burning pits of purgatory with your increased tithes!
If one gives a little extra on a regular basis they can slowly buy an arm out of purgatory, a little more gets the other arm. So on and so on until the whole soul of your loved one is removed into God's heaven.
After some centuries the literacy rate rose rapidly and many could see that there was something wrong with this. As a matter of fact there is a lot wrong with the reigning clergy. So we protested the Catechism and were given the boot from what was called the true church. And furthermore we were branded "Protestants!"
The Bible doesn't say a thing about a place called purgatory. I left the Catholic denomination about two decades ago and that was one of the reasons for leaving. I couldn't get any proper answers from the clergy.

Answer 3

There is nothing conclusive in scripture that either denies or promotes the Catholic doctrine of purgatory. Catholics use the Apocraphal books (especially 2 Maccabees) and a passage in 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 to come up with the idea of purgatory. However, it is supposed that purgatory was invented as a ploy so that Christians would buy indulgences from the church to escape from that judgement, and the money was used for the wealthy living of those way up in the heirarchy (Popes, bishops, cardianls, etc...) Though the church is now past that, the doctrine of Purgatory is still taught, and I have nothing to say for or against it. I hope I have helped in answering your question, about where they get their idea. I can tell you there is no scripture for or against it, except in hints that cannot lead to a conclusion.

Answer 4

The universal church, which Jesus personally founded, is not limited by what might or might not be written in scripture.

But the following scripture passage certainly sums up the scope of the awesome power that Jesus gave only to his church:

Mat 18:18 Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven.
Mat 18:19 Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth, concerning anything whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by my Father who is in heaven.

The church has decided not only that a purgatory exists, but that it is also useful for the purposes of salvation.

Under the church's God-given authority, even if purgatory had never existed before, it would now, simply because the church has the virtually unlimited power to bind and loose, both on earth and in heaven.

By comparison, the Bible is a God inspired, but relatively powerless book, with nowhere near the authority that God gave to his church.

God knew what he was doing when he set things up this way.

Perhaps you should spend some time studying the catechism, after all.

Answer 5

+ Purgatory +

The concept of purgation is hinted at in the Bible. Here are a couple of places:

"But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire." 1 Cor 3:15

"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." 1 Pet 1:7

Are you perfect now? Most people would say no.

Will you be perfect in heaven? Most people believe yes.

Purgatory (or purgation) is the process of God's love changing our imperfect selves on earth into perfect beings in heaven. Depending on the amount of change needed by different people, this can be an easy or slightly harder process. Everyone in purgatory is on his or her way to heaven. I do not think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it.

+ Sources of Doctrine +

The Catholic Church does not only use Holy Scripture for the basis of doctrine. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

Catholics also believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like
- The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
- Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the ten commandments)
- Which books to include in the New Testament?
- How do our imperfect selves on earth get to be perfect in heaven?

This second source of doctrine is called Apostolic Tradition.

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 6

This is an unbiblical doctrine, there is no Scripture to support it.

on the cross Jesus said, "It is finished" (John 19:30). In the Greek, this was an accounting term which meant a debt was paid in full. If the payment for our sins was paid in full on the cross, then how could purgatory be a reality -- especially when the scriptures don't mention it and even contradict it: "Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment" (Heb. 9:27).

Answer 7

Peace!
This question has been asked several times today. The last one who asked was Betty Boop, about 2 hours ago.
Father K gave a very good answer to this question. It was a very informative and exhaustive dissertation on the subject. Other Catholics, including myself , also answered.
I hope you won't mind if I direct you there because I do not want to plagiarise Father K's answer. Absolutely no offence meant.
God bless

Answer 8

See the link below for documentation on where you can find it.

Maccabees is part of the Catholic Bible -- but is not included in the Protestant Bible. It is one of the books that Martin Luther edited from the Bible.

Answer 9

purgatory is nowhere mentioned in the Bible. Jesus is clearly the only way into heaven, with no need for relatives and friends paying or praying our way into Heaven if we trusted Him as the one who saved us.

Answer 10

Lots of scriptural references here:

http://www.scripturecatholic.com/purgatory.html