This is the third part of a three part series entitled "The Biblical Basis for Catholic Beliefs - Purgatory." In this first two parts of the series we have looked at the objective biblical basis for the doctrine of Purgatory. In this part of the series we will discuss the subjective way in which we experience God's mercy in terms of Purgatory and how the doctrine is consistent with what we already know about God. We will briefly look at prayer for the dead and conclude our study.
Read part 1 here.
Read part 2 here.
CONSISTENT WITH A MERCIFUL GOD
We have thus far considered objective doctrine alone in the Biblical context. As a subjective exercise however, consider the Christian who has sincerely made his best effort to please God throughout his life yet has fallen short as a result of his fallen nature due to original sin. He has not broken God’s covenant, has died without any unrepentant mortal sins (in a state of sanctifying grace) yet he retains residual proclivity to self- love, pride, anger, mistrust, lust, greed and all the other characteristics of fallen man. Can this man be happy in Heaven?
If Heaven is a place of holiness where souls of the dead will be perfectly united to the Trinity, then the answer is a resounding no! It would be akin to showing up at a black-tie affair wearing only underwear or signing up for a college-level math class after having only completed the second grade. The Catholic Church takes the rule “Nothing unclean will enter” seriously and with good reason; those who are not perfectly holy cannot function properly in Heaven. They simply are not ready for heaven and a theology which holds to only Heaven and Hell gives them no place to go.
We come here to a point of truth about Purgatory. Recall that those who are in Purgatory are going to Heaven. Those in Purgatory are saved! If Heaven is a place where only perfect holiness may exist, then Purgatory is a gift of mercy from God who would otherwise not let us in. For those with much self-love, the purification which takes place in Purgatory may be very painful. Insofar as that pain is part of a purification which ultimately leads to Heaven, it is an act of mercy consistent with our view of God as a merciful, loving father.
PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD
Although modern Evangelical theology boasts that one can be sure of salvation, the disposition of the heart of those who have died (and therefor their fate) is ultimately known only to God. Catholics pray for the dead out of charity, confident in the knowledge that other members of the Body of Christ, whether dead or alive, by the virtue of the communion of saints, can pray for us as well and may benefit from our prayers.
Catholics pray for the dead who may be in Purgatory just as we pray for any other living person. We ask God to pardon their sins, to assist them through what is certainly a very difficult time and to shepherd them safely to their final destination which is Heaven. Since those in Hell cannot benefit from our prayers and those in Heaven no longer need our prayers, prayers for the dead do not make sense in a Heaven and Hell only theology. Prayers for the dead make sense only in a theology which contains forgiveness in “The age to come”.
Consistent with the belief in the possibility of forgiveness after death, there is crystal clear Old Testament evidence of Jewish tradition of praying for the salvation of those who have already died.
On the following day, since the task had now become urgent, Judas and his men went to gather up the bodies of the slain and bury them with their kinsmen in their ancestral tombs. But under the tunic of each of the dead they found amulets sacred to the idols of Jamnia, which the law forbids the Jews to wear. So it was clear to all that this was why these men had been slain. They all therefore praised the ways of the Lord, the just judge who brings to light the things that are hidden. Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. 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 of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. 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 freed from this sin. (2 Maccabees 12:39-46)
It must be noted that 2 Maccabees is rejected by the vast majority of non-Catholic Christianity as not inspired. It must also be note that the same non-Catholics who reject 2 Maccabees are those who also reject the doctrine of Purgatory.
As the Catholic Encyclopedia at newadvent.com rightly states, “For Catholics who accept this book as canonical, this passage leaves nothing to be desired.” But even if 2 Maccabees is not inspired, it bears ample witness to the religious practices of the ancient Jews and is remarkably similar to the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory.
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. (2 Timothy 1:16-18)
The Apostle Paul refers to a man named Onesiphorus in the past tense several times. If this man is dead, as is it appears he may well be, then Paul’s statement, “May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day” is clearly a prayer for the dead. If Onesiphorius is not dead, but merely missing in action, then it is as they say, no harm-no foul.
CONCLUSION
St. John clearly lays out the doctrine of deadly and non-deadly sin in his first letter (1 John 5:15-16). St. John’s doctrine is exactly consistent with the doctrine of mortal and venial sin which has been believed in the Catholic Church for twenty centuries. Matthew 5:22 records the words of The Lord himself as he speaks about three sins, only one of which is immediately punishable by Hell and so Christ’s own words seem to be the basis for St. Johns doctrine.
St. Paul tells us in the Book of Hebrews that there is a requisite level of “…holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” St. John describes Heaven (in part) as a place where “nothing unclean will enter.” Catholic Tradition, consistent with the view of Heaven as a place of perfect holiness, has always interpreted these two verses in the strictest sense.
The reality of venial sin whereby one is a sinner yet still in a state of sanctifying grace along with the strict requirement for perfect holiness in order to enter Heaven leaves no place for the vast majority of ordinary Christians who, far from being saints, die with some remnants of their fallen nature still intact. A Heaven and Hell only theology leaves no place for these people to go. Jesus gives us hope however, in that he speaks of forgiveness “in the age to come” and St. Paul tells us of a place or a process whereby one whose works have been judged as substandard may be able to “suffer loss” yet still be saved.
God’s mercy is evident in the doctrine of Purgatory in that it provides a way for the faithful who, though they have sincerely tried to do their best, have somehow fallen short or still retain aspects of their fallen nature. These are purified by God in Purgatory and are eventually holy and clean enough to enter Heaven.
Intercessory prayer on behalf of other members of the Body of Christ is common throughout all of Christianity. Catholics, by virtue of the Communion of Saints, extend these prayers to all members of the Body of Christ including those who have died. Prayers for the salvation of the dead would make no sense in a Heaven and Hell only theology yet we see clear evidence of the practice in the Old Testament as late as the second century BC. We also see what may be evidence of prayers for the dead in St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy.
The many verses cited in favor of the doctrine of Purgatory do not seem to make sense when viewed in a Heaven and Hell only theology. Some wild intellectual and theological posturing is required in order to interpret these verses in the context of a theology without Purgatory. The obvious inclusion of intercessory prayer for the dead in 2 Maccabees may have been part of the impetus for its removal from the canon of scripture by the progenitors of the so called Protestant reformation.
Twenty centuries of Catholic tradition and belief notwithstanding, the Magisterium of the Catholic Church has taught infallibly the doctrine of Purgatory when it declared the belief to be dogma at the Council of Ferrara-Florence (1438) and reaffirmed it at the Council of Trent (1545-1563). Since Jesus Christ - and therefor God himself – is the guarantor of The Church’s infallibility, the Church has spoken the last word on the subject.
This concludes our study of the Biblical basis for the doctrine of Purgatory.
Return to part 1 here.
Return to part 2 here.
-Tim-
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