Catholic/Protestant Debate: Purgatory and the Atonement
I have written two articles in the past refuting the errors of Protestant Shane Idleman. You can find those here and here. In this article, I will be addressing his comments concerning the dogma of Purgatory.
SHANE: Many remain dependent on the Church to relieve suffering in purgatory. According to Catholicism, purgatory is a temporary place where the soul is purged (purified) in preparation for heaven. Although sins are forgiven periodically through confession and penance, the punishment still remains. But the Bible says that Christ is an all sufficient Savior – He paid the full price on the cross. Suggesting that we need purging after death contradicts Christ’s finished work on the cross (cf. Hebrews 10:14).
JOSEPH: The first thing we need to note is that the Bible nowhere says, “Christ paid the full price on the cross.” Absolutely nowhere. This is one of those fancy slogans that Protestants love using because it sounds nice, but theologically it has no basis in the New Testament. It is also much too vague a cliché, since Idleman does not elaborate on what he means by “paid the full price.” This breaks down to a misunderstanding on the Atonement, i.e. what did Jesus intend to accomplish by the crucifixion.
Protestants advocate the historically bankrupt idea of penal substitution, which was unknown to the Christian Faith until the Protestant Revolt. However, this explains why they get it wrong on Purgatory and end up in heresy, because heresies build upon one another. If you start with a fabricated lie, then you have to keep building on top of it with more novelties in order to maintain the initial fabrication. Penal substitutionary atonement states that Jesus died as a sacrifice to take the punishment for human sins. It posits that Christ, voluntarily submitting to God the Father's plan, was punished (penalized) in the place of (substitution) sinners.
The historical Christian position is that Our Lord’s death was a propitiatory sacrifice. To quote St. Augustine, "But what is meant by ‘justified in His blood’?... Was it indeed so, that when God the Father was wroth with us, He saw the death of His Son for us, and was appeased towards us? Was then His Son already so far appeased towards us, that He even deigned to die for us; while the Father was still so far wroth, that except His Son died for us, He would not be appeased?"
Oxford Dictionary defines "appease" as: to pacify or placate someone by acceding to their demands; to relieve or satisfy a demand or a feeling. So God's offense at sin, which is an infinite offense, and which demands a just punishment, is pacified, placated, relieved, and satisfied by the act of sacrifice. The reason for this is because sacrifice is done out of genuine love for the Father and to uphold His honor.
In order for Man to have an inroad back to the heart of the Father, a sacrifice of infinite value was needed on behalf of man, and yet had to come from a true representative of man since it was Adam who ushered in Original Sin in Genesis 3, and as St. Paul teaches in Romans 5:12, "Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned." A sacrifice was needed in order to uphold God's honor and justice, since He can not just excuse man's sin as this would contradict His justice. It was also needed to propitiate His anger over the offense of sin, so that He could be placated in order to then consider man's contrite repentance and reenter into a gracious relationship with Him.
A representative of Man had to offer God the sacrifice, since it was Man who had sinned against God. And yet, for it to be a perfect sacrifice of infinite and eternal value, it had to come from a perfect Man. Jesus Christ is true God and true Man. Thus, His sacrifice serves to propitiate the Father in Heaven from the sins of the world. As 1 John 2:1-2 states, “We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just: And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” Oxford Dictionary defines propitiate as: To win or regain the favor by doing something that is pleasing. Cambridge Dictionary defines it as to please and make calm one who is offended.
Our Lord makes the way of salvation possible for us by virtue of His sacrifice on the cross. He did not “pay the full penalty,” but rather as Sacred Scripture teaches, He appeased the wrath of God the Father and propitiated Him so that we could approach Him for forgiveness and absolution, and to secure grace to grow in holiness. This is why Purgatory does not contradict the Atonement; rather, Purgatory is able to exist precisely because of Our Lord’s sacrifice.
Shane quotes Hebrews 10:14 in an attempt to prove that Purgatory contradicts the finished work of Our Lord on the cross. Hebrews 10:14 states, “For by one oblation he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.” This passage teaches that the one unique sacrifice of Our Lord has secured an eternal inheritance for those who are presently being sanctified. Of course, those who are being made holy through His infused grace must remain in that state. If they commit serious unrepentant sin, then they will not receive that inheritance. The very same chapter, just a few verses later, states this very thing. Hebrews 10: 26-27, “For if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins, but a certain dreadful expectation of judgment, and the rage of a fire which shall consume the adversaries.”
I should also note that “them that are sanctified” ought to more appropriately be translated as “those who are being sanctified,” since the Greek term hagiazomenous is a present passive participle, referring to the ongoing nature of sanctification in the Christian life. In fact, this is the preponderant translation even in Protestant versions. You can see it in the NIV, NLT, ESV, NKJV, ISV, and more.
SHANE: The priest I interviewed suggested that purgatory is the best way to deal with shame and guilt. But Acts 3:19 states otherwise, “Repent, and be converted so that times of refreshing will come from the presence of the Lord.” Peace is a byproduct of repentance – having Christ as Lord and Savior. No additional penalty or purging remains. He paid the full price.
JOSEPH: We certainly do receive peace through repentance, no argument there. The peace we have is knowing that we are now in a relationship of grace with Almighty God, and are on the narrow path that leads to Heaven. Even Purgatory itself is a stepping stool to Heaven. But we still need to be cleansed of the temporal punishment due to sins we have committed, once they are absolved. Our Lord’s death allows for us to be absolved of the eternal consequences of sin (Hell), but not the temporal consequences (we still experience bodily decay and die). Salvation came to Zaccheus' house, but he still had to recompense the victims of his wrong-doings (Luke 19:1-9). Our Lord teaches us to make reparation and amends prior to approaching the altar (Lk 12:58-59; Mt 5:25-26). St. Paul says he chastises his body (1 Corinthians 9:25-27), which makes no sense if “Christ paid the full price.”
Purgatory is explicitly taught in 1 Corinthians 3:15, "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire." If the building material is weak (wood, hay, or straw, see the context in 1 Corinthians 3:12-14), then that means these works are sins, albeit not deadly sins which warrant eternal punishment (as we see in 1 Corinthians 3:17). They are burned up (literally, purged) through the cleansing fire, and so the worker suffers loss. The Greek for "suffer loss" is zēmiōthēsetai, which has the understanding of one suffering loss due to a fine or a punishment being incurred which carries a penalty with it. We recall Our Lord's words from Matthew 5:25-26, "The judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny."
So the worker of verse 15 suffers a penalty due to his weak materials (venial sins) not passing through the purging fire. The fire consumes these weak materials (purges them from us). The penalty is being thrown into "prison," where the worker will not get out until he has "paid the last penny." This type of penalty is difficult and painful, but it is for our good and produces holiness out of us so we can be prepared for the wedding banquet of Heaven. God seeks to discipline us in this life to help us prepare for Heaven, where nothing unclean can enter.
The worker in 1 Corinthians 3:15 "will be saved, but only as through fire." The Greek word for "saved" is sōthēsetai, the same word Our Lord uses in Matthew 10:22 and 24:13 when He teaches, "He who endures to the end shall be saved." So this worker is truly saved (destined ultimately for Heaven), but he must likewise go through the same fire which purged his venial sins. The Greek here is houtōs, which means "likewise" or "in the same way." In other words, as the works went through the fire, "likewise" and "in the same way," the worker goes through the fire, too. So 1 Corinthians 3:15 can literally be rendered as such: If anyone's work is burned up through the fire (on the day of judgment), he will be disciplined with a penalty, though he himself will be saved, likewise and in the same way, through fire."
