Is Purgatory Real? A Bible Study

Is purgatory in the Bible? If not, why do so many believe in it?

The Judgment

The Bible clearly says that “just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment” (Heb 9:27) so “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring” (Prov 27:1). Why did Solomon write this? It was because “you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). Sadly, many reject the gospel, time after time, and they “Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19b) but God may say to any one of us “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you” (Luke 12:20). The point being; there is no middle ground. There is no neutrality concerning Christ because “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters” (Luke 11:23) and you are either a gatherer or a scatterer. Sitting on the fence won’t help because the fence and all who sit on it are cast into the fire (Rev 21:8).

The Payment

The word redemption means a lot to the believer because they have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. He paid what He didn’t owe for what we did but couldn’t pay. That’s why Christians are under no more condemnation (Rom 8:1). It was Christ Who bore the sins of the many (Heb 9:28a). We cannot bear our own sins. Sacrificing our own life is insufficient to redeem us and to make possible a relationship with God that our sins have previously cut us off from (Isaiah 59:2). Peter writes, “you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (1st Pet 1:18-19). God never requires another payment for your sins nor will He accept anything but His Son’s payment. You were purchased or redeemed by Christ’s blood; what makes us think we can redeem ourselves by what we do or by what we’ll ever pay, which brings us to the question of whether purgatory is real or not.

Is Purgatory Real?

In the first place, there is no conclusive proof that anyone’s been to purgatory and come back to tell us whether it exists or not. Purgatory means “a cleansing place” and some claim to have died and gone to heaven or hell, only to return but Paul may have been caught up to the 3rd heaven but he never came back and wrote a book about it. The word purgatory itself is not found in the Bible but many claim the idea or concept of purgatory does.

Purgatory Bible Verses?

First 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.”

This verse is used by those who believe in purgatory but this chapter is speaking about the rewards and the loss of rewards for the believer and has nothing to do with their sins that they’ve committed. This is clear when Paul writes that “each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done” (1st Cor 3:13) and “If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward” (1st Cor 3:14). The context of 1st Corinthians 3 is rewards and losing rewards when “the Day will disclose” whether the works they did will burn up or not. It is about our earthly works, not about our sins for they were judged at the cross (1st Cor 15:3). Escaping from the fire is not the same as being purged by the fire.

Matthew 18:34-35 “And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

The word used for “jailers” is actually “torturers” so the idea of there being “jailers” is incorrect. Does this have to do with making a payment in a place, such as purgatory, and having the remaining sins purged by fire? No, the context of Matthew 18:21-35 is that of forgiving our brother because we’ve been forgiven. If the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant is about paying for our own sins, then why are there torturers and not simply jailers as some translations wrongly give. Would that man ever be able to repay his debt in a million years since it was about twenty year’s wages that he was in debt too? Being in the presence of the torturers wouldn’t have allowed much prospect for working it off (Matt 18:24).

Christ + Nothing

The fact is that Christ + anything equals nothing but Christ + nothing = everything! You cannot add one drop of works to your salvation. Could you look at purgatory this way: Christ + purgatory = eternal life? No, I think not! A person who is saved will do good works but not for their salvation; it is because they are saved that they will do them and they will do them out of gratitude. If you add anything else as requirement to pay for your sins, it’s like you’re telling Jesus “Sorry Jesus, nice try at the cross; it wasn’t quite enough…I’ve got to pay for some of my own sins.” That is an insult to God and to Christ. If we could take away some of our sins in purgatory then Jesus died for nothing. We could have all made it through the fires and Jesus wouldn’t have had to die, but the fact is He did have to die for we could never pay such a debt before a holy God.

Conclusion

I know none of us believe all the same things in the differing Christian faiths but we can still unite in the plain things like Christ’s sinless-ness, His divinity, His dying for our sins, and then have grace on those things where the Bible is silent or on areas that we’re just not sure about. We worship the same Christ. He died for us all. That’s the plain thing but that’s also the main thing.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.