A fallacy is reasoning that comes to a conclusion without the evidence to support it. The Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory is a fallacy in that those who hold to this view of the afterlife claim biblical evidence for this doctrine when there is clearly no such evidence.
This doctrine of purgatory attempts to establish a caste system of believers that doesn’t exist in Scripture. When a person dies he or she is either a believer destined for eternal life in heaven or an unbeliever destined for eternal condemnation. And nothing can be done after death by the church or by any person to affect the deceased person’s righteousness or eternal destiny. Only God can make the believer’s soul perfectly righteous in heaven.
To be fair with the Roman Catholic position, we must point out that the position of the Catholic church regarding purgatory is stated as follows.
All who die in God’s 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. (Catechism, 1030)
So, the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory and the Protestant and Reformed position seems to agree on one point, that those who are true believers at death are assured of salvation unto eternal life in heaven with God.
But Catholicism teaches that some true believers are not adequately purified of sin to enter heaven and require purifying works to enter heaven. The church of Rome teaches that purgatory is a state of purification for those who have died without mortal sin but still need to be purified from venial sins.
But the Bible teaches that sin is any transgression against God and just one transgression of any kind subjects one to eternal condemnation. But once one believes in Christ, God justifies the believer and deems (not makes) the believer righteous and promises the believer eternal life in heaven. When a believer dies, his or her soul whom God has deemed righteous goes immediately to heaven, not purgatory, where God and only God makes his or her soul perfectly righteous.
PURGATORY DEFINED
According to the church of Rome, the souls of those in good standing in the church who are perfectly pure at death go instantaneously to heaven to be with God in the intermediate state to await the general resurrection at the return of Christ. But those in good standing in the church but who are not perfectly cleansed and who are subject to the guilt of venial sins and have not suffered the temporal punishment for those sins go to a place called purgatory, which is not heaven. Purgatory is said to be a place of purification of the soul and preparation for heaven. Here, they suffer the pain of separation from God, and the length of stay and the intensity of their suffering is said to be based on the degree of purification still required. According to Catholic dogma, the pope has the authority to determine the length of stay and the degree of sufferings and may reduce them at his discretion.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST PURGATORY
First, the Bible does not teach this doctrine. Jesus did not teach this doctrine nor did the apostles. Second, this doctrine denies the express teaching in the Bible that “if any man forsakes his sins, believes in the Lord Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God, trusts simply and entirely to Him and his work, and leads a holy life, he shall certainly be saved.”[1] Third, the doctrine of purgatory indicates that in spite of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, the sinner must himself make satisfaction for his sins and the Bible clearly states this to be impossible (Matt. 19:26). Fourth, the New Testament teaches that we are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and not through works (Eph. 2:8-9). Fifth, this doctrine maintains the unscriptural position that the pope and his subordinates have power to remit the sins of departed souls (Mark 2:10; Luke 5:24; Acts 10:43; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:12-14; 1 John 1:9).
A CLARIFYING POINT
Though not experts on Roman Catholic dogma, our understanding is that Protestants, and Reformed Christians as well as Roman Catholics all believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who became incarnate man and lived a perfect life as a man on earth and died on the cross to pay the price for the redemption of all believers’ sins and that he was resurrected on the third day and ascended into heaven. Thus, they all are Christian brothers and sisters in spite of the fact that the Roman Catholic doctrines of purgatory and works righteousness are un-biblical in our view.
It’s okay for Christians to disagree on various points of doctrine without making each other out to be non-believers because of dogmatic disagreements. But we should be cautious in straying from biblical truth since that can result in the adoption of doctrinal positions that can amount to apostacy and even heresy. And of course such false teaching can cause individuals to believe a false, unscriptural gospel that doesn’t lead to eternal life.
THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF LIFE AFTER DEATH[2]
The majority view among Protestants regarding the state of the soul after death holds that there is a continued and conscious existence of the soul after its separation from the body at death. At death, the believer’s body returns to earth from whence it came and sees corruption (Gen. 3:19; Acts 13:36) and the soul, which neither sleeps nor dies nor is annihilated, immediately returns to God who gave it (Luke 23:43; Eccl. 12:7). The souls of the righteous are then made perfect in holiness by God and are received into the highest heavens where they see God and await the full redemption of their bodies at the general resurrection (Heb. 12:23; 2 Cor. 5:1, 6, 8; Phil. 1:23; Acts 3:21; Eph 4:10; Rom. 8:23). And of course, the “full redemption of their bodies” will occur on Judgment Day when Christ returns and the general resurrection of all human beings takes place immediately followed by the judgment of the wicked and the salvation of the elect.
So, at death, the disembodied souls of believing Christians are immediately glorified and made perfect by God and taken into the presence of Christ in heaven, fully conscious, and in a state of rest (Rev. 14:13), where they wait for the full redemption of their bodies at the second coming of Christ (Phil. 3:20, 21).
[1] Hodge, Charles, A., Systematic Theology, vol. III, Hendrickson (2016), 757.
[2] See also articles on this Christian Inquiry blog entitled What Happens to People When They Die? and What Will a Christian Experience at Death? and Will We Know Our Friends and Family in Heaven?.
