Faith

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Purgatory: An Unscriptural Doctrine
by Patricia Backora, Author of: Tough Love in Christ’s Millennium
order online from: http://www.publishamerica.com

Millions are taught that Jesus’ atonement for sin is insufficient. That’s why they expect to go to a temporary place of torment called Purgatory to make up the difference after death. Here are some reasons I don’t believe Purgatory is a sound scriptural doctrine.

1. Jesus took ALL our sins upon Himself, not just our petty peccadilloes. I Peter 2:24 says of Christ: Who his own self bare our sins in his body on the tree. Galatians 3:13 reiterates this: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham (God’s Gift of Righteousness through faith alone) might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. What unspeakable grace on Jesus’ part, taking upon Himself the muck and mire of our sins! In Zechariah 3:1-5 Joshua the High Priest stands in the Presence of God, with satan also there to accuse him of sin. Interestingly Joshua is the Old Testament name for Jesus, which means “God is salvation”. Joshua actually appears before a Holy God wearing priestly vestments stained with the sins of Israel. And God says: “Take away his filthy garments from him and put clean clothes on him.” God Himself rebukes satan for accusing His people, because atonement has been made for them. When Christ made atonement for our sins, He was temporarily divested of God’s Glory and covered instead in those sins! Isaiah 53:6 foretells the time God would lay all our sins upon Christ, Who fulfilled the annual Scapegoat ritual of Mosaic Law. On the Day of Atonement a specially designated scapegoat (Hebrew:Azazel) would have the sins of Israel ritually transferred onto it as an act of faith which looked forward to the future Once and for All Atonement for sin, Christ. That sin-bearing goat would then be exiled into the wilderness, away from the Camp of Israel. To fulfill the ritual of the sin-laden scapegoat, Jesus was banished and cut off from God’s people when God’s stroke of judgment fell upon Him, though not for sins of His own ( Isa. 53:8; Daniel 9:26; Heb. 13:12-13). Christ was the atonement for the sins of the whole world ( I John 2:2).

Christ bore our sins as far away as east is from west (Psalms 103:12). Contrast Christ’s role of sin-bearer with His future role as returning Bridegroom of the Church mentioned in Hebrews 9:28 when He shall appear the second time without sin (ours, that is!) unto salvation (In this context “salvation” refers to Christ’s coming back to redeem His purchased Bride from the earth, as in Romans 13:11. At that time our salvation will be completed by the changing of our bodies into eternal perfection as we join Him in the air. John the Baptist, Jesus’ forerunner, said of Him: Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world (John 1:29). If you’ve taken that step of repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21), all your sins have been washed away. Jesus paid for them all and you won’t ever be punished for them, now or in the life to come! Now, that’s really good news!

2. It is written: Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin (Romans 4:8; also see Psalms 32:1-2 and II Cor. 5:19). We who are saved by faith in Christ won’t be judged by God as de facto sinners still owing on our sin debt.We began this walk with Christ by faith and we continue it by faith (Romans 11:20). So long as the believer abides in Christ the Living Vine ( John 15:4-6) and does not finally renounce his most holy Faith; so long as he does not drive away the Spirit of Grace by trampling underfoot the Blood wherewith he was sanctified (see II Cor. 13:5; Hebrews 6:4-8; 10: 26-31, 38-39), he is secure in his salvation and God sees no sin in him. Hence, there is no sin a faithful believer in Christ must help Christ pay for after death. Romans 4:3 says: Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness. This is the Blessing of Abraham spoken of in Scripture ( though many prosperity preachers take it to mean Abraham’s material blessings!). Simple logic tells you that in order for God to consign one of His children to Purgatory after death, He must indeed impute sin to that one and hold him liable for it. This contradicts the very heart of the Gospel (Good News) of Salvation. It wouldn’t be very good news if you knew God couldn’t keep His promise and you were going straight to a torture chamber!

3. Christ’s Righteousness has been posted to our account. At Calvary the King of Glory put His Robe of Righteousness on us and got our sins in exchange! Isaiah 61 says: I will greatly rejoice in the Lord: my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. In Luke 15:22, the Prodigal Son receives a new robe from his father, just as if he’d never sinned. That’s the blessing of being ”justified” by faith (see Romans 5:1). Jesus’ salvation is so complete it’s JUST-IF-I’D never sinned! But what did Jesus receive from us in exchange for giving us His righteousness? Notice in II Corinthians 5:21: For he (God) hath made him (Jesus) to be made sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (KJV). As our Substitute He was hit with the stroke of God’s just wrath against sin. He died for us and as us. He took away our sins so we could actually BECOME the righteousness of God. That’s a shocker, but that’s what the Bible teaches.

4.To make Purgatory plausible God must bring back your sins from the east and west so He can remember them again when you die. But Christ’s salvation is so complete God says: I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more (Heb. 8:12). Romans 8:1 promises: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. To send you to Purgatory God must reopen your “forgotten file”. He must welsh on this promise, and that would make a liar out of Him!

5.Jesus said to His Father: I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do (John 17:4). Even before His executioners drove the nails through His wrists and feet Jesus could say this with confidence because He set His face like a flint to carry out the Father’s will, regardless of how painful that would be. Christ again cried “It is finished!” just before he breathed His last on the Cross. His reason for coming down to earth had been to complete the Work of Salvation, to fulfill in Himself all the Mosaic rituals and animal sacrifices which had been offered in anticipatory faith by God’s Covenant People throughout the centuries.

6.Christ, Our faithful High Priest lives forever to make intercession for us and He is able to save us to the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25). He does a thorough job of it, for He is the Author (Creator) and Finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2). We are perfected through the Blood of the everlasting Covenant sprinkled on the Heavenly Altar by our Everlasting High Priest (see Heb. 13:20-21). Because the Holy Spirit sprinkles our conscience with the Blood of Christ (Heb. 10:19-22) we can approach God’s Holy Presence with full confidence.We are not perfected by doing a stint in Purgatory.

7. Because of Christ’s High Priesthood (not supplementary suffering on our part) we can boldly enter into the very Presence of God to get help in time of need (Heb. 4:16). Our bodies have not yet been redeemed from corruption ( Rom. 8:23). Like all the rest of nature, it awaits its liberation from the curse of bondage which fell upon Creation after the Fall of Adam. That is why even Christians get sick, grow old and physically die. And when that happens, the Christian finally casts off his carnal (fleshly) nature. Yet even while we are here on earth living in sinful flesh we can boldly approach God’s Throne of Grace to find help in time of temptation. And if we can have such an intimate relationship with Our Heavenly Father in the here and now, then why can’t our redeemed soul and spirit go immediately to be with Him after death?

8 If the believer in Christ must go to purgatory, then Christ must also go there. He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit (I Cor. 6:17). In this passage Paul does not say the believer WILL one day be one spirit with Christ. He says he already IS one spirit with Christ. To make Purgatory plausible you must be cut off from Christ and God must recall sins He washed away so He can send you to Purgatory to punish you for them. Paul says in Romans 8:33: Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect (attribute sin guilt to them)? It is GOD that justifieth.

9. If Purgatory were true death would regain its sting. In Acts 20:27 Paul declares that he has faithfully declared unto the saints all the counsel of God. Nowhere in his epistles or anywhere else in Scripture do I read of a torture chamber called Purgatory where souls of the righteous must suffer before being allowed into heaven. If that were so, then Paul failed to mention the place in Philippians 1:21-24 where he finds himself in a dilemma: He realizes the saints on earth still need him but he can either choose to stay with them awhile longer or he can: depart and be with Christ; which is far better (verse 23). And he confidently declares:For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (verse 21) Paul happily anticipates being with Christ immediately after death. After all the horrible suffering Paul had known in his life time, what if he’d expected even worse post-mortem agonies, and thought it might be many centuries before he saw the face of Christ? Would he have anticipated his departure with such joy? Paul boldly declares in II Cor. 5:6-8: Therefore, we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, and not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord (KJV). Paul uses the word “we” to include other believers, even those who haven’t yet attained to his own spiritual stature. They also would be present with the Lord, not in Purgatory, once they breathed their last. If Purgatory were a real place, Paul never could have said: O death, where is thy sting ? (I Cor. 15:55). Death would sting very badly if it were but the door to far worse suffering than any we knew on earth. Death for God’s people would be a terrifying trip to hell, temporary though it might be. Christians could never die with the kind of confidence Paul showed, or say “amen” to the glad song of the Psalmist David, who had sinned badly in his lifetime yet found forgiveness with God: Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death I will fear no evil (Psalms 23:4); or David’s chief musician Asaph, who wrote in Psalms 73:24: Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory (not Purgatory!) Even Old Testament saints, who lived under an inferior covenant, knew better.

10. Belief in Purgatory denies Christ’s ability to save to the uttermost. It weakens the Gospel message and robs God of Glory. It’s saying: I’ve just gotta help God out with this, this promise is too hard for Him to keep. You end up creating a substitute gospel where dependency on Christ alone is denied and you get to heaven on your own personal merits (that of suffering enough and having special church offerings and prayers offered up for you after death). Belief in Purgatory causes you to try and establish your own righteousness (Rom. 10:3) although such a hope is futile. All self-generated human righteousness is an abomination to God (Isa. 64:6). In Philippians 3:8-9 Paul rejects the highly touted credentials and misspent zeal of his former life. Repudiating his own efforts at self-righteousness He desires only for God to find Christ’s righteousness in him. If we could do enough to earn heaven, we would have room to boast in ourselves and that would rob God of Glory. By grace are we saved through faith, and not even the faith necessary for salvation springs from our own self-effort. It is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8-9). Now if our own works can’t get us saved at the beginning of our spiritual journey, then why should we think our works will get us through the Pearly Gates at journey’s end? Obedience to Christ is proof of our love for Him (John 14:15), but trying to earn His mercy is futile. In Matthew 7: 21-23 Jesus lets us know we must obey His will, but on Judgment Day He will turn away lots of religious pretenders who did lots of impressive deeds but didn’t relate to Him in trusting obedient faith.

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