The word Purgatory is NOT in the Bible, yet the Roman Catholic church believes there is such a place and that certain verses in the Bible support their belief. They teach that “purgatory” is “a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating (atoning for) their sins before going to heaven.” They believe that this place of suffering results in their being PURIFIED completely, making them fit for heaven. Here is a quote from The Catechism of the Catholic Church: “all who die in God’s grace, but still IMPERFECTLY PURIFIED, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; by PURIFICATION, so as to achieve the holiness to enter the joy of heaven.” They base this need for PURIFICATIION on Revelation 21:27, “But there shall by no means enter it ANYTHING THAT DEFILES, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” According to their teaching, Purgatory is not the place where the unbeliever is damned forever in Hell (Revelation 20:15), but a place where certain sins of believers are PURGED (cleansed) resulting in them being made perfectly holy.

The main passage they use to support this view is 1 Corinthians 3:13-15, “Each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by FIRE; and the FIRE will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s WORK IS BURNED, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so AS THROUGH FIRE.” According to their teaching, the believer’s WORKS are certain SINS that will demand a “PURIFICATION process in the FIRES OF PURGATORY” to completely make them fit for heaven. Without this “PURGING (cleansing) of their sins in the fires of purgatory” they would be defiled and unable to enter heaven as we saw in Revelation 21:27. What they fail to see is that it is “the believer’s WORKS in service for the Lord” that is being tested at the Judgment Seat of Christ (not the believer’s sins in Purgatory). If you read the whole context in verses 5-15 this becomes clear. See also Romans 14:4-13 where the subject of the believer’s SERVICE in in view and how each one will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to give an account of his/her service.

Even more importantly, they fail to see is that ALL of the believer’s sins were PURGED (cleansed) by Christ when He died on the cross. In Hebrews 1:3 we read, “when He had BY HIMSELF PURGED OUR SINS, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” The Roman Catholic teaching that “certain sins were not purged by Christ, but must be purged in purgatory” is blasphemy, for it contradicts the truth that Christ purged our sins BY HIMSELF! It also contradicts the following verse: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). God saw ALL THE SINS we would commit, and He laid ALL OUR SINS on Christ who then “BORE OUR SINS in His own body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). 1 Corinthians 15:3 declares, “Christ DIED FOR OUR SINS” and in 1 Peter 3:18 we read, “Christ also SUFFERED ONCE FOR SINS, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.” How can one read into these verses that Christ only suffered and died for “certain sins? And if these verses weren’t enough to prove that ALL OUR SINS were purged by Christ, then we have the clearest verse ever in 1 John 1:7, “the blood of Jesus Christ His Son CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN.” It is “NOT through FIRE” that a believer is purged (cleansed), but “through the BLOOD of Jesus Christ.”

In closing, the teaching of Purgatory is unscriptural, and it denies the finished work of Christ on the cross. Christ cried out in victory on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). To teach that Christ suffered for “SOME of our sins but we must suffer for OTHER sins we committed” is adding to His finished work.  (DO)  (671.1)