The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “All who die in God’s grace, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification [in Purgatory], so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven (1030).”
There are many problems with this statement and doctrine, primarily because it undermines Scripture on various essential truths. First, it contradicts what the Bible says regarding believers’ justification and righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Second, it renders Jesus’ atoning sacrifice insufficient to cleanse believers from all sin. Third, it negates Scripture’s consistent depiction of believers immediately entering Heaven upon death. Fourth, it is primarily founded upon two sections of Scripture that have been grossly misinterpreted by the Catholic Church. Each of these points is addressed below.
Purgatory vs. Justification and Righteousness by Faith The Bible clearly and consistently teaches that sinners who trust Jesus by faith for forgiveness and salvation stand justified before God. Justification means that God views them through His Son’s imputed righteousness, rendering them perfect and sinless despite their imperfections and sins. Justification also occurs immediately upon salvation, not throughout the course of a believer’s lifetime and beyond.
The only way for believers to maintain their righteous state is to continually trust in the Righteous One, Jesus Christ. The Bible proclaims only one Savior, Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12), and only one way to the Father, which is exclusively through the one Savior (John 14:6). Therefore, the assertion that believers must undergo “final purification” after death in Purgatory to attain the holiness required for Heaven is false because believers’ righteousness, justification, and purification are by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. (Click the Scripture verses link at the top of the page for authenticating passages on justification and righteousness through faith.)
Purgatory vs. Jesus’ Atonement The Bible plainly and consistently declares that Jesus’ shed blood is sufficient to cleanse and purify sinners from all unrighteousness when they repent and trust Him for salvation. This fact is affirmed by Jesus’ final words on the cross, “It is finished,” and His resurrection from the dead—confirming the Father’s acceptance of His sacrifice as payment in full for all sins, past, present, and future.
The sufficiency of His shed blood is also affirmed in many other passages throughout the New Testament, declaring that nothing else is required to purify sinners, nor can anything be added to Jesus’ atonement to make it more sufficient (click the Scripture References link at the top of the page for authenticating passages on the sufficiency of Jesus’ atonement).
Therefore, the Catechism of the Catholic Church’s assertion that believers must undergo additional purification after death (in Purgatory) to “achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” renders Jesus’ blood insufficient to cleanse all sin and undermines Scripture’s authority and inerrancy, calling God’s character into question.
Additionally, believing and promoting this doctrine is dangerous, given the severe warning in Hebrews 10:29 regarding Jesus’ provision through His blood, “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?”
Purgatory vs. Entering Heaven Immediately The Bible reveals that those who have trusted Jesus by faith for salvation will enter Heaven immediately after they die. Several passages convey, confirm, and authenticate this fact, and none are exceptions to the rule or special circumstances (click the Scripture References link at the top of the page for authenticating passages). Additionally, the context of each verse does not allow for an intermediary destination between Earth and Heaven for believers, but provides a clear and accurate depiction of what transpires instead.
Consequently, the assertion that believers must undergo “final purification” in Purgatory after death before entering Heaven is false, based on the consistent teaching of God’s Word.
Purgatory vs. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 The Catholic Church uses 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 to support their doctrine of Purgatory, placing an emphasis on the last verse. It states, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
The Catholic Church claims that these verses convey that believers must have their remaining sins purged by fire and their souls purified after death before they can enter Heaven, hence the existence of Purgatory. However, these passages do not state that believers’ sins must be purged by fire after death. Neither do they express that God will put believers through the fire, test them by fire, or refine, cleanse, or make them holy with or by fire. Rather, they reveal that God will test and evaluate believers’ works to determine their quality and type, and will reward believers for their deeds that pass His authenticity test.
Paul laid the foundation for correctly understanding and interpreting 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 by stating earlier in 1 Corinthians 3:8, “Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” The “planting and watering” Paul referenced speaks of the works believers do to build God’s Kingdom, and he later revealed how each work or act would be tested by fire to unveil which were like “gold, silver, and precious stones” and which were like “wood, hay, and straw.”
Paul also disclosed that God will reward believers for each authentic work He deems as “gold, silver, and precious stones,” but will withhold rewards for deeds rendered as “wood, hay, and straw.” It should be noted that the rewards distributed to believers are not salvation and Heaven but various crowns, a prophet’s reward, a righteous man’s reward, leadership positions, true riches, and property in Heaven, which are mentioned elsewhere in Scripture (click herefor correlating verses). The loss believers may suffer is the rewards they could have received but did not because they built upon the foundation of Jesus with “wood, hay, and straw” instead of “gold, silver, and precious stones.”
Many other passages confirm that believers will be rewarded or suffer a loss of reward for their works. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:10, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Jesus said in Matthew 16:27, “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.” He also said in Revelation 22:12, “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.” Yet again, Jesus stated in Matthew 6:1, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”
Consequently, 1 Corinthians 3:14-15 does not teach that believers must have their remaining sins purged by fire and their souls purified after death (in Purgatory) before they can enter Heaven. On the contrary, it conveys that some believers will emerge from this “works judgment” with rewards accompanying their salvation, whereas others will emerge with only their salvation intact because the flames consumed their deeds. Or to put it another way, some will escape through the fire of this judgment solely due to their salvation, but only barely, because the works that accompanied their redemption were futile.
Purgatory vs. Mark 3:28-29 The Catholic Church uses Mark 3:28-29 (and its parallel account in Matthew 12:31-32) to support their doctrine of Purgatory. In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.” Likewise, Jesus uttered in Matthew’s Gospel, “Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
The Catholic Church interprets Jesus’ statements in both Gospels to mean “certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come” (1031; St. Gregory the Great, Dial. 4, 39: PL 77, 396; cf. Mt 12:31.). Yet, Jesus’ words, nor the context of the passages, support that interpretation. Rather, Jesus conveyed that all sins are forgivable except blaspheming the Holy Spirit, which would never be forgiven, ever.
The context preceding Jesus’ statements provides the framework for accurately understanding and interpreting His intended meaning. In Mark 2, the Scribes and Pharisees questioned Jesus’ authority, words, actions, and miracles, and rendered Him guilty of blasphemy for claiming to forgive sins (see Mark 2:6-7, 16, 18, and 24). In Mark 3, they began looking for a way to indict Jesus because their unbelieving hearts were hardened against Him (see Mark 3:5). Afterward, when Jesus delivered a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, the Scribes and Pharisees claimed that Jesus was demon-possessed and was casting out demons by the power of Satan, not God (see Mark 3:22 and Matthew 12:24).
As a result, Jesus issued a severe and sober warning to His accusers for their allegations and for attributing His miracles to Satan, stating in Mark 3:28-29, “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation.” Jesus also declared to them in Matthew 12:32, “Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.”
The sin of blaspheming the Holy Spirit is an act rooted deeply in unbelief, which the religious leaders consistently demonstrated by their persistent rejection of Jesus, their accusations against Him, and their attributing His miracles to Satan. Their hardened hearts were overflowing with unbelief, so Jesus warned them that their blasphemy and continued unbelief would never be forgiven but would result in eternal condemnation without rescue (see also 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, Jude 1:5, Hebrews 3:16-19, and Revelation 21:8).
Furthermore, Jesus’ declaration in Matthew 12:32 that blaspheming the Holy Spirit would never be forgiven “in this age or in the age to come” did not mean or imply that blasphemy of the Holy Spirit was unforgivable “in the age to come” (i.e., after death) but that other sins would be forgivable at that time, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church claims. Instead, Jesus’ sobering words emphasized the complete and utter unavailability of forgiveness for continued unbelief, confirmed the unalterable state of it after death, and expressed the certainty of eternal condemnation that would result because of it (see Mark 3:29, 16:16, John 3:18, and 3:36).
Therefore, considering the events that preceded and prompted Jesus’ statements to the religious leaders in Mark’s and Matthew’s Gospels, and His declaration that their unbelief would never be forgiven if they continued to reject Him, the Catholic Church’s claim that “certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come” is not supported by the text, and, thereby, false.
Additionally, their unbiblical conclusion reveals that their scholars did not derive their interpretation of Mark 3:28-29 and Matthew 12:31-32 from its context nor through a careful examination of the texts to gain a clear understanding of Jesus’ intended meaning. Instead, they ignored the context, mishandled its content, and inserted Catholic ideologies into the text to make it fit their unbiblical doctrine of Purgatory.
Note: For irrefutable evidence that Jesus immediately forgives and cleanses all who trust Him by faith for salvation, see Acts 10:43 and 13:38-39, 1 John 1:7-9, Romans 5:9-11, Colossians 1:13-14 and 3:13, Ephesians 1:7-8, Acts 15:8-9, 2 Corinthians 5:17-19, and 1 Peter 2:24 .)
(See the Scripture References link at the top of the page.)
