This thread will focus on the biblical grounds for the later Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. Famed evangelical apologist C. S. Lewis embraced this doctrine and famously said, "The gates of Hell are locked from the inside." The doctrine of Purgatory is tied with the Catholic obligation to pray for those in Purgatory and is therefore an extension in their doctrine of the Communion of Saints, to which the Apostles' Creed gives assent. So this thread will also discuss the biblical basis for this doctrine, as well as other NT texts that imply the possibility of ultimate release from Hell. Remember, I'm not Catholic, but am rather a Pentecostal United Methodist who has a lot of respect for Catholic distinctives, even for ones I ultimately disagree with. I find that Fundamentalists are generally clueless about how Catholic distinctives might be anchored to Scripture. This thread is intended to begin to remedy that and thereby to shed some light on why some Evangelicals in my town have left their churches to find God real in our local Catholic church.
Jesus' preferred term for Hell is Gehenna term that originally referred to a Jewish valley and trash dump outside Jerusalem. It is therefore relevant to investigate what this term means when "Gehenna" is applied to Hell. In ancient rabbinic usage, it can function as a term for temporary postmortem purgation or purification and therefore nicely overlaps with the later Catholic concept of Purgatory. Here are just 2 rabbinic texts that trace the rabbinic concept of Gehenna to the period from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD:
(a) The ancient Jewish sages apply a saying of rabbi Jose ben Johanan of Jerusalem from the 2nd century BC to a postmortem Gehenna (Mishnah Aboth 1:5).
(b) Rabbi Akiba began his rabbinic studies around 75 AD and was born prior the Jewish revolt in 66-70 AD: He teaches that Gehenna is a postmortem Hell to which the unrighteous are confined for 12 months: “The judgment of the unrighteous in Gehenna shall endure 12 months (Misnah Eduyoth 2:10).”
Jesus' preference for this term rather than other available terms suggests that He embraces its basic concept. But this claim must be bolstered by Gospel texts in which Jesus implies that one's sojourn in Gehenna can be of temporary duration. Here are 3 relevant texts:
(1) "That servant who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted shall be beaten with many stripes. But the one who did not know, but did what deserved a beating shall be beaten with few stripes. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required (Luke 12:47-48)."
The application of the finite imagery "many stripes"/ "few stripes" implies limited duration and ultimate release.
(2) "In anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay all his debt (Matthew 18:34)."
In the Parable of the 2 Debtors, the image of a debtor's prison is applied to Hell. Note that the unforgiving servant is not confined to life imprisonment; rather, the implication is that the debt can ultimately be paid, or perhaps expiated.
(3) "Make friends quickly with your accuser while you are on your way to court Truly I with Him, or your accuser may hand you over to the Judge, and the Judge to the guard, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you will never get out until you have paid the last penny (Matthew 5:25-26)."
(a) This saying makes no sense if taken literally: Jesus would be teaching his criminal disciple how to beat the rap, waiting until they walk to court with the accuser they have wronged!
(b) Crucially, Jesus always reserves the solemn phrase "Truly I say tell you" for our relationship with God and never applies it to mundane daily issues.
(c) In the Judaism of late antiquity "prison" is a common term for Hell.
(d) The word "debt" (Aramaic: "hob") is a standard word for "sin" and is used that way in the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:4).
(e) In the first 2 centuries,this saying is consistently spiritualized as opposed to taken literally as a reference to court litigation.
(f) The same saying is inserted in an eschatological context in Luke 12:57-59, a fact that lends credibility to its application to a limited purgative stay in Gehenna.
(g) This interpretation brings 5:25-26 in line with the similar imagery in 18:34.
(4) "If the work is burned up, he [the worker whose service cannot survive close scrutiny] will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:15)."
The meaning of the phrase "saved, yet so as by fire" cannot be reduced to "saved by the skin of his teeth" because its meaning is determined by the use of that phrase in first century Palestinian culture. The phrase is often rabbinically applied to the fate of Jews of mediocre spirituality whose works don't survive close scrutiny and therefore they are temporarily consigned to the purgative or purifying fires of Gehenna before gaining access to Heaven. [For references see Strack-Billerbeck 4,2: 1043-1049.] As a student of Rabbi Gamaliel, Paul no doubt learned the phrase from his earlier Pharisaic studies, embraced it, and applied it to the fate of Christians who build inadequately on Christ as the foundation of their faith.
Jesus' preferred term for Hell is Gehenna term that originally referred to a Jewish valley and trash dump outside Jerusalem. It is therefore relevant to investigate what this term means when "Gehenna" is applied to Hell. In ancient rabbinic usage, it can function as a term for temporary postmortem purgation or purification and therefore nicely overlaps with the later Catholic concept of Purgatory. Here are just 2 rabbinic texts that trace the rabbinic concept of Gehenna to the period from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD:
(a) The ancient Jewish sages apply a saying of rabbi Jose ben Johanan of Jerusalem from the 2nd century BC to a postmortem Gehenna (Mishnah Aboth 1:5).
(b) Rabbi Akiba began his rabbinic studies around 75 AD and was born prior the Jewish revolt in 66-70 AD: He teaches that Gehenna is a postmortem Hell to which the unrighteous are confined for 12 months: “The judgment of the unrighteous in Gehenna shall endure 12 months (Misnah Eduyoth 2:10).”
Jesus' preference for this term rather than other available terms suggests that He embraces its basic concept. But this claim must be bolstered by Gospel texts in which Jesus implies that one's sojourn in Gehenna can be of temporary duration. Here are 3 relevant texts:
(1) "That servant who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted shall be beaten with many stripes. But the one who did not know, but did what deserved a beating shall be beaten with few stripes. From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required (Luke 12:47-48)."
The application of the finite imagery "many stripes"/ "few stripes" implies limited duration and ultimate release.
(2) "In anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay all his debt (Matthew 18:34)."
In the Parable of the 2 Debtors, the image of a debtor's prison is applied to Hell. Note that the unforgiving servant is not confined to life imprisonment; rather, the implication is that the debt can ultimately be paid, or perhaps expiated.
(3) "Make friends quickly with your accuser while you are on your way to court Truly I with Him, or your accuser may hand you over to the Judge, and the Judge to the guard, and you may be thrown into prison. Truly I tell you will never get out until you have paid the last penny (Matthew 5:25-26)."
(a) This saying makes no sense if taken literally: Jesus would be teaching his criminal disciple how to beat the rap, waiting until they walk to court with the accuser they have wronged!
(b) Crucially, Jesus always reserves the solemn phrase "Truly I say tell you" for our relationship with God and never applies it to mundane daily issues.
(c) In the Judaism of late antiquity "prison" is a common term for Hell.
(d) The word "debt" (Aramaic: "hob") is a standard word for "sin" and is used that way in the Lord's Prayer (Luke 11:4).
(e) In the first 2 centuries,this saying is consistently spiritualized as opposed to taken literally as a reference to court litigation.
(f) The same saying is inserted in an eschatological context in Luke 12:57-59, a fact that lends credibility to its application to a limited purgative stay in Gehenna.
(g) This interpretation brings 5:25-26 in line with the similar imagery in 18:34.
(4) "If the work is burned up, he [the worker whose service cannot survive close scrutiny] will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet so as by fire (1 Corinthians 3:15)."
The meaning of the phrase "saved, yet so as by fire" cannot be reduced to "saved by the skin of his teeth" because its meaning is determined by the use of that phrase in first century Palestinian culture. The phrase is often rabbinically applied to the fate of Jews of mediocre spirituality whose works don't survive close scrutiny and therefore they are temporarily consigned to the purgative or purifying fires of Gehenna before gaining access to Heaven. [For references see Strack-Billerbeck 4,2: 1043-1049.] As a student of Rabbi Gamaliel, Paul no doubt learned the phrase from his earlier Pharisaic studies, embraced it, and applied it to the fate of Christians who build inadequately on Christ as the foundation of their faith.
