“We must empty Purgatory with our prayers.” (St. Pedro Pio)
Some people believe in a temporal place called Purgatory, where God holds people with pardonable sins after death. Within this space, they undergo spiritual cleansing through the prayers of believers, which helps them enter heaven.
Purgatory is a controversial subject. Is it a real place? Is it even biblical?
Supporters use certain Scriptures to uphold the idea of Purgatory—1 Corinthians 3:11-15; Matthew 5:25-26, 12:32; Luke 16:19–31; Hebrews 9:27, 12:29; 2 Timothy 1:18; and Isaiah 4:4. Some also point to 2 Maccabees 12:39–46 in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. None of these verses expressly mention Purgatory. At best, they only vaguely imply its existence.
Of the above Scriptures, perhaps the best one supporting the idea of Purgatory is Luke 16:19-31, where Jesus tells the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.
A poor man named Lazarus (not the one in John 11) daily begged for food outside a rich man’s gate. One day, he died and went to heaven. Soon after, the rich man, who consistently refused to help the poor man, also died but found himself in Hades, where he saw “Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom (v23).” He begged Abraham to send Lazarus to get him water to cool his tongue, but Abraham responded that his evil choices in life landed him in Hades. The rich man also had another problem.
“There is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot.” (v26)
Luke 16 clearly illustrates a place of eternal suffering after death for those who refuse God. Some say it conveys an Old Testament rabbinical idea that God created a place for the dead called Sheol that is divided into two parts—one for the wicked, and one for the righteous. According to Luke 16, the two parts are separated by an impassable chasm.
But is this Purgatory?
Hades and Hell
Note that the rich man was in Hades in verse 23. Hades is the New Testament Greek term for the Hebrew word Sheol. Both words indicate a realm of the dead. Psalm 16 seems to support this thinking.
“For You will not leave my soul in Sheol.” (Ps 16:10)
However, David’s mention of Sheol is not a realm of the dead. The original context in Psalm 16:10 is left amply ambiguous, allowing David to refer either to deliverance from death (i.e., an earthen grave) or resurrection from the dead. Both are good possibilities and better translations. Regardless, Sheol is not a spiritual place.
Hades is also not a place but a synonym for death. It is also not the same as what many call Hell.
The Bible describes Hell in Revelation 20 during the coming Great White Throne Judgment. Bible readers recognize it as the lake of fire. It is a place of eternal separation from God with no hope of heaven.
“Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (Rev 20:14-15)
With these descriptions in mind, some will still equate Purgatory with Hades and Sheol, regarding it as a sort of spiritual waiting room for those going to heaven. But Jesus is not suggesting a temporary holding place for people’s souls in Luke 16.
On the contrary, Scripture consistently teaches that when believers die, they immediately go into God’s presence (“absent from the body, present with the Lord,” see Luke 23:43, 2 Cor 5:8, and Phil 1:23). Moses and Elijah proved this on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9:30). Had they been confined to a sort of spiritual waiting room, they would not have appeared with Jesus on the mountain. Therefore, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus in Luke 16 refers to a very real place of suffering.
Purgatory and Jesus
Supporters of Purgatory also point to 2 Maccabees 12:46 in the Septuagint, which says we should pray for the dead to loosen their souls from sin. This verse describes certain soldiers who committed idolatry, an unpardonable sin. But the idea of Purgatory holds that it is a place for those with pardonable sins. Therefore, placing soldiers with unpardonable sins in a place for those with pardonable sins does not make sense. Additionally, almost all scholars do not regard the Septuagint as an authoritative word from the Lord (another controversial topic).
The Bible tells us that all sin is abhorrent to the Lord and must be punished by death. Further, there are not two types of sins: pardonable and unpardonable. All are unpardonable in the eyes of the Lord, which is why Jesus took our place and died on the cross. He paid the price we owe. To suggest a holding place where we can pray for someone’s righteousness so they can go to heaven betrays Jesus’ perfect and complete work on the cross.
Biblically speaking, Purgatory is not a real place nor a state of spiritual being. It is not a place where some people go after death and wait to go to heaven through the help of well-intentioned saints. At best, Purgatory is merely a figurative way of describing a state of various degrees of distress that a living person might experience.
Though Purgatory is not real, Hell is. It is a place of unimaginable anguish and pain and eternal separation from God, as Luke 16 describes. Jesus Himself also describes Hell as a place where there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30; Lk 13:28). Sadly, there is no hope of seeing heaven whatsoever once there. There is only one way to do that—by putting your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and doing it today.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (Jn 14:6)
May we choose to trust, believe, and accept God’s holy gift of grace and eternal life, and not put our hope in a mythical place, relying on human prayers to save our souls.
