What's Step 4?
As Scripture itself say, we must “test everything and hold fast to what is good” (1 Thess 5:21). There is much confusion in our world today, but none more so than in the Christian world where doctrinal uncertainty is overflowing. Depending on who you listen to, you will find that one Christian will claim that “X” is true and another who will claim that “X” is false. But what I have found is that if you really take your time, listen to the best arguments from both sides, and then go look for yourself, you can come up with questions that can expose which side has the truth.
In that vein, recently we celebrated Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Of course this last feast day brought much argument online because many people who claim to be Christian are adamant that Purgatory is not real and that it is a false doctrine. Well I’ve developed a short question that can lead us to finding out which side of the argument is correct.
Both sides agree that even after a person is saved, they can (and usually do) commit some sins in the future. There is still temptation to sin and we have a pull towards sin. For brevity’s sake, lets call this our “sin nature”. This sin nature remains with us even after we are saved. It remains all the way through our lives until we pass away.
Here is where it gets interesting. As Scripture says, “nothing unclean shall enter Heaven” (Rev 21:27). So this sin nature that we possess cannot enter Heaven. It must be removed from us at some point prior. So when is this sin nature removed from us and how? This five-step list will help to break it down.
THE FIVE STEPS OF OUR SIN NATURE
Be born and live with a sin nature.
Be saved but still retain our sin nature.
Die and still have our sin nature.
???
Enter Heaven without our sin nature.
SO WHAT IS STEP 4?
Protestants who object to the doctrine on Purgatory will never answer this question. Those who have attempted to answer have tried various ways to get around it, but even the Protestant knows their attempt at an answer is wrong. Let’s look at a few of their attempted answers:
OUR SIN NATURE DIES WITH OUR BODY: This answer seems plausible, but it is actually the heresy of Gnosticism. I wrote a little about that in Theology of Yoda and discuss the heresy and its many errors. Humans are a composite of BOTH body and spirit. We are not only spiritual. So this answer is wrong.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF JESUS COVERS ME: This answer is reminiscent of Martin Luther’s “snow-covered dung” theology that we are only forensically justified and not actually and truly justified & sanctified by Christ. This answer fails when we go back to the Scripture which says nothing unclean will enter Heaven. God isn’t fooled. You can’t cover over your sin and hide it inside Christ to get it into Heaven. Nothing unclean will enter, even if it is hidden inside something else. This answer fails.
ALL TEMPORAL PUNISHMENT FOR SIN HAPPENS WHILE WE’RE ALIVE: This answer is simply divorced from reality. There are many people that end up dying who have never answered for the temporal punishment they are due. This is also shown to be false when you ask any Protestant if they still have a sin nature. I have yet to find one who says they do not have a sin nature still. Yet if this answer were true, then we would find at least SOME people who had paid for all the temporal punishment due from them already in their life. (Some poor souls lead horrifically awful lives full of pain and misery, yet keep the faith with humility. They still have a sin nature.) This answer also fails.
THE STEPS YOU LISTED ARE FALSE: This answer is the funniest because they will never point out or explain what the error or falsity is in any of the steps. They just claim the steps are false and want to handwave away the entire question. This answer fails.
So what actually IS the answer to Step 4?
Well let’s look at what Scripture might say on the topic.
1 Corinthians 3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building on it. Each builder must choose with care how to build on it. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— 13 the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. 14 If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. 15 If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.
Now let’s really examine this passage. When is all this happening? It says this is happening on “the Day”. Well what “day” are we talking about?
It can’t be during our lifetime, because all of our works are not revealed during our lifetimes. So the “day” in this passage must refer to Judgment Day. But is that what Scripture says?
Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and the One who sat on it; the earth and the Heaven fled from His Presence, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also another book was opened, the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as recorded in the books. 13 And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; 15 and anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
So very clearly the “Day” that 1 Cor 3 is referring to is our Judgment Day.
Well that is interesting, isn’t it? On our Judgment Day, we will be tested through a type of fire. This fire will burn away all of our bad works and it will purify our good works. For those bad works that are burned away, the builder (us) will suffer loss and will pass through the fire as well (verse 15).
So what name could we give to this process of purification that each of us must go through? What should we call this process of purgation?
I would suggest that we call this process Purgatory. Which is what Christians have called it for two millenia. And anytime that a Protestant wants to challenge you on the doctrine of Purgatory, you just list out the five steps above and you ask them what Step 4 is.
You won’t get an answer from them, and that will tell you everything you need to know. If someone cannot answer a very simple and direct question, it means they don’t have the truth.
Thank you! You are so relevant in this piece. And as usual I have learned more about our beautiful Faith 🙏
About 1 Cor. 3, it's my understanding that in context the builders Paul is referring to are himself and other preachers, not all believers. He's addressing a dispute between factions in Corinth who said they belonged to one preacher or another (Paul, Apollos, Cephas) instead of to Christ. A footnote in my NJB supports this interpretation, for whatever the footnotes are worth.
Here is what J. I. Packer (Anglican, I believe) has to say about Step 4: "At death the souls of believers (i.e., the believers themselves, as ongoing persons) are made perfect in holiness and enter into the worshiping life of heaven (Heb. 12:22-24). In other words, they are glorified. Some, not believing this, posit a purgatorial discipline after death that is really a further stage of sanctification, progressively purifying the heart and refining the character in preparation for the vision of God. But this belief is neither scriptural nor rational, for if at Christ's coming saints alive on earth will be perfected morally and spiritually in the moment of their bodily transformation (1 Cor. 15:51-54), it is only natural to suppose that the same is done for each each believer in the moment of death, when the mortal body is left behind."
My questions:
1. Is Packer's position what you identified as gnosticism above?
2. Related, it's my understanding is even Roman Catholic teaching says martyrs are immediately brought to heaven; if some can be instantaneously sanctified, why not others?
3. As someone raised in more or less Bible-based Protestant traditions, I have an easier time considering the idea of purgatory as sanctification (for purification) than purgatory as punishment satisfying God's justice. If Jesus's atonement was complete, how can there be anything left to pay to satisfy God's justice? Note that I understand discipline (e.g. Heb. 12) to be correction for our good (sanctification) vs. punishment which is simply to satisfy a party wronged. Is this a definitional issue and something else is meant by punishment in the doctrine of purgatory?
4. Furthermore, if Jesus's death was necessary for us to be reconciled to God, how is it then that any amount of suffering on our part for sins committed after baptism could be sufficient to pay our debt to him?
My intent writing here is not to be argumentative; I am honestly looking for answers to these questions and I hope this comment doesn't come across any other way.