The Doctrine of Purgatory

The Bible teaches that Jesus' sacrifice was sufficient payment for our sin debt. In other words, He paid the penalty for our sins, PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE — IN FULL ("When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." John 19:30). Hebrews 10:10 states: "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once [for all]."

All Christians agree that we won't be sinning in heaven. Sin and final glorification are utterly incompatible. Therefore, between the sinfulness of this life and the glories of heaven, we must be made pure. Between death and glory there is a purification.

Thus, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven. The Church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, articles #1030–1).

Those who die in God's grace but are not yet perfectly purified are guaranteed eternal salvation. They undergo purification after death to gain the holiness needed to enter heaven.

This "Purgatory" (Councils of Florence and Trent) is totally different from the punishment of the damned. It is a cleansing fire. "The person will be saved, but only through fire" (1 Cor 3:15). "As for certain lesser faults, there is a purifying fire" (Pope St. Gregory the Great).

The Church has always prayed for the dead and offered Mass for them. Judas Maccabees "made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from their sins" (1 Macc 12:46). "Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers for them" (St. John Chrysostom)." This teaching completely denies the sufficiency of Jesus' sacrifice as payment for the penalty of sin — past, present, and future, as written in Hebrews 7:26-27: "For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the {sins} of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." 1 Peter 3:18 also addresses the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice: "For Christ also died for sins once for all, {the} just for {the} unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.