Apologetics · Salvation

Isn't Purgatory Unbiblical? Answering the Objections

A Frequent Target

Few Catholic doctrines draw as much criticism from other Christians as purgatory. For many Protestants it represents everything they rejected at the Reformation: unbiblical tradition, salvation by works, and the sale of indulgences.

The Catholic Church teaches that those who die in God’s grace but are not yet fully purified undergo a final purification before entering heaven, and that the prayers of the living can help them (CCC 1030–1032). (For a full explanation of the doctrine, see What Is Purgatory?)

Here are the most common objections, and how Catholics respond.

Objection 1: “Purgatory Is Not in the Bible”

It is true that the word “purgatory” does not appear in the Bible. Neither does the word “Trinity,” or “Incarnation.” The question is whether the reality is there.

Catholics point to several passages:

Prayer for the dead. In 2 Maccabees 12:39–46, Judas Maccabeus has prayers and sacrifices offered for fallen soldiers “that they might be delivered from their sin.” The text praises this as holy and pious. Prayer for the dead makes sense only if the dead can be helped, which rules out both heaven (no help needed) and hell (no help possible).

Protestants respond that 2 Maccabees is not in their Bible. But even if one does not accept it as Scripture, it is undeniable historical evidence that Jews prayed for the dead before Christ. Jesus and the apostles never condemned the practice. Jews still pray the Mourner’s Kaddish for the dead today.

Saved “as through fire.” St Paul writes that on the Day of judgement, each person’s work will be tested by fire. “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15). Here is a person who is saved, yet suffers loss and passes through fire. This is not heaven, where there is no loss, nor hell, where there is no salvation.

Forgiveness in the age to come. Jesus says that blasphemy against the Holy Spirit “will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Matthew 12:32). This implies that some sins can be forgiven in the age to come.

Paying the last penny. Jesus warns that someone who does not settle with his accuser will be thrown into prison and “will never get out till you have paid the last penny” (Matthew 5:26). Many early Christians read this as a reference to purification after death.

Nothing unclean. Revelation says that “nothing unclean shall enter” the heavenly city (Revelation 21:27). Yet most Christians die with some imperfections. Something must happen between death and heaven.

Objection 2: “Purgatory Denies That Christ’s Sacrifice Was Enough”

This is the most serious objection. If Christ paid for all our sins on the Cross, how can there be any further purification?

Catholics agree completely that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient. Purgatory does not add anything to it. Everything in purgatory is the application of Christ’s merits, not a supplement to them.

The issue is not whether Christ’s sacrifice is enough, but whether we are yet fully transformed by it. Every Christian, Protestant or Catholic, believes that after conversion a believer must still grow in holiness. Protestants call this sanctification. Most believers do not reach perfect holiness in this life. Yet we will be perfectly holy in heaven. So at some point, God completes the work.

Many Protestants believe this happens instantly at death. Catholics believe it is a process of purification. But both agree that God finishes the job. Purgatory is simply the Catholic name for the completion of sanctification.

Objection 3: “The Thief on the Cross Went Straight to Paradise”

Jesus told the penitent thief, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). Doesn’t that rule out purgatory?

Not necessarily. Catholics do not teach that everyone goes to purgatory. Someone who dies perfectly purified goes straight to heaven. The thief’s dying repentance, his public confession of Christ and his suffering beside Him could well have purified him completely. Some interpreters also note that “Paradise” in Jewish thought could refer to the abode of the righteous dead before Christ opened heaven.

Objection 4: “To Be Absent From the Body Is to Be Present With the Lord”

St Paul writes that he would rather be “away from the body and at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). Protestants often take this to mean that believers go straight to God.

But Paul does not say “immediately.” He expresses his desire to be with Christ, which Catholics share. Purgatory is not a place far from Christ. Pope Benedict XVI suggested that the purifying fire may be the encounter with Christ Himself (Spe Salvi 47).

Objection 5: “It Was Invented in the Middle Ages to Make Money”

The abuses of indulgence-selling before the Reformation were real, and the Council of Trent condemned them. But the belief that the dead can be helped by prayer is far older.

The inscription of Abercius, a second-century bishop, asks those who read it to pray for him.
Tertullian, around 211, mentions Christians offering prayers on the anniversary of a death.
St Perpetua, martyred in 203, prayed for her dead brother Dinocrates and saw a vision of his relief.
St Augustine, in the fourth century, recorded that his dying mother, St Monica, asked to be remembered at the altar.
Ancient Christian liturgies, East and West, include prayers for the dead.

The Orthodox Churches, which split from Rome centuries before the Reformation, also pray for the dead, though they describe the intermediate state differently.

Even C. S. Lewis

Interestingly, the Anglican writer C. S. Lewis believed in purgatory. In Letters to Malcolm (1964), he wrote that he prayed for the dead, and that our souls demand purgatory. He imagined a soul at heaven’s door, conscious of its own unworthiness, wanting to be cleansed first.

The Heart of It

Purgatory is not a rival to Christ’s sacrifice, nor a punishment invented by the Church. It is the mercy of a God who will not leave His work unfinished, and who makes us fit to see Him face to face.