The Biblical Basis for Purgatory by John Salza

Author:John Salza [Salza, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781935302971
Publisher: St. Benedict Press LLC
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Paul says that the man who built with only good materials is saved (he receives his “reward”), and the man who built with only bad materials is condemned (he is “destroyed”). This is because the good materials represent good works and the bad materials represent evil works. This teaching reiterates the polarity of the salvation/damnation scenario that Paul describes in Romans 2:7-8 in regard to one’s works: those who do good works are rewarded with “eternal life,” and those who do bad works are subject to “wrath and fury.” In other words, if people are condemned for bad works, then people are saved (not just rewarded) for good works.

What about the man who built with both good and bad materials? Paul explains: “If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” The man “suffers loss” because some of his “work is burned up.” The Greek for “suffer loss” (zemiothesetai) refers to punishment, which means the saved man is punished after death for his bad works. The New Testament uses this word (from the Greek verb zemioo) even to describe eternal punishment.198 The Old Testament also uses the word (from the Hebrew, anash) to mean “penalty,” “punish,” or “suffer.”199 In addition, the Old Testament uses the word (anash/zemioo) to describe a monetary “fine.”200

This means there is a connection between the “fine” of 1 Corinthians 3:15 and the “payment of the last penny” in Matthew 5:26. Both use monetary metaphors to describe temporal punishments in the afterlife imposed for bad deeds. In the case of Matthew 5, the man is imprisoned which refers to the “pain of loss” and “pain of duration” that we previously discussed. In 1 Corinthians 3, the man suffers loss from fire which refers to the “pain of sense.”

What is critical to note in 1 Corinthians 3:15 is that the man is punished after death for building with bad materials, but he is still saved. The Greek for “will be saved” (sothesetai) refers to nothing less than the salvation with which God rewards the Elect at the end of their lives. Needless to say, a post-mortem punishment by fire that precedes salvation is utterly foreign to Protestant theology. If a man’s sins have already been washed away by the imputed righteousness of Christ, how can he be punished for those sins after death? Because this passage is so damaging to Protestant theology, Protestant apologists have scrambled to come up with rebuttals. Let us briefly examine the most common ones.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.