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FINAL PURIFICATION
Protestants often scorn the idea of purgatory, yet many of them believe in it, or a form of it, without realizing. Common sense tells us that our sanctification is usually not complete when we die, though we know we will be perfectly sanctified in heaven. Thus between death and glory must come a purification. Certain passages of Scripture, such as Romans 14:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, speak of a judgment after death which will not be entirely pleasant even for the saved. Though Protestants do not have a developed theology of purgatory, some acknowledge it, or aspects of it, as the following quotations show.
C. S. LEWIS
( TWENTIETH-CENTURY ANGLICAN)
“Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me. And I hardly know how the rest of my prayers would survive if those for the dead were forbidden. At our age the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to him?” (Letters to Malcolm).
C. S. LEWIS
( TWENTIETH-CENTURY ANGLICAN)
“I believe in purgatory. . . . The right view returns magnificently in Newman’s Dream [of Gerontius]. There, if I remember it rightly, the saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken away and cleansed. It cannot bear for a moment longer ‘With its darkness to affront that light.’ . . . Our souls demand purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, ‘It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy’? Should we not reply, ‘With submission, Sir, and if there is no objection, I’d rather be cleansed first.’ ‘It may hurt, you know’—‘Even so, sir’” (ibid.).
JOHN MacARTHUR
( TWENTIETH-CENTURY BAPTIST)
“Many humanly impressive and seemingly beautiful and worthwhile works that Christians do in the Lord’s name will not stand the test in ‘that day.’ It ‘will become evident’ (v. 13) that the materials used were wood, hay, and straw. The workmen will not lose their salvation, but they will lose a portion of any reward they might be expecting. They ‘shall be saved, yet so as through fire.’ The thought here is of a person who runs through flames without being burned, but who has the smell of smoke on him—barely escaping! In the day of rewards, the useless evil things will be burned away, but salvation will not be forfeited” (1 Corinthians, on chapter 3).
(Edited as per Banned Topics Policy # 22)
catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9711word.asp
Protestants often scorn the idea of purgatory, yet many of them believe in it, or a form of it, without realizing. Common sense tells us that our sanctification is usually not complete when we die, though we know we will be perfectly sanctified in heaven. Thus between death and glory must come a purification. Certain passages of Scripture, such as Romans 14:10 and 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, speak of a judgment after death which will not be entirely pleasant even for the saved. Though Protestants do not have a developed theology of purgatory, some acknowledge it, or aspects of it, as the following quotations show.
C. S. LEWIS
( TWENTIETH-CENTURY ANGLICAN)
“Of course I pray for the dead. The action is so spontaneous, so all but inevitable, that only the most compulsive theological case against it would deter me. And I hardly know how the rest of my prayers would survive if those for the dead were forbidden. At our age the majority of those we love best are dead. What sort of intercourse with God could I have if what I love best were unmentionable to him?” (Letters to Malcolm).
C. S. LEWIS
( TWENTIETH-CENTURY ANGLICAN)
“I believe in purgatory. . . . The right view returns magnificently in Newman’s Dream [of Gerontius]. There, if I remember it rightly, the saved soul, at the very foot of the throne, begs to be taken away and cleansed. It cannot bear for a moment longer ‘With its darkness to affront that light.’ . . . Our souls demand purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if God said to us, ‘It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the joy’? Should we not reply, ‘With submission, Sir, and if there is no objection, I’d rather be cleansed first.’ ‘It may hurt, you know’—‘Even so, sir’” (ibid.).
JOHN MacARTHUR
( TWENTIETH-CENTURY BAPTIST)
“Many humanly impressive and seemingly beautiful and worthwhile works that Christians do in the Lord’s name will not stand the test in ‘that day.’ It ‘will become evident’ (v. 13) that the materials used were wood, hay, and straw. The workmen will not lose their salvation, but they will lose a portion of any reward they might be expecting. They ‘shall be saved, yet so as through fire.’ The thought here is of a person who runs through flames without being burned, but who has the smell of smoke on him—barely escaping! In the day of rewards, the useless evil things will be burned away, but salvation will not be forfeited” (1 Corinthians, on chapter 3).
(Edited as per Banned Topics Policy # 22)
catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9711word.asp
