this is not only un-Scriptural
That the doctrine of Indulgences is contained indirectly and implicitly in the Sacred Scriptures is almost self-evident. Let it be borne in mind what the general idea of an indulgence is. It has been said above that an indulgence is the remission of a temporal debt, made by God to a sinner, in consideration of the satisfactory merits of His Divine Son and of His saints. This is the same as to say, that God in His Mercy is willing to overlook a man’s debt, on the consideration that other men, have sufficiently atoned for that debt.
Now, of this benign acceptance of other person’s satisfaction on the part of God, we have no lack of proofs in Holy Scripture. When he had declared to His faithful servant Abraham that he would spare the unholy city of Sodom, if only ten just men were found therein; when Moses’s earnest request He delayed the punishment which He had decreed to inflict on the children of Israel, on account of their sin of idolatry—what were these, but proofs that God is willing to forgive man his debt of temporal punishment, in consideration of the satisfaction of others?
But we do not even need such proofs, to show that God readily accepts the satisfactions of some, as a compensation for the sins of others. For if, on account of the sin of one person only, He has sometimes punished whole kingdoms, as when He struck the Jewish nation for David’s sin in numbering his people, how can we doubt that He “whose tender mercies are above all His works” (Ps 119:41), who is much more prone to forgive than to punish, will overlook, in the dispensation of His justice, the infinite satisfactions of His beloved Son, and those of His elect, who are so dear to Him?
This cannot be. For is God is a severe Judge, He is equally clothed with the attributes of a tender Father; and if He has threatened “to visit the iniquities of the fathers upon their children unto the third and fourth generation” (Deut 5:9), He has no less pledged Himself to not leave unrewarded even the smallest good work, were it only the giving of a cup of cold water in his name (Mark 9:40).
If so, must we not acknowledge that, at least, the general idea which is implied by the doctrine of Indulgences, not only is it not inconsistent with the tone of Holy Scripture, but that it cannot be denied without a grievous affront being offered to God’s infinite goodness and mercy.
The Apostle Paul believed in this kind of communication when he wrote to the Corinthians, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you the more, am I to be loved the less?” (2 Cor 12:15). And to the Colossians, “ Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24). And to Timothy, “I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with its eternal glory” (2 Tim 2:10).
This consideration, drawn from the general aspect of Sacred Scriptures, should be sufficient to show us how reasonably it can be said that God may, in consideration of the merits of some of His saints, remit to others the temporal debt due to their sins.
Not that we are free to live licentiously, but that we are to recognize the symbolism found in such penalties and rejoice that Christ has freed us from the bondage of the Law’s punishment.
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