According to Dictionary.com, purgatory is “a condition or place in which the souls of those dying…are purified…from sins.” Essentially, purgatory is part of the Catholic doctrine of faith where a “final purification” occurs in order to “achieve the holiness necessary to enter…heaven,” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 1030-31).
Do you believe purgatory exists?
No, salvation is offered before death.
I wrote a booklet a little while ago called: “Hell. Is it real? Is it eternal?” I deal with this subject in the booklet. It’s a free download on < above-all-else.ca >
Jesus’s Explanation of Purgatory (The Notebooks: 1943, October 17th)
Peace to all,
Purgatory is for souls who perished not knowing Christ who have not harmed their fellow man, to me.
Peace always,
Stephen
Oh Chiara… poetic, passionate, and painfully unbiblical.
You’ve served up Maria Valtorta’s alleged “dictation from Jesus” like it’s Scripture 2.0, but let’s stop the incense parade and light the lamp of the Word. Because if we’re gonna talk about purgatory, we’re not anchoring our theology in 20th-century Italian mystics—we’re planting it in the rock-solid ground of God-breathed Scripture.
Here’s the problem: this whole fire-of-Love, climb-your-way-to-Heaven framework isn’t just extra-biblical—it’s anti-gospel. The Bible never teaches that souls must burn through layers of sanctified suffering to earn final access to God. Jesus didn’t say to the thief on the cross, “Today you begin your purification in the flames of loving regret.” He said, “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). That’s not a probationary holding cell—that’s instant communion.
Hebrews 10:14 shuts the door on purgatory with one verse: “For by a single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.” Not partially purified. Not pending further flame. Perfected—for all time—by Christ’s sacrifice.
But this vision you posted? It teaches that Jesus’ blood wasn’t enough. That after death, we must self-purify through reflective suffering. That’s a gospel of works in a robe of mysticism. Galatians 2:21 says if righteousness comes through the law (or purgatorial process), “then Christ died for nothing.”
Let me be blunt: if the cross of Christ didn’t finish the job, then Calvary was a down payment, not a full redemption. But Jesus didn’t say, “To be continued.” He said, “It is finished” (John 19:30).
And this idea that souls in Purgatory “do nothing but love” until they’ve loved enough? That’s spiritual self-help in a theological straightjacket. Ephesians 2:8–9 screams the opposite: “By grace you have been saved through faith… not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Even if you dress those works up as “loving acts,” they’re still works. Still not grace.
You want fire? The only post-mortem flames mentioned in Scripture are in Luke 16, and they don’t purify—they torment. That’s hell, not heavenly prep school.
Now I’m not denying that sanctification is real, or that believers must grow in holiness. But that’s the work of the Spirit here and now—not after death. Romans 8:1 leaves no limbo: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Not “some condemnation that needs to be burned away.” None. Now.
So don’t get swept up in visions and private revelations that contradict the Word. If your theology needs a torch to finish what the cross supposedly couldn’t, you’re not holding a gospel—you’re holding a counterfeit.
Cling to the blood, not to the blaze. Jesus paid it all. Not most. All.
—Sincere Seeker. Scripturally savage. Here for the Truth.
StephenAndrew, peace back—but let’s slice this softly with the sword of Scripture.
You said purgatory is for those “who perished not knowing Christ who have not harmed their fellow man.” That sounds noble, but it’s not biblical. You’ve traded the gospel of grace for a gospel of decency, as if “not harming your fellow man” is enough to sneak into Heaven with a spiritual hall pass. But Romans 3:23 shuts that down quick: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Not “most.” Not just the bad apples. All.
And let’s talk about “not knowing Christ.” John 14:6 isn’t ambiguous. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Not through being nice. Not through burning off sins in an afterlife oven. Through Him. Period.
The idea of purgatory as a second-chance waiting room for the morally decent but spiritually disconnected? That’s nowhere in the Bible. It’s spiritual sentimentalism dressed up as doctrine. Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” No in-between. No soul spa. Judgment.
Here’s the deeper issue: if purgatory exists for those who didn’t know Christ, then the cross wasn’t necessary—just be decent and die quietly. But God didn’t send His Son to die a brutal death just to be one of many spiritual backup plans. Acts 4:12 declares it flat: “There is salvation in no one else.”
If you truly believe peace is the goal, then you need to know the Prince of Peace. And He doesn’t outsource salvation to a postmortem purification pit.
Let’s not create comfort zones where the Word offers a cross. Love demands truth—and the truth is, without Christ, there is no purgatory… only perishing.
—Sincere Seeker. Stay grounded. Stay sharp. Stay in the Word.
No, because in Christ and in principle, we are already pure and perfect in the Father’s sight as our Judge. However, in practice, we need to strive to grow to be more and more holy and righteous. That is the “already/not yet” of the gospel, and both are true. Since we are “already” perfectly-pure in Jesus’ purity, we don’t need any unbiblical waiting room to be purified after we die.
I didn’t post a vision, but rather a dictation from Jesus.
On October 16th, 1943, Jesus said the following:
I taught you to have faith in the Mercy granted to whoever repents by promising Paradise to Disma. (The Notebooks: 1943)
Heb. 10:14 reads: “by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being ἁγιαζομένους (made holy)”, not “those who are being purified through expiation”. Purification through expiation and becoming holy are related but distinct concepts.
Gal. 2:21 reads: “For if righteousness is through the Law (the Mosaic Law)”, not “through the purgatorial process”, "then Christ died for nothing!”
Jesus’s Mother has explained what Jesus meant by “everything is accomplished” (Jn. 19:30):
When the Light, that had risen forever, appeared to Me, I understood. Everything. Also the secret extreme joy of the Christ, when He was able to say: “I have accomplished everything that the Father wanted Me to accomplish. I have filled the measure of divine charity by loving the Father even unto the sacrifice of Myself, by loving men even unto dying for them. I have accomplished everything that I had to accomplish. I am dying happily in My spirit, although lacerated in My innocent flesh.” (The Poem of the Man-God: Vol. V)
Jesus said the following:
Everything was accomplished, at that hour, in the material sacrifice. (The Notebooks: 1943, July 6th)
On Calvary I admitted that everything was accomplished, and not just by Me. Men had also accomplished everything that had to be done to create that hour. (The Notebooks: 1945-1950, August 18th)
Everything was accomplished regarding the redemption of humankind, and Jesus’s Sacrifice will never end (Heb. 10:14), but individual humans continue to commit sins, which is why Jesus spoke of repentance, expiating, forgiveness, mercy, and justice. And, depending on how one chooses to live, they will either go to Heaven or Hell, of their own free will.
One is saved “by Grace through faith”, and it’s faith itself that isn’t earned through human effort, but rather is a “gift of God”; “we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them” (Eph. 2:8-10), echoing the apostle James who said, “faith apart from works is dead” (Jas. 2:20).
What are the first and second commandments, the two most important ones, the ones regarding which Jesus said that there were no others greater and that in them was the key to reaching eternal life? It is the commandment of love: “Love God with all your strength; love your neighbor as yourself” (Deut. 6:5, Matt. 22:37, Mk. 12:30, 1 Jn. 4:21).
Through Jesus’s mouth and that of the prophets and saints, what has He said on numberless occasions? That Charity is the greatest form of absolution. Charity consumes the sins and the weaknesses of man (Prov. 10:12, Lk. 11:41, 1 Pet. 4:8), for whoever loves lives in God (1 Jn. 4:16), and in living in God he sins little, and if he sins, he immediately repents, and for whoever repents there is the forgiveness of the Most High (Sir. 17:24-29).
Purgatory is where just souls go to repent, expiate and receive forgiveness for sins that they didn’t or couldn’t on earth, until the perfection of love has been reached (Matt. 5:48), and they are admitted into the City of God and joined to Love (1 Jn. 4:8;16).
As Jesus said, “It is by loving on earth that you work for Heaven. It is by loving in Purgatory that you conquer Heaven, which in life you were unable to merit. It is by loving in Paradise that you enjoy Heaven.”
The Holy Spirit gave lessons on the chapters in the Book of Romans, which can be found in Lessons on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans. If you go here, you can read His lesson on Rom. 8.
Soul, you didn’t post a vision? You posted a quote from Maria Valtorta’s Notebooks—which she claims were dictated by Jesus. That’s not Scripture. That’s private revelation wrapped in mysticism, and Scripture doesn’t bend the knee to visions, voices, or verbose mystics with pens and imaginations on fire. We don’t validate doctrine by someone’s alleged diary of divine dictation. We test the spirits (1 John 4:1), and the standard isn’t emotional resonance or poetic theology. It’s the Word of God.
Let’s get precise. Hebrews 10:14 says Jesus perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Not purified in Purgatory. Not roasted in spiritual rehab. Sanctified—set apart, transformed, made holy. But that work happens in this life by the Spirit (2 Thess. 2:13), not in some post-mortem waiting room where charity burns away blemishes. If you’re banking on Purgatory, you’re betting against the blood of Christ.
You want to parse Galatians 2:21? Fine. The Mosaic Law was the context, but the principle remains: any path to righteousness outside of Christ—be it works, rituals, or purgatorial suffering—makes the cross void. Whether it’s the Torah or torchlight, if you add to grace, you subtract from the Gospel.
And now we’re quoting Jesus’ mother as Scripture? Mary is to be honored, not deified. She doesn’t explain or revise Jesus’ words from the cross. “It is finished” wasn’t poetic flair. It was the full payment. Paid. In. Full. That’s why Hebrews 1:3 says after making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of Majesty. You sit down when the work is done. No flames. No footnotes.
You cite James, but twist him. James never said we’re justified by posthumous works of love. He said faith shows up in action, not apathy. That’s fruit, not penance. We are His workmanship in Christ Jesus, not through a purgatorial purification pit.
As for love? Yes, the greatest commandment is to love God and neighbor. But love doesn’t erase sin. Blood does. “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Heb. 9:22). Charity covers a multitude of sins because it flows from a heart already washed in grace, not because it earns Heaven point by point.
Purgatory is not the holding tank for half-holy souls. It’s a theological invention with no root in Scripture. Paul said to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:8). Not delayed. Not diverted. Present.
Jesus didn’t say “work your way through the fire of love.” He said, “Whoever believes in Me has eternal life” (John 6:47). That’s a promise, not a maybe.
If the blood of Christ isn’t enough to get a soul to glory, no flame of love ever will.
—Sincere Seeker. Scripturally savage. Here for the Truth.
Correct. You said I posted a vision, but rather I posted a dictation by Jesus on October 17th, 1943 to Maria Valtorta.
As I said, Heb. 10:14 reads: “by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being ἁγιαζομένους (made holy)”, not “those who are being purified through expiation”. Purification through expiation with love and becoming holy are related but distinct concepts.
Righteousness and purification through expiation with love are related but distinct concepts.
No, because the The Poem of the Man-God isn’t Scripture, but it remains an inspired book.
Quoting isn’t deifying.
As Jesus said, everything was accomplished regarding the redemption of humankind, and His Sacrifice will never end (Heb. 10:14). That’s not the point of contention between us.
Love is what spurred God to become human and shed His Blood as reparation for the sins of humankind: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends,” hence “love covers a multitude of sins” (Prov. 10:12, Lk. 11:41, Jn. 3:16, 1 Pet. 4:8).
Did you mean to say “saved” or “justified”, because “being saved” and “being justified” are related but distinct concepts. I acknowledged that one is saved by Grace through faith (Eph. 2:8); “faith apart from works is dead” (Jas. 2:20).
2 Cor. 5:6-9 reads: “Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are courageous, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to Him.”
Purgatory precedes Heaven, and thus the souls in the former wouldn’t be going to the latter if they didn’t believe in Jesus on earth. Also on earth, individual humans continue to commit sins, which is why Jesus spoke of repentance, forgiveness, mercy, and justice. Mary Magdalene is a prime example of someone who committed great sins, but received forgiveness “because she loved much” (Lk. 7:44-47). We are instructed, throughout our life, to repent of the sins we commit and receive forgiveness (Ac. 3:19), to forgive the sins of the repentant (Matt. 6:14), and to give the unrepentant time and possibility to arrive at repentance and holiness, if they wish to reach them (1 Tim. 1:15-16). All of this, and more, is encompassed under the umbrella of love, and those who love live in God, and He lives in them (1 Jn. 4:16). When we physically die, that’s when we receive judgement (Heb. 9:27), and if we are deemed worthy of Heaven, did we die in a spiritual state of having reached perfection in love as Jesus commanded (Matt. 5:48, 2 Cor. 7:1) in order to dwell in Heaven, since nothing impure can enter? (Rev. 21:27). If not, then what? That’s the purpose of Purgatory. It is where certain just souls go first to repent, expiate with love, and receive forgiveness for sins that they didn’t or couldn’t on earth, until the perfection of love has been reached (Matt. 5:48), and they are admitted into the City of God and joined to Love (1 Jn. 4:8;16).
That’s the problem. You’re treating a 1943 dictation to Maria Valtorta as if it carries apostolic weight, but Scripture is complete (Jude 3), and Jesus doesn’t contradict Himself by adding new words outside the canon. Hebrews 1:1–2 says God has spoken finally in His Son, not through post-biblical mystics. Test every spirit (1 John 4:1), not exalt private revelation.
False distinction. Hebrews 10:14 links perfection directly to Christ’s single offering, not to ongoing expiation. The Greek participle ἁγιαζομένους (being sanctified) describes the application of what His offering already achieved, not a call for postmortem suffering. Christ’s blood purifies (καθαρίσας, Heb. 1:3), sanctifies (ἡγιασμένους, Heb. 10:10), and perfects (τετελείωκεν, Heb. 10:14), one sacrifice, full effect, no purgatory required.
Scripture never separates righteousness from purification by blood. Romans 3:25 says Christ is the hilastērion, the place of expiation, through faith in His blood. That very act both justifies (declares righteous) and purifies (removes defilement). 1 John 1:7 says the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, while Romans 5:9 says we are justified by His blood. Distinction without separation is biblical, but your claim divides what the cross unites. No ongoing expiation is needed because Christ’s blood both purifies and justifies, fully, finally, and forever.
Then your position self-destructs. If everything was accomplished and His sacrifice will never end, then there’s nothing left to expiate in purgatory. Hebrews 10:14 doesn’t just say the sacrifice continues in relevance, it says it perfected for all time those being sanctified. If the cross finished redemption (John 19:30), then any doctrine demanding further purification denies what was already done. That is the point of contention, you affirm the sacrifice, but then subtract from its sufficiency.
Universalism, not biblical.
Repentance is an earthly call, not a post-mortem option.
Hebrews 9:27 crushes purgatory with one blow, “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that—judgment.”
Now is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).
There’s no second-chance fire pit for spiritual refinement.
The unrepentant don’t go to purgatory, they go to wrath (John 3:36).
Holiness is pursued now, not purchased later.
Nothing about purgatory honors repentance, it denies urgency, cheapens grace, and injects delay into divine mercy.
J.
Jesus said the following:
There are four Gospels. Now I am explaining them in order to bring to light others which are lost or downplayed. But I am not creating another Gospel. There are four, four there will remain. Understood in detail or left in their broad outlines, four and no more. (The Little Notebooks, October 17th, 1944)
Further: if you object that the revelation was closed with the last Apostle, and there was nothing further to add, because the same Apostle says in Revelation: “If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him every plague mentioned in the book” (22:18) and that can be understood for all the Revelation, the last completion of which is the Revelation by John, I reply to you that with this work no addition was made to revelation, but only the gaps, brought about by natural causes and by supernatural will, were filled in. (The Poem of the Man-God: Vol. V, April 28th, 1947)
The gaps in the four Gospels, those too strictly literal versions which have allowed the establishment of fertile ground for the plants of deceit, schisms, heresies, separations and denials; in twenty centuries you have not been able to fill those gaps in a way acceptable to minds that are ever more open to and more tempted by Satan who hates me. Those erroneous words, “Joseph did not know her until she gave birth,” and further on, “Mary’s firstborn; Jesus’s brothers; Mary’s sisters” which create confusion among the good and denial in the evil. Gaps and erroneous words that in twenty centuries you haven’t shown how to fill or substitute boldly but in a holy way, in order to save the faith and stop schisms and heresies. So after twenty centuries, and at the eve of the time of the spirit, the great battle between darkness and the Light, I have come to fill these gaps, to substitute them with true, acceptable words. I have come in defense of the Truth, of the life of the Church and the Way of God, which too many have lost. (The Little Notebooks, April 8th, 1948)
If there’s nothing for certain just souls to expiate with in Purgatory, then it would mean that there’s nothing to repent of or be forgiven for even on earth, but that is precisely what we’re instructed to do. Therefore, your interpretation of “Everything is accomplished” (Matt. 5:18) can’t be entirely accurate.
That’s incorrect, because individual humans continue to commit sins, which is why Jesus spoke of repentance, forgiveness, mercy, and justice. Mary Magdalene is a prime example of someone who committed great sins, but received forgiveness “because she loved much” (Lk. 7:44-47). We are instructed, throughout our life, to repent of the sins we commit and receive forgiveness (Ac. 3:19), to forgive the sins of the repentant (Matt. 6:14), and to give the unrepentant time and possibility to arrive at repentance and holiness, if they wish to reach them (1 Tim. 1:15-16). All of this, and more, is encompassed under the umbrella of love, and those who love live in God, and He lives in them (1 Jn. 4:16). When we physically die, that’s when we receive judgement (Heb. 9:27), and if we are deemed worthy of Heaven, did we die in a spiritual state of having reached perfection in love as Jesus commanded (Matt. 5:48, 2 Cor. 7:1) in order to dwell in Heaven, since nothing impure can enter? (Rev. 21:27). If not, then what? That’s the purpose of Purgatory. It is where certain just souls go first to repent, expiate and receive forgiveness for sins that they didn’t or couldn’t on earth, until the perfection of love has been reached (Matt. 5:48), and they are admitted into the City of God and joined to Love (1 Jn. 4:8;16).
Heb. 1:1-2 reads: “God, having in the past spoken to the fathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds.”
False equivalence. Earthly repentance is commanded because Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice opened the way for forgiveness (Heb. 10:10, 14); purgatory, by contrast, adds postmortem punishment where Scripture declares “no condemnation” for those in Christ (Rom. 8:1). Christ’s “It is finished” (John 19:30) refers to redemption accomplished, not to the cessation of earthly repentance-but it does exclude further expiation. We repent on earth because the cross saves, not to add to it after death.
Hebrews 9:27 doesn’t whisper, it thunders: death, then judgment, not death, then delay. Scripture calls us to repent now (Acts 3:19), because the cross expiates fully-once, not in installments (Heb. 10:14). Mary Magdalene was forgiven on earth, not in a waiting room. Christ’s command to “be perfect” (Matt. 5:48) drives us to the cross, not to Purgatory. Revelation 21:27 affirms that nothing unclean enters Heaven, but that’s why we are washed in Christ’s blood (Rev. 7:14), not in postmortem fire. Purgatory isn’t purification, it’s a denial of the cross’s finished work.
Glad we can agree, no purgatory here.
J.
You shouldn’t lie by saying that we agree about that.
When you physically die and receive judgment (Heb. 9:27), and judgement is passed that you will live eternally in Heaven with God, but you died in an impure state of sin, because you didn’t or couldn’t repent and receive for certain sins when on earth, where and how is your soul going to be purified to enter Heaven when nothing impure can enter it? (Rev. 21:27)
Please address the argument without accusing me of dishonesty. @Soul
Your premise collapses under the weight of Scripture. If Christ’s blood cleanses, καθαρίζει, us from all sin (1 John 1:7), then no further purification is needed beyond the cross.
If God justifies the ungodly (Rom. 4:5), then who dares add a purgatorial supplement? Jesus saves completely, παντελὲς εἰς τὸ παντελές, those who come to God through Him (Heb. 7:25), not partially, not conditionally.
The thief on the cross believed and was promised paradise that day (Luke 23:43), not a layover for purification.
Romans 8:1 crushes the purgatory thesis flat, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The idea of postmortem purgation contradicts the gospel: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord… for their deeds follow them” (Rev. 14:13), not their unpaid penance.
So where and how are believers purified after death?
They’re not. Christ perfected forever, τετελείωκεν εἰς τὸ διηνεκές, those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:14).
The work is finished. The blood speaks. The judgment is final. The gospel holds.
Shalom.
J.
You said we agree that Purgatory doesn’t exist, but we don’t agree about that, and thus you spoke a lie.
That’s not what I’m asking. I’ll rephrase my question in an effort to help you answer it. If you physically die, and judgement is passed that you will live eternally in Heaven with God, but you died in a state of impurity due to having not yet reached perfect love on earth through love (Matt. 5:48, Rom. 12:10;13:8, 1 Cor. 16:14, Col. 3:14), then where are you going to reach perfect love by loving, reflecting, repenting in the light of Love, and being purified with love through being given love, in order to be admitted into Heaven (Prov. 10:12, 1 Pet. 1:22;4:8), a Kingdom where only those perfected in love can live with and be joined to Love (1 Jn. 4:7-8;12;16-18, Rev. 21:27)?
You’re mixing texts across covenants, genres, and contexts to build a doctrine Scripture never teaches, namely, some postmortem purgation by love. Let’s cut straight and clean.
First, Matthew 5:48, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” is not a command demanding flawlessness or implying postmortem sanctification. In context (vv. 43–47), it refers to loving even your enemies, echoing Leviticus 19:18 and the character of God, who causes His sun to rise on the evil and good. The Greek teleioi (τέλειοι) means mature, complete in character, not sinless. It’s a call to spiritual maturity now, not a roadmap to some purifying after-death experience.
Romans 12:10; 13:8, 1 Corinthians 16:14, Colossians 3:14, these are ethical imperatives, written to regenerate believers already justified (cf. Rom. 5:1), urging love as fruit of the Spirit’s work, not prerequisites to entry into heaven.
None of these passages suggest that failing to reach some subjective threshold of “perfect love” bars the justified from entering glory.
You quoted Proverbs 10:12 and 1 Peter 4:8 to imply love purifies sin. That’s twisted. Proverbs is wisdom literature, using parallelism to teach how love restrains conflict, not metaphysical purging. And 1 Peter 4:8 says, “Love covers a multitude of sins,” but this is about interpersonal forgiveness (cf. James 5:20), not God’s final judgment. Only the blood of Christ removes sin before God (Heb. 9:14, 1 John 1:7), not your love.
Then you drop 1 John 4:7–18 and Revelation 21:27 as if they teach salvific perfection by love. But 1 John is describing the fruit and evidence of regeneration: “We love because He first loved us” (v. 19). This love proves we abide in Him (v. 16), not how we get in. Revelation 21:27 says nothing impure will enter the city, yes, and that’s why we must be washed in the blood of the Lamb now (Rev. 7:14), not polished by postmortem purification.
You’re importing a Roman Catholic framework, purgatory sanctified as “love”, but Scripture knows nothing of sanctification after death. Hebrews 10:14 says: “By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Not after death. Not later. Forever.
So where are you going to be perfected in love? At the cross. Now. In Christ. By faith. Not in some cosmic waiting room lit by emotional growth and poetic warmth. You either die in Christ or in sin (John 8:24). No third option.
Shalom.
J.
Although in Orthodox Christianity, they do not accept the doctrine of Purgatory, when studying Catholic theology, I found the following arguments that support Purgatory.
The catholic doctrine of purgatory holds that souls destined for Heaven, yet bearing the stains of venial sin or the temporal effects of forgiven mortal sin, must be purified to enter the divine persence where “nothing unclean shall enter” (Rev 21:27). This purification, necessary to perfect the soul’s love (Colossians 3:14, 1 John 4:16-18) occurs in purgatory, a state, not a place, where God’s merciful love refines the soul to align with His holiness. The fire u seek is integral this process, both scripturally grounded and theologically elucidated.
Scripture provides the primary evidence for purgatory’s fire in 1 Cor 3:13-15. St Paul speaks of a post-mortem testing by fire for those who are saved, implying purification that removes imperfections while preserving the soul for salvation. The Church Father, St. Augustine and St. Gregory the Great interpret this as purgatory, where fire cleanses the soul of lingering faults. This fire is not merely metaphorical but an expression of divine action, though its precise nature remains a mystery as the Church avoids dogmatic speculation on its physicality CCC 1030-1032.
Theologically, this fire is understood as God’s transformative love, which purifies by confronting the soul with its imperfections in the light of divine holiness. St. Thomas Aquinas (amazing) argues that Purgatory’s fire is an instrument of divine justice and mercy, distinct from Hell’s punitive fire. It refines the soul as Malachi 3:2-3 describes God as a “refiner’s fire” purifying the sons of Levi. The soul, seeing its defects in God’s presence willingly undergoes this cleansing driven by its longing for perfect union with Love itself. St. Catherine of Genoa’s Treatise on Purgatory emphasizes this, that the fire is the soul’s ardent desire for God, burning away all that hinders perfect charity. You cite Proverbs 10:12 and 1 Peter 4:8, which highlight the love’s power to cover sins. In Purgatory, this love, God’s own charity, acts as the fire, purging imperfections and perfecting the soul’s capacity to love as God loves (Romans 13:8). The process involves repentance and reflection, not as new acts of merit, but as the soul’s cooperation with grace, completing the sanctification begun in life (Philippians 2:12-13). The fire, whether understood as a spirtual reality or divine encounter, is the medium of this transformation, ensuring the soul’s conformity to Christ, the exemplar of perfect love.
Opponents may argue that Purgatory’s fire undermines Christ’s atonement..On the contrary, it is the application of Christ’s redemptive work, for “the blood of Jesus..cleanses us from all sins” (1 John 1:7). Purgatory does not add to salvation but prepares the soul to recieve it fully, respecting human freedom and the need for holiness. The practive of praying for the dead ( 2 Maccabees 12:42-46, i use the orthodox bible, it has deutrocanon books as well) affirmed by the Church, further supports this, as it implies a state where purification can be aided by the living, a communion of love within Christ’s Body.
@Johann, although i dont believe in the purgatory as an Orthodox, but i learnt about this when i learnt catholic theology, if i could get a counter for this step by step, i would like to learn and add it to my essay.
I’m not Catholic or Orthodox, and I’m not here to promote the Early Church Fathers, I’m here to urge believers to open their Bibles and let Scripture speak for itself. And on that basis alone, the Word of God has already refuted what you posted to @Soul Brother.
02:22
Purgatory
06:11
Catholic Interpretation
08:00
Who Is Apollo
28:02
Passage for Purgatory
38:39
Do We Sleep or Go Directly to Heaven When We Die
43:26
Parables
46:21
Matthew 1834
50:02
Have You Come across the Adventist Tactic of Using Luther’s Early Writings When He Did Believe in Purgatory To Discredit the Rest of Protestantism
53:59
If Purgatory Exists Would Jesus Still Have To Die for Our Sins
01:01:34
Justification by Faith
And here Mike Winger is refuting you @Samuel_23
J.