You Don’t Believe in Purgatory? Paul Did!

When a Protestant asks, “Where’s purgatory in the Bible?” Catholics who know their apologetics usually point to 1 Corinthians 3:11–15.

But what exactly does Paul say there that makes us think he’s talking about purgatory?

Stick around and you’ll find out.

All right, on to the text. Here’s what Paul writes:

“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.

“If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

This is the key text that Christians throughout the centuries have pointed to as a reference to purgatory.

But what is it about this passage that suggests that?

Well, before we answer that, we need to be clear on what purgatory actually is.

So let’s start with a definition. Pulling from paragraphs 1030 and 1031 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, we can define purgatory like this:

It’s a postmortem—that is, after death—final purification for those who died in friendship with Christ but haven’t yet achieved the perfect holiness necessary for immediate entrance into heaven.

So, a few key points to highlight.

First, it’s after death.

Secondly, it’s only for those who are already guaranteed heaven, so it’s not a second chance.

And thirdly, it involves purification: removing anything that would impede perfect holiness, remaining guilt of venial sin, unhealthy attachments to created goods, and any debt of temporal punishment due for past forgiven sins.

Now here’s my claim: when we read 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 carefully, we discover that this is exactly what Paul is describing.

Let me give you the quick version first.

For example, “the Day” refers to the Day of Judgment, which comes after death. As Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for men to die once, and after that comes judgment.”

Second, Paul describes fire that tests the quality of a person’s works and burns up the bad ones, symbolized by wood, hay, and straw.

And this person goes through fire as a prerequisite for final salvation. Paul says he is saved “only as through fire.”

Put those two things together, and that strongly suggests purification.

Third, the person being tested is clearly saved.

Why?

Because according to verses 11 through 12, he built on the foundation of Jesus. And Paul explicitly says in verse 15 that he will be saved.

So we’re not dealing with someone who died in mortal sin and is on their way to hell.

And finally, this state can’t be heaven because there’s still defilement and suffering. But, like I’ve already implied, it can’t be hell either because the person is saved.

So we have a state after death involving purification for someone destined for heaven.

My friends, that’s what we call purgatory.

Now let’s dive a little deeper and unpack that.

Someone might object: “Paul never uses the Greek word for purification. So where’s purification in the text?”

That’s a fair question.

But even though Paul doesn’t use the word, he clearly describes the reality.

Consider that purification involves separating good from bad, like refining gold.

Well, that’s exactly what we see here.

The good materials—gold, silver, and precious stones—are separated from the bad: wood, hay, and straw.

That’s the first clue.

The second clue is the imagery of fire.

Scripture often uses fire to symbolize purification.

In 1 Peter 1:7, Peter compares the testing of faith through suffering to gold refined by fire.

In Isaiah 4:4, God describes the redemption of Israel by saying he will cleanse Jerusalem and the daughters of Zion “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.”

And in Isaiah 6:6–7, a seraph purifies Isaiah’s guilt with a burning coal.

Since Scripture uses the imagery of fire to express testing and purification, and Paul uses the imagery of fire in 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 within a context of testing the quality of works, it’s reasonable to conclude that Paul is describing an event that involves purification.

A third clue that points to purification is the imagery of judgment.

Malachi 3:2–3 describes God’s judgment as a “refiner’s fire,” purifying the sons of Levi like gold and silver.

Given that the Bible describes judgment itself as purifying fire, we can reasonably infer that Paul’s fiery judgment here involves purification.

Now, a Protestant may concede the purification theme but object that it’s only the works being purified, not the individual.

The late Norman Geisler and Ralph MacKenzie take this route on pages 335 to 336 in their book Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences.

My first response is that I agree with what these apologists affirm: the fire tests the works.

But I think they’re mistaken when they deny the purification of the individual.

Consider that the works—gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and straw—represent a person’s actions.

It seems difficult to conceive of a scenario in which a person’s actions would be tested or purified apart from the person himself.

Our actions don’t just float around somewhere separate from us as we stand by as onlookers.

Our deeds are connected to us since they proceed from our wills. They determine our moral character, whether for good or for bad.

So if the builder’s actions—his works—are being tested by fire, then it seems reasonable to conclude that the builder is being tested by fire as well.

And if the builder’s bad works are burned up, then the builder too is purged of any remains of those bad works left on the soul, such as the guilt of sin and what the Catechism calls, in paragraph 1472, “unhealthy attachment to creatures.”

My second response is that Paul indicates that the testing of the works will have some sort of purifying effect on the builder.

For if the works are burned up, Paul says in verse 15, “he will suffer loss.”

Whatever the suffering of loss is, the loss still will have a corresponding existential effect.

Third, Paul makes explicit that the builder, along with his works, will go through purifying fire, writing in verse 15, “He will be saved, but only as through fire.”

New Testament scholar Daniel Frayer-Griggs, in his book Saved Through Fire: The Fiery Ordeal and New Testament Eschatology, argues that the fire here, whether we take it literally or metaphorically, is used as an instrument for purification of the individual.

He writes on page 216 of his book:

“The fire of divine judgment on the Day appears to be the circumstance through which the builder is purified of his sins and through which Christ saves.”

This claim is supported by the fact that in the Septuagint, particularly Zechariah 13:9, the phrase “through fire”—in Greek, dia pyros—is used in an instrumental sense.

That’s to say, it’s used as a means whereby something is accomplished.

Frayer-Griggs goes on to point out how it’s also used this way in intertestamental literature and in the Apostolic Fathers.

Concerning intertestamental literature, check out 3 Maccabees 2:29 and 4 Maccabees 7:12. For examples from the Apostolic Fathers, see 1 Clement 11:1 and The Shepherd of Hermas 4:3–4.

Frayer-Griggs further explains on page 213 that the combination of the verb “to save”—in Greek, sōzō—the preposition “through”—Greek dia—and a noun in the genitive case is almost always used in an instrumental sense in both the New Testament and surrounding Greek literature.

That the fire is an instrument through which the builder is saved allows us to conclude that the builder himself is purified, and not merely his works.

Now someone might ask: “But how do we know that this applies to all Christians? Everything Paul describes happens to someone who builds on the foundation of Jesus, which is Paul’s language for what the apostles and their coworkers do.”

Reformed theologian Michael Horton makes this claim in one of his contributions to the book Four Views on Eternal Security, on page 120.

In response, it’s true that Paul is speaking about builders like apostles and their coworkers.

But there are good reasons to think this applies more broadly, beyond apostles and coworkers, to all Christians.

First, Paul is describing what happens on the Day of Judgment.

And since all Christians will be judged, it’s reasonable that the same principles apply to everyone.

Second, the wider context shows that Paul has all Christians in mind as well.

In verse 16, Paul calls the Corinthians God’s temple.

Then in verse 17 he warns, “If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.”

Paul has in mind there the factions that the Corinthians were creating in their church.

Some were saying, “I belong to Paul,” and others, “I belong to Apollos.”

There in verse 4, Paul sees such factional activity as destroying the Church—the direct opposite of building up the Church.

If, in verse 17, Paul warns the Corinthians, and by way of extension all Christians, about judgment, then it seems reasonable that he would intend the principles of judgment he lays out in verses 11 through 15 to apply to them as well, and not just to the apostles and their coworkers.

Finally, Paul teaches elsewhere that all Christians participate in building up the Church.

Ephesians 4:11–12 tells us that not only apostles build up the Body of Christ, which we know as the Church, but also prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

And in 1 Corinthians 14:12, Paul broadens it even further to include all Christians, where he writes, “Strive to excel in building up the Church.”

Since all Christians are builders in some sense, we can apply the principles of judgment in 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 to all Christians.

Here’s one last question.

Does this purification involve punishment, like the Catholic idea of temporal punishment?

Many Protestants say no.

For example, in their previously mentioned book, Geisler and MacKenzie write:

“There is absolutely nothing here about suffering for our sins or their consequences after death.”

That comes from page 336.

They argue that “he will suffer loss” just means losing rewards in heaven.

But notice what Paul says in the text.

The man suffers loss because his bad works are burned up.

In other words, he suffers on account of his sins.

Even if the suffering includes losing rewards in heaven, it is still tied to past wrongdoing.

And suffering on account of sin is just what we mean by punishment.

And the punishment is temporary, since the person is ultimately saved.

We can also look to the Greek for evidence of a punitive dimension to this passage.

The Greek word translated “he will suffer loss” comes from zēmioō, which can mean “to be punished,” with the implication of suffering damage. That comes from Louw and Nida’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, page 489.

Even if we take zēmioō in the softer sense of simply suffering loss, which it can have, the context still shows that the loss occurs because of bad works.

That gives it a punitive character.

It’s interesting to note as well that in the Septuagint, related language corresponding to the Hebrew ‘anash is used in several places for a monetary fine—for example, Exodus 21:22 and Deuteronomy 22:19—and for punishment for an evil deed.

Finally, there’s also the idea of temporary deprivation of a good, another punitive characteristic.

The person Paul is describing is delayed from receiving full reward in heaven until passing through the fire.

And being deprived of a good on account of sin is a classic definition of punishment.

And again, it’s temporary.

So the punitive dimension is definitely there in the passage.

All right, let’s wrap it all up.

My claim is simple:

What Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 looks a lot like purgatory.

It’s an intermediate state between death and glory where a Christian is purified after death.

He experiences some kind of suffering on account of wrongdoing, and he is ultimately saved.

It’s not heaven because there is suffering and loss.

And it’s not hell because salvation is guaranteed.

My friends, that fits perfectly with purgatory: the final purification for those who die in friendship with Christ and yet have not achieved the holiness necessary to immediately enter the joy of heaven.

Well, my friends, that’s it for today.

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