This is my final paper for my school, Sequitur Classical Tutorials. Having spent most of our time this semester focusing on Dante’s Purgatorio, our teacher had us write on it. My topic was “whether the Bible supports Dante’s idea of Purgatory.”

 

 

Dante’s Purgatory: Does the Bible Support It?

The doctrine of Purgatory has sparked many heated debates and disagreements between Roman Catholics, on the affirmative side, and Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians, on the denying side. Over the years, few doctrines have separated Rome from the East and Protestants as Purgatory has. Purgatory, as the name implies, exists as an ante-Heaven, or a place to “tidy up” prior to entering into God’s glorious presence. Here, purgation of the sins committed by Christians who did not lead perfect lives takes place, because in order to enter into God’s presence, we must reach full perfection. The later statement reflects scriptural truths: if a human, in the sinful and imperfect condition which we exist in right now, entered into God’s presence without purification, we would die (see 2 Samuel 6:7).
Dante Alighieri, the great Florentine poet, living from 1265-1321, shaped the modern conception of Purgatory in writing his Purgatorio, the second part of his three part Comedia, more commonly known as The Divine Comedy. Comedia takes shape as an epic poem, meaning it, as Matthew Vest states, “… usually has nine elements: narrative story; in media res (begins in the middle of the story); appeal to the muses; epic hero; grand journey; interaction with divinities; universal themes; epic catalogue; and traditional verse or meter. The Comedia contains all these element, and yet Dante’s creativity shines through the most of all in a tenth element that his Christian faith “added” to the epic form. This element is so important, it is the title. This element is Comedy.” (Matthew S. Vest, “The Divine Comedy: Inferno, p. 6) As this quote implies, Dante’s Comedia reigns supreme along with the great epics of Homer, Gilgamesh, and Virgil–and possible more so with the addition of Comedic form.

Dante’s Purgatory takes the form of a mountain, subdivided into seven cornices, each representing one of the seven deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Covetousness, Gluttony, and Lust, respectively. Dante defines Purgatory as a place “Where human spirits purge themselves, and train to leap up into joy celestial.” (Dante, Purgatorio, Canto I, p.73) Purgatory’s atmosphere overflows with anticipation and joy. Rod Dreher, a journalist for the American Conservative, explains that “… the penitents of Purgatory know that they are bound for glory. They suffer, but because they know their pain is temporary and a necessary prelude to eternal bliss, they suffer happily.” (Rod Dreher, “How Dante Saved My Life” p.5)

For the sake of clarity, a presentation of the Roman Catholic/Dantean Doctrine of Purgatory would prove helpful. Certain scriptures (i.e. Matthew 12:32) speak of forgiveness in the age to come. Dante and Rome therefore conclude that if one can receive forgiveness in the age to come, and one can not receive forgiveness in Hell, and forgiveness would prove unnecessary in Heaven, an intermediate place therefore seems a logical conclusion. This intermediate place takes the title ‘Purgatory.’ Note here that this exemplifies a faulty interpretation of Scripture. Daniel Whitby states in his Bible commentary that “The Scripture knows only two times for the remission of sins: one here upon earth… to the penitent and believing; and the other at the day of judgment, when the great Judge shall pronounce the sentence of absolution to all his faithful servants…” (Daniel Whitby, Paraphrase and Commentary on the New Testament) Therefore, forgiveness in the age to come does not imply Purgatory, rather forgiveness on the Day of Judgment.

Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Catechism states that “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven,” (Roman Catholic Catechism, Section Two, Part III, 1030) and continues to say, “The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned.”( Roman Catholic Catechism, Section Two, Part III, 1031) Dante, along with Rome’s modern view of Purgatory, cannot uphold the Biblical salvation process mentioned above. Dante’s Purgatory requires another step to this threefold process: final purification, which ought to lie between sanctification and glorification. Yet we see no mention of this step in the Scriptures. This, of course, does not disprove final purification, for “proof,” or lack thereof, by mere lack of scriptural mention appeals to silence, a fallacy otherwise known as ad ignorantium (literally, “to the ignorance”); yet this lack of mention should cause one to wonder how such an important detail such as final purification went unmentioned. Regardless, the Bible does not support Dante’s idea of Purgatory as a historical setting, because we reach complete purification and salvation through a threefold process: justification, sanctification, and glorification; Jesus Christ’s death and atonement for our sins purifies us to the fullest; and Purgatory takes place on Earth through sanctification.
First, the Bible does not support Dante’s idea of Purgatory as a historical setting, because we reach complete purification and salvation through a threefold process: justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification takes place upon faith, when God declares an unrighteous sinner righteous. Sanctification, in essence, resembles Dante’s Purgatory, because sanctification represents the purifying part of salvation. Finally, Glorification completes the salvation process. Wayne Grudem, an evangelical theologian and seminary professor, states in his Systematic Theology, “Glorification is the final step in the application of redemption. It will happen when Christ returns and raises from the dead the bodies of all believers for all time who have died and reunites them with their souls and changes the bodies of all believers who remain alive, thereby giving all believers at the same time perfect resurrection bodies like His own.” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 828) According to Wayne Grudem, glorification is the final of the three steps, in which Christ resurrects us and reunites us with our physical bodies.

Furthermore, a fourfold salvation process (including final purification) seems superfluous when compared to the threefold salvation process (excluding final purification). For instance, justification represents salvation from the penalty of sin; sanctification, salvation from the power of sin; and glorification, salvation from the presence of sin. If one keeps Biblical truths in mind, final purification would simply take shape as further salvation from the power of sins already cleansed (through sanctification). The addition of final purification obviously exists as a superfluous theological innovation, contrary to Scriptural truths.
Second, the Bible does not support Dante’s idea of Purgatory as a historical setting, because Jesus Christ’s death and atonement for our sins purifies us to the fullest. As stated above, belief in Purgatory requires a belief in final purification, for final purification takes place in Purgatory. Moreover, the Roman Catholic Chatechism states, “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified…” This suggests that friendship with God does not equate to complete purification, another point contrary to Scripture: “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith…” (Romans 3:25, NIV) Miriam Webster defines ‘atonement’ as the “reparation for an offense or injury”. This definition, along with the Scripture presented above, suggests a completed work, rather than an uncompleted work, as the Roman Catholic Catechism suggests. By agreeing with Scripture that the Atonement completes reconciliation and purification with God, further Purgatory exists as a useless theological innovation.

Third, the Bible does not support Dante’s idea of Purgatory as a historical setting, because Purgation takes place on Earth through the form of sanctification. Contrary to popular Protestant belief, Scripture does, in fact, support a historical idea of purgation. Yet this purgation does not equate to Dante or Rome’s Purgatory; Scriptural purgation takes place by means of sanctification, defined earlier as salvation from the power of sin. Colossians 3:5-6 states, “Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: fornication, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient” Sanctification exists as the portion of the threefold salvation process which makes us holy. A lexical definition of sanctification would suffice as “to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate.” (Miriam Webster) Another definition of sanctification lies in Romans 8:29: “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” Here, we see that undergoing sanctification equates to conforming to Christ. While the Scriptural Purgatory does not include carrying stones on one’s back, laying prostrate on the ground, or running around in circles for thousands of years, as Dante’s Purgatory does, the Scriptural “Purgatory” consists of dying to oneself. Of course, this death to self does not always liken to literal death, rather death to self exists as self denial and denial of sin in order to achieve greater holiness.

Therefore, since the Bible presents sanctification as a “Purgatory” on earth, no need exists to innovate an afterlife Purgatory, or final purification. According to John Wesley, sanctification is complete upon “the instant of death, the moment before the soul leaves the body” (John Wesley, Brief thoughts on Christian perfection, 1767). Furthermore, R.C. Sproul, continues with this line of thought: “Sanctification is a process that begins the moment we become Christians. The process continues until death when the believer is made finally, fully, and forevermore righteous.” (R.C. Sproul, Essentials of the Christian Faith, p. 123) If one holds this as true, and one holds that complete sanctification equates to complete purification, further purification, or any doctrine supporting any further purification, becomes useless. Therefore, Biblical sanctification proves Dante’s historical view of Purgatory faulty.

The Bible does not support Dante’s idea of Purgatory as a literal setting, because we reach complete purification and salvation through a threefold process: justification, sanctification, and glorification, Jesus Christ’s death and atonement for our sins purifies us to the fullest, and Purgatory takes place on Earth through sanctification.The Roman Catholic/Dantean Purgatory exists as a faulty and useless theological innovation, for if Purgatory, as Dante saw it, exists, it would exist as an empty mountain: its cornices barren; it’s gates, rusted; its penitent punishments, unused. The threefold salvation process does not need a fourth step, Christ purifies us to the fullest, and purgation takes place on earth by way of sanctification.

Fortunately, affirmation of denial of Purgatory does not exist as a matter of salvation. Salvation does not come from affirmation of certain theological doctrines and innovation, rather, belief in the one True Gospel. Purgatory does not belong to the essentials of the Christian faith. We can rest assured that, though they may disagree on the existence of Purgatory, faithful Christians, regardless of their stance on the matter, experience salvation through faith in Christ, and in him alone.