He admits* these are six Bible passages we Catholics use to prove Purgatory, giving explanations for each:
- 2 Maccabees 12:39-46: Prayers for the dead suggest an intermediate state where souls can benefit from such prayers.
- 2 Timothy 1:18: Paul’s prayer for Onesiphorus indicates a belief that the dead can be helped by the prayers of the living.
- Matthew 12:32: Jesus mentions that some sins will not be forgiven “either in this age or in the age to come,” implying post-death purification.
- Luke 23:43: Jesus tells the thief on the cross that he will be in Paradise, which some interpret as an intermediate state before Heaven.
- 1 Corinthians 3:11-15: Describes a process where believers’ works are tested by fire after death, which aligns with the purifying process of purgatory.
- Hebrews 12:29: Refers to God as a “consuming fire,” symbolizing the purification process.
He could have omitted Luke 23:43, according to us, Purgatory is not paradisal, and Abraham's bosom was above Purgatory in Sheol. The thief was going to be where the poor Lazarus had been prior to Jesus raising him, and as Jesus was going to be there too, that was paradisal. Purgatory remains where it is, but the souls in Abraham's bosom are in the meantime taken up to Heaven, but this only happened after Jesus' resurrection.
We usually tend to explain John 20:17 as referring to the last moment Jesus was seen on Earth before lifting up these souls into Heaven, and that the same day, before further appearances on Earth during forty days.
Now, he pretended that Luke 12:59 does not prove purgatory. Here it is:
And when thou goest with thy adversary to the prince, whilst thou art in the way, endeavour to be delivered from him: lest perhaps he draw thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the exacter, and the exacter cast thee into prison I say to thee, thou shalt not go out thence, until thou pay the very last mite
[Luke 12:58-59]
Here is his comment:
No, Luke 12:59 does not prove purgatory. This verse is often cited in discussions about purgatory, but it does not explicitly refer to the concept. The context of Luke 12:59 is about making peace with your enemy.
While the context indeed involves making peace with one's enemies, Joshua is providing no interpretation compatible with his Thnetopsychist position. Some Orthodox who deny Purgatory refer this to Hell, "the catch 22 is, you can never pay the last mite" ... but as Joshua is a Thnetopsychist, he cannot take this view. So, how does the Catholic view fit making peace with one's enemies? Well, some sins are forgiven us because we have forgiven our enemies.
What did Joshua say about 2 Maccabees 12?
The Book of Maccabees is not included in the canon of the inspired Word of God for a reason. It contains teachings that contradict the Bible’s core messages.
He doesn't specify which ones, nor how the core messages are supposed to be proven in ways that show them contradicting either of the two books of Maccabees.
The non-inclusion is not an originally Christian one, it was first a Jewish one, after they had rejected Christ (meaning Romans 3:2 no longer applies to them), then a Protestant one (in misapplication of Romans 3:2).
What advantage then hath the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision Much every way. First indeed, because the words of God were committed to them
[Romans 3:1-2]
This refers to the division of Jew and Gentile still predominating in St. Paul's day, not to the only beginning division between Jew and Christian. At this time, the Jewish canon was not closed as to the Ketuvim, and was only closed (with exclusion of I and II Maccabees and a few more) after the rejection of Christ, making them depositaries of the words of God no more.
For example, 2 Maccabees 12:39-46 discusses praying for the dead, a practice that has roots in pagan traditions rather than biblical teachings.
That pagans did a thing before Jews and Christians doesn't prove it wrong. If pagans did a thing condemned in the Bible and later some Jews, and after the apostasy of Jews some Christians, but not all, came to do that, that would be a wrong thing. But pagans are not wrong about everything, and therefore pagan pioneering of a practise doesn't prove the practise wrong.
Claiming that purgatory is true because early Jews believed in it is a weak argument, as the Jews were not always faithful to the Hebrew Scriptures. The Old Testament frequently recounts their departure from God and involvement in idolatry.
Now, this is a very interesting thing. Clearly, the idea of praying for the dead was pretty constant between the time of II Maccabees and Rabbi Akiba. This includes the time of Our Lord's public ministry. In certain things where they clearly departed from the law, like the issue of Corban vs the normal way of honouring Father and Mother, Jesus did reprove them.
If the practise existed in Jesus' time, if Jesus condemned practises that contradicted the law, and if it contradicted the law, why did He not condemn it? If Joshua goes like "oh, maybe He did condemn it, but it just didn't make the way into a Gospel" why so if God Who knows all of time could foresee the Church going wrong? Especially, as Jesus clearly didn't foresee the Church as a whole going wrong (Matthew 28:16—20).
Now, unlike the Reformers, Joshua Infantado tries to disprove Purgatory by Thnetopsychism. He tries to support that with the Bible.
First item:
The soul that sinneth, the same shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and the father shall not bear the iniquity of the son: the justice of the just shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him
[Ezechiel (Ezeckiel) 18:20]
This does not refer to extinction of the soul, but to its spiritual death, or one could say that in the context of OT death penalty, all punishments by God were spoken of in analogy with death penalty and "The soul that sinneth, the same shall die" means no one else will be lapidated for a specific persons crime against the law. But to return to spiritual death, Adam's soul spiritually died the day he ate of the forbidden fruit, even if he still had 930 years to live before he died. Spiritual death is something other than extinction of the soul.
Second item:
Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment
[John 5:28-29]
We agree** that our bodies will resurrect and that there will be a public and visible judgement and that bodies will go where souls already are, Heaven or Hell. This does not disprove the particular judgement of each souls directly after death, nor that some judged for glory are judged to a delay first, which is called Purgatory.
The rest of his article involves lots of generalities that are not quite to the point.
- "No One Can Work Out Your Salvation for You" ... "One person cannot perform good works and credit them to another." — Does not follow. If someone in the early Church did not complete a penance, but died first, someone else was likely to take up the parts that were lacking. Now, each must certainly perform some good work, if only to be baptised. As that is done passively, children also can be baptised.
- "No one can save you but God" — also, no one could spare Sodom but God. However, we see that God would, conditionally, have spared Sodom, due to two conditions fulfillable by men:
- the prayer of Abraham
- the presence of ten just in Sodom.
The analogy to the ten just would be dying in peace with God, dying in a state of grace. But the analogy to the prayer of Abraham would be the prayers for someone's release from Purgatory.
- "Misinterpreted Bible Verses" — Joshua Infantado refuses to provide a correct interpretation that doesn't include Purgatory. And still does include all of the truth in the verses.
Hans Georg Lundahl
Paris
St. Hedwig of Poland***
16.X.2024
(15.X) Cracoviae, in Polonia, natalis sanctae Hedwigis Viduae, Polonorum Ducissse, quae, pauperum obsequio dedita, etiam miraculis claruit; et a Clemente Quarto, Pontifice Maximo, Sanctorum numero adscripta est. Ipsius autem festivitas sequenti die celebratur.
(16.X) Sanctae Hedwigis Viduae, Polonorum Ducissae, quae pridie hujus diei obdormivit in Domino.
* His article is on this link:
Becoming Christians: Is Purgatory in the Bible?
https://becomingchristians.com/2024/08/07/is-purgatory-in-the-bible/
** Back in the day certainly Albigensians and probably Waldensians too didn't believe in the resurrection of the body. It was us Catholics who defended that.
*** Speaking of II Maccabees, chapter 15 endorses that saints, in the afterlife, pray for us. If in Luke 16 Our Lord didn't intend to give the impression Abraham could still pray for things in the afterlife, it's very curious He gave an example which, given such beliefs already existing, would have been prone to misunderstanding in His day.
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