Should Evangelicals Believe In Purgatory? (Beckwith and Cowan)

In Credo Magazine’s recent issue we asked the question “Should Evangelicals Believe In Purgatory?” Francis Beckwith, previously an evangelical who has returned to the Roman Catholic Church, has answered yes, while Steven Cowan, a Protestant-Evangelical, has answered no. Here is why they answered the way they did:

Evangelicals SHOULD  Embrace Purgatory

Evangelicals should embrace the doctrine of purgatory, since it is merely an extension of their understanding of sanctification. Because all of us—except for a few saints— will die with un-confessed sins and disordered desires, with some of us further away from perfection than others, and because “nothing impure will enter [heaven]” (Rev. 21:27), it seems undeniable that some posthumous transformation of the believer is necessary.  The question, however, is how long it takes. There are only two options: it is either instantaneous—i.e., it happens immediately after death—or it is gradual. The former seems implausible, since the logic of sanctification requires suffering and effort over time on the part of the believer (Rom. 5:3-5), and “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6)

So, it is unsurprising that some understanding of posthumous transformation was widely and uncontroversially embraced by Latin and Eastern Christians from the Church’s earliest days. Thus, if Evangelicals come to accept purgatory, it would show that they have come to realize that they are as entitled to the Church’s inheritance as those who call Rome or Constantinople home.

—Francis J. Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy, Baylor University

Evangelicals Should NOT Embrace Purgatory

The primary reason is that purgatory is not biblical. Christ “entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption” (Heb. 9:12; cf. 9:26; 10:10; Rom. 3:21-26; Gal. 3:10-14). No satisfaction for sins remains for Christians to remit in purgatory.

Moreover, purgatory is unnecessary as a place of sanctification. Paul wrote, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6, ESV). Our sanctification is completed “at [or until] the day of Jesus Christ”—i.e., at his Second Coming. Since many Christians are “alive and remain” when Christ returns (1 Thes. 4:17), at least these people will have their sanctification completed “at” that moment without experiencing purgatory in the intermediate state.  John teaches, “What we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when [Christ] appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). We pursue sanctification now in hope that it will be completed at the Second Coming. We don’t need purgatory. All we need is to “see him as he is.”

—Steven B. Cowan, Jim Young Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion, Louisiana College Caskey School of Divinity

Read other columns, articles, and interviews in the recent issue of Credo Magazine, “Purgatory: An Evangelical Doctrine?”

To view the Magazine as a PDF