Thank you for the "purgatory primer". One thing I'm curious about is to what extent people go there. (I think our side would say that the blood of Christ covers our unholiness and that the saved are seen as righteous in God's eyes, thus no need for purgatory.) Since we all sin after salvation (or initial salvation) then does every ultimately saved person go to purgatory for a time? Or, does everyone who was "right" with God and had confessed all sins before death get to bypass purgatory? I'm just trying to figure out if purgatory is expected to be experienced by very many or very few.
As always, thanks for your questions.
Purgatory exists only as a result of the Blood of Christ. The Scriptures tell us that we must be holy as God is (not in degrees, but in likeness!). We are told that unless OUR righteousness (not Christ's thrown over us like a coat) exceeds that of the Pharisees, we shall not see heaven (Mat 5:20). Considering the context of Matthew 5-7, Jesus is clear that He instructs US to Love from the heart. He is telling us to give alms, to pray, to fast - NOT just to do it externally for human pride, but to do it for the Love of God and neighbor. This is the righteousness that God desires from us (understand, WE don't do this alone - but with God's Spirit working within us the will to follow Him). Nowhere in Matthew 5-7 does Jesus talk about imputed justification or anything like it. It is clear that Jesus expects US to be holy, to be clean of heart, to be meek and humble, to be poor in spirit...
Most of us will not achieve that level of righteousness here on earth. We will likely have attachments to things of the world. Our pride. We will not place God first in everything. This must change before eternal union with God. Could you imagine God and Luther's idea of man co-existing forever? It is incomprehensible. God is not some foolish old dolt who doesn't recognize the smell of our stinking selves (spiritually) underneath the "cloak" of Christ... I never did understand that mental picture.
Since we all sin after salvation (or initial salvation) then does every ultimately saved person go to purgatory for a time? Or, does everyone who was "right" with God and had confessed all sins before death get to bypass purgatory?
Sins are not forgiven in Purgatory, but here on earth. We are punished for the temporal results of our sins in purgatory, first of all. An example might help. Let's say your son breaks a window. He apologizes. He is forgiven. But what about the window? Do we ignore the fact that the window is broken? As a parent, we have a right and a DUTY to serve some sort of corrective to our child. Some will make the child work or do extra chores. Spankings. Groundings. Take away the toy. In any case, the child must suffer some consequences for their action. Not only that, the child is punished for the sake of discipline and for developing virtue. God does that with us, as the Scripture tells us. He continues this in Purgatory.
Secondly, Purgatory is for purging away attachments and our vices that remain within our will and intellect after our death. Few of us will die with God as the treasure of our hearts, without pride, ego, or envy, for example. I imagine that our particular judgment, our opening of our eyes at the reality of God, we will PINE for God - it will be a suffering, one where we will let go of our wills that differ from God's.
Purgatory will be experienced by the majority of the saved.
Regards