Purgatory is Based on a Promise of Jesus

On this Feast of All Souls, I want to reflect on Purgatory as the necessary result of a promise. Many people think of Purgatory primarily in terms of punishment, but it is also important to consider it in terms of promise, purity, and perfection. Some of our deceased brethren are having the promises made to them perfected in Purgatory. In the month of November we are especially committed to praying for them and we know by faith that our prayers are of benefit to them.

What is the promise that points to Purgatory? Simply stated, Jesus made the promise in Matthew 5:48: You, therefore, must be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect. In this promise is an astonishing declaration of our dignity. We are to share in the very nature and perfection of God. This is our dignity: we are called to reflect and possess the very glory and perfection of God.

St. Catherine of Siena was gifted by the Lord to see a heavenly soul in the state of grace. Her account of it is related in her Dialogue, and is summarized in the Sunday School Teacherâ€™s Explanation of the Baltimore Catechism:

The Soul in the State of Graceâ€“ Catherine of Siena was permitted by God to see the beauty of a soul in the state of grace. It was so beautiful that she could not look on it; the brightness of that soul dazzled her. Blessed Raymond, her confessor, asked her to describe to him, as far as she was able, the beauty of the soul she had seen. St. Catherine thought of the sweet light of that morning, and of the beautiful colors of the rainbow, but that soul was far more beautiful. She remembered the dazzling beams of the noonday sun, but the light which beamed from that soul was far brighter. She thought of the pure whiteness of the lily and of the fresh snow, but that is only an earthly whiteness. The soul she had seen was bright with the whiteness of Heaven, such as there is not to be found on earth. â€ My father,â€ she answered. â€œI cannot find anything in this world that can give you the smallest idea of what I have seen. Oh, if you could but see the beauty of a soul in the state of grace, you would sacrifice your life a thousand times for its salvation. I asked the angel who was with me what had made that soul so beautiful, and he answered me, â€œIt is the image and likeness of God in that soul, and the Divine Grace which made it so beautiful.â€ [1].

So, I ask you, â€œAre you there yet?â€ God has made you a promise. But what if that promise has not yet been fulfilled and you were to die today, without the divine perfection you have been promised having been completed? I can only speak for myself and say that if I were to die today, though I am not aware of any mortal sin, I also know that I am not perfect. I am not even close to being humanly perfect, let alone having the perfection of our heavenly Father!

But Jesus made me a promise: You must be perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect. And the last time I checked, Jesus is a promise keeper! St. Paul says, May God who has begun a good work in you bring it to completion (Phil 1:6). Hence, if I were to die today, Jesus would need to complete a work that He has begun in me. By Godâ€™s grace, I have come a mighty long way. But I also have a long way to go. God is very holy and His perfection is beyond imagining.

Yes, there are many things in us that need purging: sin, attachment to sin, clinging to worldly things, and those rough edges to our personality. Likewise most of us carry with us hurts, regrets, sorrows, and disappointments. We cannot take any of this with us to Heaven. If we did, it wouldnâ€™t be Heaven. So the Lord, who is faithful to His promise, will purge all of this from us. The Book of Revelation speaks of Jesus ministering to the dead in that he will wipe every tear from their eyes (Rev 21:4). 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 speaks of us as passing through fire in order that our works be tested so that what is good may be purified and what is worldly may be burned away. And Job said, But he knows the way that I take; and when he has tested me, I will come forth as pure gold (Job 23:10).

Purgatory has to beâ€”gold, pure gold; refined, perfect, pure gold. Purgatory has to be, if Godâ€™s promises are to hold.

Catholic theology has always taken seriously Godâ€™s promise that we would actually be perfect as the Father is perfect. The righteousness is Jesusâ€™ righteousness, but it actually transforms us and changes us completely in the way that St. Catherine describes. It is a real righteousness, not merely imputed, not merely declared of us by inference. It is not an alien justice, but a personal justice by the grace of God.

Esse quam videri – Purgatory makes sense because the perfection promised to us is real: esse quam videri (to be rather than to seem). We must actually be purged of the last vestiges of imperfection, worldliness, sin, and sorrow. Having been made perfect by the grace of God, we are able to enter Heaven, of which Scripture says, Nothing impure will ever enter it (Rev 21:27). And again, you have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and countless angels in festal gathering, and the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, and God the judge of all, and the souls of the just made perfect (Heb 12:22-23).

How could it be anything less? Indeed, the souls of the just made perfect. How could it be anything less if Jesus died to accomplish it for us? Purgatory makes sense based on Jesusâ€™ promise and on the power of His blood to accomplish complete and total perfection for us. This is our dignity; this is our destiny. Purgatory is about promises, not mere punishment. Thereâ€™s an old Gospel hymn that I referenced in yesterdayâ€™s blog for the Feast of All Saints that says, â€œO Lord Iâ€™m running, trying to make a hundred. Ninety-nine and a half wonâ€™t do!â€

Thatâ€™s right, ninety-nine and a half wonâ€™t do. Nothing less than a hundred is possible because we have Jesusâ€™ promise and the wonderful working power of the precious Blood of the Lamb. For most, if not all of us, Purgatory has to be.

“Incomplete and therefore incorrect”

No. To be “in Christ” has meaning. To continue:

“Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death...

...However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him. 10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

To repeat: “But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”

ANYONE who belongs to Christ - who is “in Christ” to use the NT term - has the Spirit. It is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit that MAKES you a Christian:

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” - 1 Cor 12

And:

“So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh - 13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

To repeat again: “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

We do not obey to become children of God. We become children of God so we will obey:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” - Ephesians 2

There is no room for Purgatory. God’s sacrifice suffices:

“Christ did not therefore enter into any holy places made by human hands (however truly these may represent heavenly realities), but he entered Heaven itself to make his appearance before God as High Priest on our behalf. There is no intention that he should offer himself regularly, like the High Priest entering the holy of holies every year with the blood of another creature. For that would mean that he would have to suffer death every time he entered Heaven from the beginning of the world! No, the fact is that now, at this point in time, the end of the present age, he has appeared once and for all to abolish sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as surely as it is appointed for all men to die and after that pass to their judgment, so it is certain that Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many and after that, to those who look for him, he will appear a second time, not this time to deal with sin, but to bring them to full salvation.”

“he has appeared once and for all to abolish sin by the sacrifice of himself”

Not future tense. Not, “he partially atones for some sins, and you will need to be purified from the rest”. To say that is to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, and deny the Holy Spirit’s testimony of Jesus Christ. Yet that is what Purgatory is rooted in - a partial and insufficient atonement so that man must may further payment for sin.

No, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not extending any of these laws. He is explaining what He meant by the law. He is, after all, God:

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
(Psalms 19:7)

For example, in Matthew 5:

1. Anger.

Unjustified anger is a violation of Moses, even in the absence of physical murder, because it is an offense against the two greatest commandments, to love God, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The spiritual component has always been part of the law. It was suppressed by the the formalists, who made avoidance of the spirit of the law into an art form. The advice to reconcile is really about relationships. Twisting it into confirmation of spurious rabbinic traditions such as purging in the afterlife is an inversion of it's core meaning.

2. Lust.

Again, a man who loves his wife does not deprive her of his love by seeking pleasure from another woman. The first line crossed is a failure to love her the way he would want her to love him. All sin at the root is a violation of the principle of love, which is why Jesus made sure we knew that love was the greatest principle of the law. There is no new invention here. Just Jesus connecting dots in a way the Pharisees never would have seen.

3. Divorce.

We both know God hates divorce. He would never sanction it, else He would contradict Himself. Moses did permit a writ of divorce, based on "uncleanness," but the scholars were in a dispute. Was the "uncleanness" mentioned in Deuteronomy 24 any old thing (Hillel), or was it sexual immorality, unfaithfulness (Shammai). Jesus confirms the Shammai position, and stipulates that under Moses, rightly understood, divorcing a woman who was not guilty of unfaithfulness and subjecting her to remarriage was causing her to commit adultery, the onus being largely on the man who rejected her for some reason other than a breach of faithfulness. So no, this is not an extension of the law, but an illumination of the law as it existed.

4. Swearing Oaths

The problem Jesus is addressing is not oaths as they were meant to be, firm promises, which He never negated, but oaths as what they had become under the corrupt teaching of the Pharisees. Under them, oaths had become a game of crossed fingers, where if you didn't swear in a binding formula, you could break any promise and not be held to account under the law. It had become a safe way to lie with regularity. The whole meaning of "swearing" had been corrupted. Jesus takes his listeners, not to some bizarre new rule about never making promises, but back to the primitive truth about integrity, that a man's own word must be his bond, and you should do what you say you're going to do, and if you don't, you've fallen short of the righteousness of God, and the law of love.

5. Justice versus mercy

Jesus, being God, would never speak against one of the most basics principle of justice, the law of proportional punishment. But the Pharisees had perverted this good principle of the civil justice system and falsely used it to justify personal vengefulness. Jesus here is not abrogating justice, but He is insisting on a personal generosity of mercy. I do not have to extract perfect retaliation for every wrong done to me. As Peter says, love covers a multitude of sins. The person living in a world where they cannot forgive but must have justice for themselves at any price is living in a self-created hell. I have seen it. The law of God has never supported personal vengeance, no matter how "even-handed." There is no new law in this. Only a solemn reminder of our own need for mercy, both to give, and to receive.

6. Love your neighbor but hate your enemy?

Where is "hate your enemy" in the law of Moses? It is nowhere. It is not a law of God, but yet another perversion of the law foisted on the people of Israel by their failed Magisterium. Clearly here also, there is no extension of the law, but a critical correction of a gross misunderstanding or perhaps even willful misrepresentation of God's good law. Jesus teaches us to love our enemy, and this is consistent with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The law was not deficient. The law of the Lord is perfect. But the interpretation of "neighbor" had been perverted. Jesus corrects that error in the story of the Good Samaritan, where we learn the law of love is to apply even to those we would think of as our enemies. Yet it is Moses unvarnished and unaltered. All that was need was for the Law-Giver, who wrote it in the first place, to give His own explanation of it. And that's exactly what Jesus did.

Peace,

SR

FWIW, and I fail to see how it is relevant, here is Mark 7:21-23:

"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, 22 deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. 23 All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man."

Every Christian I know believes that we will be "perfect" in heaven. No more sinful actions and no more sinful movements of the heart. And weâ€™re right to believe so, Scripture teaches that â€œnothing unclean shall enterâ€ the Heavenly Jerusalem (Rev.21:27). So if the vast majority of us have imperfect hearts/souls at the moment of death, and yet we will be perfect when fully united to God in heaven, a cleansing must take place! Itâ€™s implicit in the understanding of all Christians; the Catholic Church is simply drawing our attention to it.

Christ refers to the sinner who "will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come" (Matt. 12:32), suggesting that one can be freed after death of the consequences of oneâ€™s sins. Similarly, Paul tells us that, when we are judged, each manâ€™s work will be tried. And what happens if a righteous manâ€™s work fails the test? "He will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire" (1 Cor 3:15). Now this loss, this penalty, canâ€™t refer to consignment to hell, since no one is saved there; and heaven canâ€™t be meant, since there is no suffering ("fire") there. The Catholic doctrine of purgatory alone explains this passage.

No, purgatory does not explain 1 Cor 3 effectively at all. Paul explains it well enough himself. As Mr. Rogers has repeatedly pointed out, the imagery is of deeds, already done, in pursuit of building the churches on the foundation of Christ. These deeds are of various materials, with some being flammable, and some being inflammable.

The fire is not literal, agreed? It is a metaphor for something. But what? If we say it is a fire that burns out impurities and imperfections of the soul, why then does Paul focus all his attention on deeds rather than natures? It really makes no sense.

Far more sense can be made if the fire is a metaphor for divine scrutiny applied to deeds already done in this life, and in this context, not any and all deeds, but those that allege to be for building the churches up on the foundation of Jesus.

So for example, we have various ecclesiastical types that frequent FR, and they make comments and look to build up their “caucus,” etc. But they do so using fleshly reasoning and are not being led by the Spirit of God, but by a long history of factionalism. And I’m not saying who is who. That could apply to anybody. But the point is, it isn’t a work of God, or else it isn’t a work done according to the plain teaching of the word of God. It falls short of being inflammable, and when reviewed by God will be shown up as wood, hay or stubble. The focus is deeds, and reward toward a specific kind of work. Not purgation of as-yet un-atoned sin.

As for the point you make about our imperfections all being set aside when we enter the afterlife, the purgatory solution assumes there is a residue of sins not yet covered by the atonement when a person dies. It does no good to claim this residue is covered by the atonement during purgation. They are mutually exclusive ideas. Christ suffered once for the sin. It would be unjust of God to render that punishment a second time.

If you say the purgation is not a punishment, just an “attitude adjustment” during your “entrance exam,” there is no Scriptural basis for this view. Romans 7 gives a much better account of why we will be free of our sin nature in Heaven. It is our old man, as Paul calls it. In our spirits we are already free. The atonement has expunged all of our guilt. Period. That’s forensic, judicial, a sentence of life passed in our favor due to the death of Christ in our place.

But we carry with us the memories and the impulses bound into our flesh by a lifetime of sin. Like Paul says, what we want to do, we fail at, what we want to avoid, we fall into it anyway. The momentum of the sinful nature. But it is a dead man walking. When we die, it really does just go away. That’s what dying is to the believer, full release from the body of this death, then a waiting for the resurrection, a new body, divine scrutiny for our deeds in the flesh, the administration of rewards, and the enjoyment of the direct presence of our Savior forever. Absent from the body, and present with the Lord. No “green room.” It is never painted any other way for the individual New Covenant believer.

So no, Purgatory solves nothing. Instead it creates a nettlesome set of unsolvable problems regarding the nature and application of the atonement, which no advocate of Purgatory can resolve, as demonstrated by threads such as this.

Peace,

No, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is not extending any of these laws. He is explaining what He meant by the law. He is, after all, God:

3. Divorce.

We both know God hates divorce. He would never sanction it, else He would contradict Himself. Moses did permit a writ of divorce, based on "uncleanness," but the scholars were in a dispute. Was the "uncleanness" mentioned in Deuteronomy 24 any old thing (Hillel), or was it sexual immorality, unfaithfulness (Shammai). Jesus confirms the Shammai position, and stipulates that under Moses, rightly understood, divorcing a woman who was not guilty of unfaithfulness and subjecting her to remarriage was causing her to commit adultery, the onus being largely on the man who rejected her for some reason other than a breach of faithfulness. So no, this is not an extension of the law, but an illumination of the law as it existed.

It seems to me that you are inserting the idea that adultery is grounds for divorce. The word was not used in Deuteronomy or Matthew as a valid reason for divorce, and the woman taken in adultery was not stoned. I don't see how you can argue adultery is a valid reason for divorce, and you would say instead, like the disciples, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.

Okay, so He is explaining what He meant by the law which for more than a thousand years was interpreted and applied differently, because of the hardness of their hearts, so that it is now recognized as a change in the law. It sure seems, by the text, that the Messiah is restricting divorce and remarriage, which Moses permitted, and returning to a more ideal standard not codified in the Law. The apostles certainly recognized it as being extended or restricted, by their reaction to it here:

When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife. And if the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth it in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be his wife; Her former husband, which sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD: and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery. His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.

Deuteronomy, Catholic chapter twenty four, Protestant verses one to four,
Matthew, Catholic chapter nineteen, Protestant verses three to twelve,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James
bold and underline emphasis mine

“Which Bible version are you quoting, and why are you deleting part of the verse ? Are you deleting part of the verse on purpose ?”

New American Standard Bible:

“1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” - Romans 8

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans+8&version=NASB

“Catholic Answers” gives their assessment of the NASB here:

http://www.catholic.com/tracts/bible-translations-guide

New American Bible: “1 Hence, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has freed you from the law of sin and death.”

Yes, now I see what you did. You used a translation that omits the second portion of the verse which is in the Greek Textus Receptus/Majority Text. You can see the omission and symmetry in this comparison:

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God [did]: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Romans, Catholic chapter eight, Protestant verses one to four,
Romans, Catholic chapter eight, Protestant verses one to four,
Authorized Version vs. NASB:

1 Cor 3 is easy to interpret. Paul does it for us. Some minister IAW God’s will, building up the church effectively. Some do not. God’s judgment will reveal which is which. Those who build well, following God’s will, are going to see a reward. Those who were Christians, but who succumbed to the temptation to build up their numbers by preaching what men WANT to hear, will find out they did nothing worthwhile to advance the kingdom of God. They will still be saved as individuals, but they enter heaven without any of the reward they were expecting.

And many pastors of small churches who labored in poverty will be rewarded, and many mega-church ‘worship leaders’ will enter heaven with a new humility.

The lesson is clear: “each man must be careful how he builds”. And for those of us who are not pastors, the lesson is also clear - many will build what looks impressive to man while doing nothing to advance the Kingdom of Heaven. We should seek pastors who labor the way God wants, relying on His power and preaching His word rather than tickling ears.

No one reading this passage with unbiased ears will conclude men are only partially cleansed by the blood of the Lamb, and need to suffer additional punishments to be able to enter heaven. That statement is utter heresy, contradicting the entire Bible. GOD has chosen who he will save - “whosoever believes”. And GOD has chosen what a man must do - “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved..”. Or, in the words of Jesus Christ Himself when asked “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”:

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

Those who repent and believe will be changed, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” (Romans 8). But there is no getting around it, thank God! It is GOD’S POWER, not ours - and God has not failed!

“And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” - Col 2

“having forgiven us all our trespasses...nailing it to the cross.”

In the words of a hymn:

In the old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine
Such a wonderful beauty I see
For ‘twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died
To pardon and sanctify me.
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down,
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it someday for a crown.

The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. (Psalms 19:7)

Have you seen the word translated perfect before perhaps ?

These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

Genesis, Catholic chapter six, Protestant verse nine,
Genesis, Catholic chapter seventeen, Protestant verse one,
Genesis, Catholic chapter twenty five, Protestant verse twenty seven,
Job, Catholic chapter one, Protestant verse one,
as authorized, but not authored, by King James
boldness mine

If we say it is a fire that burns out impurities and imperfections of the soul, why then does Paul focus all his attention on deeds rather than natures?

Because St. Paul, being thoroughly Catholic, believes that sin is a work rather than a nature. Start with a calvinist premise of "total depravity" and not only this passage but about 80% of the Gospel becomes a hopeless riddle.

not any and all deeds, but those that allege to be for building the churches

It sound like in your effort to erase this passage you want to reduce it to the works of carpenters and masons. The Epistle though speaks of the whole human being a God's building. Then the whole works of a man are purged when imperfect, not just some isolated case of it. Indeed St. Paul repeats "every man's work" many times.

the purgatory solution assumes there is a residue of sins not yet covered by the atonement when a person die

No, it doesn't. That is simply a slander that your repeat because then an argument can be built of alleged insufficiency of Christ's work on the Cross. The residue of sin is not sin; the sin was erased when the sin was confessed and absolved, entirely, through the merits of Christ salvific work. The residue, while not sin, represents an impurity of which the soul is purified. Through Whose merits is the impurity in Purgatory? Through Christ, entirely.

If you say the purgation is not a punishment

The Holy Scripture says it is akin to punishment; it is a "loss"; and conversely justification also involves punishment, e.g. penance, as appropriate.

he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved

When we die, it really does just go away

You can believe whatever you please, but I got a scripture in front of you and me that explains how.

“Because St. Paul, being thoroughly Catholic, believes that sin is a work rather than a nature.”

Except the flame in 1 Cor 3 is being applied to the building, not the builder:

“He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.

10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it.”

The individual is the “builder”, and he is building up the Church. It is not the builder that is flamed, but the building - to see if the builder worked in stone or straw.

“The Epistle though speaks of the whole human being a God’s building.”

Nope. The person doing the work is the BUILDER. Not the BUILDING. He is the PLANTER, not the FIELD.

“The residue, while not sin, represents an impurity of which the soul is purified.”

God says he forgets the sin.

“11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” - Psalms 103

And again: “God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.”

Set aside. It is gone. The Judge has declared us innocent: “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.”

You write: “The Holy Scripture says it is akin to punishment; it is a “loss”.

No. The poor builder thought he had done great things but then finds out God placed no value on it - he was building the church with straw. Again - ZERO mention of sin or impurity. Nothing to punish. Nothing is removed from the builder’s soul. But “ each one’s work will become manifest” - not his moral life, not his sin, but the work he did on the building. He loses a REWARD, not impurities that the blood of Jesus was not able to handle.

You cannot take the verses out of context. The church is described as a field, or a building, being labored on by ministers:

“For when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human?

5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. 8 He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. 9 For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.”

“I am Catholic. I don’t “interpret”. That is what Protestant charlatans do. You just did. You turn the focus from purgation by burning to admonition to build carefully.”

You not only interpret, you completely explain away the obvious meaning and substitute another. Indeed, this IS my interpretation - if a direct quote is an interpretation:

“Let each one take care how he builds upon it.” - 1 Cor 3.10 - an “admonition to build carefully”.

“Enough already with this canard.”

III. THE FINAL PURIFICATION, OR PURGATORY

1030 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.

http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p123a12.htm#1031

“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified” - Catechism of the Catholic Church 1030. Heresy. Blaspheming the Holy Spirit by rejecting the Spirit’s testimony of what Christ did. God will damn those who wrote CCC1030.

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Purgatory is Based on a Promise of Jesusâ€™