“TETELESTAI”
By Matt Leasher
"So when Jesus had
received the sour
wine, He said, “It
is finished!” And
bowing His head, He
gave up His spirit.”
(John 19:30)
Recently I have received emails in
disagreement with my
statement in my
article “The Simple
Truth” about the
non-existence of the
so-called
intermediate state
between heaven and
hell called
purgatory.
The
disagreement is
centralized on
traditional
doctrines and
beliefs of a certain
religious
denomination rather
than on the
infallible
trustworthy Word of
God.
The belief in
this intermediate
place is that people
that die in a state
of grace are sent
there after death to
be purified of their
sins before they can
enter into the
holiness of heaven.
The only ones that
will bypass
purgatory and go
straight to heaven
are baptized infants
and people that
lived such holy
lives that they are
categorized as being
a “saint”, and this
determination is
done here on earth!
According to
this religious
doctrine, the degree
of one’s
purification is in
relation to the
amount of sin that
has to be remitted
for, making each
person’s atonement
for sin a unique act
of its own.
When determining things that pertain to the
spiritual afterlife,
(which can’t be seen
here on earth),
there is only one
source that has the
reliable answers –
the Bible.
The Bible has
consistently proven
itself reliable from
accurately fulfilled
prophecy, historical
documentation,
archeological
findings, manuscript
evidence, and the
life changing power
of Scriptures
themselves.
Modern day
Israel is a
manifestation of
almost all of these
things just within
itself.
With that
said, we can turn to
the Bible for our
answers to all
things of God with
confidence.
So we now
must ask ourselves,
is the doctrine of
purgatory Biblical?
Does it line
up with the Word of
God or does it
contradict the Word
of God?
Does the
Bible indicate
anything of such a
place?
Lets break it
down and see.
First let’s see what the Bible says about life
after death before
Jesus died for our
sins on the cross.
Throughout the Old
Testament we see the
reference to Sheol
as the abiding place
for the dead. A few
examples are Job
17:16, Psalm 16:10,
Psalm 86:13, Isaiah
5:14, Jonah 2:2,
(NKJV), to name a
few. Sheol had two
partitions to it.
There was one side
of comfort and
another side of
torment. In Luke
16:19-31 Jesus tells
the real life story,
(not a parable), of
the rich man and
Lazarus. In the
story the rich man
dies and ends up in
Hades, (the torment
side of Sheol now
known as Hell) and
Lazarus is taken to
Abraham’s bosom,
a.k.a. Paradise,
which was a place of
comfort and the
waiting place for
all of the Old
Testament saints
until Jesus died on
the cross and went
down to release them
from there to then
accompany Him into
Heaven.
This is the
promise that the Old
Testament saints put
their faith in that
is spoken of in
Hebrews chapter 11,
(see Hebrews 11:13).
Jesus foretold that this “releasing of the
captives” was part
of His divine
mission of His first
coming. When He
entered the
synagogue after His
temptation in the
wilderness He was
handed the scroll of
Isaiah where Jesus
quoted His own words
saying:
“The Spirit of the
Lord is upon Me,
because He has
anointed Me, to
preach the gospel to
the poor; He has
sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set at
liberty those who
are oppressed;
(Luke 4:18)
The
liberty to the
captives He
was speaking of was
the releasing of
those in Abraham’s
bosom, (a.k.a.
Paradise), when He
descended into Hell.
The apostle Paul
also spoke of this
event:
“Therefore He says:
When He ascended on
high,
He led captivity
captive, and
gave gifts to men.
NNow this, “He
ascended” – what
does it mean but
that He also first
descended into the
lower parts of the
earth? He who
descended is also
the One who ascended
far above all the
heavens, that He
might fill all
things.” (Ephesians
4:8-10)
On an interesting note, the thief on the cross next
to Jesus was the
last person that
would enter into
Paradise.o:p>
“And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you,
today you will be
with Me in
Paradise.” (Luke
23:43)
Every blood bought believer after this would now go
directly into heaven
to be with Christ,
for the time had now
come for the
captives in the
Paradise partition
of Sheol to be set
free, as Jesus had
foretold in the
synagogue.
So we can see that in the Old Testament times,
before the Cross,
there was
undoubtedly no
intermediate place
where souls went
after death for
purification.
It was either
Paradise or Torment
in Sheol.
Now what does
the Bible say about
where we go
after Jesus
made the atonement
for the sins of the
world?
The apostle
Paul states very
clearly that for the
believer to be
absent from the body
is to be present
with the Lord, (2
Corinthians 5:8),
and that to depart
from the flesh is to
be present with
Christ, (1
Philippians
1:22-23).
We can’t be
in a place where we
are still bearing
sin that needs to be
purged and in the
direct presence of
the Lord at the same
time. This brings us
to the purpose of
being
justified by the blood of Christ while we are here on earth. Romans
5:9 says:
“Much more then,
having now been
justified by His
blood, we shall be
saved from wrath
through Him”.
(Romans 5:9)
What does it mean to be justified?
Being
justified means that
we are acquitted of
our crime, the slate
is wiped clean, our
rap sheet is now
blank, as if we had
never sinned and
broken the Law and
we can now be deemed
righteous. We can
only attain this by
faith in the
sacrificial blood of
Christ, (Romans 3:28
& Galatians 3:24).
It is a free
gift from God given
to us by grace.
“…being justified
freely by His grace
through the
redemption that is
in Christ Jesus”,
(Romans 3:24)
We attain this justification the moment we believe
and become born
again in Jesus
Christ, (Romans
4:5).
That means
that we attain this
justification while
we are here on
earth,
NOT after we
die.
This in
itself eliminates
the need or purpose
of an after-death
intermediate place
for one to be
purified or purged
for their sin.
We are
already made
justified in God’s
eyes although we
still have to deal
with sin while here
on earth. Jesus had
become sin for us,
(2
Corinthians 5:21),
when He bore our
sins on the Cross.
The doctrine of
purgatory is a great
insult to the
finished work of
Christ’s sacrifice.
It is saying that
His atonement is
insufficient for our
salvation and that
it isn’t finished.
Yet just
before Jesus took
His last breath on
the cross He said,
“It is finished”,
(John 19:30).
In the Greek, the phrase, “it is finished”, is
written as one word
–
“tetelestai”.
Business
documents or tax
receipts in the
first century A.D.
bore the word
“tetelestai” across
the document to show
that the bill had
been
paid in full.
In early New
Testament times the
readers of John’s
gospel would clearly
understand that
Jesus had died to
pay the full debt
for their sins when
they read the word
“tetelestai” on the
section of the
scroll that we now
know as John chapter
19, verse 30.
This means
that Jesus had fully
paid the debt owed
by the sinner.
There is
nothing more to be
done!
How could one walk with confidence in Christ and be
free of the guilt of
sin if the atonement
for sin hadn’t been
completely
accomplished?
It would mean
that we wouldn’t be
able to look to the
Cross as the
complete removal of our
sins and yet that is
one of the main
central foundations
of Christianity.
Without the reliable
completeness
of Christ’s
sacrifice what kind
of glorious hope
would we have?
We are
sanctified to God
because we have
passed out of
condemnation,
“Therefore, there is
now no condemnation
for those who are in
Christ” (Romans
8:1), leaving
nothing that is
needed for us to do
but to trust in
Christ with all of
our faith. Since we
are no longer
condemned we will
not stand before
Christ in judgment
of sin but rather in
judgment of our
service to Him for
our rewards, (1
Corinthians 3:15).
Being
justified by faith
we will not only
escape damnation but
in Hebrews 10:17 the
Lord says,
“Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more”.
Once again we
can see there is no
need for purgatory.
“And it is appointed
for men to die once,
but after this the
judgment,” (Hebrews
9:27)
The writer of Hebrews certainly wasn’t instructed
by the Holy Spirit
to inform us of an
intermediate place
of purification when
he wrote the above
verse. Judgment
means heaven or hell
and this comes after
men die once.
Not after
purification in
purgatory and not
after being
reincarnated over
and over again until
perfected, for
anyone that believes
in reincarnation.
Both heaven
and hell is the
abiding place for
souls, whether in
comfort or in
torment, waiting for
their coming
resurrection days.
“And many of those
who sleep in the
dust of the earth
shall awake, some to
everlasting life,
some to shame and
contempt.” (Daniel
12:2)
When Christ comes he will resurrect His church,
(faithful believers)
at the Rapture, (1
Thessalonians
4:15-17), and then
the Old Testament
saints at the end of
the Tribulation
along with the
believers that
accepted Christ and
died during the
Tribulation,
(Revelation 20:46).
All of the
unrighteous wicked
will be resurrected
at the end of the
thousand year reign
of Christ on earth
to face the White
Throne Judgment
(Revelation
20:11-15) and then
sent into eternal
punishment in the
Lake of Fire.
Until then
the spirits of the
righteous are in
comfort in heaven
and the spirits of
the unrighteous are
in torment in hell
awaiting the
Judgment. Hell is
like a holding cell
for a prisoner who
is waiting for his
sentencing to then
be sent to the
penitentiary.
He has
already been
convicted.
Throughout
all of this the
Bible mentions no
intermediate state
– its Heaven or
Hell!
One of the most commonly misinterpreted Scriptures
that is used for a
Biblical
documentation for
the existence of
purgatory is Matthew
5:26 but when viewed
in context it is
simply an allegory
that Jesus is using
to prove a point
about retaining
murderous anger in
one’s heart.
Starting from
verse 25 it says:
“Agree with your
adversary quickly,
while you are on the
way with him, lest
your adversary
deliver you to the
judge, the judge
hand you over to the
officer, and you be
thrown into prison.
Assuredly, I
say to you, you will
by no means get out
of there till you
have paid the last
penny.” (Matthew
5:25-26)
What Jesus was speaking about here is that we can’t
be right with God
and have a murderous
hate for someone
else at the same
time.
We need to
forgive as we have
been forgiven. Jesus
was giving an
allegory of a debtor
that is thrown into
prison and remains
there until his debt
is paid, (a common
literal
situation in Jesus’
day). So until we
settle our
differences with our
brother, (pay the
last penny), we
cannot bring our
sacrifices to the
altar, (vs. 23).
This passage
actually has nothing
to do with anything
about death. It is
all about settling
our differences
while here on earth.
This is a
typical case of
taking a Scripture
and metaphorically
molding into what
the interpreter
wants it to say
rather than for what
it says on its own.
Even if that
verse was speaking
about purgatory, we
can’t pay our own
debt of sin, we may
suffer the
consequences of our
sin, but Christ paid
our debt.
Purgatory is in firm contradiction to the
Scriptures.
We have to
wonder how something
so blatantly
contradictory to
Scripture has
obtained such a
long-time
recognition.
The answer is
mainly due to lack
of availability to
the Scriptures when
this doctrine was
originated. The
belief in purgatory
is basically all
that it is – a
belief.
Anyone can
believe something,
propose it to an
audience lacking
Biblical knowledge
and if it sounds
good it can quickly
gain wide momentum.
This is the
case of the false
doctrine of
purgatory.
It wasn’t
until the Protestant
Reformation in the
16th
century that Bibles
began to become
available to the
general public where
the common man could
now absorb the truth
and the concept of
purgatory began to
be realized for the
false doctrine that
it is.
So in this
day and age where we
have Bibles in an
incredible abundance
why would someone
still embrace the
doctrine of
purgatory? They are
either: 1.) Fully
devoted to the
traditions and
doctrines of their
denomination and/or
religion. 2.) They
are not grounded in
the Word of God. 3.)
They are lukewarm in
their trust and
faith in Jesus
Christ as their
personal Savior,
leaving them unable
to discern the
truth.
All of this
just exemplifies the
importance of
reading our Bibles
daily as opposed to
just following
religious doctrines.
If we only
let clergy leaders
determine for us the
things of God how do
we know if it is
really correct?
We don’t!
We all need
to be like the
Bereans in Acts 17
that didn’t just
accept the apostle
Paul’s preaching but
searched the
Scriptures to see if
what he said was
correct.
“These were more
fair-minded than
those in
Thessalonica, in
that they received
the word with all
readiness, and
searched the
Scriptures daily to
find out whether
these things were
so. (Acts 17:11)
The Lord has given us His Word as a go to place for
the correct answers
when we are
presented with
life’s dilemmas.
Sometimes the Truth
may not be what we
always want to hear
but it is honest and
sure and most
importantly always
for our protection.
With that
said, the fact that
this man-made
doctrine of a place
called purgatory
isn’t in the Bible
is good news for
those that search
the Scriptures for
their answers. After
all, haven’t we’ve
already done enough
suffering here in
this world and even
more importantly
Christ has suffered
enough for all of us
as far as the
punishment for sin
goes.
So if you
have put your faith
and trust in Jesus
Christ and His work
of atonement that He
has accomplished on
the cross, then you
can rest in peace
knowing that –
it is finished!