Hades and Purgatory

SpreadersQuestions and Answers

Dear John,

Last week you convinced me Hades and hell are two different things. After all, they are two different words. (See the bulletin for April 26th.) But my cousin says Hades and Purgatory are the same thing. What do you think?
Signed,
Listening N. Backrow

 

Dear Listening,

I think Purgatory is a ski resort in Colorado. The word “Purgatory” isn’t found in the Bible at all. Roman Catholics believe:

Purgatory (Lat., “purgare”, to make clean, to purify) in accordance with Catholic teaching is a place or condition of temporal punishment for those who, departing this life in God’s grace, are, not entirely free from venial faults, or have not fully paid the satisfaction due to their transgressions.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

 

This is wrong on so many different levels. The Catholic Church teaches that even though your sins have been forgiven by the sacrifice of Christ, you still may have some unforgiven sins that must be punished. They believe even Christians must suffer an appropriate amount of time to account for those sins. Now the good news for Catholics is, they believe some people – the “saints” – were so good they had more than enough good credits to go to heaven. As a result there are some extra credits that the saints are willing to share. Therefore, for the appropriate contribution, the priests will ask the saints to give your loved ones some of that extra goodness so your loved one won’t have to suffer so long in Purgatory. Convenient (and profitable), but absolutely not taught in Scripture.

Their justification for their belief in Purgatory is Hades – the unseen waiting place of departed souls. Since there is an “unseen world,” Roman Catholics claim that place must be Purgatory.

The foundation of this belief is common enough. Many people – perhaps most people – believe we get what we deserve. Good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. The corollary of this belief is, if you do something bad you must do something good to atone for your sin. This is known as “salvation by works” and it is totally contradicted by the Bible.

While Christians believe we need to strive to be good, we are not saved because we are good. We are saved by grace. Grace is the free gift of God (Romans 3:24). It has to be that way because there is no way we can be good enough on our own. Once we sin (and we all sin, Romans 3:23), we become a sinner and sin separates us from God.

Now consider the practical implications of this belief. Salvation by works results in a paranoid lifestyle. We are always “balancing the books” – counting up our good deeds and our bad deeds. We always worry which way the scales are tipping.

On the other hand, Christians believe since we are saved by grace, we constantly try to be good, not because we have to, but because we are grateful. Our life becomes an “attitude of gratitude.” Now let’s grab our skis and visit the only Purgatory worth talking about!

Hades and Hell

View from Santa Teresa
View from Santa Teresa

Dear John,

I always thought Hades and hell were the same thing, but in a recent sermon you said we all go to Hades – unless Jesus comes first. Can you explain?
Signed,
Listening N. Backrow

 

Dear Listening,

“Hades” is just a Greek word that means “unseen.” It is not the same as hell (Gehenna, Matthew 5:22, 29, 30; 10:28, and elsewhere). The word Hades describes either the place or the state where we will wait for the end of the world when Jesus comes again. Of course our bodies return to the earth while we wait for the resurrection, but what happens to our souls in the meantime? We wait in the unseen world: Hades.

Does Hades describe a state or a place? Many Christians think the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man (Luke 6:19 ff.) refers to this unseen world, Hades. They point out that because the brothers of the Rich Man are still alive, the end of the world hasn’t come yet. That means the final judgment hasn’t happened either. Lazarus and the Rich Man are in the unseen waiting place, Hades, but they are in two very different parts. Lazarus is in the bosom of Abraham while the Rich Man is in torment.

People who believe Hades is a location even have a name for both parts of this place. Jesus promised the penitent thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise,” (Luke 22:43). He didn’t say “Today you will be with me in heaven.” The final judgment hasn’t happened yet, so paradise must refer to the place where Lazarus is being comforted. It’s a good place! On the other hand, Peter talks about a place where the rebellious angels are waiting for judgment (2 Peter 2:4). Some English Bibles say this place is “hell,” but notice the footnotes. The Greek word isn’t the usual one for hell (Gehenna). It’s called Tartarus. Could this be the name for the place in Hades where the soul of the Rich Man is being punished?

On the other hand, some Christians believe Hades describes a state or a condition where the soul is apart from the body. The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed,” that is, our body, “we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens,” that is, our future resurrection body. Paul continues, “For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked,” (2 Corinthians 5:1-3). In other words, to be a soul apart from a body is similar to being naked. So where does a righteous soul wait for the Day of Judgment? According to the Revelation, perhaps under the altar in heaven (Revelation 6:9 ff.).

While I believe the Bible teaches unless Jesus comes first, we will all die, I don’t believe we have enough evidence to be certain if Hades is an unseen waiting place or an unseen state. But which would you choose? To wait in the beautiful Paradise of God or to wait with the martyrs in heaven? Either way, it sounds like we can’t loose!

The Blessing of Words

DSC_0086“Ahhh chooo!” he sneezed and someone piped up, “Bless you!”

That’s an old custom left over from when people believed sneezes were caused by demons and we needed God’s help to overcome the sniffles. Perhaps times have changed. We no longer believe colds are caused by demons, but we also rarely think about blessings either.

The Apostle Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians by declaring, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,” (Ephesians 1:3, ESV), but what does that mean? The New Century Bible changes the wording a little bit to have Paul say, “Praise be to the God.” (See the Contemporary English Version and others.) This recognizes that there are two Greek words in the New Testament translated “bless.”

We know the first one from Jesus’ Beatitudes (Matthew 5:2 ff.), where each phrase begins, “Blessed are ….” That word, makarios, has the sense “congratulations,” “fortunate,” or “happy.” In other words, if you practice this quality, you will be happy.

The second word translated “blessed” is eulogetos. It is an adjective, a description, which portrays something as “worthy of praise.” This is the interesting part: this word is only used of God the Father or Jesus. They are so fantastic that only they are truly praiseworthy. Everything and everyone else pales in comparison.

Now let’s take our new found knowledge and use it to help us understand what Paul was telling the Ephesians: God is blessed – he is worthy of praise! (Spend some time thinking about why God is worthy of praise.) God is blessed! But that isn’t all Paul tells us. Out of his bounty of blessings, God gives some of that quality to us. His blessings rub off on us through our relationship with Jesus. To the extent Jesus is Lord of our lives, we receive the blessings of God!

Still there is more. We might think about earthly blessings: a new car, a shiny new gadget – my wish list goes on and on – but the problem with earthly blessings is new cars become old, gadgets new to be replaced, and none of the possessions I might desire will ever really satisfy me. That’s why the blessings that come from God are “spiritual blessings.” They make me a better person. God’s blessings just get better and better with time. But that’s not all. These blessings aren’t earthbound. They are “in the heavenly places.” That means unlike anything else in my life, the blessings of God will travel with me into eternity! Now that’s something worth getting excited about.