For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:11-15
The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory is elaborated from a passage of St. Paul's first letter to the Church at Corinth. He speaks of a man's works being gold, silver, precious stones (good works) or wood, hay, stubble (bad works), and that the fire of God's judgment tests the man's works as such, revealing their true nature. The former three materials do not perish in fire: they are righteous works. The latter three materials are burned up by it, for they are sinful blemishes which compromise the integrity of Christian life, yet are not so spiritually damaging as to forfeit salvation. The man himself, though he has works of the latter, is not condemned along with them and is saved, yet he still must pass through the fire himself. He is "... saved, but only as through fire."
The Scriptures speak of God and his Kingdom being pure and undefiled, for nothing unholy or unclean can enter heaven (Rv. 21:27). Heaven is inhabited not merely by the just, but specifically by the just made perfect. (Hb. 12:23), for without a certain level of holiness, no one sees God (cf. Hb. 12:14.)
Sin effects us both in eternity and in the here-and-now. While the eternal consequences, that is, our guilt and separation from God, having already been done washed awayin His mercy, the temporal effects of those sins often still remain upon our souls. So what should happen if someone dies having been a true Christian, and yet his process of sanctification was incomplete at the time of his departure, and still had remnants of sin in his heart? Is such a person, whom God justified, not admitted into the Kingdom? By no means! However, still not yet being perfected in his regenerated human nature, there needs to be a purgation which cleanses the man of his imperfection. This is precisely what Purgatory is: the consuming fire of God which burns away the defects of our earthly moral lives and prepares us for the eternal joys of heaven.
A useful image is that of the prophet Isaiah, who was filled with dread upon beholding the presence of God, because he knew he was guilty of blasphemy, having lived among a blasphemous people. What happened to him? A seraph approached him, carrying a burning hot coal from the altar of God, and applied it to Isaiah's lips, saying "Now that this has touched your lips, your sin has departed and your guilt is blotted out." (Isaiah 6:1-7) His guilt had to be purged away by the divine ember in order to stand worthily in the presence of God.
This understanding, though it was not given the name "Purgatory" until later, was familiar and well utilized among the fathers of the early Christian church. Though the first quote in this post comes from the mid 3rd century, it is certainly not the earliest Christian writing to comment on the concept of chastisement in the afterlife prior to entry into heaven: late 2nd/3rd century writers Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria both speak of it, as well as such documents such as the mid-late 2nd century The Acts of Paul and Thecla, and the later Martyrdom of Felicity and Perpetua, reasonably predate it.
This post will hone in on the imagery of post-mortem fire in the understanding of the Early Church. This will show that the same concept in the medieval Latin West can be found within an earlier form of Christianity: that a Christian's post-baptismal imperfections, should any remain after death, will need to be 'burned away" in order to step foot into the Kingdom of Heaven.
Origen of Alexandria (AD 184-253), Homilies on Jeremiah, c. AD 244
For if on the foundation of Christ you have built not only gold and silver and precious stones; but also wood and hay and stubble, what do you expect when the soul shall be separated from the body? Would you enter into heaven with your wood and hay and stubble and thus defile the kingdom of God; or on account of these hindrances would you remain without and receive no reward for your gold and silver and precious stones; Neither is this just. It remains then that you be committed to the fire which will burn the light materials; for our God to those who can comprehend heavenly things is called a cleansing fire.
St. Cyprian of Carthage (AD c. 200-258), Letters 51:20
For to adulterers even a time of repentance is granted by us, and peace is given. Yet virginity is not therefore deficient in the Church, nor does the glorious design of continence languish through the sins of others. The Church, crowned with so many virgins, flourishes; and chastity and modesty preserve the tenor of their glory. Nor is the vigour of continence broken down because repentance and pardon are facilitated to the adulterer. It is one thing to stand for pardon, another thing to attain to glory: it is one thing, when cast into prison, not to go out thence until one has paid the uttermost farthing; another thing at once to receive the wages of faith and courage. It is one thing, tortured by long suffering for sins, to be cleansed and long purged by fire; another to have purged all sins by suffering. It is one thing, in fire, to be in suspense till the sentence of God at the day of judgment; another to be at once crowned by the Lord.
St. Ambrose of Milan (AD 340-397), Explanation of Psalm 118, 3:14-17
There is not one baptism only. One is that which the Church administers here by water and the Holy Ghost. Another is the baptism of suffering, whereby each is cleansed by his own blood. There is also a baptism at the entrance of Paradise. This last baptism did not exist in the beginning; but after the sinner was driven out of Paradise, God set there a fiery sword…. But though there be a purgation here, there must be a second purification there, that each of us, burnt but not burnt up by that fiery sword, may enter into the delight of Paradise. But this fire whereby involuntary and casual sins are burnt away… is different from that which the Lord assigned to the devil and his angels, of which he says, Enter into everlasting fire.
St. Jerome (AD 347-420), Against Jovinianus 2:22
To the Corinthians he says: (1 Cor. 3:6-15) "I have planted, Apollos watered: but God gave the increase. So then, neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth: but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God, ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building." And again elsewhere: "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder I laid a foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay, than thai which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if any man buildeth on the foundation, gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble: each man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall reveal it, because it is revealed in fire: and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire." If the man whose work is burnt and is to suffer the loss of his labour, while he himself is saved, yet not without proof of fire: it follows that if a man's work remains which he has built upon the foundation, he will be saved without probation by fire, and consequently a difference is established between one degree of salvation and another .
St. Augustine of Hippo (AD 354-430), Expositions on the Psalms 38[37]:2
"O Lord, rebuke me not in Your indignation; neither chasten me in Your hot displeasure." For it will be that some shall be chastened in God's "hot displeasure", and "rebuked in His indignation". And haply not all who are "rebuked" will be "chastened"; yet are there some that are to be saved in the chastening. So it is to be indeed, because it is called chastening, but yet it shall be "so as by fire". But there are to be some who will be "rebuked", and will not be corrected. For he will at all events "rebuke" those to whom He will say, "I was an hungred, and you gave me no meat." "Neither chasten me in Your hot displeasure;" so that You may cleanse me in this life, and make me such, that I may after that stand in no need of the cleansing fire, for "those who are to be saved, yet so as by fire."Why? Why, but because they "build upon the foundation, wood, stubble, and hay." Now they should "build on it, gold, silver, and precious stones"; and should have nothing to fear from either fire: not only that which is to consume the ungodly for ever, but also that which is to purge those who are to escape through the fire. For it is said, "he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire." And because it is said, "he shall be saved", that fire is thought lightly of. For all that, though we should be saved by fire, yet will that fire be more grievous than anything that man can suffer in this life whatsoever.
St. Caesarius of Arles (AD 470-543), Sermon 179
Although the Apostle has mentioned many grevious sins, we nevertheless, lest we seem to promote despair, will state briefly what they are. Sacrilege, murder, adultery, false witness, theft, robbery, pride, envy, avarice, and, if it is of long standing, anger, drunkenness, if it persistent, and slander are reckoned in their number. For if anyone knows that any of these sins dominates him, if he does not do penance worthily and for a long time, if such time is given him, and if he does not give abundant alms and abstain from those same sins, he cannot be purged in that transitory fire of which the Apostle spoke [1 Cor 3], but the eternal flames will torture him without any remedy. But since the lesser sins are, of course, known to all, and it would take too long to mention them all, it will be necessary for us only to name some of them. As often as someone takes more than is necessary in food or drink, he knows that this belongs to the lesser sins. As often as he says more than he should or is silent more than is proper; as often as he rudely exasperates a poor beggar; as often as he wills to eat when others are fasting, although he is in good physical health, and rises too late for church because he surrendered himself to sleep; as often as he knows his wife without a desire to have children….without a doubt he commits sin. There is no doubt that these and similar deeds belong to the lesser sins which, as I said before, can scarcely be counted and from which not only all Christian people, but even all the Saints, could not and cannot always be free. We do not, of course, believe that the soul is killed by these sins; but still, they make it ugly by covering it as if with some kind of pustules and, as it were, with horrible scabs, which allow the soul to come only with difficulty to the embrace of the heavenly Spouse, of whom it is written: ‘He prepared for Himself a Church having neither spot nor blemish’…If we neither give thanks to God in tribulations nor redeem our own sins by good works, we shall have to remain in that purgaotrial fire as long as it takes for those above-mentioned lesser sins to be consumed like wood and straw and hay. But someone is saying: ‘It is nothing to me how long I stay there, so long as I go finally to eternal life’. Let no one say that, beloved brethren, because that purgatorial fire itself will be more difficult than any punishments that can be seen or imagined or felt in this life
St. Gregory the Great (AD 540-604), Dialogues Bk 4, chp 39
But yet we must believe that before the day of judgment there is a Purgatory fire for certain small sins: because our Saviour saith, that he which speaketh blasphemy against the holy Ghost, that it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. Out of which sentence we learn, that some sins are forgiven in this world, and some other may be pardoned in the next: for that which is denied concerning one sin, is consequently understood to be granted touching some other. But yet this, as I said, we have not to believe but only concerning little and very small sins, as, for example, daily idle talk, immoderate laughter, negligence in the care of our family (which kind of offences scarce can they avoid, that know in what sort sin is to be shunned), ignorant errors in matters of no great weight: all which sins be punished after death, if men procured not pardon and remission for them in their lifetime: for when St. Paul saith, that Christ is the foundation: and by and by addeth: And if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble: the work of every one, of what kind it is, the fire shall try. If any man’s work abide which he built thereupon, he shall receive reward; if any mans work burn, he shall suffer detriment, but himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. For although these words may be understood of the fire of tribulation, which men suffer in this world: yet if any will interpret them of the fire of Purgatory, which shall be in the next life: then must he carefully consider, that the Apostle said not that he may be saved by fire, that buildeth upon this foundation iron, brass, or lead, that is, the greater sort of sins, and therefore more hard, and consequently not remissible in that place: but wood, hay, stubble, that is, little and very light sins, which the fire doth easily consume. Yet we have here further to consider, that none can be there purged, no, not for the least sins that be, unless in his lifetime he deserved by virtuous works to find such favour in that place.
St. Maximus the Confessor (AD 580-662), Questions and Doubts, Question 10
This purification does not concern those who have arrived at a perfect love of God, but those who have not reached complete perfection, and whose virtues are mixed in with sins. These latter will appear before the tribunal of judgment, and, following an examination of their good and evil actions, they will be tried as by fire; their bad works will be expiated by just fear and pain.
