Magyar Egyház, 1958 (37. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1958-03-01 / 3. szám

MAGYAR EGYHÁZ

11

PURGATORY AND CHRIST

by Albert W. Kovács

To purge, according to the dictionary, is to “cleanse rid of whatever is impure or undesirable; purify.” The Scriptures do say, “the wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23) and “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), therefore all men must be purged of their sins in God’s great plan of salvation. And this is a purgatory process, purging, cleansing, purifying.

The faithful, after his death, does not suffer punishment. The Bible says the believer enters into rest and returns to God: “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “That they may rest from their labors.. (Rev. 14:13). Thus it is obvious that they are not entering a place of torment and purgation. Jesus told the repentant thief, “today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Because of sin, every man is damned to suffer in the torment of the “Pit” (Ps. 49:9). “None is rigtheous, no not one;... all have turned aside, ...no one does good; not even one” (Rom. 3:10-12). But, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21). God’s love for his creation is so great that he became flesh in Jesus Christ, so that the world could be saved from its due punishment, and “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Peter 2:24). And the only condition of forgiveness is true belief in Christ, for “they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).

FAITHFUL NOT PURGED—CROSS THE PURGATORY

The faithful believer, then, does not suffer the purgatory process, which is cleansing by punishment, for his sins, but by his belief in Christ’s atoning death received the forgiveness of his sins. Christ, through the agony of his blessed crucifixion and death, has paid the wages of sin and the faithful who accept his merciful act of God in their stead die in the Lord, and do have everlasting life.

According to the Gospel, there is a purgatory process, and it was endured by one man alone, Jesus Christ, our Savior. He did not die for his sins, being sinless, but for the sins of others. And “When he had made purification (purgation) for our sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on High” (Heb. 1:13). The Cross is the purgatory! And it was on the Cross that Jesus suffered for our guilt and purged our sins once for all. “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered

Militant and the Invisible Church here on earth. Nor is there any other way for us towards heaven only through the Church Militant and the Invisible Church. Examine your church membership in the light of this truth.

Next we shall write about the preaching, prayer, the sacraments and the church government as things which are inseparable from the Church of Jesus Christ in this World. Stephen Kovács.

for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God... For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified” (Heb. 10:11-14). Since this is true, there is no longer any need for purgatory punishment, for in the Cross the purification (purgation) of man is complete and perfect, being done by the perfect God. It remans only for many men to accept the Cross.

DEAD BEYOND PRAYERS

Prayers and sacrifices for the departed souls, therefore, are unnecessary and without avail. The faithful do not need them, for Christ has saved them; and the unbelieving cannot use them. “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him” (John 3:36). “He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only Son of God” (John 3:18). No amount of sacrifice or prayer can help the departed, because in life they have decided their fate at death. “If anyone hears my sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects me and does not receive my sayings has a judge; the word that I have spoken will be his judge on the last day” (John 13:47).

MAN ON HIS OWN

Each man must stand before God either on the merits of Jesus Christ, or on his own merits. If he rejects Christ and the Cross, he rejects the cleansing of the Cross too. “If I do not wash you, you have no part in me” (John 13:8). And the efforts of others, the saints of the church living and dead, are of no help either, for “Truly, no man can ransom his brother, or give to God the price of his life, for the ransom of his life is costly and can never suffice” (Ps. 49:7-8). Indeed, if he rejects Jesus Christ, the wrath of God rests upon him.

ONLY BELIEF NEEDFUL

The Christian can thank God for Jesus Christ, who paid for all his sins, so he doesn’t need the prayers and offerings of others when his soul has left his body, because, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). He can be glad that in his sinfulness he is not judged by his deeds, but that Scripture assures, “For by grace you are saved through faith and not of yourselves, for it is the gift of God; not of works, that no man may glory” (Eph. 2:8-9). And he can rejoice in the simplicity of Christian faith, that the only requirement for salvation is, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved,” (Acts 13:31).--------------o-------------THIS IS MY BUSINESS

John Wanamaker, the founder of the great department stores in Philadelphia and New York, and also onetime Postmaster General of the United States, was the Superintendent of a very large Sunday School in the Bethany Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. He was asked how he, such an unusually busy man, found time to do Sunday School work. He replied: “Why, the Sunday School is my business! All those other things are just things. Fifty-five years ago I decided that the Lord’s promise is sure: ‘Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you’.”

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