Bellarmine begins by citing the well-known from 2 Maccabees 12 (as well as one from the book of Tobit), where Judas Maccabeus offers up prayers for the dead, namely those slain in the battle against Gorgias. However, we do not consider the books of the Maccabees or Tobit to be canonical. Bellarmine launches a number of arguments against our position in this section of his treatise, which will be more fully considered when we discuss the Deuterocanonical books in a later chapter. , and whether they should be considered as part of the inspired and sacred canon of Scripture.
The first passage that Bellarmine cites from the canonical OT is 2 Samuel 1:11-12, where we read that King David fasted and wept after he heard that Saul and Jonathan had died. Bellarmine claims that David was praying for their souls, since they were in purgatory. However, this is nothing less than pure eisegesis. It is a common practice amongst the OT to pray out of sorrow and grief when a person has died. Nothing in the text indicates whatsoever what Bellarmine and Roman Catholic theology wishes to force upon it.
The next passage is Psalm 38:1, where the psalmist prays “O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath!” Bellarmine cites Augustine’s exposition on this passage which to be fair does indeed support his claim (and also has a similar interpretation concerning 1 Cor. 3:15, a text which will be analyzed in-depth later on in this section). However, it appears that Augustine may have contradicted himself, since he elsewhere speaks of “corrective” or “purging fire” as something that takes place in this life, rather than after death:
“But as these most plain and unmistakable declarations of the apostles cannot be false, that obscure saying about those who build upon the foundation, Christ, not gold, silver, and precious stones, but wood, hay, and stubble (for it is these who, it is said, shall be saved, yet so as by fire, the merit of the foundation saving them ), must be so interpreted as not to conflict with the plain statements quoted above. Now wood, hay, and stubble may, without incongruity, be understood to signify such an attachment to worldly things, however lawful these may be in themselves, that they cannot be lost without grief of mind. And though this grief burns, yet if Christ hold the place of foundation in the heart — that is, if nothing be preferred to Him, and if the man, though burning with grief, is yet more willing to lose the things he loves so much than to lose Christ, — he is saved by fire. If, however, in time of temptation, he prefer to hold by temporal and earthly things rather than by Christ, he has not Christ as his foundation; for he puts earthly things in the first place, and in a building nothing comes before the foundation. Again, the fire of which the apostle speaks in this place must be such a fire as both men are made to pass through, that is, both the man who builds upon the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, and the man who builds wood, hay, stubble. For he immediately adds: The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he has built thereupon, 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 by fire. The fire then shall prove, not the work of one of them only, but of both. Now the trial of adversity is a kind of fire which is plainly spoken of in another place: The furnace proves the potter's vessels: and the furnace of adversity just men. And this fire does in the course of this life act exactly in the way the apostle says. If it come into contact with two believers, one caring for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord, that is, building upon Christ the foundation, gold, silver, precious stones; the other caring for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife, that is, building upon the same foundation wood, hay, stubble — the work of the former is not burned, because he has not given his love to things whose loss can cause him grief; but the work of the latter is burned, because things that are enjoyed with desire cannot be lost without pain. But since, by our supposition, even the latter prefers to lose these things rather than to lose Christ, and since he does not desert Christ out of fear of losing them, though he is grieved when he does lose them, he is saved, but it is so as by fire; because the grief for what he loved and has lost burns him. But it does not subvert nor consume him; for he is protected by his immoveable and incorruptible foundation.” (The Enchiridion, Chapter 68).
In fairness, it should be noted that in the very next chapter (69), St. Augustine leaves open the possibility of “purging fire” after death, but does not make a definite statement in favor of it or against it, though it would seem that the latter interpretation is more plausible in light of what Augustine says here in chapter 68.
The next passage that Bellarmine and many other Roman Catholics apologists cite is Psalm 66:12, where it says “We went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” However, it is obvious from the context that the passage is speaking of trials which occur during this life. It describes the children of Israel’s passing through the red sea (66:6), which obviously occurred here on earth. The majority of the fathers (with Origen and Ambrose being possible exceptions) agree with this interpretation:
“Listen again, in another place, to a company of unscathed saints, giving thanks for deliverance from temptation, Thou, O God hast proved us; Thou hast tried us by fire like as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; Thou layedst afflictions upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and water; and thou broughtest us out into a place of rest. (Ps. lxvi. 12)” (Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures, 5.17)
“But for what purpose should I give a tragic description of the evils of the time, and of the penalty exacted from us, or, if I must rather call it so, the testing and refining we endured? At any rate, we went through fire and water, and have attained a place of refreshment by the good pleasure of God our Savior.” (St. Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 42.3)
Bellarmine’s next text is Isaiah 4:4: “when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning.” Bellarmine cites Augustine (City of God, Book 20, Chapter 25) in support of his interpretation of this text as speaking of purgatory in the Roman Catholic sense. While St. Augustine does indeed speak of “purgatorial punishments” in this passage, he clarifies what he means by this by saying that these “purgatorial punishments” consist in the removal of wicked people from the presence of the saints of God: “Unless perhaps we should say that they are cleansed from filthiness and in a manner clarified, when the wicked are separated from them by penal judgment, so that the elimination and damnation of the one party is the purgation of the others, because they shall henceforth live free from the contamination of such men”.
Bellarmine cites Isaiah 9:18 which says “wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke”. However, it is obvious to any honest person that this is not speaking of purgatory, but rather of the wickedness and judgment on the nation of Israel. Bellarmine claims St. Basil of Caesarea agrees with his interpretation, but does not give any direct evidence of this or any citation.
The next text is Micah 7:8-9, which says “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.”
However, there is nothing in this text which argues that this “indignation of the Lord” is referring to something which takes place after death.
Bellarmine’s next argument comes from Zechariah 9:11 - “As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.” I respond by noting that it is clear from verse 10 and the general context that this is speaking of the liberation of the Israelites from bondage and captivity in foreign nations.
The final passage that Bellarmine cites from the Old Testament in favor of the doctrine of purgatory is Malachi 3:3, which says “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord”. Yet Bellarmine himself admits that Origen, Ambrose, and Augustine each interpret this text as referring to purgatorial punishments that take place here on earth:
“Origen (hom. 6 in Exod.), St. Ambrose (in Ps. 36), St. Augustine (City of God, l. 20, cap. 25) and St. Jerome, explain this passage as about purgatorial punishment, and although those purgatorial punishments are not those which we are now arguing about (since they will cleanse the living, whereas we argue on the punishment of the dead)” (Robert Bellarmine, On Purgatory, Book I, Chapter 3)
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