The Wages of Sin: The Roman Catholic View vs the Reformed View

Tetzel on 7 Years in Purgatory for Every Sin

I came across a sermon from Johann Tetzel, the indulgence peddler who provoked Luther’s 95 Theses. Part of his sales pitch had to do with the popular, though unofficial, teaching that Christians must suffer 7 years in the fires of Purgatory for each sin they have committed. Doing the math reminds us of what it was like to be a western Christian in 1516.

Though Christ died for the sins of the world, according to classic Roman Catholicism, His sacrifice erases the penalty for original sin and for sins committed up to the time of Baptism. After that, Christians have recourse to the penitential system to deal with their sins. Catholics believe that even Christians can go to Hell, if they commit mortal sins. These can be forgiven, though, through the sacrament of Reconciliation, involving private confession before a priest, acts of penance, and absolution. That removes the eternal punishment that the sin deserves. But all sins, including the more minor venial sins, require temporal punishment. Earthly suffering can count for this, but most of the temporal punishment–which is necessary even for sins that have been forgiven–happens after death in Purgatory. Read More

The Final State of the Unbeliever: The Lake of Fire

My dear friend, if you die without being a Christian, without being born again through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, if you never gain the life of God in your soul, then upon your death your soul will immediately go to hell, a place of conscious, eternal torment, where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies. As bad as hell is, however, you would give everything you have, to stay there in hell for a million years.

Why? Because those now in hell know what you will know when you transition to hell. They fear more than anything ‘that day.’ And what is ‘that day’? It is the great white throne judgment, because there, on the day of Christ’s return, all the dead, great and small will stand before God and give account of the deeds they have done, according to the things written in the book. Read More