The Catholic doctrine of purgatory and the evangelical doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture are seemingly very different concepts from very different religions. But are they, in reality, similar in scope? Let’s examine the two and see if the concepts intersect.
Purgatory is the Catholic doctrine that states that once a believer dies, the person, unless they have attained a complete purification, goes to a place of temporary suffering to pay for their lesser sins for eventual full purification.
The pre-tribulation rapture doctrine is the non-reformed, modern protestant doctrine that says Jesus will come back to take believers away in a moment in time before God’s wrath begins on an unbelieving earth.
Both systems of thought are popular and polarizing… a Catholic will believe in purgatory but not the rapture, and the Protestant will believe in the rapture but not purgatory. But which is correct?
Let’s run through a couple of basic scenarios and see how they play out. In both instances, we are working under the premise that all Christians/Catholics believe, and it is the belief that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died, rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
In scenario A, a decent but not perfect Catholic dies. He goes to purgatory to pay off the remaining sin of his debt to God. After a time the debt is paid, he goes to be with God in heaven.
In scenario B, the end times are imminent and Jesus raptures believers into heaven. The remaining people on earth begin to experience God’s wrath. An individual decides to believe in and follow Christ. After her profession of faith, she dies and goes to be with God in heaven.
In our first scenario, the Catholic is paying for their own sins in purgatory. How can this be, given that the Bible is clear that Jesus endured God’s wrath and took all of our sins, in our place, for those who believe in Him? How can someone pay for any of their own sins for entrance into heaven?
In the second scenario, the rapture occurs and takes believers from the earth, and then God’s wrath ensues on an unbelieving world. How can someone endure God’s wrath on their own behalf, change their mind about Him, die and enter into heaven when Jesus already and completely took God’s wrath for believers?
In both cases, the individual is paying, maybe a lot and maybe a little, for their own sins. This isn’t coherent based on what the Bible says. Again, the Bible is clear that Jesus took away our sins on the cross, and that this selfless and perfect act satisfied God’s wrath against the believers in Christ Jesus. For those who are unrepentant of any sin or subject to God’s wrath, they will eternally pay for their sins themselves. We casually call this hell. There is nothing we can do to merit God’s favor for righteousness, only Jesus accomplished this with His perfect life and sacrifice. A person cannot pay for any of their transgressions on their own merit (purgatory), or endure God’s wrath against sin (pre-trib rapture). Only the Messiah, Jesus the Christ can do this; trust fully and completely in Him today.