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Brazen to the End
From the series: A True Story, the Gospel and Forgiveness
Text: Luke 23:39
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Lent, March 10, 1999
Transcription of the spoken sermon
"A True Story, The Gospel and Forgiveness." That’s the overall theme of our
reflections during this Lenten season, midweek, and we have raised the question
about the possibility of forgiveness and whether or not it’s even moral, and we
have seen that attitudes and actions do have their consequences, quite apart from
whether or not forgiveness is possible and moral. This evening the meditation is
entitled, "Brazen to the End," and I was going to deal with the one criminal
crucified with Jesus who was brazen to the end, to be followed next week by the
other criminal who pled for mercy in his dying hour. But, next week we’ll have a
special opportunity to hear The Rev. Dr. Mel White, our evening preacher in a
Lenten service of this format, but with a special theme and emphasis. So, I’m
going to have to lump the two criminals together and retitle the meditation.
Perhaps I could say "Broken or Brazen at the End." That’s pretty good, eh? You
get the whole thing and I only have half the work, you see. "Broken or Brazen at
the End."
Last Lenten season on a Sunday morning I made history; it was the first time
from a Christian pulpit that a rebellious criminal got any good press. I suggested
that there was something heroic about his "No" all the way to the end. (We only
lost one family. No sense of humor, I guess.) Well, obviously, Luke sets us up and
his intention is clear. He has that magnificent word of Jesus, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do," which will be the text for two weeks from
tonight. And then he has the two criminals, the one brazen to the end, railing at
Jesus with his last breath, with no intention or indication that there was anything
like repentance or second thoughts going on in his life.
And then the other criminal, of course, pleading with Jesus to remember him,
acknowledging that what he was receiving was the just dessert of his deeds but
pleading for mercy, nonetheless, which mercy was granted him by the promise of
Jesus. And, of course, the Gospel intention of Luke was to show the magnificent
grace of Jesus and to show two opposite reactions, one a brazen attitude all the
way to the last breath, the other a brokenness that opened oneself up for mercy.
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If I were to deal only with the one this evening, I would simply have pointed out
the fact that one can only receive forgiveness when one is open to being forgiven.
I can forgive you for something you do to me, in spite of your desire for it or your
openness to it or any response to it. Of course, I can do that. And it will, as a
matter of fact, be good for me to do that, psychologically, emotionally, spiritually.
But, I can’t effect in you the benefit of being forgiven if you are not open to it, and
the reason a year ago I tried to look at the rebellious criminal from a little
different angle was the fact that we are so quick to look at that snapshot from the
cross and to say the one was bad and damned in his rebelliousness, the other was
bad, forgiven in his plea for mercy, and premature closure says that’s all there is
to it. But, that’s not all there is to it, really.
The story that has triggered this series is The Sunflower, the account by Simon
Wiesenthal of his experience as a prisoner in the death camps of the Nazis, who is
pulled aside by a nurse to come to the bedside of a dying SS officer who pours out
his awful tale of the horrendous things of which he has been a part and for which
he accepts responsibility, needing to confess and, pouring out this story in the
presence of a Jew because the Jewish people were the object of the terror and the
violence of which he was a part. The story ended with Wiesenthal’s question,
"Should I have forgiven him?" Actually, he listened to the story and he left
without saying a word. No word of human compassion or pity, and certainly no
word of forgiveness. He just left the room. I think the very fact that he tells the
story is perhaps indicative of the fact that he needed to do what that Nazi needed
to do. He needed to tell his own story because he has never rested quite easily
with the fact that he left a dying man pleading for some word of compassion or
forgiveness without saying a word.
But there are many respondents to the story, which Wiesenthal leaves with the
question asking each of us, "What would you have done?" Most of the
respondents did as one particular British journalist did, saying,
I cannot answer the question, what I would have done. I don’t think any of
us knows what we would have done, given that circumstance, given the
depths of the suffering of those prisoners in that situation. I don’t think
any of us knows what we would have done. So, I’m not going to judge that.
But let me deal with it in terms of the question, What should I have done?
This is one of the respondents who very clearly says there should have been
offered some word of compassion, some word of grace, and he, as a matter of fact,
points to this Gospel paragraph that we read where Jesus says, "Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do."
When you read Wiesenthal’s story and when you see all the respondents who
struggle over that question, "What would I have done?" or "What should I have
done?" you realize the complexity of this matter of forgiveness in human
relationships and, of course, ultimately, forgiveness in terms of God and the
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Ultimate, the Absolute. We realize that it is just not as simple as we are wont to
make it. Forgiveness is such common fare; we talk about it all the time; we use it
in our liturgies and in our sermons, and yet, the more I think about forgiveness,
the more I recognize what a complex matter that is, for forgiveness must affect
something in the one forgiven.
The reason that I say a good word about the criminal who never repented is that
he was one of those, like a Simon Wiesenthal. Barabbas, the person mentioned in
one of the other Gospels whom Pilate wanted to release, is called an
insurrectionist, and the Romans didn’t crucify petty thieves. You can bet that all
of the crosses that lined the hillsides out of Jerusalem were political terrorists,
rebels, revolutionaries, threats to the peace and order of the State, and we know
that Jesus made his protest against the way the world was with non-violence, but
we know, as well, that there were zealots, there were guerilla bands, there were
revolutionaries roaming the countryside, and who of us can say where we would
have been in a case like that? Where there is the heel of the oppressor on the neck
of a people. We, ourselves, American people, are the beneficiaries of those who
rebelled and revolted against that which they considered unjust which was
nothing compared to what was going on in first century Palestine.
So, once again, the reason that I’m just not ready to damn that brazen thief is
that, like with Wiesenthal, I don’t know what he was suffering. I don’t know what
he went through. I think it’s possible for a human being to be so damaged and so
wounded that he can never, never emotionally yield his hatred and his violence.
It’s just too easy for me just to say, "Well, then he’s damned to hell."
But, to die that way is a terrible way to die, and Luke was obviously setting up the
other criminal as a model modeled after Jesus. What I am experiencing and
suffering I have earned, nevertheless, I plea for mercy, for forgiveness. And
what’s going on in these two cases? What is not going on in the brazen one is that
coming to self-awareness that sets him free from his anger and his hatred and his
woundedness. That’s what’s going on. And what’s going on in the other one is
that same self-awareness that overtook that young German SS officer who said,
"My God, what have I done?", whose repentance was deep and genuine. To come
to that awareness, a certain integrity of being, an owning of one’s life and one’s
story, is the prerequisite for receiving the benefit and the blessing of forgiveness.
So, is that it, then? In spite of the fact that we handle gently the brazen one
because we don’t know how wounded he may have been, and affirm the other one
because his awareness came before his last breath, is that all there is, then?
It was thinking about that that got me thinking years ago, back in the mid-80s,
about the ancient Church’s teaching of purgatory, the fact that none of us at the
end of our life, in spite of whether or not we may have perceived the word of
forgiveness, is ready for the presence of God. That for the best of us as well as the
worst of us, there is a good deal of cleaning up that must be necessary, a good
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deal more of self-awareness and consequently of repentance and transformation.
It was at that point that I began to see the wisdom of the ancient Church’s
teaching on purgatory and then I came across this marvelous paragraph from
C.S. Lewis in his Letters to Malcolm, who says,
Our souls demand purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if
God said to us, "It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags
drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will
upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the
joy!"
Should we not reply, "With submission, Sir, and if there is no objection, I’d
rather be cleaned first."
"It may hurt, you know."
"Even so, Sir."
I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering,
partly from tradition, partly because most real good that has been done to
me in this life has involved it, but I don’t think suffering is the purpose of
the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much
better than I will suffer less than I or more, no nonsense about merit. The
treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or much.
My favorite image on this matter comes from the dentist chair. I hope that
when the tooth of life is drawn and I am coming ‘round, a voice will say,
"Rinse out your mouth with this." This will be purgatory.
And so, you see, I think it’s much too simple and superficial to have us live our
respective lives, some a little better, some a little worse, but like C. S. Lewis said,
no nonsense about merit. But, it’s too simple and too superficial to say that at the
end of it all one says, "Forgive me," or one continues to say "No" and to have that
be the eternal issue of our being. I heard tell some time ago of an old fellow whose
funeral was conducted and the family was so delighted by the fact that two days
before he died he was led to the Lord by a nurse. Well, that can be wonderful.
But, I mean, the family was so happy about the fact that the old man escaped the
fires of hell and was entered into the pearly gates because two days before his
death he finally said, "Yes."
Does that really make sense? Does that really resonate with you? It doesn’t with
me, frankly. Much more, our lives are being lived out as a tale that is told and
we’ll come, sooner or later, before the face of God, and some of us sooner and
some of us later may find all of the stuff of our lives that’s so sour, causing such
dysfunction and distortion, finally draining away, and then, then maybe that
moment of awareness will come. And is not salvation finally simply awareness,
honesty and integrity before the face of God? Isn’t that all God intends in the
creation of complex creatures like us?
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Christopher Hollis, the journalist who responded to the Wiesenthal story, told of
an old medieval legend in which the disciples re-gathered around a table in
heaven with Jesus to re-celebrate the Last Supper, and there was a vacant chair
until the door opened and Judas entered and Jesus rose and kissed him and said,
"We’ve been waiting for you."
I don’t think God will quit until the last child has come to the table.
References:
C. S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Harcourt, Inc., 1964.
Simon Wiesenthal. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of
Forgiveness. Shocken: revised expanded edition, 1998.
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Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
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Midweek Lent
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A True Story, The Gospel and Forgiveness
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Luke 23:39
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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C. S. Lewis, Letters to Malcolm, 1964
Simon Wiesenthal, The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness, 1998
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Brazen to the End
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Richard A. Rhem
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on March 10, 1999 entitled "Brazen to the End", as part of the series "A True Story, The Gospel and Forgiveness", on the occasion of Midweek Lent, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Luke 23:39.
Forgiveness
Lent
Purgatory
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Purgatory Revisited
Article by
Richard A. Rhem
Minister of Preaching and Theological Inquiry
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Published in
Perspectives
A Journal of Reformed Thought
January 1988, pp. 4-7
In the fall term of 1983, Hans Küng, the noted Roman Catholic theologian gave a
series of lectures at the University of Michigan entitled Eternal Life? It was an
investigation of life after death as a medical, philosophical, and theological
problem. He faced squarely and straightforwardly all the difficult questions
surrounding the subject, dealing with ancient and contemporary issues, the
question in the history of religions, the modern denial of anything beyond death,
and the near-death experiences recorded in recent years. He dealt with biblical
material, the question of resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus, and the church’s
teaching on judgment, heaven, and hell. The lectures were subsequently
published under the title Eternal Life? By virtue of a sabbatical granted me by the
Christ Community congregation, I was able to hear the lectures and to participate
with Küng in a seminar.
I came away with two striking realizations: first, that there was intense interest in
these questions of death and dying, of life after death, of heaven and hell on the
campus of a large secular university. The lectures had to be moved from the
largest lecture hall available to the Rackham Auditorium. Secondly, I realized
how little these vital questions were probed in the church, how little reflection I
had personally given to them in my ministry, and how comfortably and
uncritically we in the church have accepted traditional answers.
Once awakened to the questions that are not nearly so simply answered as once I
had thought, and also to the deeply existential interest of today’s people, both
secular and religious, I began to open again questions on which I had come to
premature closure. For me, the greatest surprise came in a new appreciation for
the teaching of purgatory, which was resolutely rejected at the time of the
Reformation and which has received little serious reflection in the Protestant
tradition.
This is quite understandable since the sharp reaction of the Reformers was
precipitated by the Roman teaching and practice in regard to indulgences,
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intercessory prayers, and masses for the dead. The abuses at this point are well
documented; Luther’s protest was justified, as Küng would testify. Calvin railed
against the teaching of purgatory as “a deadly fiction of Satan, which nullifies the
cross of Christ, inflicts unbearable contempt upon God’s mercy, and overturns
and destroys our faith.” (Institutes, 3.5.6) Certainly there was enough abusive
practice to make such strong reaction necessary. When the abuses have been
exposed and the questionable teaching surrounding the state of the dead rejected,
however, have we finished with the subject?
The Roman Catholic church traditionally taught that people who died at peace
with the church but who were not perfect (which included just about everybody)
had to undergo a penal and purifying suffering before they could be translated to
heaven. Purgatory was an intermediate realm and the purgation process was mild
or severe and of short or long duration, depending on the moral condition of each
individual.
Traditionally, evangelicals have taught that those who in life embrace Jesus
Christ by faith are saved by the grace of God and those who reject Christ are
condemned eternally. One’s historical existence is the time in which a decision
regarding Jesus Christ must be made and with the drawing of the last breath the
issue is determined irreversibly and eternally.
A little sober reflection shows us that the matter is not quite that simple. Even if
those who are exposed to the gospel are judged on their acceptance or rejection of
Christ, what about those who never heard? What about those who die in infancy?
What about the mentally impaired? More questions arise: What about those who
have been terribly wounded by the church? What about those who have been
abused as children and are never able to trust? What about those whose only
exposure to the gospel has been of a garbled and distorted nature? It would seem
that we must begin to make some exceptions; some qualifications are necessary.
Reflecting on the traditional teaching of evangelical faith, a further question
arises: Do we imagine that the transformation necessary to complete in us the
work of grace will happen in an instant at the moment of death? In his discussion
of the resurrection at Christ’s coming, Paul does speak of those remaining alive as
being changed “in a flash,” and in the First Letter of John we read that we shall be
like him because we shall see him as he is. But are we to understand
instantaneous perfection by these statements, something totally foreign to the
process of sanctification, which is our experience on this side of death?
Obviously, the first thing we must admit is that we are dealing with a subject
beyond our knowledge. And throughout this discussion we must be aware, as
well, that we can speak only in temporal categories and think only of a succession
of moments, while we recognize death as the break between time and eternity.
Into the philosophical discussion of the relation between the two we cannot enter
but the distinction must not be lost.
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We must admit, too, as is recognized by both Protestant and Roman Catholic
biblical theologians today that there is a paucity of biblical material to which to
refer. The thrust of Scripture is the imperative to repent and believe, and the
stress is on the urgency of decision. Yet there are indications that there is something more.
For example, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3 of the necessity of care in building the
superstructure of the church which is founded on Jesus Christ. He points to two
kinds of builders: one builds with wood, hay, and stubble; the other builds with
precious stones, gold, and silver. The work of the first is consumed by the testing
fire; the work of the second stands the test. He then wrote:
If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will
receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss,
though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (Cor. 3:14-15)
The latter person will enter the life beyond, having lost everything. He will be
secure in God’s eternal presence, yet with nothing to show for his earthly life.
Paul seems to indicate that there is, beyond death or through death, an encounter
with God in which one’s life is tested. The issue is not salvation or condemnation;
the issue is whether we bring into God’s presence something or nothing. Does not
this passage indicate that Paul thought in terms of encounter with God and
perhaps a continuing process beyond death? If it is a matter simply of being
saved or lost as we enter the moment of death, that is, entering a status of
salvation or condemnation, and that is all there is, then why be concerned about
what one brings to death’s moment—a fruitful life or a barren life?
The apostle seems to suggest that at death there is not only break and
discontinuity between our time and God’s eternity, but also continuity between
this life and the life beyond death. We bring something (or nothing) with us, and
whatever lies beyond is influenced and determined by what we bring (or fail to
bring).
In Luke’s gospel, Jesus calls us to be watchful and ready for the end. He is
encouraging loyal, faithful stewardship of life (Luke 12:35ff). He then speaks of
two servants, one who knew the master’s wishes, but failed to fulfill them, and the
other who also did not comply with those wishes, but did not know them. The
first was flogged severely, the second less severely. We must not attempt to push
this vivid language of Jesus too far. Yet it seems that Jesus was saying that the
judgment will vary in light of individual circumstances—a gradation of judgment
on the basis of the individual life being examined.
If at the moment of death the encounter with God will be very personal,
individual, and discriminating, and if the sentences will vary, does this point to a
process beyond death’s moment?
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The traditional understanding of these texts is that, in the case of the Lucan
passage, there is gradation of punishment—yet to be lost, eternally condemned, is
to remain in a state spoken of as hell—separation from God. In the case of the
passage from Paul, the understanding has been that the “saved” enter into
heaven, or union with God, but some with greater, and others with lesser capacity
to experience the joy of salvation.
Let us push those conventional interpretations. I entitled this essay “Purgatory
Revisited” not simply to get attention. Surely in a day when Roman Catholic
theology itself is very self-critical and is engaged in a serious encounter with
Scripture, I am not about to suggest we reinstate a teaching that has been
thoroughly sifted and carefully redefined in contemporary Roman Catholic
thought. Yet, I am suggesting that behind the teaching of purgatory there was a
significant insight, even if the practical application of that insight led to
disastrous results. That insight is simply that God is not through with us at our
death. I am raising for reflection this question: “Is the issue of our lives
irreversibly settled at the moment of our last breath?”
This question is meant in no way to detract from the strong call to decision, the
seriousness of choices in this life, or the urgency of the gospel call. However, is it
not possible that in the experience of death itself, understood as an encounter
with God, there is the possibility of something of eternal significance occurring?
In Christian Faith, Hendrikus Berkhof, discussing the idea of the judgment of
works done by believers in their earthly lives, writes:
In Protestant theology, this viewpoint is almost completely pushed aside
by the accent on grace. In Roman Catholic piety it is (or used to be) very
prominent in connection with the veneration of saints and purgatory. The
Roman Catholic Church assumes correctly that believers differ greatly in
regard to their progress and fruitfulness....
So the idea of a judgment according to one’s deeds leads of itself to the
consideration of a process of purification, called purgatory in the Roman
Catholic tradition....The Reformation broke with that doctrine because of
its moralistic conception of salvation and its detrimental effect on the
practice of piety (indulgences, intercessory prayers and masses for the
dead). It imagined a sudden, radical transformation after the judgment,
usually without giving it further theological reflection and without
connecting it with the struggle for sanctification on earth. Meanwhile
Roman Catholic thinking, too, has become much more reserved. Typical of
the modern Roman Catholic conceptions is the idea of “ripening”...which
K. Rahner develops in “The Life of the Dead”(Christian Faith, Revised, p.
493).
Referring to the text discussed above, 1 Corinthians 3:15, Berkhof asserts that
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that statement does suggest that Paul thought of more than an abrupt recreation of man; salvation is accompanied by a painful becoming aware of
one’s own failures on earth. The difficulties here are more an open
question for theological reflection than a subject for back and forth
theological denouncement. The matter of making inferences from faith
about what lies beyond death is fraught with far too many difficulties. One
can state with Bavinck: “After death there is no more sanctification, one
enters upon a state of complete sanctity...for death is the greatest leap
someone can make, a sudden transposition of the believer into Christ’s
presence, and thereby a complete destruction of the outward man and a
complete renewal of the inner man” (CD IV, no. 650, under 4). But one can
also ask with G. J. Heering: “Does this change instantaneously, when God
shows mercy to the repentant soul and takes it to himself?...Life is called a
training school, but perhaps there is a higher training school above” (De
menselijke ziel, 1955, pp. 190,192). (p. 494).
In another context Berkhof writes:
God is serious about the responsibility of our decision, but he is even more
serious about the responsibility of his love. The darkness of rejection and
God-forsakenness cannot and may not be argued away, but no more can
and may it be eternalized. For God’s sake we hope that hell will be a form
of purification (p. 536, Christian Faith, Revised).
That word “purification” is one used by Küng. In the published lectures, Eternal
Life?, Küng treats the idea of purgatory in his discussion of the question whether
hell is eternal.
Some theologians, however, argue that it is not God who damns man by a
verdict imposed from outside. They are human beings themselves, by sins
committed with inward freedom, who damn themselves. The
responsibility lies not with God but with man. And by death this selfdamnation and distance from God (not a place, but a human condition)
becomes definitive. Definitive? Do not the psalms say that God rules over
the realm of the dead? What is supposed to become definitive here,
contrary to the will of an all-merciful and almighty God? Why should God,
who is infinitely good, want to perpetuate enmity instead of removing it
and in practice to share his rule forever with some kind of anti-God? Why
should he have nothing more to say at this point and consequently render
forever impossible a purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment, of
guilt-laden man? (Eternal Life?, p. 137)
Then he refers specifically to purgatory.
Purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment Here perhaps may lie—I
want merely to prompt a few reflections—the particle of truth, the real
core, of the problematic idea of purgatory, which has been translated in
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German from the Middle Ages onward with the unfortunate designation of
Fegefeuer (“winnowing fire”). This may be the true core, but it remains
true only if the idea is not reified.
[A]s no human being is entirely bad, neither is anyone entirely good. Any
human being, even the best, falls short of what he might be, fails to meet
his own demands and norms and thus never wholly realizes himself. For if
he is to be fully himself, even the “saint” needs completion, not after death,
but in death itself. And, in view of so much unpunished guilt in the world,
a number of people wonder—not entirely wrongly—if dying unto God, the
absolutely final reality, can be one and the same for all: the same for
criminals and their victims, for mass murderers and the mass of the
murdered; for those who have struggled a whole life long to fulfill God’s
will, true helpers of their fellow human beings, and for those who for a
whole life long have only carried out their own will and at the same time
shut out others?...[H]ow this...purification, cleansing, follows is not left to
the speculation or calculation of human curiosity, but remains a matter for
God as merciful judge, is God’s all-embracing final act of grace. (pp. 137)
The key idea Küng stresses is the shattering effect of the encounter with God. We
die not into nothingness; we die unto God. Küng cites Karl Barth:
Man as such, therefore, has no beyond. Nor does he need one, for God is
his beyond. Man’s beyond is that God as his Creator, Covenant-partner,
Judge and Saviour, was and is and will be his true Counterpart in life, and
finally and exclusive (sic) and totally in death (Church Dogmatics Vol. Ill,
2, pp. 632-33).
Küng also cites a Roman Catholic theologian, Greshake:
From this standpoint we can understand what was pointed out earlier, that
God himself, the encounter with him, is purgatory. But this means that we
need not fall back on a special place or still less on a special time or special
event to grasp the meaning of purgatory. Still less do we need to work out
crude ideas about the “poor” souls. Instead we can understand what the
Church teaches and has taught from the earliest times as an element in the
encounter with God in death....[W]e should avoid any talk of fire and
speak instead of purifying and cleansing as an element of the encounter
with God. At the same time what should be particularly clear is that
purgatory is not—as it often seems to be in popular piety—a “demihell”
which God has erected in order to punish the person who is not entirely
bad, but also not entirely good. Purgatory is not a demihell but an element
of the encounter with God: that is, the encounter of the unfinished person,
still immature in his love, with the holy, infinite, loving God; an encounter
which is profoundly humiliating; painful and therefore purifying (cited,
Eternal Life?, p. 139 from Starker als der Tod, pp. 92f.).
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Küng concludes,
That is to say that since it is a question of dying into the dimensions of
God, where space and time are dissolved into eternity, nothing can be
discovered, either about place and time or about the character of this
purifying, sanctifying consummation (p. 139).
A Lutheran theologian, Hans Schwarz, discusses the views of Ladislaus Boros
(The Mystery of Death, p. 129), who suggests something similar—the significance
of the final decision at the moment of death. Boros, he maintains,
decisively modifies the traditional concepts of purgatory and death. Boros
agrees that the Church has only gradually developed the doctrine of
purgatory. Though the Scriptural basis of purgatory may be obscure, the
fact and the essential nature of purgatory are of such quality that it must
be called a “truth of revelation.” However, through his hypothesis of a final
decision, Boros seems to view purgatory as the “point” of intersection
between life and death. Purgatory is no longer conceived of as a process of
purification which can be measured similar to the days and years we live
here on earth. According to Boros, “purgatory would be the passage, which
we effect in our final decision, through the purifying fire of divine love. The
encounter with Christ would be our purgatory.”...Boros replaces an
untenable concept of purgatory with the idea of a confrontation with
Christ in death…[H]e calls death “man’s first completely personal act”
and, “therefore, by reason of its very being, the place above all others for
the awakening of consciousness, for freedom, for the encounter with God,
for the final decision about eternal destiny.” (On The Way To The Future,
pp. 142f.).
It has been obvious to me as I have pursued this subject that those who have
reflected on the biblical material, the whole context of Scripture, the revelation of
God in Jesus Christ, and the human person are very restrained in their
conclusions and very cautious in their statements. There is in all serious inquirers
into this question,
—a recognition of the serious nature of human decisions,
—an acknowledgment of the urgent need for repentance and faith,
—a reckoning with the reality of evil and human wickedness that demands
response if there is any justice,
—a serious view of judgment as the exposure of our lives to the scrutiny of
the God of truth.
All responsible biblical thinkers recognize that God takes us seriously; our wrong
and guilt are not simply soft-pedaled, and our exposure to God’s light and truth
will be painful, even while we are conscious of being embraced within a larger
grace. Judgment will be experienced: No one will “get away” with anything.
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If an eternal hell is questioned, it is not because passing through God’s final
examination is not a serious matter, and neither is it because there is no sense of
the need for change and renewal of the person who through the earthly
pilgrimage has become scarred and tainted, falling far short of God’s intention.
Recognizing that one cannot simply move from the ambiguity, partial insight,
fickleness, and unfaithfulness of one’s human experience into the presence of the
God of light and truth, there is the belief on the part of some that a purifying
process will be necessary.
C. S. Lewis has dealt as creatively and profoundly as anyone with the questions of
heaven, hell, and purgatory. In The Great Divorce, he records an imaginary
conversation with the Christian writer, George MacDonald, on the outskirts of
heaven. Lewis exclaims,
“But I don’t understand. Is judgment not final? Is there really a way out of
Hell into Heaven?”
“It depends on the way ye’re using the words. If they leave that grey town
behind it will not have been Hell. To any that leaves it, it is Purgatory. And
perhaps ye had better not call this country Heaven. Not Deep Heaven, ye
understand....[Yle can call it the Valley of the Shadow of Life. And yet to
those who stay here it will have been Heaven from the first. And ye can call
those sad streets in the town yonder the Valley of the Shadow of Death:
but to those who remain there they will have been Hell even from the
beginning.” (The Great Divorce, p. 63)
Lewis’s fertile imagination is thought provoking; great caution is there; our
curiosity will not be satisfied this side of death’s portal. Yet, he clearly seems to be
saying that the life processes and the significance of choice do not end at our
death.
In his Letters to Malcolm, chapter 20, Lewis speaks clearly on the subject of
purgatory:
Our souls demand Purgatory, don’t they? Would it not break the heart if
God said to us, “It is true, my son, that your breath smells and your rags
drip with mud and slime, but we are charitable here and no one will
upbraid you with these things, nor draw away from you. Enter into the
joy”? Should we not reply, “With submission, sir, and if there is no
objection, I’d rather be cleaned first.” “It may hurt, you know.”—“Even so,
sir.”
I assume that the process of purification will normally involve suffering.
Partly from tradition; partly because most real good that has been done
me in this life has involved it. But I don’t think suffering is the purpose of
the purgation. I can well believe that people neither much worse nor much
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better than I will suffer less than I or more. “No nonsense about merit.”
The treatment given will be the one required, whether it hurts little or
much.
My favourite image on this matter comes from the dentist’s chair. I hope
that when the tooth of life is drawn and I am “coming round,” a voice will
say, “Rinse your mouth out with this.” This will be Purgatory.
I have raised questions for reflection more than coming to fixed conclusions
about this subject veiled in mystery. But the questioning will prove fruitful if we
open again for discussion a subject of intense existential interest, confident that
the faithful and gracious covenant God will finally realize his eternal purpose for
us who have been predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.
References:
Hendrikus Berkhof. Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith.
Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979.
Hans Küng. Eternal Life?:Life After Death as a Medical, Philosophical, and
Theological Problem. Doubleday, 1984.
C. S. Lewis. The Great Divorce. First published HarperColins, 1946; HarperOne,
Later Printing edition, 2009.
C. S. Lewis. Letters to Malcolm: Chiefly on Prayer. Harcourt, Inc., 1964.
Hans Schwarz. On the Way to the Future: a Christian view of Eschatology in the
light of current trends in religion, philosophy and science. Augsburg Publishing
House, 1972.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
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Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979, Hans Küng, Eternal Life?, 2003, C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1946, Letters to Malcolm, 1964, Hans Schwarz, On the Way to the Future, 1972
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Purgatory Revisited
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Article created, delivered, or published by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on January 1, 1988 entitled "Purgatory Revisited", on the book Purgatory Revisited, written by Hans Küng, it appeared in Perspectives, January, 1988, pp. 4-7. Tags: Purgatory, Judgment, Grace, Sin, Non-exclusive. Scripture references: Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979, Hans Küng, Eternal Life?, 2003, C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1946, Letters to Malcolm, 1964, Hans Schwarz, On the Way to the Future, 1972.
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Purgatory
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https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/ae91d9c2f20a64a447bc4cd0b6195a3a.pdf
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Text
Why I Believe in Purgatory
Text: I Corinthians 3: 14-15; Luke 12: 47-48
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent, December 15, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
Purgatory is a foreign word in a Protestant pulpit. It is even a greater surprise to
find it in a title such as I have given to this message: "Why I Believe In
Purgatory."
Perhaps it is just a teaser: baiting you a bit to get you to return - an attention
catcher. You will have to judge that for yourself when we are finished. In the
meantime, I must declare the seriousness with which I am treating the subject.
Purgatory conjures up all sorts of ghosts in our minds and certainly there is much
in the history of the tradition of the Roman Catholic Church with which I cannot
agree. Yet there is a reality, a truth to which that teaching pointed, and we may
well have missed that truth because our forefathers in the Reformation threw out
the idea of Purgatory with all of the many abuses that went along with it.
Before we get into the idea itself, let me remind you of our deliberations this
Advent Season. We are considering the great questions of the End. The drama of
history will have its End. That is Advent's theme: the King is coming. God will
bring Creation to its consummation. We personally will have our End; we will die.
And then what?
We have affirmed that there is life after life. Death remains the last enemy but its
sting has been removed; it is a conquered foe. The grave has been robbed of its
fearsome power.
For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again; even so, through
Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (I
Thessalonians 4:14)
Therefore we do not grieve as those who have no hope; we have a basis for
comforting one another.
We have seen, too, that the New Testament sets forth a double image of the End:
Heaven and Hell, Glorification and Condemnation, Union with God and
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Separation from God. We quoted the pithy statement of C.S. Lewis in The Great
Divorce:
There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy
will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done."
(p. 66F)
The traditional teaching of the Church and the conventional understanding of
most of the Church is simply that those who receive Christ will be saved and
those who reject him will be damned.
But a little sober reflection - and reflection on this subject ought to be sober shows us that the matter is not quite that simple. Even if those who are exposed
to the Gospel are judged on their acceptance or rejection of Christ - what about
those who never heard? What about those who die in infancy? What about the
mentally impaired?
A further serious question: What about those who have been terribly wounded by
the Church itself? What about those who have been abused as children and are
never able to trust? What about those who have received only a perversion and
distortion of the Gospel?
It would seem that we must begin to make some exception, some qualification.
Then, too, we have noted that the witness of the New Testament is not consistent.
Several texts in Matthew and Revelation especially speak of eternal torment but
several statements in Paul's letters seem to point in the direction of universal
salvation.
Therefore I raised the question whether or not it might be possible that God's
grace might finally triumph in the case of all persons; whether God would finally
be "all in all" with every remnant of opposition to His Rule of Grace wiped out. I
suggested that perhaps God's "Yes" to us in Jesus might be stronger than our
"No."
God respects our response. He will never coerce. His is always a gracious
invitation. Therefore, just as our "no" turned to "yes" by His grace must be
authentically our own, just so our "no" maintained is always a possibility. It
remains a possibility and witnesses to the seriousness of our decision.
But what if in His infinite patience He never gives up? (I asked you whether you
hoped Hell might be finally empty.) I suspect you have thought about that. I
suspect, too, I would receive a variety of responses. Let us admit at the outset we
cannot know the answer to the question as to whether Hell will finally consume
some eternally or whether Grace will finally triumph completely.
In either case, the reality of judgment is a reality through which we all must pass.
There is a double judgment for each of us. First, the judgment regarding eternal
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salvation. Second, the judgment regarding the character of our lives - the story we
write with our lives.
The first is determined by our relationship with Jesus Christ. He is the Saviour of
the world.
God sent His Son into the world, not to condemn the world but that the
world through Him might be saved. John 3:17
And Paul declared,
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus. Romans 8:1
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1
In John's Gospel we read:
Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who
sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed
from death to life. John 5:24
Thus judgment is passed. The verdict is not still out. The acquittal has been
granted. We possess new eternal life.
But there is a second aspect to judgment that remains to be experienced by every
person, that is the judgment of our work or our lives. This judgment has nothing
to do with whether a person is saved or lost. This judgment has to do with seeing
our lives in God's light, seeing our lives played out before us in His presence.
The main contention of this message is that God is not done with us at the
moment of our death.
I can base that contention on Scripture in regard to those who die trusting in God
through Jesus Christ. I will suggest that the possibility of an "empty hell" can be
based only on the possibility of a continuing process of encounter between God
and the person who dies without an experience of His grace.
Let us first look at the Scripture. To begin with, we must recognize that there is
not much to go on because the whole thrust of Scripture is the imperative to
repentance and faith and the whole stress is on the urgency of decision. Yet there
are indications that there is something more.
Our first Scripture investigation is Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 3.
Let me acknowledge immediately that this passage can be used only indirectly for
the purposes of establishing the main contention of this message - namely that
God is not done with us at the moment of our death. Paul is talking to a particular
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congregation about a specific problem - divisions in the Church. Dealing with
that issue he decries the choosing up of sides, identifying with one leader rather
than another and thus forming factions in the Church. He points to the one
foundation of the Church, Jesus Christ, and says all who build on that
foundation, which he had himself laid in Corinth, must take care how they build.
But all are co-laborers.
Whether they plant or water, they work as a team. I Corinthians 3:8
That refers to the image of the garden. One plants, one waters, but God makes it
grow. The image of the building picks up the idea of foundation and
superstructures. Christ is the foundation. He, Paul, Apollos and the other
apostles build the superstructure. If they build well the building will stand; if they
build of faulty materials the building will not meet the test.
This is where we touch our interest - the idea of judgment: This is not a judgment
regarding one's eternal salvation; this is a judgment of one's works or a judgment
of one's life. This is a judgment through which all God's children will pass. The
question is not whether one will be finally redeemed and enter the presence of
God - enter "heaven." The question is how will one fare as one's life comes under
the scrutiny of the Eternal God.
The text speaks specifically about ministers of the Gospel and the building of the
Church. I do not think we err, however, in seeing what here has a specific focus as
being generally true of all persons regarding their life's issue whether that be in
building churches or building houses or laboring in business or industry or living
in community, nation, family.
Will the things to which we devote our lives, our time, our energy stand God's
refining process or will they go up in smoke?
Notice: The one who builds with precious stones, gold and silver, will see his
creation stand the test. He enters life beyond life with something good and
positive going with him.
The one who builds with wood, hay, straw - one who cuts corners and just gets by
will see his life's devotion consumed before his eyes.
But now note carefully:
He will bear the loss but he himself will escape with his life, as one might
from a fire.
Such a person will enter life beyond life having lost everything, secure in God's
eternal presence, yet with nothing to show for his life.
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
From this text I conclude that there is beyond death or through death an
encounter with God in which one's life will be tested. The issue will not be
salvation or condemnation. The issue is whether we bring into God's presence
something, or nothing.
Now I am going beyond the text's specific teaching but drawing, I believe, a
legitimate inference from the text:
Through death, beyond death, at death, there is something more.
Does this text not indicate that Paul thought in terms of encounter with God and
perhaps continuing the process beyond death? If it is a matter simply of being
saved or lost as we enter the moment of death - if there is a status called
"Salvation" and a status called "Condemnation," and that is all there is, then why
be concerned about what one brings to death's moment: a fruitful life, or a barren
life?
I see in our text Paul's conviction that there is not only the discontinuity between
our time and God's eternity, death being the break, but also continuity between
this life and the life beyond death's passage. We bring something (or nothing)
with us and whatever lies beyond is influenced and determined by what we bring
(or fail to bring.)
Let us look at one more text: Luke 12:47-48. These verses are in a context of the
teachings of Jesus. The immediate context is a call to be watchful and ready for
the End - the coming of the Son of Man. Jesus is encouraging loyal, faithful
stewardship of life.
Happy that servant who is found at his task when his master comes!
(Verse 43)
But then Jesus speaks of two kinds of servants. One knew the master's
instructions and failed to comply with them. The other did not comply either, but
he was unaware of the demands. The first was flogged severely; the second was
flogged less severely. This vivid, picturesque language of Jesus must not be
pushed too far. We certainly could not build a whole system of judgment on the
basis of these words. Yet, perhaps it is legitimate to draw at least this teaching:
the sentence will vary in light of individual circumstances. Again, we have here
not a judgment to eternal salvation or eternal condemnation; we have here a
gradation of judgment on the basis of the individual life being examined.
The moment of death, the moment of encounter with God will be very personal,
individual and discriminating. The sentences will vary. Does this point to a
process beyond death's moment? If this were the only text it would be risky to
claim so. But again, this seems to point in the direction of Paul's teaching
explained above. To be sure, the Luke passage speaks of a gradation of severity of
judgment depending on knowledge or opportunity while the Pauline passage
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speaks of entering God's presence beyond the testing of judgment – with positive
fruit of one's life, or denuded of whatever constituted one's life. Yet in both cases
there is judgment in terms of one's life being put to the test and then the entering
into the consequences of what that judgment revealed.
The traditional understanding of our texts is that, in the case of the Luke passage,
there are gradations of punishment - yet to be lost, eternally condemned is to
remain in a state spoken of as hell - separation from God. In the case of the
passage from Paul, the understanding has been that the "saved" enter into
heaven, or union with God, but some with greater, some with less capacity to
experience the joy of salvation.
But let us push those conventional interpretations. Let me repeat what I said
earlier: we cannot finally know answers which remain for us veiled in mystery.
Yet it is important to come to some place where we can live with faith, conviction
and peace. Think with me then; let your imagination loose. Think about the God
of grace, His creation purpose, His covenant faithfulness, His final triumph over
all. Think about the whole impact of the Scriptural revelation beyond individual
texts.
I entitled this message, "Why I Believe in Purgatory," because I did want to grasp
your attention. Surely you know that in a day when Catholic theology itself is very
self-critical and is engaged in serious encounter with Scripture, I am not about to
suggest we reinstitute a teaching that has been a means of distortion of the
Gospel and open to great abuse. We cannot forget that it was precisely at the
point of the teaching of indulgences, the exploitation of the faithful for purposes
of raising money and manipulating people, holding them in spiritual bondage,
that the Reformers rose up in protest.
But my title is more than a ploy. It expresses a conviction to which I have come
through study and reflection, which is as much a surprise to me as it may be to
you. I am convinced that, behind all indefensible practice and abuse of the
Church, there is yet a true intuition. There has been over the centuries a sense
that God was not through with us at the moment of our last breath.
Now the traditional Reformed faith never said He was through with us; there
remains the judgment with its double issue - to salvation or condemnation. But
the traditional teaching has been that with the last breath the issue is irreversible.
It is this claim that I am calling in question. I do recognize that the strong call to
decision, the seriousness of choices in this life is stressed. I would not deny that
or even downplay the urgency of that call. However, is it not possible that in the
experience of death itself, understood as an encounter with God, there is the
possibility of something of eternal significance occurring? I raise the question for
reflection.
Let me share with you some of the best thinking available on the subject. My first
serious consideration of the idea of purgatory or the reality toward which that
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
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teaching points was in Berkhof’s Christian Faith. Because of my high regard for
the thoroughness of his scholarship, depth of biblical and theological
understanding, and deep personal faith in Christ, I had to take seriously his
suggestion that there was really something here to be taken seriously. In his
discussion of the judgment of the works done by believers, which we discussed
above, Berkhof writes:
In protestant theology, this viewpoint is almost completely pushed aside
by the accent on grace. In Roman Catholic piety it is (or used to be) very
prominent in connection with the veneration of saints and purgatory. The
Roman Catholic Church assumes correctly that believers differ greatly in
regard to their progress and fruitfulness...
So the idea of a judgment according to one's deeds leads of itself to the
consideration of a process of purification, called purgatory in Roman
Catholic tradition. ... The Reformation broke with that doctrine because of
its moralistic conception of salvation and its detrimental effect on the
practice of piety (indulgences; intercessory prayers and masses for the
dead.) It imagined a sudden, radical transformation after the judgment,
usually without giving it further theological reflection and without
connecting it with the struggle for sanctification on earth. Meanwhile
Roman Catholic thinking, too, has become much more reserved. Typical of
the modern R.C. conceptions is the idea of "ripening" ... which K. Rahner
develops in "The Life of the Dead."
Referring to our text, I Corinthians 3:15, Berkhof asserts,
... that statement does suggest that Paul thought of more than an abrupt
re-creation of man; salvation is accompanied by a painful becoming aware
of one's own failures on earth. The difficulties here are more an open
question for theological reflection than a subject for back and forth
theological denouncement. (p. 489)
In the previous message I cited Berkhof s statement about the question of
whether "Hell" was forever. He writes:
God is serious about the responsibility of our decision, but he is even more
serious about the responsibility of his love. The darkness of rejection and
God's forsakenness cannot and may not be argued away, but no more can
and may it be eternalized. For God's sake we hope that hell will be a form
of purification. (p. 532)
That word "purification" is one used by the Catholic theologian Hans Küng. It
was Küng who stimulated me to pursue these matters. His forthright handling of
them at the University of Michigan convinced me that these questions do not go
away; they are deeply written on the human heart. In the published lectures
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 8
Eternal Life? Küng treats the idea of purgatory in his discussion of the question
whether hell is eternal.
Some theologians argue that it is not God who damns man by a verdict
imposed from outside. They are human beings themselves, by sins
committed with inward freedom, who damn themselves. The
responsibility lies not with God but with man, and by death this selfdamnation and distance from God (not a place, but a human condition)
becomes definitive. Definitive? Do not the psalms say that God rules over
the realm of the dead? What is supposed to become definitive here,
contrary to the will of an all-merciful and almighty God? Why should God,
who is infinitely good, want to perpetuate enmity instead of removing it
and in practice to share his rule forever with some kind of anti-God? Why
should he have nothing more to say at this point and consequently render
forever impossible a purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment, of
guilt-laden man? (p. 137)
Then he refers specifically to purgatory.
Purification, cleansing, liberation, enlightenment: Here perhaps may be I want merely to prompt a few reflections - the particle of truth, the real
care, of the problematic idea of purgatory, which has been translated in
German from the Middle Ages onward with the unfortunate designation of
Fegefeuer ("winnowing fire") -This may be the true core, but it remains
only if the idea is not reified. ... as no human being is entirely bad, neither
is anyone entirely good. Any human being, even the best, falls short of
what he might be, fails to meet his own demands and norms and thus
never wholly realizes himself. For if he is to be fully himself, even the
"saint" needs completion, not after death, but in death itself. And, in view
of so much unpunished guilt in the world, a number of people wonder not entirely wrongly - if dying unto God, the absolutely final reality, can be
one and the same for us: The same for criminals and their victims, for
mass murderers and the mass of the murdered; for those who have
struggled a whole life long to fulfill God's will, true helpers of their fellow
human beings, and for those who for a whole life long have only carried
out their own will and at the same time shut out others? ...how this ...
purification, cleansing, follows is not left to the speculation or calculation
of human curiosity but remains a matter for God as merciful judge, in
God's all-embracing final act of grace.
The key idea Küng would stress is the shattering effect of the encounter with God.
We die not into nothingness; we die into God. Küng cites Karl Barth:
Man as such therefore has no beyond. Nor does he need one, for God is his
beyond. Man's beyond is that God is his Creator, Covenant-partner, Judge
and Saviour, was and is and will be his true Counterpart in life, and finally
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page 9
and exclusively and totally in death. (Church Dogmatics Vol. Ill, 2, pp.
632-33)
Küng also cites a Catholic theologian, Greshake:
From this standpoint we can understand what was pointed out earlier, that
God himself, the encounter with him, is purgatory. But this means that we
need not fall back on a special place or still less on a special time or special
event to grasp the meaning of purgatory. Still less do we need to work out
crude ideas about the 'poor' souls. Instead we can understand what the
Church teaches and has taught from the earliest times as an element in the
encounter with God in death. ... we should avoid any talk of fire and speak
instead of purifying and cleansing as an element of the encounter with
God. At the same time what should be particularly clear is that purgatory
is not - as it often seems to be in popular piety - a "demihell" which God
has erected in order to punish the person who is not entirely bad, but also
not entirely good. Purgatory is not a demihell but an element of the
encounter with God: that is, the encounter of the unfinished person, still
immature in his love, with the holy, infinite, loving God; an encounter
which is profoundly humiliating, painful and therefore purifying. (Cited on
p. 139)
Küng concludes,
That is to say that, since it is a question of dying into the dimensions of
God, where space and time are dissolved into eternity, nothing can be
discovered, either about place and time or about the character of this
purifying, sanctifying consummation. (p.139)
A Lutheran theologian, Hans Schwarz, discusses the views of Tadislaus Boros
who suggests something similar, the significance of the final decision at the
moment of death.
... decisively modifies the traditional concepts of purgatory and death.
Boros agrees that the Church has only gradually developed the doctrine of
purgatory. Though the Scriptural basis of purgatory may be obscure, the
fact and the essential nature of purgatory are of such quality that it must
be called a "truth of revelation." However, through his hypothesis of a final
decision, Boros seems to view purgatory as the "point" of intersection
between life and death. Purgatory is no longer conceived of as a process of
purification which can be measured similar to the days and years we live
here on earth. According to Boros, "purgatory would be the passage, which
we effect in our final decision through the purifying fire of divine love. The
encounter with Christ would be our purgatory. ... Boros replaces an
untenable concept of purgatory with the idea of a confrontation with
Christ in death. ... he calls death "man's first completely personal act;"
and, "therefore, by reason of its very being, the place above all others for
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page10
the awakening of consciousness, for freedom, for the encounter with God,
for the final decision about eternal destiny." (On The Way To The Future,
pp. 142F)
It has been obvious to me as I have pursued this subject that those who have
reflected on the biblical material, the whole context of Scripture, the revelation of
God as He has shown Himself in Jesus Christ and the human person are very
restrained in their conclusions and very cautious in their statement. There is in
all serious inquirers into this question a recognition of the serious nature of
human decisions, an acknowledgement of the urgent need for repentance and
faith, the reality of evil and human wickedness that demands response if there is
any justice, the judgment as the exposure of our lives to the scrutiny of the God of
truth.
All serious biblical thinkers recognize that God takes us seriously and that our
wrong and guilt are not simply soft-pedaled and our exposure to God's light and
truth will be painful even while we are conscious of being embraced within a
larger grace. Judgment will be experienced: No one will "get away" with anything.
If an eternal hell is questioned, it is not because passing through God's final
examination is not a serious matter and neither is it because there is no sense of
the need for change and renewal of the person who through the earthly
pilgrimage has become scarred and tainted and twisted.
Recognizing that we cannot simply move from the ambiguity, partial insight,
fickleness and unfaithfulness of one's human experience into the presence of the
God of light and truth, there is the belief on the part of some that a purifying
process will be necessary.
What have we believed traditionally? Simply that God sees us in Jesus; his
righteousness is our righteousness now and when we pass through death to life
we will be made like him - instant perfection.
What I am questioning in this message is the instant perfection.
Certainly the question is not whether God is able in a moment to totally
transform us. But does He ever work as far as we can trace His work in Creation
apart from process? How often we wish He would work by a "snap of the finger;"
but God takes time and allows the process to work.
Further, we must recognize that we can only think in terms of time but when we
speak of moving through "the moment of death," what do we mean? At that
"moment" we move beyond "moments in succession" - we move into the
dimension of Eternity. It is far beyond our purpose or capacity to enter into the
discussion of time relative to eternity here, but we must not naively project our
time-conditioned thinking beyond death.
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page11
C. S. Lewis has dealt as creatively and profoundly as anyone of whom I am aware
with the question of heaven, hell and purgatory. He points to the relation of time
and eternity in a fascinating imaginary discussion with the Christian writer,
George MacDonald:
'In your own books, Sir,' said I, 'you were a Universalist. You talked as if all
men would be saved. And St. Paul too.'
'Ye can know nothing of the end of all things, or nothing expressible in
those terras. It may be, as the Lord said to the Lady Julian, that all will be
well, and all will be well, and all manner of thing will be well. But it's ill
talking of such questions.'
‘Because they are too terrible, Sir?’
'No. Because all answers deceive. If ye put the question from within Time
and are asking about possibilities, the answer is certain. The choice of
ways is before you. Neither is closed. Any man may choose eternal death.
Those who choose it will have it. But if ye are trying to leap on into
eternity, if ye are trying to see the final state of all things as it will be (for
so ye must speak) when there are no more possibilities left but only the
Real, then ye ask what cannot be answered to mortal ears. Time is the very
lens through which ye see - small and clear, as men see through the wrong
end of a telescope - something that would otherwise be too big for ye to see
at all. That thing is Freedom: the gift whereby ye most resemble your
Maker and are yourselves parts of eternal reality. But ye can see it only
through the lens of Time, in a little clear picture, through the inverted
telescope. It is a picture of moments following one another and yourself in
each moment making some choice that might have been otherwise.
Neither the temporal succession nor the phantom of what ye might have
chosen and didn't is itself Freedom. They are a lens. The picture is a
symbol: but it's truer than any philosophical theorem (or, perhaps, than
any mystic's vision) that claims to go behind it. For every attempt to see
the shape of eternity except through the lens of Time destroys your
knowledge of Freedom. Witness the doctrine of Predestination which
shows (truly enough) that eternal reality is not waiting for a future in
which to be real, but at the price of removing Freedom which is the deeper
truth of the two. And wouldn't Universalism do the same? Ye cannot know
eternal reality by a definition. Time itself, and all acts and events that fill
Time, are the definition, and it must be lived. The Lord said we were gods.
How long could ye bear to look (without Time's lens) on the greatness of
your own soul and the eternal reality of her choice?' (The Great Divorce,
p. 114 F.)
In his imaginary conversation with MacDonald, Lewis is told that it is possible for
people in hell to take holiday excursions to the boundaries of the heavenly
country, Lewis exclaims,
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
Page12
'But I don't understand. Is" judgement not final? Is there really a way out
of Hell into Heaven?'
'It depends on the way ye're using the words. If they leave that grey town
behind it will not have been Hell. To any that leaves it, it is Purgatory. And
perhaps ye had better not call this country Heaven. Not Deep Heaven, ye
understand.' (Here he smiled at me). Ye can call it the Valley of the
Shadow of Life. And yet to those who stay here it will have been Heaven
from the first. And ye can call those sad streets in the town yonder the
Valley of the Shadow of Death: but to those who remain there they will
have been Hell even from the beginning.'
I suppose he saw that I looked puzzled, for presently he spoke again.
'Son,' he said, 'ye cannot in your present state understand eternity: when
Anodos looked through the door of the Timeless he brought no message
back. But ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil,
when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all
their earthly past will have been Heaven to those who are saved. Not only
the twilight in that town, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by
the damned to have been Hell. That is what mortals misunderstand. They
say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it," not
knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even
that agony into a glory. And of some sinful pleasure they say "Let me but
have this and I'll take the consequences": little dreaming how damnation
will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of
the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good man's past
begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take
on the quality of Heaven; the bad man's past already conforms to his
badness and is filled only with dreariness. And that is why, at the end of all
things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down
there, the Blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in
Heaven", and the Lost, "we were always in Hell." And both will speak
truly.'
'Is not that very hard, Sir?'
'I mean, that is the real sense of what they will say. In the actual language
of the Lost, the words will be different, no doubt. One will say he has
always served his country right or wrong; and another that he has
sacrificed everything to his Art; and some that they've never been taken in,
and some that, thank God, they've always looked after Number One, and
nearly all, that, at least they've been true to themselves.'
'And the Saved?'
© Grand Valley State University
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Richard A. Rhem
Page13
'Ah, the Saved ... what happens to them is best described as the opposite of
a mirage. What seemed, when they entered it, to be the vale of misery
turns out, when they look back, to have been a well; and where present
experience saw only salt deserts, memory truthfully records that the pools
were full of water.'
'Then those people are right who say that Heaven and Hell are only states
of mind?'
'Hush,' said he sternly. 'Do not blaspheme. Hell is a state of mind - ye
never said a truer word. And every state of mind, left to itself, every
shutting up of the creature within the dungeon of its own mind - is, in the
end, Hell. But Heaven is not a state of mind. Heaven is reality itself. All
that is fully real is Heavenly. For all that can be shaken will be shaken and
only the unshakable remains.'
'But there is a real choice after death? My Roman Catholic friends would
be surprised, for to them souls in Purgatory are already saved. And my
Protestant friends would like it no better, for they'd say that the tree lies as
it falls.'
"They're both right, maybe. Do not fash yourself with such questions. Ye
cannot fully understand the relations of choice and Time till you are
beyond both. And ye were not brought here to study such curiosities. What
concerns you is the nature of the choice itself: and that ye can watch them
making.' (The Great Divorce, pp. 61F.)
Lewis' fertile imagination is thought provoking. Great caution is there; our
curiosity will not be satisfied this side of death's portal. Yet it is clear that Hell, he
seems to be saying, is porous. If one spends Eternity there or, conversely, if one
never comes to the light, it will not be so much God's verdict as one's own fatal
choice.
Much lies veiled in mystery. Yet all that is needful is clear and how can it be more
clearly set forth than simply,
Now is the day of salvation;
Now is the day to choose the things that matter, things of ultimate concern; now
is the day to live faithfully - covenant with the Good and Gracious God. Then
already we possess Eternal life and death will move us "from splendour to
splendour 'til we see Him face to face." Amen.
© Grand Valley State University
�Why I Believe in Purgatory
Richard A. Rhem
Page14
References:
Hendrikus Berkhof. Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith.
Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979.
Hans Küng. Eternal Life? Life After Death as a Medical, Philosophical and
Theological Problem. Doubleday, 1984.
C. S. Lewis. The Great Divorce. First published by HarperCollins, 1946.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
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Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
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Event
Advent III
Scripture Text
I Corinthians 3:14-15, Luke 12:47-48
Location
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
Hendrikus Berkhof, Christian Faith, 1979
Hans K
C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, 1946
Dublin Core
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KII-01_RA-0-19851215
Date
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1985-12-15
Title
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Why I Believe in Purgatory
Creator
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Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
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Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 15, 1985 entitled "Why I Believe in Purgatory", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: I Corinthians 3:14-15, Luke 12:47-48.
Advent
Death
Eternity
Forgiveness
God of Grace
Judgment
Nature of God
Purgatory
Salvation