Questions and Answers
Homiletic and Pastoral Review
November 2026
Rev. John P. Cush, STD
Question One: What do Protestant Christians believe about Purgatory?
Answer: The doctrine of Purgatory is one of the central points of divergence between Catholicism and Protestantism. In Catholic theology, Purgatory refers to a state of purification after death for those who die in God’s friendship but still need to be cleansed of venial sins or temporal punishment due to sin (CCC §1030–1031). Protestant Christians, however, have generally rejected this teaching since the Reformation, considering it contrary to Scripture and undermining the sufficiency of Christ’s atoning work.
Martin Luther, in his 95 Theses (1517), criticized the abuses surrounding indulgences and prayers for the dead, which were linked to the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory. While Luther at times allowed for speculation about an intermediate state, he ultimately concluded that the doctrine lacked biblical foundation and conflicted with the teaching of justification by faith alone (see Smalcald Articles, Part II, Article II). John Calvin was even more direct, calling Purgatory a “deadly fiction of Satan” that detracted from Christ’s sacrifice (Institutes of the Christian Religion, III.5.6). For the Reformers, salvation rests entirely on Christ’s merits, applied to believers through faith; thus, no post-mortem purification is necessary.
Protestants typically appeal to Scripture to reject Purgatory. Hebrews 9:27 states, “It is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment,” which they interpret as excluding any intermediate state of cleansing. Likewise, Jesus’ words to the repentant thief on the cross — “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) — are understood to mean that believers enter immediately into the presence of God upon death. From this perspective, any notion of Purgatory appears to contradict the assurance of salvation in Christ’s finished work on the cross (John 19:30).
Within Protestantism, nuances exist. Mainline traditions such as Lutheranism, Reformed Christianity, and Anglicanism reject Purgatory formally in their confessional documents (e.g., Augsburg Confession XXIV; Westminster Confession of Faith XXXII.1; Thirty-Nine Articles XXII). Evangelical Protestants often echo these confessions by stressing the immediacy of heaven or hell after death, with no intermediate state. However, some modern Protestant theologians have entertained concepts resembling purification after death, though they avoid the term Purgatory. For example, C. S. Lewis, an Anglican lay theologian, suggested in Letters to Malcolm that a cleansing process after death is reasonable, since “our souls demand purgation.” Still, this remains a minority view and is not formally part of Protestant doctrine.
So, generally, Protestant Christians reject the Catholic teaching on Purgatory because they believe it lacks biblical support and undermines the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ alone. For them, salvation is secured entirely through Christ’s sacrifice, and believers who die in faith are immediately with the Lord. While some individual voices have speculated about a purifying process after death, mainstream Protestant theology continues to deny Purgatory as defined in Catholic teaching.
Question Two: My pastor said in his homily that God is not just a creator, but also involving in continual creation, meaning sustaining the world in existence. What does this mean?
Answer: When Christians confess that God is “Creator of heaven and earth,” they affirm more than a moment in the distant past. Catholic theology teaches that God not only brought the world into being but also continues to hold it in existence at every moment. This belief is often expressed as the distinction between creatio prima (the initial act of creation) and creatio continua (the continual sustaining of creation). To say that God is not only a creator but also continually creating means that the universe depends on Him not only for its origin but for its ongoing being.
Sacred Scripture provides the foundation for this belief. The Letter to the Hebrews proclaims that Christ “sustains all things by his powerful word” (Heb 1:3). Similarly, St. Paul writes: “In him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). These passages show that divine action is not limited to the beginning of time but is present in every moment of existence. Creation would collapse into nothingness without God’s sustaining power.
St. Thomas Aquinas articulates this truth with philosophical precision. In the Summa Theologiae, he writes that “conservation is a continual creation” (ST I, q.104, a.1). For Aquinas, creatures have no being of themselves; their existence is entirely dependent on God, who is ipsum esse subsistens — Being itself. Therefore, just as a light bulb depends on electricity to shine, so too all creation depends on God’s ongoing act of being. Without God’s conserving will, creatures would fall back into non-existence, since “the being of every creature depends on the continuous influx of the divine being” (ST I, q.104, a.1, ad 3).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church echoes this teaching: “With creation, God does not abandon his creatures to themselves. He not only gives them being and existence, but also, and at every moment, upholds and sustains them in being” (CCC §301). This continual sustaining expresses God’s providence — His wise governance of the universe toward its final end. As St. Augustine observed, “If God withdrew His hand, the world would fall back into nothingness” (Confessions XII.25). Thus, divine conservation is not merely a background operation but the very heartbeat of creation.
Theologically, this belief safeguards two truths. First, it shows that God is transcendent yet immanent. He is not a “watchmaker God” who wound up the universe and stepped away, but the living God who remains actively present in every detail of creation. Second, it underscores the radical dependence of creatures. Everything we are and have is a gift, moment by moment, from God’s sustaining love. This grounds the Christian life in humility and gratitude: “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
In conclusion, to say that God is not only Creator but also continually sustaining creation means that the universe is dependent on God not only for its beginning but for every instant of its existence. Scripture, Aquinas, and the Catechism all affirm that divine conservation is a continual creation, without which nothing could endure. God’s sustaining power is thus the foundation of both the cosmos and the daily life of every believer, reminding us that our very existence is a constant participation in His creative love.