I. The Intermediate State
I, pp. 227–247; II, pp. 398–413, 455–463, 527–537, 588–595, 613– 619, 688–702; Sheldon, History of Christian Doctrines, I, pp. 136–
144, 270–281, 388–404; II, pp. 191–212, 382–388; Otten, Manual of the History of Dogmas, I, pp. 180–189, 338–356; II, pp. 272–396;
Crippen, History of Christian Doctrine, pp. 189–207; Cunningham, Historical Theology, II, pp. 121–154; Seeberg, History of Doctrine, cf.
Index.
THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAST THINGS
I. The Intermediate State The doctrine of the last things never stood in the center of attention, is one of the least developed doctrines, and therefore calls for no elaborate discussion. Its main elements have been rather constant, and these constitute practically the whole dogma of the Church respecting future things. Occasionally deviating views occupied a rather important place in theological discussions, but these were never incorporated in the Confessions of the Church. It may be that, as Dr. Orr surmises, we have now reached that point in the history of dogma in which the doctrine of the last things will receive greater attention and be brought to further development.
The Apostolic Fathers did not yet reflect on the intermediate state.
According to the common opinion of their day the pious at death immediately inherit the heavenly glory prepared for them, and the wicked at once suffer the punishment of hell. It was only when it became apparent that Christ would not immediately return, that the Church Fathers began to reflect on the state between death and the resurrection. One of the first was Justin, who said: "The souls of the pious are in a better place, those of the unjust and wicked in a worse, waiting for the time of judgment." He denounced as heretical those who said "that their souls, when they die, are taken to heaven."
The general opinion of the later Fathers, such as Irenæus, Tertullian, Hilary, Ambrose, Cyril, and even Augustine, was that the dead descend into hades, a place with various divisions, where they remain until the day of judgment or, according to Augustine, until they are sufficiently purified. In the measure in which it became apparent that the parousia of Christ was a far distant event, it became increasingly difficult to maintain the idea of hades as a merely temporary and provisional habitation of the dead. An exception was soon made for the martyrs who, according to Tertullian, were at once admitted into glory. The descent of Christ into hades was interpreted as having effected the deliverance of the Old Testament saints from the limbus patrum. And when the doctrine of the meritoriousness of good works became prominent, it was taught that those who were diligent in their performance were worthy of passing into heaven at once. Hades was gradually robbed of its righteous inhabitants. Finally, the wicked were about the only ones left, and it began to be regarded as a place of punishment, sometimes identified with gehenna. Origen taught explicitly that Christ transported all the righteous of former ages from hades to paradise, which from that time on became the destination of all departing saints.
In connection with the idea that many Christians are not sufficiently holy at death to enter the region of eternal bliss, the conviction gradually gained currency that these are subjected to a process of purification beyond the grave. The early Church Fathers already spoke of a purifying fire, which some of them located in paradise, and others associated with the final conflagration. They did not always have in mind a literal or material fire, but often thought merely of a spiritual test or discipline. Origen conceived of hades, including gehenna, and also of the final conflagration at the end of the world, as a purifying fire. Several of the later Greek and Latin
Church Fathers, such as the three Cappadocians, Ambrose, Ephræm, Augustine, and others, entertained the idea of a purgatorial fire in the intermediate state.
It was especially in the West that the idea of a special purgatorial fire was developed. Gregory the Great already stressed it as a matter of unquestioned belief. Says he: "It is to be believed that there is, for some light faults, a purgatorial fire before the judgment." Hence he is usually called "the inventor of purgatory." He was also the first one who clearly propounded the idea, vaguely entertained by others long before him, of deliverance from this fire by intercessory prayers and oblations. The mediæval Scholastics and Mystics were very explicit in their description of purgatory, and the majority of them conceived of it as a material fire. The Greek Church never cordially accepted the gross views current in the West.
The locality of purgatory was also discussed, and it was generally regarded as that division of hades that was nearest to hell. At a little remove from it was the limbus infantum, the place where, according to the Scholastics, children who died in an unbaptized state are confined, suffering no positive pain indeed, but yet kept forever out of heaven. Still farther away from hell was the supposed limbus patrum, also called "paradise" or "Abraham's bosom", where, it was held, the Old Testament worthies were retained until the descent of Christ into hades. The doctrine of purgatory was solemnly affirmed by the Council of Trent in 1546. It was in connection with this doctrine that the vicious practice of selling indulgences grew up in the Church.
The doctrine of purgatory was opposed towards the end of the Middle Ages by such forerunners of the Reformation as Wyclif and Huss. Luther fulminated against the pernicious practices that grew up in the Church in connection with it, and the Reformers, one and all, rejected the whole doctrine of purgatory as contrary to Scripture.
The Smalcald Articles speak of purgatory as belonging to "the vermin brood of idolatry, begotten by the tail of the dragon." And the ThirtyNine Articles of the Church of England declare that "the Romish doctrine concerning purgatory.… is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture."