Prof. Th. Engelder on the Hades Gospel Part V: "The Protestant Purgatory"

Do men need further sanctifying and purifying after death? What of an intermediate state: purgatory or something akin to it? Can men truly be perfectly purged of the sin still clinging to them in the instant of death?

In "The Protestant Purgatory," Part V of his series of essays on the "Hades Gospel," Prof. Th. Engelder considers the teaching of purgatory, or the state(s) of men who are dead preceding the resurrection. He rightly points out the return to the Roman teaching of purgatory by Protestants who argue for the Hades Gospel (a second chance for salvation after death) and who support some sort of intermediate state in the afterlife. Engelder:

"That is the Catholic purgatory. And what is the Protestant purgatory? The Hades theologians, particularly those who believe in salvation by faith alone, refuse to embody all the Romish features in their reconstructed purgatory. But they have taken over this feature: the dying Christian carries remnants of sin with him into the next world and must go through a purgatorial, purifying process in Hades before he enters heaven."

Prof. Th. Engelder on the Hades Gospel Part IV: "Some Remarks on the Question of the Salvation of the Heathen"

This is the question that always gets raised. What about the people in ancient Peru who never heard the Gospel? What about the child in Saudi Arabia who is born a Muslim by no fault of his own yet strives to be a good and just individual?

[Note: Here is the link to the first (and introductory) post in this series: Prof. Th. Engelder on The Hades Gospel Part I: "The Hades Gospel", the second post: Part II, "The Argument in Support of the Hades Gospel,", and the third post: Prof. Th. Engelder on the Hades Gospel Part III: "The Evil of The Hades Gospel"]

In Part IV, "Some Remarks on the Question of the Salvation of the Heathen," Engelder takes up the issues and questions surrounding the salvation of the heathen. A particularly memorable line is the following: "Nor is it surprising that the liberal Protestants teach that the heathen can save themselves, with the help of God. The Liberals are blood brothers of the Catholics, of the race of Pelagius." The warnings of the essay are clear: do not give up the universality of grace though the facts seem to contradict this article of faith; and, do not be led into strange unbiblical doctrines by rationalizations and human searches into the unsearchable mysteries of God. These paths start in the (vain) hope of explaining God's ways further and more clearly than He Himself does, and ultimately leads to accusing the Lord Himself of evil and malice.

Prof. Th. Engelder on the Hades Gospel Part III: "The Evil of The Hades Gospel"

In his third essay on the topic, Engelder shows the falsehood of the Hades Gospel under 5 headings:

[Note: Here is the link to the first (and introductory) post in this series: Prof. Th. Engelder on The Hades Gospel Part I: "The Hades Gospel" And the second post: Part II, "The Argument in Support of the Hades Gospel,"]

1. To proclaim the "second chance" after death Hades Gospel contradicts the clear teaching of Scripture.

In this section, Engelder specifically meets the charge that a belief that the fate of a soul is fixed at death leaves no room for the final judgment. He also confronts the argument that since some of the Church Fathers accepted the possibility of conversion after death that we must as well.

2. Engelder's second major point is that the Hades Gospel's hope of a second chance rests upon human reason and speculation. He points out that the theologians who argue for such a teaching are following their own sense of justice and mercy in opposition to what the Scriptures actually say. Along the same lines, Engelder confronts the trick of many, which looks superficially like a concern for the analogy of faith, in which the teaching of "the whole Bible" (das Schriftganze) contradicts specific passages. Unlike the using the analogy of faith to explain apparent contradictions or seemingly difficult passages, hazy, and ill-defined broad principles (of course truly emanating from the interpreter himself) overwhelm or trump the clear words and teachings of the Scriptures.

"The Hades gospel, spawned by rationalistic thinking, is an evil thing. The Hades theology sets the verdict of reason and feeling above the declaration of God's Word. God wants His children to accept the teaching of Scripture in simple faith, to believe that God's ways are just and right even if they cannot understand them, but reason, "the archwhore and Satan's bride" (Luther, XX: 232), would seduce God's children from implicit faith and asks them to say to God: We cannot accept statements of Scripture which outrage our reason. The evil of the Hades gospel consists in this, that it weans the Christians away from the allegiance to their Lord."