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Citation: Zeeb, Janelle. “Purgatory for Protestants? Jerry Walls and Gregory 
Boyd on Purgatory and Sanctification.” April 30, 2019, Tyndale University College 
& Seminary, Toronto, Ontario: MPEG-3, 21:51 min.

***** Begin Content ******


So yes, my paper is titled Purgatory for Protestants Jerry Walls and Gregory Boyd on Purgatory and Sanctification. So recently 
I've noticed a somewhat strange trend. Certain Protestant authors are actually considering the idea of Purgatory as legitimate 
and even advocating it for it to be included as a part of Protestant eschatology. It's because, they say, some Christians die 
who are are not yet holy enough for heaven, and so Christians have to finish being sanctified in some place after death before 
they can enter heaven. While it is true that there will be no sin in heaven and all who are there will be perfect, the question 
is how this perfection happens instantly at death without our cooperation, or gradually in some place where we do cooperate or 
else in this life itself. While Protestants frequently say that no one achieves perfect holiness in this life, Wesley did endorse 
the possibility of people becoming entirely sanctified in this life. He later qualified this to say it did not mean people were 
permanently and completely free of all sin, as our previous presenter has talked about so well, but just that at some point the 
Christian life would become much less of a struggle. Randy Maddox, a commenter on Wesley, notes that while Wesley normally said 
that those who were not entirely sanctified in this life would experience this at the moment of death, at one point Wesley did 
suggest that, quote those who needed to would continue to ripen in paradise while they awaited the final escaton, end quote. 
That's why that is the resurrection and the new heavens and new earth. So Jerry Walls is one Wesleyan who does argue for 
Purgatory as a place where Christians finish their sanctification. He has written extensively about Purgatory in his books Heaven, 
Hell and Purgatory 2015 and his longer book Purgatory The Logic of Total Transformation in 2012. In an article on First Things titled 
Purgatory for Everyone in April 2002, Walls provides a short, accessible summary of his view on Purgatory. Here he says that if we must 
be holy before we can be united with God, but Christians die with their sanctification incomplete, then they are not yet ready for 
heaven, but also not fit for hell. And so he says, quote Wesleyans insist that God not only forgives us, but also changes us and 
actually makes us righteous. Only when we are entirely sanctified or fully perfected in this sentence are we truly fit to enjoy the 
Beatific vision in heaven. In his book Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, Walls is critical of the view that Christians are instantly perfected 
at death. He claims that such an instantaneous transformation of character is not viable for temporal beings whom God has gifted with free 
will to cooperate or not with God's will. He claims that allowing God's truth to transform our character requires time, our cooperation, 
and our willingness to abandon sin. And so God can't just adapt people and make them instantly holy. Walls fears that for us to undergo 
such a sudden change of character would make us lose our personal identity, for we would not recognize ourselves as the same people we 
were at the moment we died. He appeals to C. S. Lewis ideas as justification for this, and CS. Lewis also as an example of a major 
evangelical Protestant who endorsed Purgatory. Another endorsement of Purgatory as a place for completing sanctification comes from 
the open theist Gregory Boyd. Although he differs from Wesleyans and Armenians on the issue of God's foreknowledge of free choices, 
he does agree with the Armenian emphasis on the necessity of noncompatibilistic free will for our response to God's offer of salvation, 
and thus what he says about sanctification and Purgatory is relevant to Wesleyans and Armenians. However, I will argue that what Boyd says 
about Purgatory is inconsistent with certain other very helpful things that he does say about sanctification. I will show that Boyd's views on 
sanctification actually support the idea that we do experience instant sanctification at death, so that no purgatory or further ripening in 
holiness is necessary. Therefore, I believe Boyd's work clearly illustrates some problems that every theologian will have to address if they 
desire to seriously and persuasively advocate for Purgatory as a place where Christians finish being sanctified. So the first that I read about 
the idea of Purgatory and Gregory Boyd's work was in his book Satan and the Problem of Evil in 2001. In an appendix titled On Incomplete Probation 
Periods, Boyd argues that because love requires a free choice, but some people die before they reach the point where they can make that choice or 
may never reach it at all. In this life, due to mental disability, then there must be some time after death for these people to develop to the point 
where this choice is possible. For he says that no one can be in heaven who did not choose to participate in God's love, yet neither have these 
people chosen to reject God, and thus they are not fit for hell. So I admit that Boyd does have an interesting attempt to solve this issue. However, 
Boyd goes on to say that there is also a need for a place where, quote, believers whose sanctification is not completed in this life may somehow be 
completed and made fit for the kingdom of God in the next. End quote. He refers to the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew five, where the 
servant is thrown into jail until he can pay every last penny of his debt. To say that, quote, we either make things right now or we get them made 
right later, and getting them right later is going to take time. End quote. He suspects this could be part of the judgment of believers that takes 
place in one Corinthians three, verses 13 to 14, and may involve refining chastisements, he says. Boyd expands on this idea in a blog post written in 
2009 titled Purgatory and the Judgment Seat of Christ where he seems to use the idea that we have to finish being perfectly sanctified either in this 
life or the next, as a way to discourage Christians from committing suicide. He fears that the idea that we are perfectly sanctified at death would 
encourage Christians to give up and commit suicide when they tire of the ongoing struggle of sanctification in this life or else would discourage 
Christians from even bothering to pursue holiness at all, since they will automatically become perfect at death and thus gives Christians license 
to continue living in worldly or sinful ways. So he says that suicide is not a shortcut to heaven because we don't just enter heaven immediately, 
but have to endure purgatory, where our character is made entirely holy. Boyd writes quote While your faith in Jesus in principle reconciles you to 
God, your character has to be refined before you enter heaven. It's like Christ's death on the cross lets you out of prison, but you still need to 
have your criminal character reformed before you are fit for the heavenly society, and there's simply no shortcut to this process of character 
reformation, end quote. In another podcast, he suggests that the amount of time necessary for this postmortem sanctification will depend on our 
willingness to cooperate with it and that it may involve suffering, as all sanctification does, he claims. However, I think that what Boyd has 
said about purgatory is actually inconsistent with what he has said elsewhere about the process of sanctification. Now, I really like what Boyd says 
about sanctification. He clearly locates where the struggle is within Christians in a way that I think makes perfect sense of Romans seven, verses 14 to 
25, and in this way helps us understand what we're struggling with and how to overcome it. However, I think that his statements on sanctification actually 
do support the idea that we are instantly perfected at death and therefore no purgatory or further sanctification will be necessary. So I'll lay out I will 
lay out the logic of some statements made by Boyd to paint a picture of how he understands sanctification. First, Boyd argues that when we become Christians, 
quote all that is part of our old self, all that is sinful and contrary to God has been crucified. It is dead, as per Romans six, verses two to eleven, 
and Galatians two, verse 20. Next, we are entirely remade and so become new creations as per second Corinthians five, verse 17, and are rooted and 
established in love by the indwelling Holy Spirit, as per Ephesians three, verse 17. So this would mean that Christians are made entirely holy and 
perfect in our inner spirit or soul the moment we're born again through the prevenient, yet resistible work of the Holy Spirit. So there is no sinful 
nature that remains as part of our spirit or soul after we're born again. However, we do not experience this transformation instantly. Boyd says quote 
God doesn't destroy who we are with all of our memories, our habits or our past associations. When he recreates us in Christ Jesus, he rather seeks to 
transform all of our memories, habits and past associations on the basis of our recreated identities. We do not automatically see and experience ourselves 
as we truly are in Christ. Therefore, to some extent we continue to think and act, though what is true about us in Christ were not true. End quote. So thus 
we must try to put off the old self as per Ephesians four, verse 22, which is a constant struggle between our spirits and our flesh. You can also see Galatians 
five, verse 17. Now, this struggle between the spirit and the flesh, Boyd says, occurs in our minds. For Boyd says that God's design is originally for our 
spirit or soul to control our mind, for our mind to then control our body's actions and for our actions to make an impact in the world. But Satan tries to 
reverse this by using our experiences in the world and other people's influence on us, which we take in through our bodily senses to affect how we think 
about everything, ultimately hoping to keep us spiritually alienated from God. Now, here's where it gets really interesting. Boyd specifies that our minds 
are connected to our bodies, for he says that though says our thoughts are rooted in our physical neural nets. So that is the biological connections in our 
brains. He says, quote the spirit of the regenerate person genuinely wants to live in relationship with God and do his will. All that God says is true about 
us in scripture is true on this level. We are in our innermost being identified with Christ and are holy, blameless, filled with all the fullness of God, 
et cetera. Void continues. But the proper spirit mind relationship is not automatically restored. On the contrary, because they are rooted in our physical 
neural nets, our thoughts and emotions continue on in their autopilot fashion. However, they've been programmed to run for good or for ill. This is why we 
don't automatically experience the truth of who we truly are in Christ. End quote. Now, research has been done on how neural connections in our brains operate, 
which shows that like when we learn new things, new neural connections or pathways are made in our brains. The more that a certain thought or action is repeated, 
the more that neural pathway is reinforced and becomes easier to use, whereas connections that are not used slowly decay over time. So I think this is very 
interesting. So I think that if what we think about literally changes the connections in our brains, then I think Paul's suggestion to think of only whatever is 
good, true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent praiseworthy, is actually a very practical tip for how we can pursue further sanctification. So. 
Therefore, Bud, due to this interpretation, interprets the term flesh, which Paul uses to describe what it is that opposes this desire at the desires of our Holy 
Spirit or soul. Not as something sinful or evil, due to our existence as physical beings, but as a deceptive way of seeing and experiencing oneself and one's 
world and thus a deceptive way of living in the world. It is that way of thinking and experiencing and living that is conformed to the pattern of the world. End 
quote. So the problem is that we struggle against our flesh, that is, against our sinful neural connections encoded within our physical brains, which are 
reinforced by old habits and behaviors. So yeah, just to recap Boyd's argument, when we're saved, we're instantly made new creations and are made perfectly 
holy in our inner spirit or soul. We can't be any more perfect in our spirit or soul than we already are the moment we first believed in Christ as our savior. 
But our thoughts are still being influenced by our physical brains, which have sinful neural connections that have developed due to all our years of living in 
this sin filled world and being told like lies about ourselves, lies about others lies about God, lies about what we're made for and what our value is, and all 
sorts of other false messages that we take in on a daily basis. On top of this, there are also our own sinful actions and thoughts that have ingrained these 
sinful neural connections into our brains that make it very easy to continue to sin. So therefore sanctification is the ongoing process of renewing our minds, 
as per Romans twelve, verse two, literally by trying to avoid repeating these sinful patterns of action and thought, thus letting those old sinful and neural 
connections decay while building new neural connections involving patterns of thought and action that are in alignment with God's will for our lives which is 
loving God and loving others. So what does any of this have to do with purgatory? This is where I think Boyd's position on sanctification can endorse a view of 
instant sanctification at death. For as Boyd affirms, our problem with sin as Christians is not based in our spirit or soul. Instead, our struggle is due to our 
physical brain's residual and sinful neural connections. But obviously when we die, our brains die too. The spirit or soul separates from the body temporarily 
and goes to be with Christ in heaven until the time when we are resurrected with perfect new bodies. Therefore, the brains we have now are not the same as the 
brains we will be resurrected with. After all, God's promise that we will have perfect resurrected bodies means that anyone who has had a brain injury or disease 
or anyone who is born with the physical deformity of the brain will be made perfect in whole when they are resurrected. Because these things are a result of the 
fallen sinful world we live in. Therefore, their new brains will not be the same as the old brain they had when they died, but they will still be the same person 
even with the new brain. So that's who we are, and our spirit or soul must be in some way independent of our physical brain structure. This, I think, can answer 
Walls concern that what we need is an account of how such imperfect people can be transformed in a way that preserves their identity. So I think there's no reason 
why God has to resurrect us with brains that contain the same sinful and neural connections as when we died, in order to keep our personal integrity intact. It would 
make no sense for God to resurrect our brains with our old sinful neural connections just to make us have to spend time in purgatory to finish, rewiring and purging 
these sinful connections from our brains before we can live in the new heavens and the new earth. Especially if God can just instantly create new perfected brains 
without these connections while still preserving our identity. So therefore, I think it's better to say that the moment we die, our perfectly holy spirit or soul 
will be freed from the remaining sinful patterns of thought and action ingrained into the brains we have now, and we will indeed be perfectly free of sin. Our new 
resurrected bodies will match the holy nature of our spirit and soul. Thus no purgatory is necessary, and we get instant sanctification at death. Hebrews twelve, 
verse 14, will be fulfilled, for everyone in heaven will be perfectly holy, not that we must somehow be made perfectly holy before we make it into heaven. In 
contrast, Jerry Walls calls the idea that sin is somehow related to our physical bodies a sort of nasty system, and claims that spiritual sins are not cured 
merely by dropping our old bodies and receiving new ones, because this requires no cooperation on our part. So how can those who want to endorse instant 
perfection at death deal with the claim made by Wesley, Walls and Boyd that personal cooperation or choice is necessary for sanctification? My view is that 
love for God, who is truly love in his innermost triune being, means that when we love God, we will also love to act in loving ways in our innermost spirit 
or soul, as per Romans seven, verse 22. The only reason we can't love perfectly now is due to the above problem with the remaining sinful neural connections 
in our physical brain, aka the flesh. This is a source of grief for Christians who recognize that we are not acting the way our spirit or soul actually does 
want to act, as Paul demonstrates in Romans seven, verses 16 to 17 and 24. Therefore, I believe Christians will gladly and freely consent to our instant 
postmortem sanctification. It would be a free gift given by God's grace without our cooperation, yet with our personal free consent, just as our justification is. 
Therefore, I think Gregory Boyd's work on sanctification shows that anyone who advocates for purgatory as a place for finishing our sanctification will need to 
deal with several issues. First, they need to consider exactly where the problem with sin is located. Is it in our spirit or soul or in our bodies or minds? I 
think that one of the strengths of Boyd's argument here is that it can make perfect sense of Paul's experience in Romans seven, verses 14 to 25, which shows that 
the struggle with sin within Christians is not in our spirits, but with our flesh. Walls and others who want to maintain a reason for purgatory would need to 
refute this and make a biblical argument for why our spirit or soul is still tainted by sin after death. Alternatively, if the problem is with our bodies, then 
they need to consider what happens when we leave these bodies at death. And finally, they need to consider the difference between our currently imperfect bodies 
and our future perfect resurrected bodies. Now, Walls likely would not accept Boyd's arguments. Walls claims that there is still a problem with sin in our will, 
thought, attitude, or heart based on Jesus's statement in Mark seven, verse 20 to 23, that the heart is the source of greed, malice, arrogance, and so forth. 
But Walls does not deal with Romans seven. I mean, I look through all his books, can't find any mentions of Romans seven anywhere. So therefore, I think to 
make Jesus's statement in Mark seven compatible with what Paul writes in Romans seven, we would have to identify the heart with the flesh, not with the spirit. If
 Wall's simply means by heart that our problems are with who we are within and our ways of thinking, our values and our attitudes towards other people which make 
up our character, as he says elsewhere, then this is exactly what Boyd has also argued. Yet I think Boyd has rightly identified the problem with all these things. 
Our attitudes, values, ways of thinking are due to those sinful remaining sinful neural connections which we lose instantly at death. So I'm not convinced that 
there is still some sort of mysterious will or character or heart that remains sinful independently from these current physical bodies. Additionally, I think 
there are two verses not mentioned by either Walls or Boyd which could biblically refute the idea of purgatory and simultaneously disprove Wesley's speculation 
that those in heaven may need to ripen before the Escaton. These are first, thessalonians four verses 14 to 17, and First Corinthians 15, verses 51 to 52. 
If we take these as referring to the same event, these verses seem to indicate that at Christ's next appearing Christians who are still alive will have their 
bodies instantly transformed and will be caught up to heaven, and from then on will always be with the Lord. Clearly, there's no time for purgatory here, and 
it also gives further support to the idea that the problem of sin is related to these current bodies, which is rectified by having our bodies transformed. However, 
what about Boyd's fear that holding to a view of instant sanctification at death encourages Christians to either contemplate suicide as a shortcut to holiness or 
allows Christians to ignore the need for sanctification in this life. Instead of the scripturally questionable idea of purgatory, I think the biblical emphasis 
on heavenly rewards is a better solution to encourage sanctification. Unlike Boyd and Walls, who both interpret one corinthians three verses ten to 15 as some 
sort of purgatorial refinement of our character, I think we should see what is clearly being judged. Here is our works. Whatever was worthy of heavenly 
reward will endure God's judgment and is represented as golden jewels. But whatever we did in our lives that was unworthy or was just an utter waste of 
time will be burned up and does not earn any heavenly rewards. So then, once this evaluation of our works is complete, we will be left with a metaphorical 
pile of heavenly rewards, larger or smaller, depending on how we lived. Scripture hints that these rewards may be expressed as different levels of ruling 
privileges with Christ on the new earth or maybe other rewards we can't even imagine now. So therefore, if we can only earn heavenly rewards in this life, 
and these rewards will last for eternity, then it should encourage us all to do what we can now, to earn as many rewards as possible. We shouldn't cut our 
time short through suicide and shouldn't waste our time and opportunities by thinking that what we do now doesn't matter. Instead, heavenly rewards 
encourage us to make the best use of our lives now by not resisting the Holy Spirit's prompting and enabling to overcome sin and become more like Christ, 
which will then enable us to do the things God has called us to do, for which we will be eternally rewarded. So, in conclusion, we do not need to bring in the 
unbiblical idea of purgatory or the need to finish our sanctification after death in order to encourage each other to pursue sanctification passionately in our 
lives now.

Thank you.


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