There is the passage in Maccabes 12 where it mentions praying for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins.
Well, if purgatory is not about forgiveness but about temporal punishment, or the effects of sin, what does this passage mean about people being loosed from their sins? Does it simply mean the effect of their sin? I thought that if sins were not forgiven that one could not even get to purgatory. Or does it mean loosed from the unrepentant venial sins?
How does the phrasing of this passage fit with our theology?
Brian, there is a whole series of considerations that one could list concerning a person’s relationship to sin. I’ve always understood the biblical passage, 2 Maccabees 12:44–46, to mean “that they may be completely freed from their sins in every respect.” For only in this wise is anyone able to enter heaven.
