NO MIDDLE PLACE—ONLY CHRIST (Or, “The Doctrine of Purgatory Refuted”)

There are days when my heart rests in the quiet certainty that Jesus finishes everything He starts; He leaves nothing halfway redeemed, halfway forgiven, halfway cleansed. And when I think about the old idea of purgatory—a place somewhere between judgment and joy, a place where souls must somehow suffer a little more before they can see the face of God—I cannot help but whisper again the simple truth of the gospel: Jesus does not do halfway work. Purgatory imagines a temporary place of purification; Scripture reveals a Savior whose blood purifies completely. Purgatory says you must be cleansed after death; Jesus says you are made clean by His cross.

For the Word does not speak of shadows between life and glory—no, it speaks of a Savior who brings His people home. To be “absent from the body is to be present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8); and to “depart and be with Christ is far better” (Philippians 1:23). There is no pause between those lines, no delay in that hope, no middle chamber where grace must finish its work. His blood, shining with eternal power, cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7)—not some sin, not most sin, but all of it. And if He has cleansed all, then He has left nothing for us to pay.

So when the thief dying beside Him cried out for mercy, Jesus did not speak of waiting; He did not promise eventual joy; He did not describe a hallway between suffering and Paradise. He simply said, “Today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Today—in the fullness of mercy, in the finished work of redemption, in the completeness of divine love. If ever a man seemed to need “more cleansing,” it was that thief; yet grace carried him straight into the arms of Christ.

And this becomes the quiet, steady music of my faith: there is no middle place; there is only Christ. No unfinished business, no lingering guilt, no after-death purification—only the Savior who perfected forever those who trust in Him (Hebrews 10:14).

When I finally step out of this world, I will step into His presence; not because I have been purified enough, but because He has been merciful enough. Not because I have climbed high enough, but because He has stooped low enough. And that, more than anything, is the comfort of the gospel—Jesus is enough, and therefore I will be with Him.

BDD