In my
article, 1
Corinthians 3:15: A very un-Protestant Biblical Verse, I discuss 1 Cor
3:11-15 (cf. D&C 76:104-106) and how it teaches posthumous purification of
sin.
In his book
on various aspects of Matthew’s soteriology, Nathan Eubank wrote the following
about how Gehenna was seen to, at times, purify people by purging them of their sins before receiving their eschatological reward, not simply
punish them eternally which ties well into 1 Cor 3:15, as well as a possible
interpretation of the text Eubank is focusing on (Matt 5:22):
Scholars tend to equate Gehenna with eternal
perdition or “hell,” but the concept was in fact more fluid than that.
According to t. Sanhedrin 13:3 the
house of Shammai taught that Gehenna was a place where some go temporarily to
atone for sin, while others are punished there eternally:
A. The House of Shammai says, “There are
three groups, one for eternal life, one for
shame and everlasting contempt (Dan. 12:2) – these are those who are completely
evil.
B. “An intermediate group go down to Gehenna
and scream and come up again and are healed,
C. “as it is said, I will bring the third part through ire and will refine them as silver
is refined and will test them as gold is tested, and they shall call on my name
and I will be their God (Zech. 13:9).
D. “And concerning them did Hannah say, The Lord kills and brings to life, brings
down to Sheol and brings up (1 Sam. 2:6).” (cf. m. ‘Ed. 2:10).
This passage indicates that Gehenna was
sometimes viewed as a place where redemptive suffering takes place, a process of
purification process which is compared to refining metal in fire (Zech 13:9).
Similarly, according to the Mishnah, rabbi Akiva said that the unrighteous will
suffer in Gehenna for only twelve months (m.
‘Ed. 2.10). Second Maccabees 12 shows that there existed the belief that
some kind of atonement could take place after death and prior to the
resurrection well before the late first century C.E. when Matthew was written. Testament of Abraham (c. late first
century) describes God weighing the debt of sin against righteous deeds and
temporarily “repaying” (ανταποδοσις) sinners with punishment at the hand of
torturers (τοις βασανισταις εξεδωκεν) but then answering Abraham’s prayer for mercy by letting them
go. (Nathan Eubank, Wages of
Cross-Bearing and Debt of Sin: The Economy of Heaven in Matthew’s Gospel [Berlin:
Walter de Gruyter, 2013], 59-60)
In a
footnote for the above, Eubank writes the following which has importance for
LDS and others, as it should give caution to those who naively cite Heb 9:27 (“Just
as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment” [NIV]) as
a meaningful “proof-text” against this doctrine:
One could appeal to the fact that the overall
emphasis in Matthew is decidedly on the last judgment when some will be sent
into “eternal” (αιωνιος) punishment
(e.g., 25:46) or the “outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing
of teeth” (22:13). Yet belief in a final judgment is not mutually exclusive
with the belief that some sort of judgment takes place prior to the eschaton. T. Ab. 13, for instance, speaks of an initial
judgment of sols which is followed by a final and irrevocable judgment by God.
Luke appears to maintain belief in recompense at the return of the Son of Man
(9:26; 12:35-48; Acts 17:30-31), but is also able to entertain the idea of
immediate post-mortem judgment (16:19-31), albeit in a parable with a folkloric
quality. Matthew’s main concern is with the Parousia, but this does not
preclude the additional possibility of judgment prior to that time. (Ibid., 60
n. 21)
On Heb 9:27
itself, note the following from an Evangelical Protestant discussing posthumous
salvation in the New Testament:
The context of Heb 9:27 is the unique sacrifice of
Christ . . . Christ’s sacrifice was unlike the animal sacrifices of the Old
Testament in that he did not need to offer himself again and again. Rather, he
has“appeared once for all” (v.
26) to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. Then the author then
introduces verses 27-28 “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to
face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many
people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring
salvation to those who are waiting for him.” The point of this verse is to
illustrate the once-for-all aspect of the work of Christ, as opposed to the
unfinished nature of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and it not a reference
to personal eschatology . . . The writer of Hebrews uses this reference to show
that human death is a once-for-all occurrence as a consequence of sin, so too
Christ died once-for-all to take away the sins of many people. The phrase “and
after that to face judgment” is often interpreted to mean immediately after
death humans experience judgment, thereby ruling out the opportunity of
post-mortem salvation. Boyd, however, contends that this “reads too much into
the text.” He continues, “While this verse certainly rules out reincarnation,
it does not rule out the possibility of intermediate events between death and
judgment.” (Gregory A. Boyd and P.R. Eddy, Across the Spectrum:
Understanding Issues in Evangelical Theology, 188) He also reminds us that
most evangelicals agree that there are other events between death and judgment,
such as, Christ’s return and the bodily Resurrection, and the post-mortem view
merely adds one more event or process, namely, the evangelization of the
previously unevangelized. This passage offers no timescale as to how long after
death that judgment comes, thereby failing to link death with loss opportunity,
which is commonly taught in evangelical circles. (Stephen Jonathan, Grace Beyond the Grave: Is Salvation
Possible in the Afterlife? [Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf & Stock, 2014], 89-90)
