{"id":31420,"date":"2012-01-22T20:25:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-23T02:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=31420"},"modified":"2022-09-19T17:09:56","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T22:09:56","slug":"is-matthew-525-26-a-reference-to-the-catholic-purgatory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-matthew-525-26-a-reference-to-the-catholic-purgatory\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Matthew 5:25-26 a reference to the Catholic Purgatory?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Is Matthew 5:25-26 a reference to the Catholic Purgatory?<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>You have heard that it was said to those of old, &#8216;You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.&#8217; But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, &#8216;Raca!&#8217; shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, &#8216;You fool!&#8217; shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary deliver you to the judge, the judge hand you over to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Assuredly, I say to you, you will by no means get out of there till you have paid the last penny&#8221;<\/em>&nbsp;(Matthew 5:21-26).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>No.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Catholicism didn&#8217;t exist at this time.<\/li>\n<li>The rule is don&#8217;t look for figurative language when a plain meaning will do.<\/li>\n<li>One can&#8217;t settle the matter on the way to final judgment.<\/li>\n<li>The context is not about final judgment but about anger and relationships.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Jesus is basically stating that unresolved problems can quickly grow out of proportion and become major issues that are difficult to bring to an end. It is better to settle matters before they get out of hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Is Matthew 5:25-26 a reference to the Catholic Purgatory? Answer: &#8220;You have heard that it was said to those of old, &#8216;You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.&#8217; But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1503,284,1599],"class_list":["post-31420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-anger","tag-purgatory","tag-roman-catholic-church"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":40837,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-jesus-contradict-himself-by-calling-people-fools\/","url_meta":{"origin":31420,"position":0},"title":"Did Jesus contradict himself by calling people fools?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 4, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, Jesus tells us to be very careful how we talk, and what we say. \"... and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell\" (Matthew 5:22 NAS). So why would Jesus say \"You fools\" in (Matthew 23:17 NAS)? It strikes me that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":80745,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-call-someone-foolish\/","url_meta":{"origin":31420,"position":1},"title":"Is it wrong to call someone foolish?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a question. If Raca means foolish or moron, why Paul said to the Galatians, \"O foolish Galatians\"?\u00a0But Jesus said not to call your brother Raca. Answer: \"You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86622,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-i-dont-make-peace-with-someone-will-this-be-judged-on-judgment-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":31420,"position":2},"title":"If I don&#8217;t make peace with someone, will this be judged on Judgment Day?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The passage that I'm concerned about is Matthew 5:25-26. Is this saying that if I don't make peace with someone I have hurt, the situation will be judged in court on judgment day? I am trying my best to clarify what this passage means for me. I know we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70936,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-command-to-seek-forgiveness-of-sin-from-a-brother-before-worshiping-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":31420,"position":3},"title":"Is it a command to seek forgiveness of sin from a brother before worshiping God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 6, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, brother Hamilton, I have a question. Does Matthew 5:21-24 always mean or dictate one must go to their brother whom they have sinned against before they can ask God to forgive them? Answer: \"You have heard that the ancients were told, 'You shall not commit murder' and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87183,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-cousin-is-upset-that-i-didnt-invite-her-to-my-wedding\/","url_meta":{"origin":31420,"position":4},"title":"My cousin is upset that I didn&#8217;t invite her to my wedding","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 20, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Pastor, I have a question that has been on my mind recently.\u00a0I was reading in Matthew something like, \"If your brother has something against you, leave your offering at the altar and reconcile.\"\u00a0I remembered a circumstance that happened a while ago, and it's worrying me if I'm right\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5142,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/will-a-person-who-dies-at-the-same-hour-as-christ-go-straight-to-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":31420,"position":5},"title":"Will a person who dies at the same hour as Christ go straight to heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I heard at Mass, during the Liturgy, that one of our church members died about 3:00 on Divine Mercy Sunday. The priest explained that she will go straight to heaven, for having died during the third hour, the hour in which Christ breathed His last breath. I have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}