Indulgences
by Gabriel

Myths and Misunderstandings

Perhaps the most common myth concerning the doctrine of Indulgences goes something like this: "Well, Catholics used to practice and believe in indulgences, but they don't anymore." The fact is, however, that the Catholic Church still practices indulgences, just as it always has. The Catechism reads concerning indulgences: "An indulgence is obtained through the Church who, by virtue of the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus, intervenes in favor of individual Christians and opens for them the treasury of the merits of Christ and the saints to obtain from the Father of mercies the remission of the temporal punishment due for their sins." The Church does this not just to aid Christians, "but also to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity" (CCC 1478). Indeed, indulgences are and always have been an infallible belief of the Church, and no Catholic is under the right to deny or purposefully ignore the doctrine of induilgences.

A second myth concerning indulgences, and the one most commonly used against Catholics by Protestants, is that "a person can buy his way out of hell by doing indulgences." This is far from the case. The Church does not and has never taught such a thing, nor shall it. While this myth is largely unfoundational, its routes go back to the Inquisition. It is rumored that the Catholic Church granted salvation depending upon the amount of money a person gave the Church. This is nothing but a myth founded by anti-Catholics, and has no historical standing. It may be true that a Catholic priest or two chose to act corruptly and do such horrid things, but this in no way harms the infallibility or teaching authority of the Church itself, and cannot justly be used against the Church.

A third myth that some people tend to ahhere to concerning indulgences is that "a person can buy or abotain indulgences for sins not yet committed." This has never been a teaching of the Church. The Catholic Encyclopedia sums up the Church's position concerning this myth: "[An indulgence] is not a permission to commit sin, nor a pardon of future sin; neither could be granted by any power."

A fourth myth that largely arises concerning indulgences is that the Catholic Church invented the doctrine of Indulgences in order to get money. This is practically laughable considering the fact that the doctrine of indulgences was in practice far before any financial corruption appeared.

The fifth and most significant myth about indulgences is that one can buy indulgences. Remissions of temporal punishment and the merits of the saints are not items for sale in a supermarket or a conveneince store. Nor are they sold at any church. Nor were they sold at any church. Luther brought about this popular myth by confusing almsgiving with its very distinct cousin, purchasing. When you purchase something, you are exchanging money for an item of interest. When you give alms, you are giving money to the poor or to the Church for the purpose of glorifying God, and you should not expect that God will be obligated to you by your gift. Almsgiving is exalted in the Bible as a commendable act of charity. For instance, in clear detail we see prayer, almsgiving, and fasting emphasized in Tobit 12:8, with the purging power of almsgiving noted in 12:9 as "Almsgiving saves from death and expiates for every kind of sin."

Temporal Punishment of Sins

When a person sins, he inherits two specific and important liabilities: the liability of guilt and the liability of punishment. The Bible speaks frequently of the liability of guilt and its forgiveness. The Bible often pictures the guilt of a sin as something that makes the soul "dirty" or unworthy before the Lord. Because the soul is dirty or unworthy, it is not able to exist in harmony with the perfect, sinless, and clean God. Therefore, it is necessary that God removes this dirt; this guilt. Because the guilt is as dirt that clings to our souls, it must be washed away that we might be made clean. Hence, Isaiah clearly teaches this conecpt: "Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be whiteas snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become likewool" (Is. 1:18). David also attests to the concept of guilt: "Wash me thoroughly from myiniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! . . . Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Ps.51:2, 7).

However, it is undeniably apparent in the Scriptures that the liability of punishment is also inherited as a result of sin. "I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked fortheir iniquity; I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant andlay low the haughtiness of the ruthless" (Is. 13:11). Yes, the Lord will punish the world for its evil, and we can do nothing more hypocritical than to say that we, even as sons of God, have never done evil. "For God will bring every deedinto judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil" (Eccl.12:14).

While it is obvious that punishment for sin exists and is carried out, it may surprise some that the liability of punishment is divided into two parts: temporal punishment (that which is served temporally, or temporarily), and eternal punishment (that which is served in hell, and which is everlasting). Most of us are aware of the significance of eternal punishment. It is alluded to constantly in the Bible: "Then He [Christ] will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels..." (Mat 25:41) And: "And many of those who sleep in the dust ofthe earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame andeverlasting contempt." (Dan 12:2).

Many of us, however, fail to recognize the significance of temporal punishment in God's plan of Salvation. The importance of temporal punishment has been evident since the very fall of mankind. "To the woman He said, 'I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.' " (Gen 3:16). God also punished Adam, by cursing the ground which man would work on to acquire food. And we know that despite the fact that a woman may be a true and devout Christian, she may very well still experience the temporal punishment of the anguish of childbearing, just as a truly and devoutly Christian man may very well feel the wrath of the temporal punishment of the thorns and thistles of the soil which he works.

When someone repents to God, God removes their guilt (cf. Is. 1:18, previously cited). We also know that we are forgiven of our eternal punishments through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ ("Since . . . we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God" [Rom.5:9], also read Matthew 25). But what of the temporal punishments for sin? The Bible tells us quite succinctly that these remain. A vital passage on the subject is 2 Samuel 12:13-15, which reads: "So David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.' And Nathan said to David, 'The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die. However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.' And Nathan departed to his house." Can anything better illustrate the reality of temporal punishement of sin? First, in verse 13b, Nathan (a prophet of God) lets David know that God has forgiven his sin. He lets David know that "he shall not die." God has relieved David of the eternal punishment (eternal death) of his sin. But after forgiving his sin, what does God do to David? He punished him through the death of his son. And this indeed is temporal punishment.

Another excellent example of temporal punishment is that of Moses and the Israelites, who seek the Promised Land. "But Moses said to the Lord . . .'Now if thou dost kill this people as one man, then the nations whohave heard thy fame will say, "Because the Lord was not able to bringthis people into the land which he swore to give to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness"' . . . Then the Lord said, 'I have pardoned, according to your word; but truly, as I live . . .none of the men who . . . have not hearkened to my voice, shall seethe land which I swore to give to their fathers" (Num. 14:13-23). Here, God, although pardoning the sin of the Israelites, clearly imposes upon them a temporal punishment: a denial of the promised land that they have so long yearned for. And the same type of forgiveness was granted to Moses. While Moses was clearly one of the saved (cf. Matthew 17:1-5), he undoubtedly sufferes a temporal punishment: "And the Lord said to Mosesand Aaron, 'Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them'" (Num. 20:12; cf. 27:12-14).

A possible New Testament example is that of Ananias and Saphira, who were Christian disciples at Jerusalem, and appeared to me among the saved, but who were struck dead by Peter (or more specifically, God's power working through Peter) for lying to the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-11). And even in the New Testament, people still experienced the temporal punishments of pain in childbirth and the curse of the soil on which people worked. Death itself is a prominent temporal punishment. It was a consequence of Adam's sin. But this part of the liability of the sin of Adam was not relieved by God. Even the forgiven die!

Protestants and Catholics alike recognize the reailty of temporal punishment in their actions. When a Christian steals, he may obtain forgiveness. But this forgiveness does not include letting him keep the stolen item! While the Christian can obtain forgiveness from the eternal consequences of his sin, as well as from the guilt, he still has the liability of temporal punishment, and the Christian thief must undergo restitution and return the stolen item.

The nature and significance of temporal punishement are well describe in the New Testament. "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives." Just as a father punishes a child for misbehaving, while forgiving him of his actions, so our Heavenly Father punished and forgives us.

Transferral of Blessings for the Remission of Temporal Punishment

"Suppose a father prays for his seriously ill son and says, "Dear Lord, if I have pleased you, then please heal my son!" The father isasking that his son be healed as a reward for his (the father's) pleasing God. Intuitively we recognize this is a valid prayer that God sometimes answers positively. But we do not need to stop with our intuitions: Scripture confirms the fact." (James Akin, "A Primer on Indulgences")

Not only can the transferral of blessings be found in Scripture, but Scripture seems to denote this concept as a theme. Abraham, for instance, was promised by the Lord a great number of descendants that normally would not have been born (see Gen 15:1-6). These descendants were given a great gift-- they were given the gift of life itself-- due to the obedience of God practiced by their fore-father Abraham. God further told Abraham he would havenations and kings come from him, that God would make a covenant withhis descendants, and that they would inherit the promised land (Gen.17:6-8). All these blessings came to Abraham's descendants as God'sreward to him.

Again, we witness this same theme in the New Testament. Paul tells us that "asregards election [the Jews] are beloved for the sake of theirforefathers" (Rom. 11:28). We see in the preceeding text that the Jews of the New Testament and the Jews of today are blessed. Why? Not because of what THEY have done, but because of their forefathers. The principle is also found in passages in which one person approaches Jesus for the healing or exorcism of someone else, such as the story the Canaanite woman (Matt. 15:22-28).

You might see where this is leading. These blessings, which are merited by someone other than the person they are applied to, are often used as a means to eliminate the aliability of temporal punishment. "For example, Solomon's heart was led astray from the Lord toward the end of his life, and God promised to rip the kingdom away from him as a result."[T]he Lord said to Solomon: 'Since this is what you want, and you have not kept my covenant and my statues which I enjoined on you, Iwill deprive you of the kingdom and give it to your servant. I willnot do this during your lifetime, however, for the sake of yourfather David; it is your son whom I will deprive. Nor will I take away the whole kingdom. I will leave your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David and of Jerusalem, which I have chosen" (1 Kgs. 11:11-13). God lessened the temporal punishment in two ways: by deferring the removal of the kingdom until the days of Solomon's sonand by leaving one tribe (Benjamin) under Judah." (James Akin, "A Primer on Indulgences")

It has been clearly established that blessings merited by the saints can be transferred to others, and that these blessings often have the ability to lessen or completely destroy the liability of temporal punishment. In the sacrament of Confession, acts of penance are issued because the Church recognizes that Christians must deal with temporal penalties, such as God's discipline and the need to compensate those our sins have injured. The Church realized that, through doing good works  and pious acts of charity just as Abraham, David, the forefathers of the Jews, and those who approcahed Christ on behalf of others did, one could lessen or eliminate their or someone else's penances or temporal suffering.

The Authority of the Church to Offer Indulgences

God uses the Church, His pillar and foundation of Truth upon Earth (cf. 1 Tim 3:15) to remove the liability of temporal punishment. And this concept is the essence of the doctrine and idea of indulgences. The mystical body of the Church, which is Christ's Body, is so incredibly united that when one part of the body (one saint) does something to weaken himself spiritually, the entire Body is affected: "that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually." (1 Cor 12:25-27). Indeed, if one member of the Church does a holy and pious act, all members of the Church are positively affected by that act. The entire sum of the pious acts of charity done by the saints is given the theological name, "The Treasury of the Saints." These pious acts can be applied by the Church to certain members in order to loose them from the temporal punishments of their sin. As strange it might seem, it goes kind-of like this: all of the saints do good works for God. The "extra" or excess good works that they do are stored in the Treasury of the Saints, and the Church can apply these good works (these indulgences) to other people in order to remit temporal penalties of their sin. We see that Paul was doing just that: he was suffering in Christ's name to store up indulgences for the Church.

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you [the members of the Church of Colossia] and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the Church. (Col 1:24)

Paul suffers for the people of God's Church. Why does he suffer? To fill up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions. What is lacking in Christ's afflictions? The removal of the liability of the temporal punishment of sin. How is the liability of the temporal punishment of sin removed? Through the merits of the saints.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation also becomes truly important in the doctrine of indulgences. We realize that God gave the authority to remit sins "to men" (Matthew 9:8, cf. Matthew 9:2.) Or more specifically, Christ gave the authority to remit sins to His apostles and their successors: "'As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.... Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (John 20:21-23). Paul, as an apostle of Christ, practiced his authority to remit sins: "[Speaking to the Corinthians] Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ." It should not be surprising that if God gave the Church the authority to forgive the eternal penalty of sin, that God would also give it the ability to remit the temporal penalty of the sin.

"Christ also promised his Church the power to bind and loose on earth, saying, "Truly, I say to you,whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 18:18). As the context makes clear, binding and loosing cover Church discipline, and Church discipline involves administering and removing temporal penalties (such as barring from and readmitting to the sacraments).Therefore, the power of binding and loosing includes the administration of temporal penalties." (James Akin, "A Primer on Indulgences")

Indulgences for the Dead

Perhaps a more surprising teaching of the Church is that Indulgences can be offered to the dead. "What??", you say. "Why would the dead need the removal or lessening of temporal punishment?" The important thing to remember is that not all of us suffer the entirety of our temporal penalties here on Earth. For instance, a thief who lies in a death bed and becomes a Christian four hours before his death is almost definitely not going to have time to pay the temporal penalties for his lifetime of sinful thievery. So when does he undergo the temporal punishment for his sin? During purgatory, a cleansing of sin by God previous to entering heaven. Because without being cleansed of our sin, we cannot enter heaven: "But nothing unclean shall enter [Heaven]" (Rev 21:27). Purgatory is described as a cleansing fire that burns away the evil works of a Christian before he can enter heaven: "each one's work will become clear; for the [Judgement] Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one's work, of what sort it is. If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." (1 Cor 3:13-15).

Hence, indulgences can and are offered to those in Purgatory, who are still paying the fine for the temporal consequences of their sin here on Earth (cf. Luke 12:58-59). When a soul in Purgatory receives an indulgence, the soul's amount of due temporal punishment will be lessened or perhaps eliminated, making the route to the fullness of the Glory of Heaven quicker.

A key Biblical text concerning indulgences being offered to the dead is 2 Maccabees 12:43-46:

He then took up a collection among all of his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.

"if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought." Indeed, prayer for the dead is holy and pious. And this is precisely how indulgences are offered to the dead: through prayer. "Freed from sin" is sometimes translated as their sin "being wholly blotted out" and refers not to the eternal punishments of sin (they "had gone to rest in godliness", and therefore we assume that both the eternal punishments and the guilt od the sins they committed had already been removed by God), but the temporal penalties for sin. Judas not only prayed for the dead, but also went through with the proper ecclesial action for lessening temporal penalties-- a sin offering. Just as he did, we may also use the proper ecclesial action for lessening temporal penalties-- indulgences-- and apply them to the souls in purgatory by way of prayer.

It is necessary to not that there is a difference between indulgences offered to the living and those offered to the dead. Our fellow Christians who are alive today are under the Church's authority to bind and loose on Earth, but those who have passed on to the afterlife are no longer under the Church's earthly authority. All that the Church and its members can do is to look and pray to God that He might remove the temporal punishment of the dead. Although we are told in Maccabees that this is a commendable form of prayer, we have no way of knowing the precise manner and degree of the soul's remission from temporal penalties.

The Testimony of Tradition and the Church

Like most prominent doctrines, the doctrine of Indulgences developed over time. This is not to say, however, that it was in no way present until it was infallibly declared in during the Council of Trent. On the contrary, the essential and underlying elements of the doctrine of indulgences were understood in the very earliest days. The following summary of the Early Church Fathers' stances on indulgences is taken from The Catholic Encyclopedia:

During the persecutions, those Christians who had fallen away but desired to be restored to the communion of the Church often obtained from the martyrs a memorial (libellus pacis) to be presented to the bishop, that he, in consideration of the martyrs' sufferings, might admit the penitents to absolution, thereby releasing them from the punishment they had incurred. Tertullian refers to this when he says (Ad martyres, c. i, P.L., I, 621): "Which peace some, not having it in the Church, are accustomed to beg from the martyrs in prison; and therefore you should possess and cherish and preserve it in you that so you perchance may be able to grant it to others." Additional light is thrown on this subject by the vigorous attack which the same Tertullian made after he had become a Montanist. In the first part of his treatise "De pudicitia", he attacks the pope for his alleged laxity in admitting adulterers to penance and pardon, and flouts the peremptory edict of the "pontifex maximus episcopus episcoporum ". At the close he complains that the same power of remission is now allowed also to the martyrs, and urges that it should be enough for them to purge their own sins -- sufficiat martyri propria delicta purgasse". And, again, "How can the oil of thy little lamp suffice both for thee and me?" (c. xxii). It is sufficient to note that many of his arguments would apply with as much and as little force to the indulgences of later ages.

During St. Cyprian's time (d. 258), the heretic Novatian claimed that none of the lapsi should be readmitted to the Church; others, like Felicissimus, held that such sinners should be received without any penance. Between these extremes, St. Cyprian holds the middle course, insisting that such penitents should be reconciled on the fulfillment of the proper conditions. On the one hand, he condemns the abuses connected with the libellus, in particular the custom of having it made out in blank by the martyrs and filled in by any one who needed it. "To this you should diligently attend ", he writes to the martyrs (Ep. xv), "that you designate by name those to whom you wish peace to be given." On the other hand, he recognizes the value of these memorials: "Those who have received a libellus from the martyrs and with their help can, before the Lord, get relief in their sins, let such, if they be ill and in danger, after confession and the imposition of your hands, depart unto the Lord with the peace promised them by the martyrs " (Ep. xiii, P.L., IV, 261). St. Cyprian, therefore, believed that the merits of the martyrs could be applied to less worthy Christians by way of vicarious satisfaction, and that such satisfaction was acceptable in the eyes of God as well as of the Church.

As shown above, the basis for indulgences were understood very early in Church history. The doctrine of indulgences was first infallibly declared by the Coucil of Trent. The Council of Trent stated that it "condemns with anathema those who say that indulgences are useless or that the Church does not have the power to grant them." Trent's anathema places indulgences in therealm of infallibly defined teaching. But Trent was not the first council in which indulgences were discussed. Indulgences were discussed in 1415 as well, during the Council of Constance.

At the Council of Clermont (1095) the First Crusade was organized, and it was decreed (can. ii): "Whoever, out of pure devotion and not for the purpose of gaining honor or money, shall go to Jerusalem to liberate the Church of God, let that journey be counted in lieu of all penance". Similar indulgences were granted throughout the five centuries following (Amort, op. cit., 46 sq.), the object being to encourage these expeditions which involved so much hardship and yet were of such great importance for Christendom and civilization. The spirit in which these grants were made is expressed by St. Bernard, the preacher of the Second Crusade (1146): "Receive the sign of the Cross, and thou shalt likewise obtain the indulgence of all thou hast confessed with a contrite heart (ep. cccxxii; al., ccclxii).

Indulgences have recently been defined in Pope Paul VI's apostolic constitution on indulgences in the following way: "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain defined conditions through the Church's help when, as a minister of Redemption, she dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions won by Christ and the saints."