1 Corinthians 3:15New King James Version (NKJV)
15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.
COUNCIL OF TRENT
Decree Concerning Purgatory
Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, following the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils and very recently in this ecumenical council that there is a purgatory,[1] and that the souls there detained are aided by the suffrages of the faithful and chiefly by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar, the holy council commands the bishops that they strive diligently to the end that the sound doctrine of purgatory, transmitted by the Fathers and sacred councils,[2] be believed and maintained by the faithful of Christ, and be everywhere taught and preached. The more difficult and subtle questions, however, and those that do not make for edification and from which there is for the most part no increase in piety, are to be excluded from popular instructions to uneducated people.[3] Likewise, things that are uncertain or that have the appearance of falsehood they shall not permit to be made known publicly and discussed. But those things that tend to a certain kind of curiosity or superstition, or that savor of filthy lucre, they shall prohibit as scandals and stumbling-blocks to the faithful. The bishops shall see to it that the suffrages of the living, that is, the sacrifice of the mass,[4] prayers, alms and other works of piety which they have been accustomed to perform for the faithful departed, be piously and devoutly discharged in accordance with the laws of the Church, and that whatever is due on their behalf from testamentary bequests or other ways, be discharged by the priests and ministers of the Church and others who are bound to render this service not in a perfunctory manner, but diligently and accurately.
EXISTENCE OF PURGATORY
Forgiveness of sins in the next:
Matthew 12:32New King James Version (NKJV)
32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come.
“Under the earth”:
Revelation 5:2-3New King James Version (NKJV)
2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it.
Philippians 2:10New King James Version (NKJV)
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
THE LIVING CAN GIVE ASSISTANCE
Restrain not grace from the dead:
Sirach 7:37Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
37 A gift hath grace in the sight of all the living, and restrain not grace from the dead.
Ruth 1:8King James Version (KJV)
8 And Naomi said unto her two daughters in law, Go, return each to her mother’s house: the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead, and with me.
Ruth 2:20King James Version (KJV)
Fasting for the dead:
2 Samuel 1:12New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
12 They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
1 Samuel 31:13New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.
1 Chronicles 10:12New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
12 all their warriors set out, recovered the corpses of Saul and his sons, and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the oak of Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.
Offerings/Sacrifice for the dead:
2 Maccabees 12:43New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
43 He then took up a collection among all 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 in mind;
Fasting for the dead:
2 Samuel 1:12New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
12 They mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the people of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
1 Samuel 31:13New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted for seven days.
Prayer for the dead:
2 Maccabees 12:44-46Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
44 (For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead,)
45 And because he considered that they who had fallen asleep with godliness, had great grace laid up for them.
46 It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.
See: Nehemiah 1:4-6, cf. Nehemiah 2:5
2 Timothy 1:16-18New King James Version (NKJV)
16 The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; 17 but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. 18 The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day—and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me[a] at Ephesus.
SOULS SUFFER FOR THEIR SINS AFTER DEATH
“Lazarusian Incident” (See: Luke 16:19-31)
Spirits in prison – 1 Peter 3:18-20; 4:6
Matthew 5:26King James Version (KJV)
26 Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
“Matthean Parallel” (See: Matthew 18:23-35)
Mortal Sin vs. Venial Sin
1 John 5:16-17King James Version (KJV)
16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.
17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
PAX VOBISCUM!