Systematic Theology, by Louis Berkhof - New Leaven

not equal to their future heaven and the wicked suffer a degree of punishment not equal
to their future hell. The intermediate state was thus a slightly reduced version of
ultimate retribution.” 11 This view was held, though with some variations, by such men
as Justin Martyr, Irenæus, Tertullian, Novatian, Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose,
and Augustine. In the Alexandrian School the idea of the intermediate state passed into
that of a gradual purification of the soul, and this in course of time paved the way for
the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory. There were some, however, who favored the
idea that at death the souls of the righteous immediately entered heaven, namely,
Gregory of Nazianze, Eusebius, and Gregory the Great. In the Middle Ages the doctrine
of an intermediate state was retained, and in connection with it the Roman Catholic
Church developed the doctrine of purgatory. The prevailing opinion was that hell
received at once the souls of the wicked, but that only those of the righteous who were
free from every stain of sin, were admitted at once into the blessedness of heaven, to
enjoy the visio Dei. The martyrs were usually reckoned among the favored few. Those
who were in need of further purification were, according to the prevalent view,
detained in purgatory for a shorter or longer period of time, as the degree of remaining
sin might require, and were there purged from sin by a purifying fire. Another idea, that
was also developed in connection with the thought of the intermediate state, was that of
the Limbus Patrum, where the Old Testament saints were detained until the resurrection
of Christ. The Reformers, one and all, rejected the doctrine of purgatory, and also the
whole idea of a real intermediate state, which carried with it the idea of an intermediate
place. They held that those who died in the Lord at once entered the bliss of heaven,
while those who died in their sins at once descended into hell. However, some
theologians of the Reformation period assumed a difference in degree between the bliss
of the former and the judgment of the latter before the final judgment, and their final
bliss and punishment after the great assize. Among the Socinians and the Anabaptists
there were some who revived the old doctrine held by some in the early Church, that
the soul of man sleeps from the time of death until the resurrection. Calvin wrote a
treatise to combat this view. The same notion is advocated by some Adventist sects and
by the Millennial Dawnists. During the nineteenth century several theologians,
especially in England, Switzerland, and Germany, embraced the idea that the
intermediate state is a state of further probation for those who have not accepted Christ
in this life. This view is maintained by some up to the present time and is a favorite
tenet of the Universalists.
11 Life Beyond Death, p. 202.
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