"Indulgences are how the medieval Church sold forgiveness. Luther was right to tear the whole thing down." Here is what the Church actually teaches, in her own words.
Short answer: An indulgence does not forgive sin, and it cannot be bought. It is "a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven" (CCC 1471). It rests on Scripture: forgiven sin can still leave consequences, and Christ gave His Church the power to bind and loose.
Key verses on indulgences
- "the LORD has removed your sin. You shall not die, but since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed, the child born to you will surely die." (2 Samuel 12:13–14)
- "he does so for our benefit, in order that we may share his holiness" (Hebrews 12:10)
- "whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19)
- "Whomever you forgive anything, so do I." (2 Corinthians 2:10)
- "I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church" (Colossians 1:24)
Scripture quotations are from the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
What Catholics Actually Teach
The Catechism defines it precisely: "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 prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints" (CCC 1471). It is "partial or plenary according as it removes either part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin."
The key is that sin has "a double consequence" (CCC 1472). Grave sin cuts us off from God ("eternal punishment"). But "every sin, even venial, entails an unhealthy attachment to creatures, which must be purified either here on earth, or after death in the state called Purgatory." And: "These two punishments must not be conceived of as a kind of vengeance inflicted by God from without, but as following from the very nature of sin."
Forgiveness removes the eternal punishment, "but temporal punishment of sin remains," which the Christian accepts "as a grace" (CCC 1473).
We do not do this alone. In the communion of saints, "the holiness of one profits others" (CCC 1475). The Church's "treasury" is first of all "the infinite value, which can never be exhausted, which Christ's merits have before God" (CCC 1476). It also includes the prayers and good works of Mary and the saints (CCC 1477). By "the power of binding and loosing granted her by Christ Jesus," the Church opens this treasury, and wants "to spur them to works of devotion, penance, and charity" (CCC 1478). Indulgences can also be gained for the faithful departed (CCC 1479).
A plenary indulgence requires the indulgenced work plus "sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff." It also requires "that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent" (Pope St. Paul VI, Indulgentiarum Doctrina, norm 7). Otherwise it is partial.
What Catholics do not teach:
- That an indulgence forgives sins. It applies only to sins "whose guilt has already been forgiven" (CCC 1471). Forgiveness comes through repentance and, for serious sin, confession.
- That you can buy one. St. Paul VI admitted that "illicit profits" once caused indulgences to be "blasphemously defamed," and the Church corrected those abuses (Indulgentiarum Doctrina 8).
- That "300 days" meant 300 days off purgatory. Older grants were measured against the early Church's canonical penances, a reckoning that made "no claim to absolute exactness" (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1910). In 1967 Paul VI dropped days and years entirely (norm 4).
- That the saints add to Christ's work. The treasury is first "Christ's merits" (CCC 1476). The saints' works count only because they were done "by his grace" (CCC 1477). Christ remains the "one mediator" (1 Timothy 2:5).
The Biblical Case
1. Forgiven sin can still leave consequences
David confesses, and Nathan answers: "For his part, the LORD has removed your sin. You shall not die, but since you have utterly spurned the LORD by this deed, the child born to you will surely die" (2 Samuel 12:13–14). The guilt is gone; a consequence remains. God also tells Moses, "I pardon them as you have asked" (Numbers 14:20), yet "not one shall see the land which I promised on oath to their ancestors" (Numbers 14:23). That is what the Church means by temporal punishment.
2. God's discipline heals; it does not take revenge
"For whom the Lord loves, he disciplines" (Hebrews 12:6). Earthly fathers disciplined us "as seemed right to them, but he does so for our benefit, in order that we may share his holiness" (Hebrews 12:10). St. Paul even says believers "are being disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world" (1 Corinthians 11:32). This is CCC 1472 exactly: not vengeance from outside, but healing.
3. Christ gave the Church power to bind and loose
To St. Peter: "I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:19). He gives the same power to the apostles together (Matthew 18:18), and after the Resurrection says, "Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them" (John 20:23). If the Church can loose the guilt of sin in Christ's name (why Catholics confess to a priest), she can loose its lesser penalties.
4. St. Paul relaxes a penance
Of a man disciplined by the Corinthian church, St. Paul writes: "This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person, so that on the contrary you should forgive and encourage him instead" (2 Corinthians 2:6–7). Then: "Whomever you forgive anything, so do I. For indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for you in the presence of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:10). An apostle, acting before Christ, cuts short a penalty for a repentant sinner. That is the seed of an indulgence.
5. Members of one body help one another
"Bear one another's burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2). St. Paul rejoices that "in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church" (Colossians 1:24). Christ's atonement lacks nothing. What St. Paul supplies is the share Christ gives His members in His work.
6. We can help the dead
Judas Maccabeus "made atonement for the dead that they might be absolved from their sin" (2 Maccabees 12:46). The Church applies indulgences to the dead "by way of suffrage," that is, as prayer on their behalf (Indulgentiarum Doctrina, norm 3). For more, see Where Is Purgatory in the Bible?
Objections Answered
(a) "The Church sold forgiveness. Tetzel proves it."
At its strongest: In 1517 indulgences were being preached in Germany in connection with alms for rebuilding St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The Dominican preacher Johann Tetzel became the face of the campaign. Luther's Ninety-Five Theses protested preachers who claimed that a coin dropped in the chest freed a soul from purgatory. To many, the system looked like grace for cash.
Answer: The abuses were real, and the Church says so. St. Paul VI wrote that indulgences were at times "improperly used," including through "illicit profits" (Indulgentiarum Doctrina 8). But misuse does not disprove a practice. When Simon tried to buy the power to give the Spirit, St. Peter said, "May your money perish with you, because you thought that you could buy the gift of God with money" (Acts 8:20). St. Peter condemned the sale, not the Holy Spirit. Today an indulgence is gained through prayer, confession, Communion, and works of charity. Nothing is for sale, and an indulgence presupposes that the guilt is already forgiven (CCC 1471).
(b) "Christ paid it all. There's no punishment left."
At its strongest: "For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being consecrated" (Hebrews 10:14). "Hence, now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). If Christ's sacrifice is complete, any remaining "punishment" seems to deny it.
Answer: Catholics affirm every word: the eternal punishment is gone (CCC 1473). Temporal punishment is not a second payment for guilt. It is the healing of "an unhealthy attachment to creatures" (CCC 1472), the discipline the same letter describes two chapters later (Hebrews 12:10–11). Hebrews 10:14 itself speaks of those "being consecrated," an ongoing work. An indulgence adds nothing to Christ's sacrifice. It draws on His merits (CCC 1476) and applies them to that ongoing work.
The Early Church Agrees
The word "indulgence" and the full theology of the Church's "treasury" developed later, in the Middle Ages. Scripture does not use the term. But the substance is there from the start: forgiven sinners still doing penance, the Church relaxing that penance by the authority of the keys, and the prayers of the holy helping them. St. Paul VI notes that in the early Church, penitents "used to turn to the martyrs, to be helped by their merits to obtain from the bishops a more speedy reconciliation" (Indulgentiarum Doctrina 6). The early sources bear this out:
- Tertullian (To the Martyrs, c. AD 197, date approximate): "Some, not able to find this peace in the Church, have been used to seek it from the imprisoned martyrs" (ch. 1).
- St. Cyprian of Carthage (Epistle 10, c. AD 250) asked confessors writing on behalf of penitents to "designate by name in the certificate those whom you yourselves see, whom you have known, whose penitence you see to be very near to full satisfaction" (10.4). Martyrs' intercession, the bishop's authority, and a guard against abuse, all in the third century.
- The Council of Nicaea (AD 325), canon 12, on penitents who show conversion "by deeds, and not pretence": "the bishop may determine yet more favourably concerning them" (canon 12). The Church shortened penance for the truly repentant.
Conclusion
Strip away the caricature and the doctrine is simple. God forgives freely. Sin still leaves wounds that need healing. Christ gave His Church the keys to help her children heal, drawing on His merits and the prayers of His saints.
If you're Protestant, the abuses of 1517 were real, and Catholics should say so plainly. But read 2 Samuel 12, Hebrews 12, and 2 Corinthians 2 again. Forgiven sin with lasting consequences, healing discipline, and an apostle who relaxes a penance "in the presence of Christ": that is the Catholic teaching on indulgences.
Come home. The keys Christ gave St. Peter to bind and loose, and the treasury of Christ's merits they open, are entrusted to the Catholic Church. Christ did not found many churches. He founded one, on St. Peter and the apostles (Matthew 16:18), and that Church is the Catholic Church. "It is through Christ's Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help toward salvation, that the fullness of the means of salvation can be obtained" (CCC 816). If you are a baptized Christian, you already share "a certain, although imperfect, communion" with her (CCC 838). Every truth you already hold is a call to the rest of the way. Christ is calling you into the Catholic Church.
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FAQ
Does an indulgence forgive sins? No. It remits temporal punishment for sins "whose guilt has already been forgiven" (CCC 1471). Serious sin is forgiven through repentance and confession.
What is a plenary indulgence? One that removes all temporal punishment due to sin (CCC 1471). It requires the indulgenced work, sacramental confession, Communion, prayer for the Pope's intentions, and freedom from all attachment to sin (Indulgentiarum Doctrina, norm 7).
Do Catholics need indulgences to be saved? No. They concern the healing of those already forgiven. The Church offers them to help, and "to spur" the faithful "to works of devotion, penance, and charity" (CCC 1478).
Sources
Scripture (NABRE, bible.usccb.org): Numbers 14:19–23; 2 Samuel 12:13–14; 2 Maccabees 12:43–46; Matthew 16:18; Matthew 16:19; Matthew 18:18; John 20:22–23; Acts 8:18–20; Romans 8:1; 1 Corinthians 11:32; 2 Corinthians 2:5–11; Galatians 6:2; Colossians 1:24; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 10:14; Hebrews 12:5–11.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (vatican.va): 816, 838; 1471–1479.
Church documents (vatican.va): Pope St. Paul VI, Indulgentiarum Doctrina (1967), nos. 6, 8 and norms 3, 4, 7.
Church Fathers and councils (newadvent.org): Tertullian, To the Martyrs 1 (ANF vol. 3); Cyprian, Epistle 10.4 (ANF vol. 5, trans. R. E. Wallis); Council of Nicaea, canon 12 (NPNF2 vol. 14).
Other (newadvent.org): Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), "Indulgences".