ISB ~ 1 Corinthians 3 v15

as through fire:Some Christian workers, whose 5 efforts are shabby and imperfect, will pass through God’s fiery judgment like a man who barely escapes a burning building with his life. This prelude to salvation will involve painful spiritual consequences, which, though severe, will spare them eternal damnation. • The OT often depicts fire as a testing and refining agent (Sir 2:5; Is 4:4; 6:6-7; Zech 13:9; Mal 3:2-3). • Catholic tradition interprets Paul’s teaching in the light of Purgatory, a doctrine defined at the Councils of Lyon II (1274), Florence (1439), and Trent (1563). Purgatory is a final stage of purification for those who are destined for heaven but depart from this life still burdened with venial sins or with an unpaid debt of temporal punishment incurred from past sins (i.e., mortal sins already forgiven but imperfectly repented of). Passing through fire is thus a spiritual process where souls are purged of residual selfishness and refined in God’s love (CCC 1030-32).