No Salvation Outside the Church
"Outside the Church there is no salvation" — an ancient axiom debated ever since
This axiom, voiced by Cyprian of Carthage, holds that salvation is found within the Church. Christians have understood it in various senses, and its meaning is contested. A strict reading would limit salvation narrowly to visible members, but that interpretation is debated, and modern Catholic teaching has significantly qualified it, allowing that God's grace may reach those beyond the Church's visible boundaries. How broadly or narrowly to read the phrase remains an open question.
How it traveled
- The Epistles of Cyprian.Carthage · 258explains
- The Letters of St. JeromeBethlehem · 420explains
- Letters of St. AugustinHippo Regius · 430explains
- On Baptism, Against the DonatistsHippo Regius · 430explains
- The Canons of the Synods of Sardica, Carthage, Constantinople, and Carthage Under St. Cyprian, Which Canons Were Received by the Council in Trullo and Ratified by II. NiceConstantinople (Istanbul) · 692explains
- Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic ChurchGeneva · 1564explains
Key passages(20)
Catholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man · Henri de Lubac
The Letters of St. Jerome · Jerome
Cp. the maxim of Cyprian: Extra ecclesiam nulla salus, “Outside the church there is no salvation.” Exod. xii. 46. 1 Peter iii. 20, 21. James ii. 25. Founder of the widely prevalent sect of Manichæ
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
OF THE TRUE CHURCH. DUTY OF CULTIVATING UNITY WITH HER, AS THE MOTHER OF ALL THE GODLY. The three divisions of this chapter are,—I. The article of the Creed concerning the Holy Catholic Church and th
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Book Fourth. of the Holy Catholic Church · John Calvin
3. Moreover, this article of the Creed relates in some measure to the external Church, that every one of us must maintain brotherly concord with all the children of God, give due authority to the Chur
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The Canons of the Synods of Sardica, Carthage, Constantinople, and Carthage Under St. Cyprian, Which Canons Were Received by the Council in Trullo and Ratified by II. Nice · The Ecumenical Councils
Epistle LXX. Cyprian, Liberalis, Caldonius, etc., to their brethren Januarius, etc. Greeting. When we were together in council, dearest brethren, we read the letter which you addressed to us respect
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The Treatises of Cyprian. · Cyprian
The Treatises of Cyprian. ———————————— Treatise I. On the Unity of the Church. Argument.—On the Occasion of the Schism of Novatian, to Keep Back from Him the Carthaginians, Who Already Were Not Av
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On Baptism, Against the Donatists · Augustine of Hippo
7. And yet this point had once, perhaps, been involved in obscurity and doubt. But that which is a source of health to those who give heed and receive correction, is but an aggravation of the sin of t
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
On the contrary, Augustine says (Super Levit. lxxxiv) that "some have received the invisible sanctification without visible sacraments, and to their profit; but though it is possible to have the visib
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Treatise on the Sacraments (qq[60]-90) · Thomas Aquinas
On the contrary, The Apostle says (1 Cor. 10:17): "For we, being many, are one bread, one body, all that partake of one bread": from which it is clear that the Eucharist is the sacrament of the Church
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter CCVIII. (a.d. 423.) To the Lady Felicia, His Daughter in the Faith, and Worthy of Honour Among the Members of Christ, Augustin Sends Greeting in the Lord. 1. I do not doubt, when I consider
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A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 12 [IX.]—His Sixth Error. (See Above in Book I. 10-12 [IX., X.], and in Book II. 13, 14 [IX., X.].) If you wish to be a catholic, refrain from believing, or saying, or teaching that “infants
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A Treatise on the Soul and its Origin · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 13 [XI.]—The Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ Will Not Avail for Unbaptized Persons, and Can Not Be Offered for the Majority of Those Who Die Unbaptized. But even if it be conceded t
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Against Heresies: Book III · Irenaeus of Lyons
1. Since therefore we have such proofs, it is not necessary to seek the truth among others which it is easy to obtain from the Church; since the apostles, like a rich man [depositing his money] in a b
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Against the Epistle of Manichæus, Called Fundamental · Augustine of Hippo
Chapter 4.—Proofs of the Catholic Faith. 5. For in the Catholic Church, not to speak of the purest wisdom, to the knowledge of which a few spiritual men attain in this life, so as to know it, in the
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On Baptism, Against the Donatists · Augustine of Hippo
Matt. xii. 30. Chapter 11.—18. What shall we say of what is also wonderful, that he who carefully observes may find that it is possible that certain persons, without violating Christian charity, may
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16. In three ways then are sins remitted in the Church; by Baptism, by prayer, by the greater humility of penance; yet God doth not remit sins but to the baptized. The very sins which He remits first,
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The Commentary and Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on Galatians and Ephesians · John Chrysostom
That is, having great care bestowed upon it; for the body must not be put together anyhow, but with exceeding art and nicety, since if it gets out of place, it is no longer. So that each must not only
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The Dialogue Against the Luciferians · Jerome
L. I see that you can prattle cleverly about each point that I raise; and when we let fly a dart you elude it by a harangue which serves you for a shield; I will therefore hurl a single spear which wi
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The Epistles of Cyprian. · Cyprian
Epistle LIV. To Cornelius, Concerning Fortunatus and Felicissimus, or Against the Heretics. Argument.—Cyprian Chiefly Warns Cornelius in This Letter Not to Hear the Calumnies of Felicissimus and For
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Letters of St. Augustin · Augustine of Hippo
Letter LXXXVII. (a.d. 405.) To His Brother Emeritus, Beloved and Longed For, Augustin Sends Greeting. 1. I know that it is not on the possession of good talents and a liberal education that the sal
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Modern teachers who discuss this idea
Modern and living teachers whose books take up No Salvation Outside the Church. These works are still in copyright, so we can’t show the text here — each links out to the book.
- Henri de LubacCatholicism: Christ and the Common Destiny of Man(1938)View on Amazon→