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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXIII: Contra opinionem eorum, qui dicunt nec diaboli nec hominum malorum perpetua futura supplicia.

Ac primum quaeri oportet atque cognosci, cur ecclesia ferre nequiuerit hominum disputationem diabolo etiam post maximas et diuturnissimas poenas purgationem uel indulgentiam pollicentem. neque enim tot sancti et sacris ueteribus ac nouis litteris eruditi mundationem et regni caelorum beatitudinem post qualiacumque et quantacumque supplicia qualibuscumque et quantiscumque angelis inuiderunt, sed potius uiderunt diuinam uacuari uel infirmari non posse sententiam, quam se dominus praenuntiauit in iudicio prolaturum atque dicturum: discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius; sic quippe ostendit aeterno igne diabolum et angelos eius arsuros; et quod scriptum est in apocalypsi: diabolus, qui seducebat eos, missus est in stagnum ignis et sulphuris, quo et bestia et pseudopropheta; et cruciabuntur die ac nocte in saecula saeculorum. quod ibi dictum est aeternum, hic dictum est in saecula saeculorum, quibus uerbis nihil scriptura diuina significare consueuit, nisi quod finem non habet temporis. quamobrem prorsus nec alia causa nec iustior atque manifestior inueniri potest, cur uerissima pietate teneatur fixum et inmobile nullum regressum ad iustitiam uitamque sanctorum diabolum et angelos eius habituros, nisi quia scriptura, quae neminem fallit, dicit eis deum non pepercisse, et sic ab illo esse interim praedamnatos, ut carceribus caliginis inferi retrusi traderentur seruandi atque ultimo iudicio puniendi, quando eos aeternus ignis accipiet, ubi cruciabuntur in saecula saeculorum. quod si ita est, quomodo ab huius aeternitate poenae uel uniuersi uel quidam homines post quantumlibet temporis subtrahentur, ac non statim eneruabitur fides, qua creditur sempiternum daemonum futurum esse supplicium? si enim quibus dicetur: discedite a me, maledicti, in ignem aeternum, qui paratus est diabolo et angelis eius, uel uniuersi uel aliqui eorum non semper ibi erunt, quid causae est cur diabolus et angeli eius semper ibi futuri esse credantur? an forte dei sententia, quae in malos et angelos et homines proferetur, in angelos uera erit, in homines falsa? ita plane hoc erit, si non quod deus dixit, sed quod suspicantur homines plus ualebit. quod fieri quia non potest, non argumentari aduersus deum, sed diuino potius, dum tempus est, debent parere praecepto, qui sempiterno cupiunt carere supplicio. deinde quale est aeternum supplicium pro igne diuturni temporis existimare et uitam aeternam credere sine fine, cum Christus eodem ipso loco, in una eademque sententia dixerit utrumque conplexus: sic ibunt isti in supplicium aeternum, iusti autem in uitam aeternam? si utrumque aeternum, profecto aut utrumque cum fine diuturnum aut utrumque sine fine perpetuum debet intellegi. par pari enim relata sunt, hinc supplicium aeternum, inde uita aeterna. dicere autem in hoc uno eodemque sensu: uita aeterna sine fine erit, supplicium aeternum finem habebit multum absurdum est. unde, quia uita aeterna sanctorum sine fine erit, supplicium quoque aeternum quibus erit finem procul dubio non habebit.

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The City of God

Chapter 23.--Against Those Who are of Opinion that the Punishment Neither of the Devil Nor of Wicked Men Shall Be Eternal.

First of all, it behoves us to inquire and to recognize why the Church has not been able to tolerate the idea that promises cleansing or indulgence to the devil even after the most severe and protracted punishment. For so many holy men, imbued with the spirit of the Old and New Testament, did not grudge to angels of any rank or character that they should enjoy the blessedness of the heavenly kingdom after being cleansed by suffering, but rather they perceived that they could not invalidate nor evacuate the divine sentence which the Lord predicted that He would pronounce in the judgment, saying, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." ¹ For here it is evident that the devil and his angels shall burn in everlasting fire. And there is also that declaration in the Apocalypse, "The devil their deceiver was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where also are the beast and the false prophet. And they shall be tormented day and night for ever." ² In the former passage "everlasting" is used, in the latter "for ever;" and by these words Scripture is wont to mean nothing else than endless duration. And therefore no other reason, no reason more obvious and just, can be found for holding it as the fixed and immovable belief of the truest piety, that the devil and his angels shall never return to the justice and life of the saints, than that Scripture, which deceives no man, says that God spared them not, and that they were condemned beforehand by Him, and cast into prisons of darkness in hell, ³ being reserved to the judgment of the last day, when eternal fire shall receive them, in which they shall be tormented world without end. And if this be so, how can it be believed that all men, or even some, shall be withdrawn from the endurance of punishment after some time has been spent in it? how can this be believed without enervating our faith in the eternal punishment of the devils? For if all or some of those to whom it shall be said, "Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels," ⁴ are not to be always in that fire, then what reason is there for believing that the devil and his angels shall always be there? Or is perhaps the sentence of God, which is to be pronounced on wicked men and angels alike, to be true in the case of the angels, false in that of men? Plainly it will be so if the conjectures of men are to weigh more than the word of God. But because this is absurd, they who desire to be rid of eternal punishment ought to abstain from arguing against God, and rather, while yet there is opportunity, obey the divine commands. Then what a fond fancy is it to suppose that eternal punishment means long continued punishment, while eternal life means life without end, since Christ in the very same passage spoke of both in similar terms in one and the same sentence, "These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal!" ⁵ If both destinies are "eternal," then we must either understand both as long-continued but at last terminating, or both as endless. For they are correlative,--on the one hand, punishment eternal, on the other hand, life eternal. And to say in one and the same sense, life eternal shall be endless, punishment eternal shall come to an end, is the height of absurdity. Wherefore, as the eternal life of the saints shall be endless, so too the eternal punishment of those who are doomed to it shall have no end.