Edition Hide
De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XIX: De his, qui inpunitatem omnium peccatorum promittunt etiam haereticis propter participationem corporis Christi.

Item sunt alii ab aeterno supplicio liberationem nec ipsis saltem omnibus hominibus promittentes, sed tantummodo Christi baptismate ablutis, qui particeps fiunt corporis eius, quomodolibet uixerint, in quacumque haeresi uel inpietate fuerint, propter illud quod ait Iesus: hic est panis qui de caelo descendit, ut, si quis ex ipso manducauerit, non moriatur. ego sum panis uiuus, qui de caelo descendi. si quis manducauerit ex hoc pane, uiuet in aeternum. ab aeterna ergo morte, inquiunt, necesse est istos erui et ad uitam aeternam quandocumque perduci.

Translation Hide
The City of God

Chapter 19.--Of Those Who Promise Impunity from All Sins Even to Heretics, Through Virtue of Their Participation of the Body of Christ.

So, too, there are others who promise this deliverance from eternal punishment, not, indeed, to all men, but only to those who have been washed in Christian baptism, and who become partakers of the body of Christ, no matter how they have lived, or what heresy or impiety they have fallen into. They ground this opinion on the saying of Jesus, "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that if any man eat thereof, he shall not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If a man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever." ¹ Therefore, say they, it follows that these persons must be delivered from death eternal, and at one time or other be introduced to everlasting life.