Can the Church remit the temporal punishment still owed for forgiven sins?
Earliest statement of each found so far: No such power, Cyprian of Carthage, c. 251.
The positions
Indulgences Catholic
What it holds: The Church has authority to remit before God temporal punishment owed for forgiven sins, drawing on the merits of Christ and the saints.
the power of conferring Indulgences was granted by Christ to the Church; and she has, even in the most ancient times, used the said powerCouncil of Trent, Session 25, Decree concerning Indulgences (1563)
An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgivenCatechism of the Catholic Church, 1471
Formally defined: Clement VI, Unigenitus (1343); Council of Trent, Session 25 (1563)
No early passage in the works searched so far states it yet.
No such power LutheranReformedAnglicanMethodistBaptist
What it holds: The Church has no power to remit punishment before God; forgiveness through Christ leaves no punishment for the Church to lessen.
The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping, and Adoration, as well of Images as of Reliques, and also invocation of Saints, is a fond thing vainly inventedThirty-Nine Articles, Article XXII (1571)
The Romish doctrine concerning purgatory, pardon, worshiping, and adoration, as well of images as of relics, and also invocation of saints, is … grounded upon no warrant of Scripture, but repugnant to the Word of God.Articles of Religion of the Methodist Church (UMC Book of Discipline, para. 104)
Formally defined: Thirty-Nine Articles XXII (1563/1571)
Earliest statement: Cyprian of Carthage, c. 251
Common ground
These are affirmed by more than one position, so a passage saying only this counts for none of them.
- Bishops may shorten or relax church penances they imposed (a church discipline, not punishment before God)
- Martyrs' and confessors' intercession for the lapsed
- Penance and satisfaction after baptism as church discipline
Every deciding passage, earliest first
Cyprian of Carthage, c. 251
Do not deceive yourselves; do not cheat yourselves. Only the Lord can show mercy. Forgiveness for sins committed against him can come only from the one who bore our sins, who suffered for us, and whom God handed over for our sins (Jeremiah 17:5). A human being cannot be greater than God, nor can a servant cancel or grant indulgence for a graver offense committed against the Lord. If the lapsed person does not know that it is written, 'Cursed is the man who puts his hope in man,' he will add this to his crime. The Lord must be prayed to; the Lord must be appeased by our satisfaction, because he…
- Rejects: Indulgences
- Teaches: No such power
Translation in progress
Cyril of Alexandria, c. 444
—and is seen distinguished with the dignities of the Godhead. For God has highly exalted him, and has gifted him the name above every name. And he shuts the mouth of the sin, according to what is hymned in the Psalms: ‘And every lawlessness will stop up its mouth’ (Philippians 2:9); having been told to cry down against those who have sinned from weakness, and have been justified in faith. For ‘God is the one justifying; who is the one condemning?’ (Psalm 107:42) And Christ having suffered for us, how was it consistent that the penalties for our own trespasses should still be demanded of us our…
- Rejects: Indulgences
- Teaches: No such power
Translation in progress
How this was made
Every whole work in the library on 21 October 2026 was searched for this question. Works added since then are not searched yet. The short excerpts on the topic pages (many from Tertullian, Justin, Irenaeus and Ignatius) join the search once their English has been checked against the Greek or Latin original: 94% of them (1,814 of 1,925) have passed that check, and the rest are still held out, so an early witness may occasionally be missing from these lanes. Two AI models from different labs judged each passage against all the positions at once, seeing them only as letters, without names or churches. A third model settled disagreements, and Claude reviewers then checked every deciding verdict against the passage and, for the earliest dates, against the Greek or Latin. A writer's silence is never counted.
The evidence is only as deep as the works searched: 1st century: 5 writers, 2nd century: 23 writers, 3rd century: 22 writers, 4th century: 18 writers, 5th century: 11 writers, 6th century: 5 writers, 8th century: 1 writer. The lanes are redrawn when the search is run again.