Sophia Scriptura

On the Lapsed 17

Cyprian of Carthage · On the Lapsed · 251 · Carthage · Read in context

Summary: Only Christ can forgive sins against God; the martyrs' merits will count with the Judge, but only at the last judgment, not as a present substitute for penance.

Latin text · CSEL 3.1:249–250

ueniam peccatis quae in ipsum commissa sunt solus potest ille largiri qui peccata nostra portauit, qui pro nobis doluit, quem Deus tradidit pro peccatis nostris. homo Deo maior non potest esse, nec remittere aut donare indulgentia sua seruus potest quod in Dominum delicto grauiore commissum est, ne adhuc lapso et hoc accedat ad crimen, si nesciat esse praedictum: maledictus homo qui spem habet in hominem. Dominus orandus est, Dominus nostra satisfactione placandus est qui negantem negare se dixit, qui omne iudicium de patre solus accepit. credimus quidem posse aput iudicem plurimum martyrum merita et opera iustorum, sed cum iudicii dies uenerit, cum post occasum saeculi huius et mundi ante tribunal Christi populus eius adstiterit.

English · Claude translation

Pardon for sins committed against himself only he can grant who bore our sins, who grieved for us, whom God handed over for our sins. Man cannot be greater than God, nor can a servant remit or forgive by his indulgence what has been committed by a graver sin against the Lord, lest this too be added to the lapsed person's crime, if he does not know that it was foretold: “Cursed is the man who puts his hope in man.” The Lord must be prayed to; the Lord must be appeased by our satisfaction, who said that he would deny the one who denies him, who alone has received all judgment from the Father. We believe indeed that the merits of the martyrs and the works of the righteous can do a great deal with the Judge; but that will be when the day of judgment comes, when, after the end of this age and world, his people stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

About this passage

Source
CSEL 3.1:249–250 · Wilhelm von Hartel, ed., S. Thasci Caecili Cypriani Opera omnia, Pars 1, CSEL 3.1 (Vienna: Gerold, 1868), 235–264 · Latin text: W. von Hartel (CSEL 3.1, 1868), digitized by Open Greek and Latin, University of Leipzig (csel-dev), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in CSEL 3.1. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Latin text of CSEL 3.1; made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 5 (1886) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Martyrdom, Eschatology, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are Isa 53:4 (1 Pet 2:24), Rom 4:25, Matt 10:33, John 5:22, and 2 Cor 5:10; the quotation is Jer 17:5.

Cite this passage

Cyprian, Laps. 17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/17/).

Plain text
Cyprian, Laps. 17 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/cyprian-lapsis/17/).

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