The doctrine is based largely on Mark 16:15-16:
He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not

Martin Luther, the foremost leader of the Protestant Reformation, spoke of the necessity of belonging to the church (in the sense of what he saw as the true church) in order to be saved:
Therefore he who would find Christ must first find the Church. How

The Methodist tradition, inclusive of the holiness movement, holds that the office of the keys is exercised when the Church baptizes an individual and pronounces them saved. The office of the keys is furthermore exercised in the Church "binding and loosing",

First use of the sentence
The original phrase, "Salus extra ecclesiam non est" ("there is no salvation out of the Church"), comes from Letter LXXII of Cyprian of

• Pope Pelagius II (died 590): "Consider the fact that whoever has not been in the peace and unity of the Church cannot have the Lord...Although given over to flames and fires, they burn, or,

The Genevan reformer John Calvin, in his Reformation-era work Institutes of the Christian Religion, wrote: "beyond the pale of the Church no forgiveness of sins, no salvation, can be hoped

• 1587: The Firm Foundation of the Catholic Religion by Jean de Caumont, S.J. (Published in 1587)
• 1609: A Consultation what Faith and Religion is Best to be Imbraced by