To Florus 2.158
Earlier, then, he had worked to make us understand that the Gentiles could not be excluded from the fellowship of righteousness, but through the same faith are counted in Abraham’s family with the children of circumcision. Now he has added that none of the circumcised belongs to the promise given to Abraham. Unless properly understood, this is a complete contradiction. Therefore, when he says, ‘For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is emptied and the promise destroyed’ (Romans 4:14), he did not declare that no Jew can be believed to become an heir of the ancient promise through faith. Rather, a word is missing, whose place understanding supplies: those of the law are not the only heirs. It is as though he had said, ‘For if those who are of the law alone are heirs, faith is emptied.’ The uncircumcised would indeed seem excluded if the inheritance of blessing reached none beyond the circumcised. We must therefore understand scriptural usage: what is not said is not automatically denied. Understanding must supply what the words leave out.
Latin
Cum ergo superius id egisset, ut intellegeremus a consortio iustitiae non potuisse excludi gentes, sed per eamdem fidem cum filiis circumcisionis in Abrahae stirpe numerari, nunc intulit neminem de circumcisione ad eam promissionem, quae Abrahae data est, pertinere; hoc autem omnino nisi intellegatur, repugnat. Quod itaque ait: Si enim qui sunt ex lege, haeredes sunt, evacuata est fides et destructa est promissio [n222] , non hoc pronuntiavit, ut videlicet nemo de Iudaeis per fidem fieri credatur haeres promissionis antiquae, sed deest sermo, cuius vicem implet intellegentia, non solos haeredes esse, qui ex lege sunt, ut si hoc modo dictum esset: Si enim qui sunt ex lege, soli haeredes sunt, evacuata est fides. Vere enim praeputium videretur excludi, si ad nullos praeter eos, qui ex circumcisione erant, benedictionis haereditas perveniret. Intellegenda igitur consuetudo Scripturarum est, quia non continuo, quod non dicitur, denegatur, ut intellegentiae opere verborum dispendia suppleantur.