To Florus 2.47

I hear Paul declaring: ‘Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin; and so it passed into all human beings, in whom all sinned’ (Romans 5:12). You maintain that this was said with reference to generation, not to an example of sin. You call us heretics for referring it to examples, and imagine that this argument helps you: ‘Surely,’ you say, ‘if the apostle had meant imitation, he would have said that sin entered through the devil and passed through all human beings, rather than “through one man.” For Scripture says of the devil: “Those who belong to his party imitate him” (Wisdom 2:24; Latin numbering 2:25). But he said “through one man,” from whom the generation of human beings certainly began, precisely to teach that original sin passed through all people by generation’ (Augustine, Marriage and Desire 2.45). But I see that the apostle said nothing intended to slander human generation, condemn natural innocence, or accuse God’s work of crime.