To Florus 6.34
He would never say, ‘If the dead do not rise, Christ has not risen either,’ if someone could reply: But Christ rose exceptionally because he was born from a virgin; humans do not rise because they were born from a diabolical union. He would immediately answer: Then what was the empty point of rising, if it served neither our hope nor our instruction? What reasonable teaching or weighty example could there be if a nature unlike ours left us without both the hope of reigning with him and the power to imitate him?
The apostle’s faith stands far, very far from this opinion. Filled with the same Spirit as Peter, he knows Christ died for us to give us an example, so that we might follow his footsteps (1 Peter 2:21). Knowing that sacrifice and example were the purpose of so great a mystery, he does not hesitate to pronounce—indeed, carefully stresses—that Christ the human has reached no place from which any of us is excluded by our nature’s condition.
‘If there is no resurrection of the dead,’ he says, ‘Christ has not risen either. But if Christ has risen from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?’ (1 Corinthians 15:12–13). That is: If you acknowledge him, as human, to have possessed the same nature as ours, on what grounds do you either think resurrection occurred in him or will not occur in the rest? Having set out the conditions, he completes the judgment on every side: ‘But now Christ has risen from the dead’ (1 Corinthians 15:20); therefore there will be resurrection of the dead.
Latin
Numquam quippe diceret: Si mortui non resurgunt, nec Christus resurrexit; cui poterat referri: Sed Christus, quoniam de Virgine natus est, peculiariter resurrexit; homines autem, quia nati sunt de commixtione diabolica, non resurgunt. Verum ille protinus referret: Et quae fuit resurgendi vanitas, si nec spei nostrae nec magisterio parabatur? Quae enim esset ratio docendi, quae gravitas exempli, si natura in nobis dissimilis, et spe conregnandi, et vi careret imitandi? Procul igitur, et nimis procul fides Apostoli ab hac opinione consistit. Eodem plenus spiritu, quo etiam Petrus, scit Christum pro nobis ob hoc mortuum, ut nobis donaret exemplum, ut sequeremur vestigia eius [n207] . Et quia causam tanti mysterii, sacrificium novit et exemplum fuisse, pronuntiare non dubitat, immo diligenter inculcat, quia non accesserit homo Christus aliquo, a quo quisquam nostrum naturae suae praeiudiciis arceatur. Si - inquit - resurrectio non est mortuorum, neque Christus resurrexit. Si autem Christus ex mortuis resurrexit, quomodo dicunt quidam in vobis quia resurrectio mortuorum non est? Id est, si confitemini eiusdem illum secundum hominem, cuius nos, fuisse naturae, qua ratione vel in illo factam resurrectionem, vel in reliquis non futuram putatis? Praemissis conditionibus, implet ex omni parte sententiam: Nunc autem - inquit - Christus resurrexit ex mortuis; erit ergo resurrectio mortuorum.
About this text
Julian’s six preserved books to Florus, quoted section by section in Augustine’s unfinished reply. Augustine’s refutations are omitted. Latin of Julian’s words is on each section.
Julian’s own books do not survive as a separate manuscript. English follows his words as Augustine quotes them in the Unfinished Work Against Julian. Augustine’s replies are omitted. We do not restore a Julian text independent of Augustine.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Augustine, Unfinished Work Against Julian (Latin · Julian’s words as quoted, Books 1–6)
- Checked print Augustinus.it Latin of the Unfinished Work (Latin · Same work)
- Checked print Migne PL 45 (Latin · Hard cases)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.