Against the Manichaeans

Contents

Reading pages: 1–15 · 16–18

1. 1Didymus argues that two contrary principles must share something prior to their contrariety, so neither can be ungenerated as the Manichaeans claim.
2. 2A series of short syllogisms shows that evil cannot be ungenerated, since it is punishable, corruptible, a quality rather than a substance, and blameworthy.
3. 3Scripture calls people children of wrath, of wisdom, or of peace because of the qualities they take on, not because of their nature.
4. 4Sons of light and sons of this age, and Judas the son of perdition, are named for their conduct; Judas was not evil by nature but fell by his own choice.
5. 5The body is called 'body of sin' only when it serves sin; since God is glorified in the body and it is the Spirit's temple, it is not evil by nature.
6. 6Paul's prayers and commands that flesh and spirit be sanctified and cleansed show that neither is evil or good by nature but receives either by free choice.
7. 7Christ's virginal flesh is 'the likeness of sinful flesh' because it did not come from intercourse; marriage, cleansed by Christ's coming, is honorable and not a sin.
8. 9Marriage is called sin only by comparison with virginity, not absolutely; Christ, like a fair umpire, matches each believer with temptations suited to his strength.
9. 10Speaking of kinds of evil rational beings does not imply an evil substance, since genera and species also exist among qualities acquired by choice.
10. 11The names devil, Satan and evil one describe choices, not substance, as Judas being called a devil shows.
11. 12God made the rational being who became the devil good and free, able to receive virtue or vice; the fault for evil lies with the creature, not the Creator.
12. 14If the devil were an ungenerated evil equal to God, God could not punish him, and would have punished him at once when he first attacked; so the devil is a fallen creature.
13. 15John the Baptist's call to bear fruit worthy of repentance excludes both natural goodness and natural evil, since repentance presupposes a will that can change.
14. 16The 'offspring of vipers' are not Abraham's line but hypocrites who chose evil teachers; sonship to Abraham comes by faith and virtue and can be gained or lost.
15. 17The axe and the bad tree of John's preaching are not opposed natures: the threat of punishment aims to change sinners, so neither tree nor punishment is evil by nature.
16. 18Didymus begins to answer the objection that punishment, being contrary to the promise, must be evil and therefore Satan's work; the text breaks off.