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Contra Faustum Manichaeum libri triginta tres

2.

Augustinus respondit: Nemo tibi proponit, quod tibi proponis, nisi imperitus, quem decipis, non instructus, a quo convinceris. p. 738,12 Nam Iesus et nasci potuit non satus et pati non partus; sed unum horum voluit, alterum noluit. Nasci enim non satus voluit, pati autem non partus noluit, quia partus est passus. Dicis mihi : Unde scis? Quia hoc in evangelio veritatis lego. Si autem tibi dicam: Unde scis ista, quae dicis? , Manichaei mihi opponis auctoritatem, dicis esse in evangelio falsitatem. Ego autem Manichaeo ista dicenti non crederem nec si non mihi Christum mentitum esse laudaret, quod quidem in Christo non invenit, sed quid ipse diligat prodit.

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Reply to Faustus the Manichaean

2.

Augustin replied: The argument which you here reply to is one which could be used only by such ignorant people as you succeed in misleading, not by those who know enough to refute you. Jesus could both be born without being begotten and suffer without being brought forth. His being one and not the other was the effect of His own will. He chose to be born without being begotten, and not to suffer without being brought forth. And if you ask how I know that He was brought forth, and that He suffered, I read this in the faithful Gospel narrative. If I ask how you know what you state, you bring forward the authority of Manichaeus, and charge the Gospel with falsehood. Even if Manichaeus did not set forth falsehood as an excellence in Christ, I should not believe his statements. His praise of falsehood comes from nothing that he found in Christ, but from his own moral character.