To Florus 2.215

The life in which the holy will reign is shown to be eternal. Therefore the death that follows voluntary wickedness should also be understood as eternal. ‘Therefore, as through one man’s offense it came upon all human beings to condemnation, so through one man’s righteousness it came upon all human beings to justification of life. For just as through one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so through one man’s obedience many will be made righteous’ (Romans 5:18–19). Every difficulty is resolved. It is shameless to stir up a false accusation about universality; it is utterly foolish to hunt for a knot in a smooth rush. The apostle declares that not all but many learned sins through the first man’s disobedience, and that many, not all, obtained righteousness through the other’s obedience. Human origin is not under discussion here. Conduct is displayed in opposing pursuits. Disobedience and obedience show the activity of deliberate conduct, not of generation. Surely, if the apostle thought as you do, where could he more fittingly have declared that all go to condemnation by birth but few to life by believing, than here, where the argument’s conclusion was to be completed? He ought to have said: ‘Just as through one man’s disobedience all were made sinners’—or rather, not ‘through disobedience,’ but ‘Just as through the first man’s generation all were born sinners, so through one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.’