To Florus 5.14

After this he tries to attack the point we established through the apostle Paul’s testimony: that God makes a human being from seed. He argues that I acted fraudulently by applying to this subject words admittedly spoken about grain. As though I had either broken the apostle’s statement in pieces there, as he imagines here, or recalled that testimony for any reason other than to demonstrate its conclusion: God must be believed to form every kind of seed. For after blessed Paul supported faith in the resurrection through examples of daily multiplication, he added something applicable to all nature: ‘But God gives it a body as he wills, and to each of the seeds its own body’ (1 Corinthians 15:38). That is, he assigns every seed the body its particular nature requires. I therefore did not intend words spoken about grain to be understood as about a human being. Rather, I seized upon the statement that God the maker gives each seed its own body to destroy your position, since your doctrine denies it. Therefore I certainly did not mention that statement needlessly, as you suppose, or use it fraudulently, as you falsely allege. Nor do you believe, despite your false oath, that God makes a human being from human seed. I affirm this not by conjecturing, but by understanding your creed.