this single human nature—yes, I was mistaken when I seized his soul; yet with regard to all the other children of Adam who come after him, I am entitled to imprison their souls in Hell, just as I confined the souls of those who lived before the Messiah, whether on account of their father’s offense or their own sins. In that case, if what the Christians say is true, God would have no argument against Iblis.

Seventh: It may be said: Grant that Adam sinned and that his progeny sinned because Satan beautified sin for them—does the punishment of the sons of Adam for their sins rest with God or with Iblis? Would any rational person maintain that Iblis is allowed first to mislead the children of Adam by enticing them, and then to punish them all without any authorization from God? Is such a view anything but the doctrine of the dualist Magians, who claim that every evil in the world—sins, retribution, and the like—is the work of Iblis, while God neither does any of it nor punishes anyone for wrongdoing?

There is no doubt that this idea found its way to the Christians from the Magians; for that reason they do not transmit it in any revealed scripture, nor from any of the disciples. Hence the Manichaean religion was a compound of Christianity and Magianism, and its founder Mani was both Christian and Magian. Thus the kinship between the Christians and the Magians—indeed, between them and the rest of the polytheists—is well known.