To Florus 1.84

If, then, as reason has disclosed, freedom of choice excludes compulsion, so that no one is either good or evil without being free to be the opposite, how could you acknowledge free choice while about to use a testimony suited to captives? Or how could you append such a testimony after acknowledging free choice? You say: “We do not deny free choice. But Truth says, ‘If the Son sets you free, then you will be truly free’” (John 8:36). It is clear that in that passage Christ addressed a captive conscience. He showed it to be not free, but subject to the punishment that condemns sins committed by free will. You misunderstand that statement, that is, you do not understand it, or perhaps you understand it as applying to yourself, but drag it here against its own nature. You have put it in a place where its whole proper meaning conflicts with your words. Let us join the words themselves: what is set free is captive; what is captive is not free; what is free is not captive.