Direct quotation
Through one Lord Jesus — he says — the salvation to come is declared to the nations: he alone could not be…
Through one Lord Jesus — he says — the salvation to come is declared to the nations: he alone could not be just, though the whole race went astray, unless, born of the Virgin, he was not in the least subject to the claim of the guilty race. “Behold,” he says, “I was conceived in iniquities, and in sins my mother bore me” (Psalm 51:5) — so says he who was thought just above all others. Whom then shall I call just, if not him who is free of these chains, whom the chains of our common nature do not bind? All are under sin; from Adam death reigned over all. Let him come who alone is just in God’s sight, of whom it is now said without exception, “He did not sin with his lips” (Job 2:10) — no, “He committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22).
Those who are said to sin are not sinning at all, if, whoever created them, they must live according to the way they were created and cannot resist their own nature.
Latin
Per unum - inquit - Dominum Iesum salus ventura nationibus declaratur, qui solus non potuit iustus esse, cum generatio omnis erraret, nisi natus ex Virgine generationis obnoxiae privilegio minime teneretur. Ecce, inquit, in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in delictis peperit me mater mea [n5] , dicit is qui iustus prae ceteris putabatur. Quem igitur iam iustum dixerim, nisi horum liberum vinculorum, quem naturae communis vincula non teneant? Omnes sub peccato, ab Adam in omnes regnabat mors. Veniat solus iustus in conspectu Dei, de quo iam non cum exceptione dicatur: Non peccavit in labiis suis [n6] ; sed: Peccatum non fecit [n7]
Nec peccare eos omnino, qui peccare dicuntur: siquidem a quocumque creati sunt, secundum id quod creati sunt, necesse habent vivere, nec suae repugnare naturae