← §2 Read continuously §4 → Fragments on John · §3 · Theophilus of Alexandria
The error of souls joined to bodies for sins
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Theophilus is describing the unlawful doctrine that Christ overturned, explaining how its adherents thought souls relate to bodies.
Sometimes the soul pre-exists by itself, and at other times it is joined to bodies as punishment for its own sins, so that a woman can conceive only when some soul sins. Christ destroys this error.
Greek <μένειν>, ποτὲ δὲ οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων χάριν σώμασι συμπλέκεσθαι καὶ τότε κατὰ
γαστρὸς ἔχειν τὴν γυναῖκα δύνασθαι ὅτε τις ψυχὴ ἁμαρτάνῃ, ἀναιρῶν τὴν τοιαύτην
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About this text Theophilus says Christ's words on the man born blind refute the idea that souls live before the body and are sent into bodies for their sins.
Theophilus of Alexandria (c. 345–412) is the author of these fragments on John. They are not his fragments on Matthew.
He says the Savior overturns an unlawful teaching: that a soul sometimes exists before the body, and is joined to a body because of its own sins, so that a woman conceives only when some soul sins.
Christ answers, "Neither this man sinned nor his parents, but this happened so that the works of God might be revealed." The words are John 9:3; the manuscript's margin marks them "John 3", and the translation keeps that mark.
We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.
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