{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/105/1050337.htm","path":"chr/ecf/105/1050337.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/105/1050337.htm","text":"Chapter II.\u2014(1.) The First Breviate of C\u0153lestius.\nI. \u201cFirst of all,\u201d says he, \u201che must be asked who denies man\u2019s ability to live without sin, what every sort of sin is,\u2014is it such as can be avoided? or is it unavoidable? If it is unavoidable, then it is not sin; if it can be avoided, then a man can live without the sin which can be avoided. No reason or justice permits us to designate as sin what cannot in any way be avoided.\u201d Our answer to this is, that sin can be avoided, if our corrupted nature be healed by God\u2019s grace, through our Lord Jesus Christ. For, in so far as it is not sound, in so far does it either through blindness fail to see, or through weakness fail to accomplish, that which it ought to do; \u201cfor the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh,\u201d 1367 so that a man does not do the things which he would.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V: A Treatise Concer...","type":"page"}