1 For God has not only made us out of nothing, but by the Grace of the Word He also freely gave us a life in accord with God. But people rejected eternal things and, on the devil's advice, turned to the things of corruption, and so became the cause of their own corruption in death. As I said before, they were corruptible by nature, but by the grace that comes from sharing in the Word they would have escaped their natural state, had they remained good. 2 For because the Word dwelt with them, even their natural corruption did not come near them, as Wisdom also says: God made man for incorruption, and as an image of His own eternity; but through the envy of the devil death came into the world.⁠a But once this had happened, people began to die, and from then on corruption prevailed against them, gaining even more than its natural power over the whole race, since, because of the transgression of the commandment, it had the threat of the Deity as a further advantage against them. 3 For even in their wrongdoing people did not stop at any set limits, but, gradually pressing forward, went beyond all measure. At first they invented wickedness and brought death and corruption on themselves; later, having turned aside to wrong and surpassing all lawlessness, stopping at no single evil but devising every kind of new evil one after another, they became insatiable in sinning. 4 There were adulteries and thefts everywhere, and the whole earth was full of murders and plundering. As for corruption and wrongdoing, no attention was paid to law, but every crime was being committed everywhere, both by individuals and by groups. Cities were at war with cities, and nations were rising up against nations; the whole earth was torn by civil unrest and battles, each person competing with others in lawless deeds. 8 Nor were they free even of crimes against nature, but, as the Apostle and witness of Christ says: For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are against nature; and in the same way the men also, giving up natural relations with women, burned in their lust for one another, men committing shameless acts with men, and receiving in themselves the fitting penalty for their error.