I say that man was made self-determining—not as though some evil already lay ready beforehand, of which, if he willed, man received the authority to choose, but only the cause of obeying God and of not obeying. For this is what self-determination intended.
And man, when he had come into being, received a commandment from God; and from this point evil already begins, for he does not obey the divine command. And this alone was evil—the disobedience—which began to exist. For one cannot say that this is uncreated, since the one who made it is himself created.
Doubtless you will ask whence this disobedience came. But this lies plainly set forth in a certain divine Scripture. Hence I say that man was not made such by God, but that he suffered this according to someone's teaching; for man did not receive such a nature. For if it were so, this would not have come upon him through teaching, since his nature itself was already that way.
But a certain divine utterance says that man learned wicked things; therefore I say that to disobey God is something taught (for this alone is evil, that which comes about contrary to the will of God). For man does not learn wickedness of himself. The one, then, who teaches the evil is the serpent...