
Arnobius makes a pretty cool point below but first the only Jesus that has been spreading and enduring across this planet for the last two thousand years (the Jesus of the Bible):
“The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I TESTIFY OF IT, that the works thereof are evil.” John 7:7
“Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.” John 2:24–25
“Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, YE WOULD LOVE ME: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, BECAUSE YE ARE NOT OF GOD.” – John 8:42–47
“He that is not with me is against me: and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” – Jesus Luke 11:23
If the words of Jesus here, from the most discussed piece of literature in the history of the world, are convicting you that you are actually living a life against Christ, this is a good thing! It is supposed to help you see that you need your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He went to that cross for you. You need His salvation from your own rebellion against the Creator of this universe and you! He came to save us rebellious sinners from our rebellion against our God. It is while we were yet sinners that Christ gave His life for us. Trust Jesus over whatever it is that is in your way that you may be trusting over Him.
Here is Arnobius’ argument that all are evil. He seems to argue that the fact that we have to work at doing good and repress evil in ourselves means we are not good but evil. If we were good, we wouldn’t have to strive against the evil inside. The striving proves there is something evil inside.
You say that there are good men in the human race; and perhaps, if we compare them with the very wicked, we may be led to believe that there are. Who are they, pray? Tell us. The philosophers, I suppose, who assert that they alone are most wise, and who have been uplifted with pride from the meaning attached to this name, —those, forsooth, who are striving with their passions every day, and struggling to drive out, to expel deeply-rooted passions from their minds by the persistent opposition of their better qualities; who, that it may be impossible for them to be led into wickedness at the suggestion of some opportunity, shun riches and inheritances, that they may remove from themselves occasions of stumbling; but in doing this, and being solicitous about it, they show very clearly that their souls are, through their weakness, ready and prone to fall into vice. In our opinion, however, that which is good naturally, does not require to be either corrected or reproved; nay more, it should not know what evil is, if the nature of each kind would abide in its own integrity, for neither can two contraries be implanted in each other, nor can equality be contained in inequality, nor sweetness in bitterness. He, then, who struggles to amend the inborn depravity of his inclinations, shows most clearly that he is imperfect, blameable, although he may strive with all zeal and stedfastness.
Arnobius. 1886. “The Seven Books of Arnobius against the Heathen (Adversus Gentes).” In Fathers of the Third Century: Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius the Great, Julius Africanus, Anatolius and Minor Writers, Methodius, Arnobius, edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, translated by Hamilton Bryce and Hugh Campbell, 6:452–53. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company.
