Germanus Objects That There Was No Law Yet

If that command had been given to them, then the sin of breaking it might fairly have been charged against them, for their boldness in marrying as they did. But since keeping that separation had not yet been established by any rule, how could that mingling of the lines be counted as wrong in them, when no command had forbidden it? For a law does not usually forbid crimes that are past, but those that are to come. [a]