Difference between revisions of "Marcion" - New World Encyclopedia

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According to [[Tertullian]] and other writers of the mainstream Church, the movement known as Marcionism began with the teachings and [[excommunication]] of Marcion from the [[Church of Rome]] around 144. Marcion was reportedly a wealthy shipowner, the son of a bishop of Sinope of Pontus, [[Asia Minor]]. He arrived in Rome circa 140, soon after [[Bar Kokhba's revolt]]. That revolution, along with other [[Jewish-Roman wars]] (the [[Great Jewish Revolt]] and the Kitos War), provides some of the historical context of the founding of Marcionism. Marcion was excommunicated from the Roman Church because he was threatening to make schisms in the church.<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/marcion/Mead.htm Mead 1931, pp.241-249] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>
 
According to [[Tertullian]] and other writers of the mainstream Church, the movement known as Marcionism began with the teachings and [[excommunication]] of Marcion from the [[Church of Rome]] around 144. Marcion was reportedly a wealthy shipowner, the son of a bishop of Sinope of Pontus, [[Asia Minor]]. He arrived in Rome circa 140, soon after [[Bar Kokhba's revolt]]. That revolution, along with other [[Jewish-Roman wars]] (the [[Great Jewish Revolt]] and the Kitos War), provides some of the historical context of the founding of Marcionism. Marcion was excommunicated from the Roman Church because he was threatening to make schisms in the church.<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/marcion/Mead.htm Mead 1931, pp.241-249] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>
  
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Marcion used his personal wealth, (particularly a donation returned to him by the Church of Rome after he was excommunicated), to fund an ecclesiastical organization. Marcionism continued in the [[Western world|West]] for 300 years, although Marcionistic ideas persisted much longer.<ref>[http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1928_336.html Berdyaev Online Library] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>
+
Marcion used his personal wealth, (particularly a donation returned to him by the Church of Rome after he was excommunicated), to fund an ecclesiastical organization. Marcionism continued in the West for 300 years, although Marcionistic ideas persisted much longer.<ref>[http://www.berdyaev.com/berdiaev/berd_lib/1928_336.html Berdyaev Online Library] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>
  
−
The organization continued in the [[Eastern world|East]] for some centuries later, particularly outside the [[Byzantine Empire]] in areas which later would be dominated by [[Manichaeism]]. This is no accident:  [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] is believed to have been a [[Mandaeanism|Mandaean]], and Mandaeanism is related to Marcionism in several ways. For example, both Mandaeanism and Marcionism are characterized by a belief in a [[Demiurge]]. The Marcionite organization itself is today extinct, although Mandaeanism is not.<ref>[http://www.mandaeans.org/ Mandaean Official Site] Retrieved July 14, 2008.</ref>
+
The organization continued in the East for some centuries later, particularly outside the [[Byzantine Empire]] in areas which later would be dominated by [[Manichaeism]]. This is no accident:  [[Mani (prophet)|Mani]] is believed to have been a [[Mandaeanism|Mandaean]], and Mandaeanism is related to Marcionism in several ways. For example, both Mandaeanism and Marcionism are characterized by a belief in a [[Demiurge]]. The Marcionite organization itself is today extinct, although Mandaeanism is not.<ref>[http://www.mandaeans.org/ Mandaean Official Site] Retrieved July 14, 2008.</ref>
  
 
Marcion declared that Christianity was distinct from and in opposition to Judaism. He rejected the entire [[Hebrew Bible]], and declared that the God of the Hebrew Bible was a lesser ''[[demiurge]]'', who had created the earth, but was ''(de facto)'' the source of evil.  
 
Marcion declared that Christianity was distinct from and in opposition to Judaism. He rejected the entire [[Hebrew Bible]], and declared that the God of the Hebrew Bible was a lesser ''[[demiurge]]'', who had created the earth, but was ''(de facto)'' the source of evil.  
  
−
The premise of Marcionism is that many of the [[Ministry of Jesus|teachings of Christ]] are incompatible with the actions of [[Yahweh]], the God of the [[Old Testament]]. [[Tertullian]] claimed Marcion was the first to separate the ''New Testament'' from the ''Old Testament''<ref>McDonald & Sanders, editors, ''The Canon Debate'', 2002, chapter 18 by Everett Ferguson, page 310, quoting Tertullian's ''De praescriptione haereticorum'' 30: "Since Marcion separated the New Testament from the Old, he is necessarily subsequent to that which he separated, inasmuch as it was only in his power to separate what was previously united. Having been united previous to its separation, the fact of its subsequent separation proves the subsequence also of the man who effected the separation." Page 308, note 61 adds: "[Wolfram] Kinzig suggests that it was Marcion who usually called his Bible ''testamentum'' [Latin for testament]."</ref>. Focusing on the [[Pauline Christianity|Pauline traditions]] of the Gospel, Marcion felt that all other conceptions of the Gospel, and especially any association with the Old Testament religion, was opposed to, and a backsliding from, the truth. He further regarded the arguments of Paul regarding [[law and gospel]], wrath and grace, works and faith, flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness, death and life, as the essence of religious truth. He ascribed these aspects and characteristics as two principles, the righteous and wrathful god of the Old Testament, who is at the same time identical with the creator of the world, and a second God of the Gospel, quite unknown before Christ, who is only love and mercy.<ref>Adolf von Harnack, ''History of Dogma'', vol. 1, ch. 5, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.ii.iii.v.html#ii.iii.v-Page_269 p. 269] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> Marcion is said to have gathered [[scripture]]s from Jewish tradition, and juxtaposed these against the sayings and teachings of Jesus in a work entitled the ''Antithesis''.<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/marcion/antithes.htm Gnostic Society Library] presentation of Marcion's ''Antithesis.'' Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> Besides the ''Antithesis'', the Testament of the Marcionites was also composed of a ''Gospel of Christ'' which was [[Gospel of Marcion|Marcion's version]] of Luke, and that the Marcionites attributed to Paul, that was different in a number of ways from the version that is now regarded as canonical.<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/3827/Library.html Center for Marcionite Research] presentation of ''The Gospel of Marcion.'' Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>  It seems to have lacked all prophecies of Christ's coming, as well as the Infancy account, the baptism, and the verses were more terse in general. It also included ten of the [[Pauline Epistles]] (but not the [[Pastoral Epistles]] or the [[Epistle to the Hebrews]], and, according to the Muratonian canon, included a Marcionite Paul's Epistle to the Alexandrians and an Epistle to the Laodiceans)<ref>Mead 1931.</ref> In bringing together these texts, Marcion redacted what is perhaps the first New Testament canon on record, which he called the Gospel and the Apostolikon, which reflects his belief the writings reflect the apostle Paul and Jesus.
+
The premise of Marcionism is that many of the teachings of Christ are incompatible with the actions of [[Yahweh]], the God of the [[Old Testament]]. [[Tertullian]] claimed Marcion was the first to separate the ''New Testament'' from the ''Old Testament''<ref>McDonald & Sanders, editors, ''The Canon Debate'', 2002, chapter 18 by Everett Ferguson, page 310, quoting Tertullian's ''De praescriptione haereticorum'' 30: "Since Marcion separated the New Testament from the Old, he is necessarily subsequent to that which he separated, inasmuch as it was only in his power to separate what was previously united. Having been united previous to its separation, the fact of its subsequent separation proves the subsequence also of the man who effected the separation." Page 308, note 61 adds: "[Wolfram] Kinzig suggests that it was Marcion who usually called his Bible ''testamentum'' [Latin for testament]."</ref>. Focusing on the Pauline traditions of the Gospel, Marcion felt that all other conceptions of the Gospel, and especially any association with the Old Testament religion, was opposed to, and a backsliding from, the truth. He further regarded the arguments of Paul regarding [[law and gospel]], wrath and grace, works and faith, flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness, death and life, as the essence of religious truth. He ascribed these aspects and characteristics as two principles, the righteous and wrathful god of the Old Testament, who is at the same time identical with the creator of the world, and a second God of the Gospel, quite unknown before Christ, who is only love and mercy.<ref>Adolf von Harnack, ''History of Dogma'', vol. 1, ch. 5, [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.ii.iii.v.html#ii.iii.v-Page_269 p. 269] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> Marcion is said to have gathered [[scripture]]s from Jewish tradition, and juxtaposed these against the sayings and teachings of Jesus in a work entitled the ''Antithesis''.<ref>[http://www.gnosis.org/library/marcion/antithes.htm Gnostic Society Library] presentation of Marcion's ''Antithesis.'' Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> Besides the ''Antithesis'', the Testament of the Marcionites was also composed of a ''Gospel of Christ'' which was [[Gospel of Marcion|Marcion's version]] of Luke, and that the Marcionites attributed to Paul, that was different in a number of ways from the version that is now regarded as canonical.<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Ithaca/3827/Library.html Center for Marcionite Research] presentation of ''The Gospel of Marcion.'' Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>  It seems to have lacked all prophecies of Christ's coming, as well as the Infancy account, the baptism, and the verses were more terse in general. It also included ten of the [[Pauline Epistles]] (but not the Pastoral Epistles or the [[Epistle to the Hebrews]], and, according to the Muratonian canon, included a Marcionite Paul's Epistle to the Alexandrians and an Epistle to the Laodiceans)<ref>Mead 1931.</ref> In bringing together these texts, Marcion redacted what is perhaps the first New Testament canon on record, which he called the Gospel and the Apostolikon, which reflects his belief the writings reflect the apostle Paul and Jesus.
  
 
Marcionites hold [[maltheism|maltheistic]] views of the god of the Hebrew Bible (known to some Gnostics as [[Yaltabaoth]]), that he was inconsistent, jealous, wrathful and genocidal, and that the material world he created is defective, a place of suffering; the god who made such a world is a bungling or malicious [[demiurge]]. "In the god of the [Old Testament] he saw a being whose character was stern justice, and therefore anger, contentiousness and unmercifulness. The law which rules nature and man appeared to him to accord with the characteristics of this god and the kind of law revealed by him, and therefore it seemed credible to him that this god is the creator and lord of the world ({{polytonic|κοσμοκράτωρ}}). As the law which governs the world is inflexible and yet, on the other hand, full of contradictions, just and again brutal, and as the law of the Old Testament exhibits the same features, so the god of creation was to Marcion a being who united in himself the whole gradations of attributes from justice to malevolence, from obstinacy to inconsistency."<ref>Harnack, ''idem.'', [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.ii.iii.v.html#ii.iii.v-Page_271 p.271] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> In Marcionite belief, [[Christ]] is not a [[Jewish Messiah]], but a spiritual entity that was sent by the [[Monad (Gnosticism)|Monad]] to reveal the truth about existence, and thus allowing humanity to escape the earthly trap of the demiurge. Marcion called God, the Stranger God, or the Alien God, in some translations, as this deity had not had any previous interactions with the world, and was wholly unknown.
 
Marcionites hold [[maltheism|maltheistic]] views of the god of the Hebrew Bible (known to some Gnostics as [[Yaltabaoth]]), that he was inconsistent, jealous, wrathful and genocidal, and that the material world he created is defective, a place of suffering; the god who made such a world is a bungling or malicious [[demiurge]]. "In the god of the [Old Testament] he saw a being whose character was stern justice, and therefore anger, contentiousness and unmercifulness. The law which rules nature and man appeared to him to accord with the characteristics of this god and the kind of law revealed by him, and therefore it seemed credible to him that this god is the creator and lord of the world ({{polytonic|κοσμοκράτωρ}}). As the law which governs the world is inflexible and yet, on the other hand, full of contradictions, just and again brutal, and as the law of the Old Testament exhibits the same features, so the god of creation was to Marcion a being who united in himself the whole gradations of attributes from justice to malevolence, from obstinacy to inconsistency."<ref>Harnack, ''idem.'', [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/harnack/dogma1.ii.iii.v.html#ii.iii.v-Page_271 p.271] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> In Marcionite belief, [[Christ]] is not a [[Jewish Messiah]], but a spiritual entity that was sent by the [[Monad (Gnosticism)|Monad]] to reveal the truth about existence, and thus allowing humanity to escape the earthly trap of the demiurge. Marcion called God, the Stranger God, or the Alien God, in some translations, as this deity had not had any previous interactions with the world, and was wholly unknown.
  
−
According to a remark by [[Origen]] (''Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew'' 15.3), Marcion "prohibited allegorical interpretations of the scripture." [[Tertullian]] disputed this in his treatise against Marcion, as did [[Henry Wace]]:  
+
According to a remark by [[Origen]] (''Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew'' 15.3), Marcion "prohibited allegorical interpretations of the scripture." [[Tertullian]] disputed this in his treatise against Marcion, as did Henry Wace:  
  
 
:"The story proceeds to say that he asked the Roman presbyters to explain the texts, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit," and "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment," texts from which he himself deduced that works in which evil is to be found could not proceed from the good God, and that the Christian dispensation could have nothing in common with the Jewish. Rejecting the explanation offered him by the presbyters, he broke off the interview with a threat to make a schism in their church."<ref>[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/info/marcion-wace.html Wace's article on Marcion] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>
 
:"The story proceeds to say that he asked the Roman presbyters to explain the texts, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit," and "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment," texts from which he himself deduced that works in which evil is to be found could not proceed from the good God, and that the Christian dispensation could have nothing in common with the Jewish. Rejecting the explanation offered him by the presbyters, he broke off the interview with a threat to make a schism in their church."<ref>[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/info/marcion-wace.html Wace's article on Marcion] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>
  
−
Tertullian, along with [[Epiphanius of Salamis]], also charged that Marcion set aside the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, and used the''[[Gospel of Luke]]'' alone<ref>From the perspectives of Tertullian and Epiphanius (when the four gospels had largely canonical status, perhaps in reaction to the challenge created by Marcion), it appeared that Marcion rejected the non-Lukan gospels, however, in Marcion's time, it may be that the only gospel he was familiar with from Pontus was the gospel that would later be called Luke. It is also possible that Marcion's gospel was actually modified by his critics to became the gospel we know today as Luke, rather than the story from his critics that he changed a canonical gospel to get his version. For example, compare Luke 5:39 to 5:36-38, did Marcion delete 5:39 from his Gospel or was it added later to counteract a Marcionist interpretation of 5:36-38? One must keep in mind that we only know of Marcion through his critics and they considered him a major threat to the form of Christianity that they knew. John Knox (the modern writer, not to be confused with [[John Knox]] the Protestant Reformer) in ''Marcion and the New Testament: An Essay in the Early History of the Canon'' (ISBN 0-404-16183-9) was the first to propose that Marcion's Gospel may have preceded Luke's Gospel and Acts.[http://ontruth.com/marcion.html] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>. Tertullian cited Luke 6:43-45 (a good tree does not produce bad fruit)<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_04book1_eng.htm Tertullian "Against Marcion" 1.2] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> and Luke 5:36-38 (nobody tears a piece from a new garment to patch an old garment or puts [[New Wine into Old Wineskins|new wine in old wineskins]])<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_10book4_eng.htm Tertullian "Against Marcion" 4.11.9] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>, in theorizing that Marcion set about to recover the authentic teachings of Jesus. [[Irenaeus]] claimed, "[Marcion's] salvation will be the attainment only of those souls which had learned his doctrine; while the body, as having been taken from the earth, is incapable of sharing in salvation."<ref>''Against Heresies'', [http://ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-58.htm#P6650_1591742 1.27.3] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> Tertullian also attacked this view in ''De Carne Christi''.
+
Tertullian, along with [[Epiphanius of Salamis]], also charged that Marcion set aside the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, and used the''[[Gospel of Luke]]'' alone<ref>From the perspectives of Tertullian and Epiphanius (when the four gospels had largely canonical status, perhaps in reaction to the challenge created by Marcion), it appeared that Marcion rejected the non-Lukan gospels, however, in Marcion's time, it may be that the only gospel he was familiar with from Pontus was the gospel that would later be called Luke. It is also possible that Marcion's gospel was actually modified by his critics to became the gospel we know today as Luke, rather than the story from his critics that he changed a canonical gospel to get his version. For example, compare Luke 5:39 to 5:36-38, did Marcion delete 5:39 from his Gospel or was it added later to counteract a Marcionist interpretation of 5:36-38? One must keep in mind that we only know of Marcion through his critics and they considered him a major threat to the form of Christianity that they knew. John Knox (the modern writer, not to be confused with [[John Knox]] the Protestant Reformer) in ''Marcion and the New Testament: An Essay in the Early History of the Canon'' (ISBN 0-404-16183-9) was the first to propose that Marcion's Gospel may have preceded Luke's Gospel and Acts.[http://ontruth.com/marcion.html] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>. Tertullian cited Luke 6:43-45 (a good tree does not produce bad fruit)<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_04book1_eng.htm Tertullian "Against Marcion" 1.2] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> and Luke 5:36-38 (nobody tears a piece from a new garment to patch an old garment or puts new wine in old wineskins)<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_10book4_eng.htm Tertullian "Against Marcion" 4.11.9] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref>, in theorizing that Marcion set about to recover the authentic teachings of Jesus. [[Irenaeus]] claimed, "[Marcion's] salvation will be the attainment only of those souls which had learned his doctrine; while the body, as having been taken from the earth, is incapable of sharing in salvation."<ref>''Against Heresies'', [http://ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-58.htm#P6650_1591742 1.27.3] Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> Tertullian also attacked this view in ''De Carne Christi''.
  
 
[[Hippolytus (writer)|Hippolytus]] reported that Marcion's phantasmal (and Docetist) Christ was "revealed as a man, though not a man," and did not really die on the cross.<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_02intro.htm Tertullian ''Adversus Marcionem'' ("Against Marcion")], translated and edited by Ernest Evans. Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> However, Ernest Evans, in editing this work, observes:
 
[[Hippolytus (writer)|Hippolytus]] reported that Marcion's phantasmal (and Docetist) Christ was "revealed as a man, though not a man," and did not really die on the cross.<ref>[http://www.tertullian.org/articles/evans_marc/evans_marc_02intro.htm Tertullian ''Adversus Marcionem'' ("Against Marcion")], translated and edited by Ernest Evans. Retrieved July 15, 2008.</ref> However, Ernest Evans, in editing this work, observes:

Revision as of 20:28, 15 July 2008

Marcion of Sinope (ca. 110-160) was a Christian theologian who was excommunicated by the Early Christian church at Rome as a heretic. Nevertheless, his teachings were influential during the 2nd century and a few centuries after. Marcion is sometimes referred to as one of the gnostics, but his teachings were quite different in nature. His canon included ten Pauline Epistles and one gospel called the Gospel of Marcion, a rejection of the whole Hebrew Bible, and did not include the rest of the books later incorporated into the canonical New Testament. Paul was, according to Marcion, the only apostle who had rightly understood the new message of salvation as delivered by Christ.[1]

Life

Biographical information about Marcion stems mostly from writings of his detractors. Hippolytus says he was the son of the bishop of Sinope (modern Sinop, Turkey). Rhodon and Tertullian described him as a ship owner. They further state that he was excommunicated by his father for seducing a virgin. However, Bart D. Ehrman's Lost Christianities suggest that his seduction of a virgin was a metaphor for his corruption of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church being the virgin.[2]

Marcion had travelled to Rome about 142–143.[3] In the next few years, Marcion worked out his theological system and attracted a large following. Marcion was a consecrated bishop and was probably an assistant or suffragan of his father at Sinope. When conflicts with the bishops of Rome arose, Marcion began to organize his followers into a separate community. He was excommunicated by the Church of Rome around 144 and had a large donation of 200,000 sesterces returned.

After his excommunication, he returned to Asia Minor where he continued to spread his message. He created a strong ecclesiastical organization resembling the Church of Rome, and put himself as bishop.

Teachings

Marcionism is the dualist belief system that originates in the teachings of Marcion around the year 144.[4] Marcion affirmed Jesus Christ as the saviour sent by God and Paul as his chief apostle. Marcion declared that Christianity was distinct from and in opposition to Judaism. He rejected the entire Hebrew Bible, and declared that the God of the Hebrew Bible was a lesser demiurge, who had created the earth, and whose law, the Mosaic covenant, represented bare natural justice i.e. eye for an eye.

The premise of Marcionism is that many of the teachings of Christ are incompatible with the actions of Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. Tertullian claimed Marcion was the first to separate the New Testament from the Old Testament.[5] Focusing on the Pauline traditions of the Gospel, Marcion felt that all other conceptions of the Gospel were opposed to the truth. He regarded Paul's arguments of law and gospel, wrath and grace, works and faith, flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness and death and life as the essence of religious truth. He ascribed these aspects and characteristics as two principles: the righteous and wrathful God of the Old Testament, the creator of the world, and a second God of the Gospel who is purely love and mercy and who was revealed by Jesus.[6]

His canon consisted of eleven books: his own version of the Gospel of Luke, and ten of Paul's epistles. All other epistles and gospels of the New Testament were rejected.[7]

According to Tertullian and other writers of the mainstream Church, the movement known as Marcionism began with the teachings and excommunication of Marcion from the Church of Rome around 144. Marcion was reportedly a wealthy shipowner, the son of a bishop of Sinope of Pontus, Asia Minor. He arrived in Rome circa 140, soon after Bar Kokhba's revolt. That revolution, along with other Jewish-Roman wars (the Great Jewish Revolt and the Kitos War), provides some of the historical context of the founding of Marcionism. Marcion was excommunicated from the Roman Church because he was threatening to make schisms in the church.[8]

Marcion used his personal wealth, (particularly a donation returned to him by the Church of Rome after he was excommunicated), to fund an ecclesiastical organization. Marcionism continued in the West for 300 years, although Marcionistic ideas persisted much longer.[9]

The organization continued in the East for some centuries later, particularly outside the Byzantine Empire in areas which later would be dominated by Manichaeism. This is no accident: Mani is believed to have been a Mandaean, and Mandaeanism is related to Marcionism in several ways. For example, both Mandaeanism and Marcionism are characterized by a belief in a Demiurge. The Marcionite organization itself is today extinct, although Mandaeanism is not.[10]

Marcion declared that Christianity was distinct from and in opposition to Judaism. He rejected the entire Hebrew Bible, and declared that the God of the Hebrew Bible was a lesser demiurge, who had created the earth, but was (de facto) the source of evil.

The premise of Marcionism is that many of the teachings of Christ are incompatible with the actions of Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. Tertullian claimed Marcion was the first to separate the New Testament from the Old Testament[11]. Focusing on the Pauline traditions of the Gospel, Marcion felt that all other conceptions of the Gospel, and especially any association with the Old Testament religion, was opposed to, and a backsliding from, the truth. He further regarded the arguments of Paul regarding law and gospel, wrath and grace, works and faith, flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness, death and life, as the essence of religious truth. He ascribed these aspects and characteristics as two principles, the righteous and wrathful god of the Old Testament, who is at the same time identical with the creator of the world, and a second God of the Gospel, quite unknown before Christ, who is only love and mercy.[12] Marcion is said to have gathered scriptures from Jewish tradition, and juxtaposed these against the sayings and teachings of Jesus in a work entitled the Antithesis.[13] Besides the Antithesis, the Testament of the Marcionites was also composed of a Gospel of Christ which was Marcion's version of Luke, and that the Marcionites attributed to Paul, that was different in a number of ways from the version that is now regarded as canonical.[14] It seems to have lacked all prophecies of Christ's coming, as well as the Infancy account, the baptism, and the verses were more terse in general. It also included ten of the Pauline Epistles (but not the Pastoral Epistles or the Epistle to the Hebrews, and, according to the Muratonian canon, included a Marcionite Paul's Epistle to the Alexandrians and an Epistle to the Laodiceans)[15] In bringing together these texts, Marcion redacted what is perhaps the first New Testament canon on record, which he called the Gospel and the Apostolikon, which reflects his belief the writings reflect the apostle Paul and Jesus.

Marcionites hold maltheistic views of the god of the Hebrew Bible (known to some Gnostics as Yaltabaoth), that he was inconsistent, jealous, wrathful and genocidal, and that the material world he created is defective, a place of suffering; the god who made such a world is a bungling or malicious demiurge. "In the god of the [Old Testament] he saw a being whose character was stern justice, and therefore anger, contentiousness and unmercifulness. The law which rules nature and man appeared to him to accord with the characteristics of this god and the kind of law revealed by him, and therefore it seemed credible to him that this god is the creator and lord of the world (κοσμοκράτωρ). As the law which governs the world is inflexible and yet, on the other hand, full of contradictions, just and again brutal, and as the law of the Old Testament exhibits the same features, so the god of creation was to Marcion a being who united in himself the whole gradations of attributes from justice to malevolence, from obstinacy to inconsistency."[16] In Marcionite belief, Christ is not a Jewish Messiah, but a spiritual entity that was sent by the Monad to reveal the truth about existence, and thus allowing humanity to escape the earthly trap of the demiurge. Marcion called God, the Stranger God, or the Alien God, in some translations, as this deity had not had any previous interactions with the world, and was wholly unknown.

According to a remark by Origen (Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 15.3), Marcion "prohibited allegorical interpretations of the scripture." Tertullian disputed this in his treatise against Marcion, as did Henry Wace:

"The story proceeds to say that he asked the Roman presbyters to explain the texts, "A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit," and "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment," texts from which he himself deduced that works in which evil is to be found could not proceed from the good God, and that the Christian dispensation could have nothing in common with the Jewish. Rejecting the explanation offered him by the presbyters, he broke off the interview with a threat to make a schism in their church."[17]

Tertullian, along with Epiphanius of Salamis, also charged that Marcion set aside the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, and used theGospel of Luke alone[18]. Tertullian cited Luke 6:43-45 (a good tree does not produce bad fruit)[19] and Luke 5:36-38 (nobody tears a piece from a new garment to patch an old garment or puts new wine in old wineskins)[20], in theorizing that Marcion set about to recover the authentic teachings of Jesus. Irenaeus claimed, "[Marcion's] salvation will be the attainment only of those souls which had learned his doctrine; while the body, as having been taken from the earth, is incapable of sharing in salvation."[21] Tertullian also attacked this view in De Carne Christi.

Hippolytus reported that Marcion's phantasmal (and Docetist) Christ was "revealed as a man, though not a man," and did not really die on the cross.[22] However, Ernest Evans, in editing this work, observes:

This may not have been Marcion's own belief. It was certainly that of Hermogenes (cf. Tertullian, Adversus Hermogenem) and probably other gnostics and Marcionites, who held that the intractability of this matter explains the world's many imperfections.

Because of the rejection of the Old Testament which originates in the Jewish Bible, the Marcionites are believed by some Christians to be anti-Semitic. Indeed, the word Marcionism is sometimes used in modern times to refer to anti-Jewish tendencies in Christian churches, especially when such tendencies are thought to be surviving residues of ancient Marcionism. For example, on its web site, the Tawahedo Church of Ethiopia claims to be the only Christian church that is fully free of Marcionism. On the other hand, Marcion did not claim Christians to be the New Israel of Supersessionism, and did not try to use the Hebrew scriptures to support his views. Marcion himself does not appear to be anti-Semitic, rather he rejected Jewish scriptures as irrelevant.

The Prologues to the Pauline Epistles (which are not a part of the text, but short introductory sentences as one might find in modern study Bibles [2] Retrieved July 15, 2008.), found in several older Latin codices, are now widely believed to have been written by Marcion or one of his followers. Harnack notes [3] Retrieved July 15, 2008.: "We have indeed long known that Marcionite readings found their way into the ecclesiastical text of the Pauline Epistles, but now for seven years we have known that Churches actually accepted the Marcionite prefaces to the Pauline Epistles! De Bruyne has made one of the finest discoveries of later days in proving that those prefaces, which we read first in Codex Fuldensis and then in numbers of later manuscripts, are Marcionite, and that the Churches had not noticed the cloven hoof.." Conversely, several early Latin codices contain Anti-Marcionite prologues to the Gospels.

Marcion is believed to have imposed a severe morality on his followers, some of whom suffered in the persecutions. In particular, he refused to re-admit those who recanted their faith under Roman persecution. Others of his followers, such as Apelles, created their own sects with variant teachings.

Legacy

The church that Marcion founded had expanded throughout the known world within his lifetime, and was a serious rival to the Catholic church. Its adherents were strong enough in their convictions to have the church retain its expansive power for more than a century. It survived heathen persecution, Christian controversy, and imperial disapproval for several centuries more.[23]

The Roman Polycarp called him "the first born of Satan."[24] His numerous critics also included Ephraim of Syria, Dionysius of Corinth, Theophilus of Antioch, Philip of Gortyna, Hippolytus and Rhodo in Rome, Bardesanes at Edessa, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen.

Some ideas of Marcion's reappeared with Manichaean developments among the Bulgarian Bogomils of the 10th century and their Cathar heirs of southern France in the 13th century.

Notes

  1. ↑ The 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article on Marcion Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  2. ↑ Bart D. Ehrman, Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. (Oxford University Press, 2005).
  3. ↑ Tertullian dates the beginning of Marcion's teachings 115 years after the Crucifixion, which he placed in 26–27 C.E. (Adversus Marcionem, xix).
  4. ↑ 115 years and 6 months from the Crucifixion, according to Tertullian's reckoning in Adversus Marcionem, xv
  5. ↑ Everett Ferguson, in McDonald and Sanders, editors, The Canon Debate, 2002, chapter 18, p. 310, quoting Tertullian's De praescriptione haereticorum 30: "Since Marcion separated the New Testament from the Old, he is necessarily subsequent to that which he separated, inasmuch as it was only in his power to separate what was previously united. Having been united previous to its separation, the fact of its subsequent separation proves the subsequence also of the man who effected the separation."
  6. ↑ Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. 1, ch. 5, p. 269 Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  7. ↑ Eusebius' Church History Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  8. ↑ Mead 1931, pp.241-249 Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  9. ↑ Berdyaev Online Library Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  10. ↑ Mandaean Official Site Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  11. ↑ McDonald & Sanders, editors, The Canon Debate, 2002, chapter 18 by Everett Ferguson, page 310, quoting Tertullian's De praescriptione haereticorum 30: "Since Marcion separated the New Testament from the Old, he is necessarily subsequent to that which he separated, inasmuch as it was only in his power to separate what was previously united. Having been united previous to its separation, the fact of its subsequent separation proves the subsequence also of the man who effected the separation." Page 308, note 61 adds: "[Wolfram] Kinzig suggests that it was Marcion who usually called his Bible testamentum [Latin for testament]."
  12. ↑ Adolf von Harnack, History of Dogma, vol. 1, ch. 5, p. 269 Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  13. ↑ Gnostic Society Library presentation of Marcion's Antithesis. Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  14. ↑ Center for Marcionite Research presentation of The Gospel of Marcion. Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  15. ↑ Mead 1931.
  16. ↑ Harnack, idem., p.271 Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  17. ↑ Wace's article on Marcion Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  18. ↑ From the perspectives of Tertullian and Epiphanius (when the four gospels had largely canonical status, perhaps in reaction to the challenge created by Marcion), it appeared that Marcion rejected the non-Lukan gospels, however, in Marcion's time, it may be that the only gospel he was familiar with from Pontus was the gospel that would later be called Luke. It is also possible that Marcion's gospel was actually modified by his critics to became the gospel we know today as Luke, rather than the story from his critics that he changed a canonical gospel to get his version. For example, compare Luke 5:39 to 5:36-38, did Marcion delete 5:39 from his Gospel or was it added later to counteract a Marcionist interpretation of 5:36-38? One must keep in mind that we only know of Marcion through his critics and they considered him a major threat to the form of Christianity that they knew. John Knox (the modern writer, not to be confused with John Knox the Protestant Reformer) in Marcion and the New Testament: An Essay in the Early History of the Canon (ISBN 0-404-16183-9) was the first to propose that Marcion's Gospel may have preceded Luke's Gospel and Acts.[1] Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  19. ↑ Tertullian "Against Marcion" 1.2 Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  20. ↑ Tertullian "Against Marcion" 4.11.9 Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  21. ↑ Against Heresies, 1.27.3 Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  22. ↑ Tertullian Adversus Marcionem ("Against Marcion"), translated and edited by Ernest Evans. Retrieved July 15, 2008.
  23. ↑ Evans 1972 p. ix
  24. ↑ And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, “Dost thou know me?” “I do know thee, the first-born of Satan.” (Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., III.3.4.) Retrieved July 14, 2008.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Blackman, E.C. Marcion and His Influence. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2004. ISBN 1-59244-731-7
  • Clabeaux, John James. The Lost Edition of the Letters of Paul: A Reassessment of the Text of Pauline Corpus Attested by Marcion. Catholic Biblical Assn of Amer, 1989. ISBN 0-915170-20-5
  • Ehrman, Bart D. Lost Christianities: The Battles for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew. (Oxford University Press, 2005). ISBN 978-0195182491
  • Ferguson, Everett in McDonald and Sanders (eds), The Canon Debate, Hendrickson Publishers, 2002. ISBN 978-1565635173
  • Harnack, Adolf von. Marcion: The Gospel of the Alien God. Labyrinth Press, 1990. ISBN 0-939464-16-0
  • Hoffmann, R. Joseph. Marcion, on the Restitution of Christianity: An Essay on the Development of Radical Paulist Theology in the Second Century 1984 ISBN 0-89130-638-2
  • Williams, David Salter. "Reconsidering Marcion's Gospel," Journal of Biblical Literature 108 (1989), p.477-96

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