S.C.Carlson

It does some. Thanks.

Stephen

S.C.Carlson

I was aware of this, but it wasn't in mind when I selected the example.

Stephen

Ben C Smith

This may be correct, but does not necessarily follow from Tertullian thrice attributing Matthean passages to Luke. It is equally possible that the heresiologists had Marcion open before them but were (occasionally mis)remembering Luke. Based on my understanding of how ancient historians treated their sources, this is close to what I would expect at any rate.

Ben.

jakejonesiv

The Evangelion attributed to Marcion by the Heresiologists was not identical to the one originally produced by him.
Note how easily Tertullian thought to refute Marcion his own alleged text, i.e. “I would have encountered singly the several devices of the Pontic heretic, if it were not much more convenient to refute them in and with that very gospel to which they contribute their support.” AM 4.1.

A single example, that Marcion would have distributed a gospel with the blind man’s salutation "Son of David" (Luke 18:38-39 cf AM 4.36), when such a statement contradicts almost every Marcionite doctrine, is ludicrous in the extreme.

So no, Tertullian did not have the Evangelion as originally come from Marcion; at best he had a version that was already somewhat catholicized, intermediate between the Evangelion and canonical Luke.

Jake Jones IV

jakejonesiv

The Evangelion attributed to Marcion by the Heresiologists was not identical to the one originally produced by him.


This makes it difffcult to know with assurance the answer to questions about "What did Marcion believe?" One cannot with confidence assume that the gospel attributed by Tertullian to Marcion was an accurate protrayal of Marcionite scripture or beliefs.

In "Refutation of the Sects" (441-449 CE), Book IV, Eznik of Kolb, the fifth century Armenian philosopher describes a forgotten myth, which is said to be the original myth of Marcionism. Despite the relatively late date of the Eznik's writing, we may have something close to the
foundation myth of Marcionite Christianity.

The Demiurge, when confronted with the glorious Jesus whom he had crucified believing to be a man and not a god, begs that in compensation for the crime of his ignorance, that Jesus take to heaven all those who
would believe in him. This occurs in a seemingly mythical context and is preached to men when Jesus reveals it to Paul.

http://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/...znik/eznik.htm

http://perso.orange.fr/cercle.ernest...rcionmythe.htm

There were three Heavens; in the highest was the Good God; in the intermediate the God of the Law; in the lowest, his Angels. Beneath lay Hyle or root-matter. The world was the joint product of the God of the Law and Hyle. The Creative Power perceiving that the world was very good, desired to make man to inhabit it. So Hyle gave him his body and the Creative Power the breath of life, his spirit. And Adam and Eve lived in innocence in Paradise, and did not beget children. And the' God of the Law desired to take Adam from Hyle and make him serve him alone. So taking him aside, he said: "Adam, I am God and beside me there is no other; if thou worshippest any other God thou shalt die the death." And Adam on hearing of death was afraid, and withdrew himself from Hyle. Now Hyle had been wont to serve Adam; but when she found that he withdrew from her, in revenge she filled the world with idolatry, so that men ceased to adore the Lord of Creation. Then was the Creator wrath, and as men died he cast them into Hell (Hades-the Unseen World), from Adam onwards.

But at length the Good God looked down from Heaven, and saw the miseries which man suffered through Hyle and the Creator. And He took compassion on them, and sent them down His Son to deliver them, saying: "Go down, take on Thee the form of a servant [? a body], and make Thyself like the sons of the Law. Heal their wounds, give sight to their blind, bring their dead to life, perform without reward the greatest miracles of healing; then will the God of the Law be jealous and instigate his servants to crucify thee. Then go down to Hell, which will open her mouth to receive Thee, supposing Thee to be one of the dead. Then liberate the captives Thou shalt find there, and bring them up to Me."

And thus the souls were freed from Hell and carried up to the Father. Whereupon the God of the Law was enraged, and rent his clothes and tore the curtain of his palace, and darkened the sun and veiled the world in darkness. Then the Christ descended a second time, but now in the glory of His divinity, to plead with the God of the Law. And the God of the Law was compelled to acknowledge that he had done wrong in thinking that there was no higher power than himself. And the Christ said unto him: "I have a controversy with thee, but I will take no other judge between us but thy own law. Is it not written in thy law that whoso killeth another shall himself be killed; that whoso sheddeth innocent blood shall have his own blood shed? Let me, then, kill thee and shed thy blood, for I am innocent and thou hast shed My blood."

And then He went on to recount the benefits He had bestowed on the children of the Creator, and how He had in return been crucified; and the God of the Law could find no defense, and confessed and said: "I was ignorant; I thought Thee but a man, and did not know Thee to be a god; take the revenge that is Thy due." And the Christ thereupon left him, and betook himself to Paul, and revealed the path of truth.
Marcion, by Mead

Jake