Tertullian: Against Marcion, Books I–V

Arbuscularum.

Luke xxi. 33 .

Nescio an.

Isa. xl. 8 .

Luke xxi. 34, 35 . [Here follows a rich selection of parallels to Luke xxi. 34–38 .]

Comp. Deut. viii. 12–14 .

Luke xxi. 37 .

Hosea xii. 4 . One reading of the LXX. is, ἐν τῳ οἴκῳ μου εὕρεσάν με .

Zech. xiv. 4 .

Luke xxi. 38 .

Isa. l. 4 .

Literally, “the prophecies.”

Luke xxii. i .

Sacramentum.

Lev. xxiii. 5 .

Luke xxii. 15 .

Vervecina Judaica. In this rough sarcasm we have of course our author’s contempt of Marcionism.

Isa. liii. 7 .

Levabit: literally, “shall lift up,” etc.

Ps. xli. 9 .

Amos ii. 6 .

Exitum.

Revocati.

This passage more nearly resembles Zech. xi. 12 and 13 than anything in Jeremiah, although the transaction in Jer. xxxii. 7–15 is noted by the commentators, as referred to. Tertullian had good reason for mentioning Jeremiah and not Zechariah, because the apostle whom he refers to ( Matt. xxvii. 3–10 ) had distinctly attributed the prophecy to Jeremiah (“Jeremy the prophet,” ver. 9 ). This is not the place to do more than merely refer to the voluminous controversy which has arisen from the apostle’s mention of Jeremiah instead of Zechariah. It is enough to remark that Tertullian’s argument is unaffected by the discrepancy in the name of the particular prophet. On all hands the prophecy is admitted, and this at once satisfies our author’s argument. For the ms. evidence in favour of the unquestionably correct reading, τότε ἐπληρώθη τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ ῾Ιερεμίου τοῦ προφήτου, κ.τ.λ ., the reader is referred to Dr. Tregelles’ Critical Greek Testament, in loc. ; only to the convincing amount of evidence collected by the very learned editor must now be added the subsequently obtained authority of Tischendorf’s Codex Sinaiticus .

Appretiati vel honorati. There is nothing in the original or the Septuagint to meet the second word honorati , which may refer to the “ honorarium ,” or “fee paid on admission to a post of honour,”—a term of Roman law, and referred to by Tertullian himself.

Luke xxii. 19 . [See Jewell’s Challenge, p. 266, supra .]

Corpus veritatis: meant as a thrust against Marcion’s Docetism .

Ad vanitatem Marcionis. [Note 9, p. 289.]

Peponem. In his De Anima , c. xxxii., he uses this word in strong irony: “Cur non magis et pepo , tam insulsus.”

[This text, imperfectly quoted in the original, is filled out by Dr. Holmes.]

So the Septuagint in Jer. xi. 19 , Ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ (A.V. “Let us destroy the tree with the fruit”). See above, book iii. chap. xix. p. 337.

Illuminator antiquitatum. This general phrase includes typical ordinances under the law, as well as the sayings of the prophets.

Luke xxii. 20 .

Isa. lxiii. 1 (Sept. slightly altered).

In Juda.

Gen. xlix. 11 .

Luke xxii. 22 .

Ipse.

This is an argumentum ad hominem against Marcion for his cavil, which was considered above in book ii. chap. v.–viii. p. 300.

Obstitit peccaturo.

Si ignorabat. One would have expected “si non ignorabat,” like the “si sciebat” of the next step in the argument.

The original of this not very clear sentence is: “Nam et Petrum præsumptorie aliquid elocutum negationi potius destinando zeloten deum tibi ostendit.”

Luke xxii. 34 and 54–62 .

Luke xxii. 47–49 .

Isa. xxix. 13 .

Luke xxii. 66, 67 .

Oehler’s admirable edition is also carefully printed for the most part, but surely his quæsisset must here be quæsissent .

Luke xxii. 67 .

Supersedit ostendere.

i.e., not to answer that question of theirs. This seems to be the force of the perfect tense, “ occultasse se .”

He makes Jesus stretch forth His hand, porrigens manum inquit.

Luke xxii. 69 .

Dan. vii. 13 .

Ps. cx. 1 .

Luke xxii. 70 .

Luke xxii. 70 .

Or does he suppose that they repeated this same question twice ? His words are, “dum rursus interrogant.”

Either, “Art thou,” or, “Thou art, then, the Son of God.”

Oblique.

Ut, quia…sic senserunt.

Aperte.

Æque ita et ille confirmative respondit.

Ut perseveraverint in eo quod pronuntiatio sapiebat.…See Luke xxii. 71 .

Onerare cœperunt.

“King Messiah;” λέγοντα ἑαυτὸν Χριστὸν βασιλέα εἶναι , Luke xxiii. 1, 2 .

Gravassent.

Proinde.

Luke xxiii. 3 .

Constitutus est in judicio. The Septuagint is καταστήσεται εἰς κρίσιν , “shall stand on His trial.”

Isa. iii. 13, 14 (Septuagint).

Ps. ii. 1, 2 .

Velut munus. This is a definition, in fact, of the xenium in the verse from Hosea. This ξένιον was the Roman lautia , “a state entertainment to distinguished foreigners in the city.”

Luke xxiii. 7 .

Hos. x. 6 (Sept. ξένια τῷ βασιλεῖ ).

Luke xxiii. 8, 9 .

Isa. liii. 7 .

Isa. l. 4 (Sept.).

Ps. xxii. 15 .

Luke xxiii. 25 .

Comp. Luke xxiii. 33 with Isa. liii. 12 .

This remarkable suppression was made to escape the wonderful minuteness of the prophetic evidence to the details of Christ’s death.

Ps. xxii. 18 .

Ps. xxii. 16 .

Ps. xxii. 16, 7, 8 .

We append the original of these obscure sentences: “Quo jam testimonium vestimentorum? Habe falsi tui prædam; totus psalmus vestimenta sunt Christi.” The general sense is apparent. If Marcion does suppress the details about Christ’s garments at the cross, to escape the inconvenient proof they afford that Christ is the object of prophecies, yet there are so many other points of agreement between this wonderful Psalm and St. Luke’s history of the crucifixion (not expunged, as it would seem, by the heretic), that they quite compensate for the loss of this passage about the garments (Oehler).

Comp. Josh. x. 13 .

Argumenta.

Isa. l. 3 .

Amos viii. 9 .

Here you have the meaning of the sixth hour.

Luke xxiii. 45 .

Ezek. xi. 22, 23 .

Isa. i. 8 .

Comp. Luke xxiii. 46 with Ps. xxxi. 5 .

Luke xxiii. 46 .

Spiritus: or “breath.”

Expirasse: considered actively , “breathed out,” in reference to the “ expiravit ” of the verse 46 above.

A sharp rebuke of Marcion’s Docetism here follows.

Autem.

Autem.

Nusquam comparuit phantasma cum spiritu.

Post expirationem.

See these stages in Luke xxiii. 47–55 .

Non nihil: “a something.”

This argument is also used by Epiphanius to prove the reality of Christ’s body, Hæres. xl. Confut . 74. The same writer also employs for the same purpose the incident of the women returning from the sepulchre , which Tertullian is going to adduce in his next chapter, Confut. 75 (Oehler).

Luke xxiii. 51 .

Ps. i. 1 .

The first word of the passage just applied to Joseph.

Luke xxiv. 1 .

Hos. v. 15 and vi. 1, 2 .

Volutata.

Luke xxiv. 3 .

Isa. lvii. 2 , according to the Septuagint, ἡ ταφὴ αὐτοῦ ἠρται ἐκ τοῦ μέσου .

Luke xxiv. 4 .

Tot fere laterensibus.

Deut. xvii. 6, xix. 15, compared with Matt. xviii. 16 and 2 Cor. xiii. 1 .

Isa. xxvii. 11 , according to the Septuagint, γυναῖκες ἐρχόμεναι ἀπὸ θέας, δεῦτε .

Luke xxiv. 13–19 .

Luke xxiv. 21 .

Plane.

Luke xxiv. 25 .

Luke xxiv. 6, 7 .

Videte. The original is much stronger ψηλαφήσατέ με καὶ ἴδετε , “ handle me , and see.” Two sentences thrown into one.

Luke xxiv. 37–39 .

Luke xxiv. 39 .

Luke xxiv. 41 .

An additional proof that He was no phantom.

Ut opinor.

Sententiis.

Prophetarum.

Luke xxiv. 47 and Matt. xxviii. 19 .

Ps. xix. 4 .

Opp. Tom. vi. p. 228. Ed. Migne.

Calmet. Opp. i. 483 and Tom. x., p. 525.

Cum cognoveris unde sit.

Materiam.

We have already more than once referred to Marcion’s preference for St. Paul . “The reason of the preference thus given to that apostle was his constant and strenuous opposition to the Judaizing Christians, who wished to reimpose the yoke of the Jewish ceremonies on the necks of their brethren. This opposition the Marcionites wished to construe into a direct denial of the authority of the Mosaic law. They contended also from St. Paul’s assertion, that he received his appointment to the apostolic office not from man, but from Christ, that he alone delivered the genuine doctrines of the gospel. This deference for St. Paul accounts also for Marcion’s accepting St. Luke’s Gospel as the only authentic one, as we saw in the last book of this treatise; it was because that evangelist had been the companion of St. Paul” (Bp. Kaye, On the Writings of Tertullian , 3d edition, pp. 474–475).

Novus aliqui discipulus.

Interim.

Temere.

Agnitione.

Ad sollicitudinem.

In albo.

Ex incursu: in allusion to St. Paul’s sudden conversion, Acts ix. 3–8 . [On St. Paul’s Epistles, see p. 324, supra. ]