Tertullian: Against Marcion, Books I–V

Marcion is frequently called “ Ponticus Nauclerus ,” probably less on account of his own connection with a seafaring life, than that of his countrymen, who were great sailors. Comp. book. i. 18. ( sub fin .) and book iii. 6. [pp. 284, 325.]

In acatos tuas.

Quo symbolo.

Quis illum tituli charactere percusserit.

Quis transmiserit tibi.

Quis imposuerit.

Constanter.

Ne illius probetur, i.e., to the Catholic , for Marcion did not admit all St. Paul’s epistles (Semler).

Omnia apostolatus ejus instrumenta.

Gal. i. 1 .

Subscribit.

Actis refert.

Luke xxi. 8 .

Conversor.

Jam hinc.

Gen. xlix. 27 , Septuagint, the latter clause being καὶ εἰς τὸ ἑσπέρας δίδωσι τροφήν .

Satisfactio.

Non aliud portendebat quam.

Secundum Virginis censum.

Figurarum sacramenta.

Although St. Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles, Marcion does not seem to have admitted this book into his New Testament. “It is clearly excluded from his catalogue, as given by Epiphanius. The same thing appears from the more ancient authority of Tertullian, who begins his Book v. against Marcion with showing the absurdity of his conduct in rejecting the history and acts of the apostles, and yet receiving St. Paul as the chief of the apostles, whose name is never mentioned in the Gospel with the other apostles, especially since the account given by Paul himself in Gal. i.–ii . confirms the account which we have in the Acts. But the reason why he rejected this book is (as Tertullian says) very evident, since from it we can plainly show that the God of the Christians and the God of the Jews, or the Creator, was the same being and that Christ was sent by Him, and by no other” (Lardner’s Works, Hist. of Heretics , chap. x. sec. 41).

Gal. i. 1 .

Inde te a defensione ejus expello.

An insinuation that Marcion’s defence of Paul was, in fact, a calumny of the apostle.

Præstruant eam.

Qualis es.

Habe nunc de meo.

In ipso gradu præscriptionis.

Oportere docere…sapere…velle.

Edicere.

Ne non haberetur.

Nullum alium deum circumlatum.

Præjudicasse debebit.

Marcion only received ten of St. Paul’s epistles, and these altered by himself.

Principalem.

See above, in book i. chap. xx., also in book iv. chap. i.

Comp. Isa. xliii. 18, 19, and lxv. 17, with 2 Cor. v. 17 .

Luke xvi. 16 .

Apud quem.

Porro.

Immo quia.

Disciplina.

Ultro.

Discessionem.

Ut adhuc suggeremus.

Gal. i. 6, 7 .

Deberet.

Moverat illos a.

Gal. i. 7 .

Isa. xl. 9 (Septuagint).

Isa. lii. 7 .

We have here an instance of the high authority of the Septuagint version. It comes from the Seventy: Καὶ ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνοματι αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσιν ( Isa. xlii. 4 .) From this Tertullian, as usual, quoted it. But what is much more important, St. Matthew has adopted it; see chap. xii, ver. 21 . This beautiful promise of the Creator does not occur in its well-known form in the Hebrew original.

Isa. xlii. 6 .

Apud: “administered by.”

Gal. i. 7 .

Cum sit.

Gal. i. 8 .

Gal. i. 8 .

Referret.

A similar remark occurs in Præscript. Hæretic. c. xxiii. p. 253.

Ipsa materia.

See Gal. i. 11–24, compared with Acts xv. 5–29 .

“The Acts of the Apostles” is always a plural phrase in Tertullian.

Ut non secutus sit.

Formam.

Dedocendæ legis; i.e., of Moses.

Ad patrocinium.

Scribit often takes the place of inquit ; naturally enough as referring to the epistles.

Gal. ii. 1, 2 .

Formam.

Si quando.

Gal. ii. 3 .

Ex defensione.

Gal. ii. 4 .

Interpolatione Scripturæ.

Qua effingerent.

Gal. ii. 4, 5 .

Ipsi.

Gal. ii. 3, 4 .

Incipit reddere rationem.

Contrarii utique facti. [Farrar, St. Paul , pp. 232 and 261.]

Denique.

See Conybeare and Howson, in loc.

Fuerunt propter quos crederetur.

The following statement will throw light upon the character of the two classes of Jewish professors of Christianity referred to by Tertullian: “A pharisaic section was sheltered in its bosom (of the church at Jerusalem), which continually strove to turn Christianity into a sect of Judaism. These men were restless agitators, animated by the bitterest sectarian spirit; and although they were numerically a small party, yet we know the power of the turbulent minority. But besides these Judaizing zealots, there was a large proportion of the Christians at Jerusalem, whose Christianity, though more sincere than that of those just mentioned, was yet very weak and imperfect…Many of them still only knew of a Christ after the flesh—a Saviour of Israel—a Jewish Messiah. Their minds were in a state of transition between the law and the gospel; and it was of great consequence not to shock their prejudices too rudely; lest they should be tempted to make shipwreck of their faith and renounce their Christianity altogether.” These were they whose prejudices required to be wisely consulted in things which did not touch the foundation of the gospel. (Conybeare and Howson’s St. Paul , People’s Edition, vol. ii. pp. 259, 260.)

Gal. ii. 2 .

Ex censu eorum: see Gal. ii. 9, 10 .

Acts xvi. 3 .

Acts xxi. 23–26 .

1 Cor. ix. 20, 22 .

Gal. ii. 9 .

Gal. ii. 10 .

See above, book iv. chap. xiv. p. 365.

Victus: see Gal. ii. 12; or, living , see ver. 14 .

Gal. ii. 12 .

Gal. ii. 16 .

Gal. ii. 18 (see Conybeare and Howson).

Rivi: the wadys of the East.

Luke iii. 4, 5 .

Ps. ii. 3 .

Ps. ii. 1, 2 .

Gal. ii. 16 and iii. 11 .

Hab. ii. 4 .

Apud.

Deut. xi. 26 .

Gal. iii. 13 .

The LXX. version of Deut. xxi. 23 is quoted by St. Paul in Gal. iii. 13 .

Apud te.

According to the promise of a prophet of the Creator. See Hab. ii. 4 .

Gal. iii. 26 .

Gal. iii. 7, 9, 29 .

Gal. iii. 6 .

Magis proinde: as sharing in the faith he had, “being yet uncircumcised.” See Rom. iv. 11 .

Patris fidei.

In integritate carnis.

Denique.

Formam: “plan” or “arrangement.”

Alterius dei…dei alterius.

Revincatur.

Ipso sensu.

This apparent quotation is in fact a patching together of two sentences from Gal. iii. 15 and iv. 3 (Fr. Junius). “If I may be allowed to guess from the manner in which Tertullian expresseth himself, I should imagine that Marcion erased the whole of chap. iii. after the word λέγω in ver. 15, and the beginning of chap. iv., until you come to the word ὅτε in ver. 3 . Then the words will be connected thus: ‘Brethren, I speak after the manner of men…when we were children we were in bondage under the elements of the world; but when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son.’ This is precisely what the argument of Tertullian requires, and they are the very words which he connects together” (Lardner, Hist. of Heretics , x. 43). Dr. Lardner, touching Marcion’s omissions in this chap. iii. of the Epistle to the Galatians, says: “He omitted vers. 6, 7, 8 , in order to get rid of the mention of Abraham, and of the gospel having been preached to him.” This he said after St. Jerome, and then adds: “He ought also to have omitted part of ver. 9 , σὺν τῷ πιστῷ ᾽Αβραάμ , which seems to have been the case, according to T.’s manner of stating the argument against him” (Works, History of Heretics , x. 43).

Exemplum.

Suspicit.

Gal. iii. 15 . This, of course, is consistent in St. Paul’s argument. Marcion, however, by erasing all the intervening verses, and affixing the phrase “ after the manner of men ” to the plain assertion of Gal. iv. 3 , reduces the whole statement to an absurdity.

Gal. iii. 16 .

Erubescat.

So, instead of pursuing the contents of chap. iii ., he proceeds to such of chap. iv . as Marcion reserved.

Gal. iv. 4 .

In extremitatem temporum.

Isa. ii. 2 (Sept).

Joel iii. 28 , as quoted by St. Peter, Acts ii. 17 .

Ipsius.

Gal. iv. 5 .

Isa. xl. 4 .

Isa. ii. 3 .

Gal. iv. 5 .

Isa. xlii. 4, 6 .

Gal. iv. 6 .

Joel iii. 28 , as given in Acts ii. 17 .

Gal. iv. 9 .

Gal. iv. 8 .

Nec sic taxans.

Gal. iv. 10 .

Cœnas puras: probably the παρασκευαί mentioned in John xix. 31 .

See also John xix. 31 .

Isa. i. 13, 14 .

Amos v. 21 .

Hos. ii. 11 .

In other words, Marcion has indeed tampered with the passage, omitting some things; but (strange to say) he has left untouched the statement which, from his point of view, most required suppression.