Tertullian: Against Marcion, Books I–V

Operatur, a not unfrequent use of the word. Thus Prudentius ( Psychom . 572) opposes operatio to avaritia .

Matt. v. 48 .

Traducetur.

Nec jam.

Immo.

Minor numero.

Non fiunt salvi. [Kaye, p. 347.]

Pauciores.

Partiaria exitii.

Non facit salvos.

Si forte (i.e., εἰ τύχοι εἴπερ ἄρα , with a touch of irony,— a frequent phrase in Tertullian.

Anima tenus. Comp. De Præscr. Hær . 33, where Marcion, as well as Apelles, Valentinus, and others, are charged with the Sadducean denial of the resurrection of the flesh, which is censured by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xv. 12 .

Compare De Præscr. Hær . 33, where Marcion and Apelles are brought under St. Paul’s reproach in 1 Tim. iv. 3 .

Hactenus. [Kaye, p. 260.]

Animalis (from anima , the vital principle, “the breath of life”) is here opposed to corporalis.

הָאָרָם , homo , from הָאֲרַמָה , humus , the ground; see the Hebrew of Gen. ii. 7 .

Febricitas.

Offensum, probably in respect of the Marcionite treatment of His attributes.

Ingenitam. In chap. xxii. this word seems to be synonymous with naturalem . Comp. book ii. 3, where it has this sense in the phrase “Deo ingenita.”

Improbam.

Appendicibus.

Affectavit.

Ruminans.

Judiciarias vires.

De ceteris motibus.

Nec necessario.

Retro.

Concussibilis.

Concupiscentiæ.

(i.e., Marcion’s god.)

Porro.

Æmulatione.

Denique.

Scilicet.

Officiales suæ.

Suis dotibus.

Administratur.

Præscribatur.

Defendemus.

Ut non defensurus. Defendo = vindico. See Oehler’s note for other instances.

Secundum.

Pronunciavit.

Obsequium subsignare.

Legitimus.

Propter disciplinam.

Plagiarii. The Plagiarius is the ἀνδραποδιστής or the ψυχαγωγός of Alex. Greek. This “man-stealing” profession was often accompanied with agreeable external accomplishments. Nempe ψυχαγωγοί , quia blandis et mellitis verbis servos alienos sollicitant, et ad se alliciunt. Clemens Alex. Strom . i. λύκοι ἅρπαγες προβάτων κωδίοις ἐγκεκρυμμένοι, ἀνδραποδιστοί τε καὶ ψυχαγωγοὶ εὐγλῶσσοι, κλέπτοντες μὲν ἀφανῶς, κ.τ.λ .—Desid. Herald. Animad. ad Arnobium , p. 101.

Comp. Apology , 38.

Absit, inquis, absit. [i.e., the throwing of a grain of incense into the censer, before the Emperor’s image or that of a heathen god.]

Sulphuratiorem gehennam.

Ita neminem.

Suffectura. A something whereon the Spirit may operate; so that the Spirit has a præfectura over the anima. [Kaye, p. 179.]

Resignatum. Tertullian here yields to his love of antithesis, and makes almost nonsense of signo and resigno . The latter verb has the meaning violate (in opposition to signo , in the phrase virgo signata , a pure unviolated virgin).

Apud se.

Apud se.

Exsortem salutis.

Free from all matrimonial impurity.

Spadonibus. This word is more general in sense than eunuch , embracing such as are impotent both by nature and by castration, White and Riddle’s Lat. Dict. s.v.

Tertullian’s Montanism appears here.

i.e., abstinence from marriage.

Sectando. [This, indeed, seems to be a fair statement of Patristic doctrine concerning marriage. As to our author’s variations see Kaye, p. 378.]

Universum conditionis.

Causa in its proper sense is, “that through which anything takes place;” its just and normal state, therefore. Culpa is the derangement of the cause; some flaw in it.

Gen. i. 28 .

Ex. xx. 14, 17 .

Lev. xx. 10, 13, 15 .

Ratio.

In fide. Tertullian uses ( De Pud . 18) “ante fidem” as synonymous with ante baptismum ; similarly “post fidem.”

[Bad as this is, does it argue the lapse of our author as at this time complete?]

1 Cor. vii. 29 .

2 Cor. xii. 9 .

This is the force of the erit instead of the past tense.

Isses in, i.e., obstitisses, check or resist , for then Marcion would, of course, not have been born: the common text has esses in .

Tertullian has discussed these “definitions” in chap. ii. vii., and the “conditions” from chap. viii. onward. He will “examine the Scripture” passages in books iv. and v. Fr. Junius.

Statuum.

[Contains no marks of Montanism of a decisive nature. Kaye, p. 54.]

Digne.

From the dignity of the supreme Godhead.

Snbruere.

Propria paratura.

With the tanto (answering to the previous quanto ) should be understood magis , a frequent omission in our author.

Cura in.

Inciderat.

Fluitantibus oculis.

Quem videat non videt.

Temperat.

Cæcutis.

Quin potius parcis.

In periculum extenderis.

Ut sciens.

Ut nesciens.

Quasi sciens.

Retractares.

Omnifariam.

Comp. Isa. xl. 13, 14, with Rom. xi. 34 .

Rom. xi. 33 .

Sic non debuit Deus. This perhaps may mean, God ought not to have done this, etc.

1 Cor. ii. 11 .

1 Cor. i. 21 .

Consultiores.

1 Cor. i. 25 .

Pusillus.

1 Cor. ii. 14 .

Luke viii. 18; comp. Matt. xiii. 12 .

That is, the natural man, the ψυχικός .

Animali = ψυχικῷ .

Electionem. By this word our author translates the Greek αἵρεσις . Comp. De Præscr. Her . 6, p. 245, supra .

Si forte.

That is, “the goodness” of God.

Agnitionis, their Gnostic scheme.

Denique. This particle refers back to the argument previous to its interruption by the allusion to Marcion and his followers.

Fructus, the enjoyment of God’s works.

Apparebat. [Was not manifest.]

Commisit in.

Obventiciæ bonitatis.

Provocaticiæ animationis.

Gen. i. 14 .

Immensa.

Interminabili.

Deo ingenita “Natural to,” or “inherent in.”

Perpetua. [Truly, a sublime Theodicy.]

Suffundens jam hinc.

Præconio suo.

Postmodum…postmodum.

See Bp. Bull on The State of Man before the Fall, Works , ii. 73–81.

Habitaculum majus.

“Eructavit cor. meum Sermonem optimum” is Tertullian’s reading of Ps. xlv. 1 , “My heart is inditing a good matter,” A.V., which the Vulgate, Ps. xliv. 1 , renders by “Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum,” and the Septuagint by ᾽Εξηρεύξατο ἡ καρδία μου λόγον ἀγαθόν . This is a tolerably literal rendering of the original words, רָהַשׂ לִֹגִּי רָכָר טוֹב . In these words the Fathers used to descry an adumbration of the mystery of the Son’s eternal generation from the Father, and His coming forth in time to create the world. See Bellarmine, On the Psalms (Paris ed. 1861), vol. i. 292. The Psalm is no doubt eminently Messianic, as both Jewish and Christian writers have ever held. See Perowne, The Psalms , vol. i. p. 216. Bishop Bull reviews at length the theological opinions of Tertullian, and shows that he held the eternity of the Son of God, whom he calls “Sermo” or “Verbum Dei.” See Defensio Fidei Nicænæ (translation in the “Oxford Library of the Fathers,” by the translator of this work) vol. ii. 509–545. In the same volume, p. 482, the passage from the Psalm before us is similarly applied by Novatian: “Sic Dei Verbum processit, de quo dictum est, Eructavit cor meum Verbum bonum .” [See vol. ii. p. 98, this series: and Kaye, p. 515.]

Gen. i .

Dispungens, i.e., examinans et probans et ita quasi consummans (Oehler).

This twofold virtue is very tersely expressed: “Sic et benedicebat quæ benefaciebat .”

This, the translator fears, is only a clumsy way of representing the terseness of our author’s “maledicere” and “malefacere.”

Bonitas et quidem operantior.

Blandiente.

Gen. i. 26 .

Præfecit.

Delicias.

Totius orbis possidens.

There is a profound thought here; in his tract, De Pœnit . 10, he says, “Where one or two are, is the church, and the church is Christ.” Hence what he here calls Adam’s “higher delights,” even spiritual blessings in Christ with Eve. [Important note in Kaye, p. 304.]

See Gen. ii. 18 .

Sexum Mariæ. For the Virgin Mary gave birth to Christ, the Saviour of men; and the virgin mother the Church, the spouse of Christ, gives birth to Christians (Rigalt.).

Arguis.

Ex fastidio liberis.

Gen. ii. 17 .

Porro si.

Rev. xxii. 15 .

Articulo.

John x. 25 .

He refers to Hermogenes; see Adv. Hermog . chap. xxxii.

Vel…vel.

Quanquam.

As the Marcionites alleged.

Signatus est.

Animæ.

Nec alias nisi.

Ratio, or, “His reason.” We have used both words, which are equally suitable to the Divine Being, as seemed most convenient.

Irrationaliter, or, “irrationally.”