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Tertullian: Against Marcion, Books I–V
ANF historical edition · Edition commentary
Book V. Wherein Tertullian proves, with respect to St. Paul's epistles, what he had proved in the preceding book with respect to St. Luke's gospel. Far from being at variance, they were in perfect unison with the writings of the Old Testament, and therefore testified that the Creator was the only God, and that the Lord Jesus was his Christ. As in the preceding books, Tertullian supports his argument with profound reasoning, and many happy illustrations of Holy Scripture. — Translator and historical edition notes (part 8)
Nostri, i.e., Christians. [Not Montanist , but Catholic.]
Luke xii. 31 .
Gen. xxvii. 39 .
Judæorum enim dispositio in Esau priorum natu et posteriorum affectu filiorum. This is the original of a difficult passage, in which Tertullian, who has taken Jacob as a type of the later, the Christian church, seems to make Esau the symbol of the former, the Jewish church, which, although prior in time, was later in allegiance to the full truth of God.
Temere, si forte, interpretabimur.
Gen. xxviii. 12–17 .
Apud.
Amos ix. 6 .
Isa. xlix. 18 .
Isa. lx. 8 .
In allusion to the dove as the symbol of the Spirit, see Matt. iii. 16 .
Dan. vii. 13 .
1 Thess. iv. 17 .
Isa. i. 2 .
Præjudicium.
Præconium.
Si forte.
Indulgentiæ.
Regiam: perhaps “capital” or “palace.”
Omne.
[The remarks of Bishop Kaye on our author’s Marcion are simply invaluable, and the student cannot dispense with what is said more particularly of this Book. See Kaye, pp. 450–480.]
Paraturam.
Provocamus ad. [Kaye, p. 469, refers to Schleiermacher’s Critical Essay on St. Luke and to a learned note of Mr. Andrews Norton of Harvard (vol. iii. Appendix C.) for valuable remarks on Marcion’s Gospel.]
Et, emphatic.
Dotem quandam.
[See cap. 2, infra .]
Patrocinaretur.
Præscriptive occurere. This law term (the Greek παραγραφή ) seems to refer to the Church’s “rule of faith” (præscriptio), which he might at once put in against Marcion’s heresy; only he prefers to refute him on his own ground.
Atque adeo.
Apud Creatorem.
Olim.
Isa. ii. 3 .
Isa. ii. 4 .
Isa. ii. 4 .
Isa. ii. 4 , according to the Sept.
Ps. xix. 7 .
T.’s version of Isa. x. 23 . “Decisus Sermo” ="determined” of A.V.
Compendiatum.
Laciniosis.
Isa. xliii. 18, 19 .
Novate novamen novum. Agricultural words.
Altered version of Jer. iv. 3, 4 .
Jer. xxxi. 31, 32 , with slight change.
Isa. lv. 3 .
Secundum Mariæ censum. See Kitto’s Cyclopædia of Biblical Literature (third edition), in the article “Genealogy of Jesus Christ,” where the translator of this work has largely given reasons for believing that St. Luke in his genealogy, (chap. iii.) has traced the descent of the Virgin Mary . To the authorities there given may be added this passage of Tertullian, and a fuller one, Adversus Judæos , ix., towards the end. [p. 164, supra .]
Isa. xi. 1 .
Mal. i. 10, 11 .
To its former self.
Deut. xxxii. 39 .
Isa. xlv. 7 .
Recogitare.
Saltim.
Æmularum invicem.
Præjudicatum est.
In the external world.
Sacramenta.
Expeditam a nobis.
[The term εὐαγγέλιον was often employed for a written book, says Kaye (p. 298), who refers to Book i. cap. 1. supra, etc .]
Interim, perhaps “occasionally.”
Præstructuram.
Instrumentum. [See cap. 1, supra . And, above, note 9. Also in cap. iii. and the Apology, (cap. xlvii.) he calls the Testaments, Digests , or Sancta Digesta .]
By this canon of his, that the true Gospels must have for their authors either apostles or companions and disciples of apostles, he shuts out the false Gospels of the heretics, such as the Ebionites, Encratites, Nazarenes, and Marcionites (Le Prieur).
Apostolicos, companions of the apostles associated in the authorship.
He means, of course, St. Mark and St. Luke.
Adsistat illi.
Immo Christi.
Insinuant.
Instaurant.
Isdem regulis.
Supplementum.
Viderit.
De capite.
Scilicet.
Evertere.
Congredi.
Dissimulamus.
Ex nostro.
Compare Irenæus, Adversus Hæreses (Harvey), i. 25 and iii. 11; also Epiphanius, Hær . xlii. See also the editor’s notes on the passages in Irenæus, who quotes other authorities also, and shows the particulars of Marcion’s mutilations. [Vol. I. 429.]
Quem cæderet.
Posterior.
See Hieronymi, Catal. Scriptt. Eccles . 7, and Fabricius’ notes.
Instrumenti.
Gal. ii. 2 .
[Dr. Holmes not uniformly, yet constantly inserts the prefix St. before the name of Paul, and brackets it, greatly disfiguring the page. It is not in our author’s text, but I venture to dispense with the ever-recurring brackets.]
This is Oehler’s arrangement of the chapter, for the sake of the sense. The former editions begin this third chapter with “Sed enim Marcion nactus.”
Aliud est si.
Sacramentum.
Habuit utique.
Paraturam.
Sed enim.
See Gal. ii. 13, 14 .
Compare what has been already said in book i. chap. 20, and below in book v. chap. 3. See also Tertullian’s treatise, De Præscript. Hæret . chap. 23. [Kaye, p. 275.]
Statum.
Propria.
Variare convictum.
1 Cor. ix. 22 .
Integrum.
Inde nostra digesta.
Germanum instrumentum.
That is, according to the Marcionite cavil.
De titulo quoque.
Funis ducendus est.
Ratio.
Præjudicans.
Posterius revincetur. See De Præscriptione Hæret ., which goes on this principle of time. Compare especially chapters xxix. and xxx. [p. 256, supra .]
Falsum.
Passione.
Materia.
De veritate materiam.
Sæculo post.
Interim.
Communio ejus.
De veritate disceptat.
Quod est secundum nos. [A note of T.’s position.]
Projectam. [Catholic = Primitive.]
Præferunt.
Penes nos.
Post futura.
Sane.
Eversi.
Nisi quod.
Matt. x. 24 .
1 Cor. xv. 11 .
1 Cor. xiv. 32 .
Gal. i. 8 .
[On this whole chapter and subject, consult Kaye, pp. 278–289.]
Sacrosanctum. Inviolate. Westcott, On the Canon , p. 384. Compare De Præscript. Hæret . c. 36, supra .
De proximo. Westcott renders this, “who are nearest to us.” See in loco .
et…et. [N.B. Not Peter’s See, then.]
Alumnas ecclesias. He seems to allude to the seven churches of the Apocalypse.
[Not the Order of bishops (as we now speak) but of their succession from St. John. Kaye, p. 219.]
Generositas.
De societate sacramenti. [i.e. Catholic Unity.]
Eadem.
Plane.
Censum.
Examine.
Favos. See Pliny, Nat. Hist . xi. 21.
Patrocinabitur. [Jones on the Canon, Vol. I. p. 66.]
Proinde per illas.
See Hieronymus, Catal. Scriptt. Eccles . c. 8.
Digestum.
See above, chap. 2, p. 347.
Capit videri.
Flagitandus.
Potius institerit.
The Gospels of the apostles John and Matthew, and perhaps Mark’s also, as being St. Peter’s.
Dedicata cum.
Competit.
Confirmavit.
Denique.
Apostolica, i.e., evangelia.
That is, the canonical Gospel of St. Luke, as distinct from Marcion’s corruption of it. [N.B. “Us” = Catholics.]
Traducto.
Nunc—nunc.
Nunc—nunc.
Expedimur.
Fide, integrity.
Posteritati falsariorum præscribentem.
[Mark the authority of churches. He uses the plural— quod ab omnibus .]
Certe, for certo.
Propterea.
Conveniemus.
Sic habebit.
This seems to be the sense of the words, “sub illa utique conditione quæ ex utraque parte condicta sit.”
Scindit.
That is, between what is severe and judicial and punitive on one side, that is, the Creator’s; and what is mild, merciful, and forgiving, on the other, that is, the Redeemer’s side (Rigalt.).
Præscriptio.
Defigimus.
Creatoris pronunciandum.
Adjuverit.
Repræsentaverit.
Restauraverit virtutes ejus.
Sententias reformaverit.
Luke iii. 1 and iv. 31 .
Utique.
Ecquid ordinis.