The Five Books Against Marcion.
Book I. Wherein is described the god of Marcion. …
Chapter I.—Preface. Reason for a New Work. Pontus Lends Its Rough Character to the Heretic Marcion, a Native. His Heresy Characterized in a Brief Inve
Chapter II.—Marcion, Aided by Cerdon, Teaches a Duality of Gods How He Constructed This Heresy of an Evil and a Good God.
Chapter III.—The Unity of God. He is the Supreme Being, and There Cannot Be a Second Supreme.
Chapter IV.—Defence of the Divine Unity Against Objection. No Analogy Between Human Powers and God’s Sovereignty. The Objection Otherwise Untenable, f
Chapter V.—The Dual Principle Falls to the Ground Plurality of Gods, of Whatever Number, More Consistent. Absurdity and Injury to Piety Resulting fro
Chapter VI.—Marcion Untrue to His Theory. He Pretends that His Gods are Equal, But He Really Makes Them Diverse. Then, Allowing Their Divinity, Denie
Chapter VII.—Other Beings Besides God are in Scripture Called God. This Objection Frivolous, for It is Not a Question of Names. The Divine Essence is
Chapter VIII.—Specific Points. The Novelty of Marcion’s God Fatal to His Pretensions. God is from Everlasting, He Cannot Be in Any Wise New.
Chapter IX.—Marcion’s Gnostic Pretensions Vain, for the True God is Neither Unknown Nor Uncertain. The Creator, Whom He Owns to Be God, Alone Supplie
Chapter X.—The Creator Was Known as the True God from the First by His Creation. Acknowledged by the Soul and Conscience of Man Before He Was Revealed
Chapter XI.—The Evidence for God External to Him But the External Creation Which Yields This Evidence is Really Not Extraneous, for All Things are Go
But even if we were able to allow that he exists, we should yet be bound to argue that he is without a cause. For he who had nothing (to show for hims
Chapter XIII.—The Marcionites Depreciate the Creation, Which, However, is a Worthy Witness of God. This Worthiness Illustrated by References to the He
Chapter XIV.—All Portions of Creation Attest the Excellence of the Creator, Whom Marcion Vilifies. His Inconsistency Herein Exposed. Marcion’s Own God
Chapter XV.—The Lateness of the Revelation of Marcion’s God. The Question of the Place Occupied by the Rival Deities. Instead of Two Gods, Marcion Rea
Chapter XVI.—Marcion Assumes the Existence of Two Gods from the Antithesis Between Things Visible and Things Invisible. This Antithetical Principle in
Chapter XVII.—Not Enough, as the Marcionites Pretend, that the Supreme God Should Rescue Man He Must Also Have Created Him. The Existence of God Prov
Chapter XVIII.—Notwithstanding Their Conceits, the God of the Marcionites Fails in the Vouchers Both of Created Evidence and of Adequate Revelation.
Chapter XIX.—Jesus Christ, the Revealer of the Creator, Could Not Be the Same as Marcion’s God, Who Was Only Made Known by the Heretic Some CXV. Years
Chapter XX.—Marcion, Justifying His Antithesis Between the Law and the Gospel by the Contention of St. Paul with St. Peter, Shown to Have Mistaken St.
Chapter XXI.—St. Paul Preached No New God, When He Announced the Repeal of Some of God’s Ancient Ordinances. Never Any Hesitation About Belief in the
Chapter XXII.—God’s Attribute of Goodness Considered as Natural The God of Marcion Found Wanting Herein. It Came Not to Man’s Rescue When First Wante
Chapter XXIII.—God’s Attribute of Goodness Considered as Rational. Marcion’s God Defective Here Also His Goodness Irrational and Misapplied.
Chapter XXIV.—The Goodness of Marcion’s God Only Imperfectly Manifested It Saves But Few, and the Souls Merely of These. Marcion’s Contempt of the Bo
Chapter XXV.—God is Not a Being of Simple Goodness Other Attributes Belong to Him. Marcion Shows Inconsistency in the Portraiture of His Simply Good
Chapter XXVI.—In the Attribute of Justice, Marcion’s God is Hopelessly Weak and Ungodlike. He Dislikes Evil, But Does Not Punish Its Perpetration.
Chapter XXVII.—Dangerous Effects to Religion and Morality of the Doctrine of So Weak a God.
Chapter XXVIII.—This Perverse Doctrine Deprives Baptism of All Its Grace. If Marcion Be Right, the Sacrament Would Confer No Remission of Sins, No Reg
Chapter XXIX.—Marcion Forbids Marriage. Tertullian Eloquently Defends It as Holy, and Carefully Discriminates Between Marcion’s Doctrine and His Own M
Book II. Wherein Tertullian shows that the creator, or demiurge, whom Marcion calumniated, is the true and good God.
Chapter I.—The Methods of Marcion’s Argument Incorrect and Absurd. The Proper Course of the Argument.
Chapter II.—The True Doctrine of God the Creator. The Heretics Pretended to a Knowledge of the Divine Being, Opposed to and Subversive of Revelation.
Chapter III.—God Known by His Works. His Goodness Shown in His Creative Energy But Everlasting in Its Nature Inherent in God, Previous to All Exhibi
Chapter IV.—The Next Stage Occurs in the Creation of Man by the Eternal Word. Spiritual as Well as Physical Gifts to Man. The Blessings of Man’s Free-
Chapter V.—Marcion’s Cavils Considered. His Objection Refuted, I.e., Man’s Fall Showed Failure in God. The Perfection of Man’s Being Lay in His Libert
Chapter VI.—This Liberty Vindicated in Respect of Its Original Creation Suitable Also for Exhibiting the Goodness and the Purpose of God. Reward and
Chapter VII.—If God Had Anyhow Checked Man’s Liberty, Marcion Would Have Been Ready with Another and Opposite Cavil. Man’s Fall Foreseen by God. Provi
Chapter VIII.—Man, Endued with Liberty, Superior to the Angels, Overcomes Even the Angel Which Lured Him to His Fall, When Repentant and Resuming Obed
Chapter IX.—Another Cavil Answered, I.e., the Fall Imputable to God, Because Man’s Soul is a Portion of the Spiritual Essence of the Creator. The Div
Chapter X.—Another Cavil Met, I.e., the Devil Who Instigated Man to Sin Himself the Creature of God. Nay, the Primeval Cherub Only Was God’s Work. The
Chapter XI.—If, After Man’s Sin, God Exercised His Attribute of Justice and Judgment, This Was Compatible with His Goodness, and Enhances the True Ide
Chapter XII.—The Attributes of Goodness and Justice Should Not Be Separated. They are Compatible in the True God. The Function of Justice in the Divin
Chapter XIII.—Further Description of the Divine Justice Since the Fall of Man It Has Regulated the Divine Goodness. God’s Claims on Our Love and Our
Chapter XIV.—Evil of Two Kinds, Penal and Criminal. It is Not of the Latter Sort that God is the Author, But Only of the Former, Which are Penal, and
Chapter XV.—The Severity of God Compatible with Reason and Justice. When Inflicted, Not Meant to Be Arbitrary, But Remedial.
Chapter XVI.—To the Severity of God There Belong Accessory Qualities, Compatible with Justice. If Human Passions are Predicated of God, They Must Not
Chapter XVII.—Trace God’s Government in History and in His Precepts, and You Will Find It Full of His Goodness.
Chapter XVIII.—Some of God’s Laws Defended as Good, Which the Marcionites Impeached, Such as the Lex Talionis. Useful Purposes in a Social and Moral P
Chapter XIX.—The Minute Prescriptions of the Law Meant to Keep the People Dependent on God. The Prophets Sent by God in Pursuance of His Goodness. Ma
Chapter XX.—The Marcionites Charged God with Having Instigated the Hebrews to Spoil the Egyptians. Defence of the Divine Dispensation in that Matter.
Chapter XXI.—The Law of the Sabbath-Day Explained. The Eight Days’ Procession Around Jericho. The Gathering of Sticks a Violation.
Chapter XXII.—The Brazen Serpent and the Golden Cherubim Were Not Violations of the Second Commandment. Their Meaning.
Chapter XXIII.—God’s Purposes in Election and Rejection of the Same Men, Such as King Saul, Explained, in Answer to the Marcionite Cavil.
Chapter XXIV.—Instances of God’s Repentance, and Notably in the Case of the Ninevites, Accounted for and Vindicated.
Chapter XXV.—God’s Dealings with Adam at the Fall, and with Cain After His Crime, Admirably Explained and Defended.
Chapter XXVI.—The Oath of God: Its Meaning. Moses, When Deprecating God’s Wrath Against Israel, a Type of Christ.
Chapter XXVII.—Other Objections Considered. God’s Condescension in the Incarnation. Nothing Derogatory to the Divine Being in This Economy. The Divin
Chapter XXVIII.—The Tables Turned Upon Marcion, by Contrasts, in Favour of the True God.
Chapter XXIX.—Marcion’s Own Antitheses, If Only the Title and Object of the Work Be Excepted, Afford Proofs of the Consistent Attributes of the True G
Book III. Wherein Christ is shown to be the Son of God, Who created the world to have been predicted by the prophets to have taken human flesh like
Chapter I.—Introductory A Brief Statement of the Preceding Argument in Connection with the Subject of This Book.
Chapter II.—Why Christ’s Coming Should Be Previously Announced.
Chapter III.—Miracles Alone, Without Prophecy, an Insufficient Evidence of Christ’s Mission.
Chapter IV.—Marcion’s Christ Not the Subject of Prophecy. The Absurd Consequences of This Theory of the Heretic.
Chapter V.—Sundry Features of the Prophetic Style: Principles of Its Interpretation.
Chapter VI.—Community in Certain Points of Marcionite and Jewish Error. Prophecies of Christ’s Rejection Examined.
Chapter VII.—Prophecy Sets Forth Two Different Conditions of Christ, One Lowly, the Other Majestic. This Fact Points to Two Advents of Christ.
Chapter VIII.—Absurdity of Marcion’s Docetic Opinions Reality of Christ’s Incarnation.
Chapter IX.—Refutation of Marcion’s Objections Derived from the Cases of the Angels, and the Pre-Incarnate Manifestations of the Son of God.
Chapter X.—The Truly Incarnate State More Worthy of God Than Marcion’s Fantastic Flesh.
Chapter XI.—Christ Was Truly Born Marcion’s Absurd Cavil in Defence of a Putative Nativity.
Chapter XII.—Isaiah’s Prophecy of Emmanuel. Christ Entitled to that Name.
Chapter XIII.—Isaiah’s Prophecies Considered. The Virginity of Christ’s Mother a Sign. Other Prophecies Also Signs. Metaphorical Sense of Proper Names
Chapter XIV.—Figurative Style of Certain Messianic Prophecies in the Psalms. Military Metaphors Applied to Christ.
Chapter XV.—The Title Christ Suitable as a Name of the Creator’s Son, But Unsuited to Marcion’s Christ.
Chapter XVI.—The Sacred Name Jesus Most Suited to the Christ of the Creator. Joshua a Type of Him.
Chapter XVII.—Prophecies in Isaiah and the Psalms Respecting Christ’s Humiliation.
On the subject of His death, I suppose, you endeavour to introduce a diversity of opinion, simply because you deny that the suffering of the cross was
Chapter XIX.—Prophecies of the Death of Christ.
It is sufficient for my purpose to have traced thus far the course of Christ’s dispensation in these particulars. This has proved Him to be such a one
Chapter XXI.—The Call of the Gentiles Under the Influence of the Gospel Foretold.
Chapter XXII.—The Success of the Apostles, and Their Sufferings in the Cause of the Gospel, Foretold.
Chapter XXIII.—The Dispersion of the Jews, and Their Desolate Condition for Rejecting Christ, Foretold.
Chapter XXIV.—Christ’s Millennial and Heavenly Glory in Company with His Saints.
Book IV. In Which Tertullian Pursues His…
In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke’s Gospel That Being the Only Histor
Chapter II.—St. Luke’s Gospel, Selected by Marcion as His Authority, and Mutilated by Him. The Other Gospels Equally Authoritative. Marcion’s Terms
In the scheme of Marcion, on the contrary, the mystery edition the
Chapter IV.—Each Side Claims to Possess the True Gospel. Antiquity the Criterion of Truth in Such a Matter. Marcion’s Pretensions as an Amender of the
On the whole, then, if that is evidently more true which is earlier, if that is earlier which is from the very beginning, if that is from the beginnin
Chapter VI.—Marcion’s Object in Adulterating the Gospel. No Difference Between the Christ of the Creator and the Christ of the Gospel. No Rival Christ
Chapter VII.—Marcion Rejected the Preceding Portion of St. Luke’s Gospel. Therefore This Review Opens with an Examination of the Case of the Evil Spir
Chapter VIII.—Other Proofs from the Same Chapter, that Jesus, Who Preached at Nazareth, and Was Acknowledged by Certain Demons as Christ the Son of Go
Chapter IX.—Out of St. Luke’s Fifth Chapter are Found Proofs of Christ’s Belonging to the Creator, E.g. In the Call of Fishermen to the Apostolic Offi
Chapter X.—Further Proofs of the Same Truth in the Same Chapter, from the Healing of the Paralytic, and from the Designation Son of Man Which Jesus Gi
Chapter XI.—The Call of Levi the Publican. Christ in Relation to the Baptist. Christ as the Bridegroom. The Parable of the Old Wine and the New. Argum
Chapter XII.—Christ’s Authority Over the Sabbath. As Its Lord He Recalled It from Pharisaic Neglect to the Original Purpose of Its Institution by the
Chapter XIII.—Christ’s Connection with the Creator Shown. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament Prophetically Bear on Certain Events of the Life of
Chapter XIV.—Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. In Manner and Contents It So Resembles the Creator’s Dispensational Words and Deeds. It Suggests Therefore
Chapter XV.—Sermon on the Mount Continued. Its Woes in Strict Agreement with the Creator’s Disposition. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament in P
Chapter XVI.—The Precept of Loving One’s Enemies. It is as Much Taught in the Creator’s Scriptures of the Old Testament as in Christ’s Sermon. The Lex
Chapter XVII.—Concerning Loans. Prohibition of Usury and the Usurious Spirit. The Law Preparatory to the Gospel in Its Provisions So in the Present I
Chapter XVIII.—Concerning the Centurion’s Faith. The Raising of the Widow’s Son. John Baptist, and His Message to Christ And the Woman Who Was a Sinn
Chapter XIX.—The Rich Women of Piety Who Followed Jesus Christ’s Teaching by Parables. The Marcionite Cavil Derived from Christ’s Remark, When Told of
Chapter XX.—Comparison of Christ’s Power Over Winds and Waves with Moses’ Command of the Waters of the Red Sea and the Jordan. Christ’s Power Over Unc
Chapter XXI.—Christ’s Connection with the Creator Shown from Several Incidents in the Old Testament, Compared with St. Luke’s Narrative of the Mission
Chapter XXII.—The Same Conclusion Supported by the Transfiguration. Marcion Inconsistent in Associating with Christ in Glory Two Such Eminent Servants
Chapter XXIII.—Impossible that Marcion’s Christ Should Reprove the Faithless Generation. Such Loving Consideration for Infants as the True Christ Was
Chapter XXIV.—On the Mission of the Seventy Disciples, and Christ’s Charge to Them. Precedents Drawn from the Old Testament. Absurdity of Supposing
Chapter XXV.—Christ Thanks the Father for Revealing to Babes What He Had Concealed from the Wise. This Concealment Judiciously Effected by the Creator
Chapter XXVI.—From St. Luke’s Eleventh Chapter Other Evidence that Christ Comes from the Creator. The Lord’s Prayer and Other Words of Christ. The Du
Chapter XXVII.—Christ’s Reprehension of the Pharisees Seeking a Sign. His Censure of Their Love of Outward Show Rather Than Inward Holiness. Scriptur
Justly, therefore, was the hypocrisy of the Pharisees displeasing to Him, loving God as they did with their lips, but not with their heart. “Beware,”
Chapter XXIX.—Parallels from the Prophets to Illustrate Christ’s Teaching in the Rest of This Chapter of St. Luke. The Sterner Attributes of Christ, i
Chapter XXX.—Parables of the Mustard-Seed, and of the Leaven. Transition to the Solemn Exclusion Which Will Ensue When the Master of the House Has Shu
Chapter XXXI.—Christ’s Advice to Invite the Poor in Accordance with Isaiah. The Parable of the Great Supper a Pictorial Sketch of the Creator’s Own Di
Chapter XXXII.—A Sort of Sorites, as the Logicians Call It, to Show that the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Drachma Have No Suitable Applicat
Chapter XXXIII.—The Marcionite Interpretation of God and Mammon Refuted. The Prophets Justify Christ’s Admonition Against Covetousness and Pride. John
Chapter XXXIV.—Moses, Allowing Divorce, and Christ Prohibiting It, Explained. John Baptist and Herod. Marcion’s Attempt to Discover an Antithesis in t
Chapter XXXV.—The Judicial Severity of Christ and the Tenderness of the Creator, Asserted in Contradiction to Marcion. The Cure of the Ten Lepers. Old
Chapter XXXVI.—The Parables of the Importunate Widow, and of the Pharisee and the Publican. Christ’s Answer to the Rich Ruler, the Cure of the Blind M
Chapter XXXVII.—Christ and Zacchæus. The Salvation of the Body as Denied by Marcion. The Parable of the Ten Servants Entrusted with Ten Pounds. Chris
Chapter XXXVIII.—Christ’s Refutations of the Pharisees. Rendering Dues to Cæsar and to God. Next of the Sadducees, Respecting Marriage in the Resurrec
Chapter XXXIX.—Concerning Those Who Come in the Name of Christ. The Terrible Signs of His Coming. He Whose Coming is So Grandly Described Both in the
Chapter XL.—How the Steps in the Passion of the Saviour Were Predetermined in Prophecy. The Passover. The Treachery of Judas. The Institution of the L
Chapter XLI.—The Woe Pronounced on the Traitor a Judicial Act, Which Disproves Christ to Be Such as Marcion Would Have Him to Be. Christ’s Conduct Bef
Chapter XLII.—Other Incidents of the Passion Minutely Compared with Prophecy. Pilate and Herod. Barabbas Preferred to Jesus. Details of the Crucifixio
Chapter XLIII.—Conclusions. Jesus as the Christ of the Creator Proved from the Events of the Last Chapter of St. Luke. The Pious Women at the Sepulchr
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.
Chapter I.—Introductory. The Apostle Paul Himself Not the Preacher of a New God. Called by Jesus Christ, Although After the Other Apostles, His Missi
Chapter II.—On the Epistle to the Galatians. The Abolition of the Ordinances of the Mosaic Law No Proof of Another God. The Divine Lawgiver, the Creat
Chapter III.—St. Paul Quite in Accordance with St. Peter and Other Apostles of the Circumcision. His Censure of St. Peter Explained, and Rescued from
Chapter IV.—Another Instance of Marcion’s Tampering with St. Paul’s Text. The Fulness of Time, Announced by the Apostle, Foretold by the Prophets. Mo
Chapter V.—The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The Pauline Salutation of Grace and Peace Shown to Be Anti-Marcionite. The Cross of Christ Purposed b
Chapter VI.—The Divine Way of Wisdom, and Greatness, and Might. God’s Hiding of Himself, and Subsequent Revelation. To Marcion’s God Such a Concealmen
Chapter VII.—St. Paul’s Phraseology Often Suggested by the Jewish Scriptures. Christ Our Passover—A Phrase Which Introduces Us to the Very Heart of th
Chapter VIII.—Man the Image of the Creator, and Christ the Head of the Man. Spiritual Gifts. The Sevenfold Spirit Described by Isaiah. The Apostle an
Chapter IX.—The Doctrine of the Resurrection. The Body Will Rise Again. Christ’s Judicial Character. Jewish Perversions of Prophecy Exposed and Confut
Chapter X.—Doctrine of the Resurrection of the Body, Continued. How are the Dead Raised? and with What Body Do They Come? These Questions Answered in
Chapter XI.—The Second Epistle to the Corinthians. The Creator the Father of Mercies. Shown to Be Such in the Old Testament, and Also in Christ. The
Chapter XII.—The Eternal Home in Heaven. Beautiful Exposition by Tertullian of the Apostle’s Consolatory Teaching Against the Fear of Death, So Apt to
Chapter XIII.—The Epistle to the Romans. St. Paul Cannot Help Using Phrases Which Bespeak the Justice of God, Even When He is Eulogizing the Mercies o
Chapter XIV.—The Divine Power Shown in Christ’s Incarnation. Meaning of St. Paul’s Phrase. Likeness of Sinful Flesh. No Docetism in It. Resurrection o
Chapter XV.—The First Epistle to the Thessalonians. The Shorter Epistles Pungent in Sense and Very Valuable. St. Paul Upbraids the Jews for the Death
Chapter XVI.—The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians. An Absurd Erasure of Marcion Its Object Transparent. The Final Judgment on the Heathen as Well
Chapter XVII.—The Epistle to the Laodiceans. The Proper Designation is to the Ephesians. Recapitulation of All Things in Christ from the Beginning of
Chapter XVIII.—Another Foolish Erasure of Marcion’s Exposed. Certain Figurative Expressions of the Apostle, Suggested by the Language of the Old Testa
Chapter XIX.—The Epistle to the Colossians. Time the Criterion of Truth and Heresy. Application of the Canon. The Image of the Invisible God Explained
Chapter XX.—The Epistle to the Philippians. The Variances Amongst the Preachers of Christ No Argument that There Was More Than One Only Christ. St. Pa
Chapter XXI.—The Epistle to Philemon. This Epistle Not Mutilated. Marcion’s Inconsistency in Accepting This, and Rejecting Three Other Epistles Addr
Chapter XIII.—Christ’s Connection with the Creator Shown. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament Prophetically Bear on Certain Events of the Life of Jesus—Such as His Ascent to Praying on the Mountain; His Selection of Twelve Apostles; His Changing Simon’s Name to Peter, and Gentiles from Tyre and Sidon Resorting to Him.
Surely to Sion He brings good tidings, and to Jerusalem peace and all blessings; He goes up into a mountain, and there spends a night in prayer,1583 Luke vi. 12. and He is indeed heard by the Father. Accordingly turn over the prophets, and learn therefrom His entire course.1584 Ordinem. “Into the high mountain,” says Isaiah, “get Thee up, who bringest good tidings to Sion; lift up Thy voice with strength, who bringest good tidings to Jerusalem.”1585 Isa. xl. 9. “They were mightily1586 In vigore. Or this phrase may qualify the noun thus: “They were astonished at His doctrine, in its might.” astonished at His doctrine; for He was teaching as one who had power.”1587 Luke iv. 32. And again: “Therefore, my people shall know my name in that day.” What name does the prophet mean, but Christ’s? “That I am He that doth speak—even I.”1588 Isa. lii. 6. For it was He who used to speak in the prophets—the Word, the Creator’s Son. “I am present, while it is the hour, upon the mountains, as one that bringeth glad tidings of peace, as one that publisheth good tidings of good.”1589 Our author’s reading of Isa. lii. 7. So one of the twelve (minor prophets), Nahum: “For behold upon the mountain the swift feet of Him that bringeth glad tidings of peace.”1590 Nahum i. 15. Moreover, concerning the voice of His prayer to the Father by night, the psalm manifestly says: “O my God, I will cry in the day-time, and Thou shalt hear; and in the night season, and it shall not be in vain to me.”1591 Ps. xxii. 2. In another passage touching the same voice and place, the psalm says: “I cried unto the Lord with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy mountain.”1592 Ps. iii. 4. You have a representation of the name; you have the action of the Evangelizer; you have a mountain for the site; and the night as the time; and the sound of a voice; and the audience of the Father: you have, (in short,) the Christ of the prophets. But why was it that He chose twelve apostles,1593 Luke vi. 13–19. and not some other number? In truth,1594 Næ. I might from this very point conclude1595 Interpretari. of my Christ, that He was foretold not only by the words of prophets, but by the indications of facts. For of this number I find figurative hints up and down the Creator’s dispensation1596 Apud creatorem. in the twelve springs of Elim;1597 Num. xxxiii. 9. in the twelve gems of Aaron’s priestly vestment;1598 Ex. xxviii. 13–21. and in the twelve stones appointed by Joshua to be taken out of the Jordan, and set up for the ark of the covenant. Now, the same number of apostles was thus portended, as if they were to be fountains and rivers which should water the Gentile world, which was formerly dry and destitute of knowledge (as He says by Isaiah: “I will put streams in the unwatered ground”1599 Isa. xliii. 20.); as if they were to be gems to shed lustre upon the church’s sacred robe, which Christ, the High Priest of the Father, puts on; as if, also, they were to be stones massive in their faith, which the true Joshua took out of the laver of the Jordan, and placed in the sanctuary of His covenant. What equally good defence of such a number has Marcion’s Christ to show? It is impossible that anything can be shown to have been done by him unconnectedly,1600 Simpliciter: i.e., simply or without relation to any types or prophecies. which cannot be shown to have been done by my Christ in connection (with preceding types).1601 Non simpliciter. To him will appertain the event1602 Res. in whom is discovered the preparation for the same.1603 Rei præparatura. Again, He changes the name of Simon to Peter,1604 Luke vi. 14. [Elucidation III.] inasmuch as the Creator also altered the names of Abram, and Sarai, and Oshea, by calling the latter Joshua, and adding a syllable to each of the former. But why Peter? If it was because of the vigour of his faith, there were many solid materials which might lend a name from their strength. Was it because Christ was both a rock and a stone? For we read of His being placed “for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence.”1605 Isa. viii. 14; Rom. ix. 33; 1 Pet. ii. 8. I omit the rest of the passage.1606 Cætera. Therefore He would fain1607 Affectavit. impart to the dearest of His disciples a name which was suggested by one of His own especial designations in figure; because it was, I suppose, more peculiarly fit than a name which might have been derived from no figurative description of Himself.1608 De non suis; opposed to the de figuris suis peculiariter. [St. Peter was not the dearest of the Apostles though he was the foremost.] There come to Him from Tyre, and from other districts even, a transmarine multitude. This fact the psalm had in view: “And behold tribes of foreign people, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians; they were there. Sion is my mother, shall a man say; and in her was born a man” (forasmuch as the God-man was born), and He built her by the Father’s will; that you may know how Gentiles then flocked to Him, because He was born the God-man who was to build the church according to the Father’s will—even of other races also.1609 Ps. lxxxvii. 4, 5, according to the Septuagint. So says Isaiah too: “Behold, these come from far; and these from the north and from the west;1610 Mari. and these from the land of the Persians.”1611 Isa. xlix. 12. Concerning whom He says again: “Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold, all these have gathered themselves together.”1612 Isa. xlix. 18. And yet again: “Thou seest these unknown and strange ones; and thou wilt say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these? But who hath brought me up these? And these, where have they been?”1613 Isa. xlix. 21. Will such a Christ not be (the Christ) of the prophets? And what will be the Christ of the Marcionites? Since perversion of truth is their pleasure, he could not be (the Christ) of the prophets.
CAPUT XIII.
Certe Evangelizat Sion et Hierusalem pacem et bona omnia: certe ascendit in montem, et illic pernoctat 0386C in oratione; et utique auditur a Patre. Evolve igitur prophetas, et ordinem totum recognosce. In montem excelsum , inquit Esaias (Is. XL, 9), ascende, qui evangelizas Sion; extolle cum vigore vocem tuam, qui evangelizas Hierusalem. Adhuc in vigore. Obstupescebant in doctrina ejus; erat enim docens, tanquam virtutem habens (Luc. IV, 32). Et rursus (Is. LII, 6): Propterea cognoscet populus nomen meum in illa die. Quod nomen, nisi Christi? Quod ego sum ipse qui loquebar . Tunc enim ipse erat qui in Prophetis loquebatur, Sermo, Filius Creatoris: «Adsum, dum hora est, in montibus, ut evangelizans auditionem pacis, evangelizans bona.» Item Naum (Nah. I, 15) 0387A ex duodecim: Quoniam ecce veloces pedes in monte evangelizantis pacem. De voce autem nocturnae orationis ad Patrem, manifeste Psalmus (Ps. XXI, 2): Deus meus, clamabo per diem, et exaudies; et nocte, et non in vanitatem mihi; et alibi, de loco et voce eadem, Psalmus (Ps. III, 4): Voce mea ad Dominum exclamavi, et exaudivit me de monte sancto suo. Habes nominis repraesentationem, habes actum evangelizantis, habes locum montis, et tempus noctis, et sonum vocis, et auditum Patris ; habes Christum Prophetarum. Cur autem duodecim Apostolos elegit, et non alium quemlibet numerum? Nae et ex hoc meum Christum interpretari possem, non tantum vocibus Prophetarum, sed et argumentis rerum praedicatum? Hujus enim numeri figuras apud Creatorem 0387B deprehendo: Duodecim fontes Elim (Num., XXXIII); et, Duodecim gemmas in tunica sacerdotali Aaronis (Exod., XXVIII); et, Duodecim lapides ab Jesu de Jordane electos (Jos., IV) et in arcam testamenti conditos. Totidem enim Apostoli portendebantur; proinde ut fontes et amnes, rigaturi aridum retro et desertum a notitia orbem Nationum; sicut et per Esaiam (Is., XLIII, 20): Ponam in terra inaquosa flumina; proinde ut gemmae, illuminaturi sacram Ecclesiae vestem, quam induit Christus pontifex Patris; proinde ut et lapides, solidi fide, quos de lavacro Jordanis Jesus verus elegit, et in sacrarium testamenti sui recepit. Quid tale de numeri defensione competit Christo Marcionis? Non potest simpliciter factum ab illo quid videri, quod potest videri 0387C non simpliciter factum a meo. Ejus erit res, apud quem invenitur rei praeparatura. Mutat et Petro nomen de Simone; quia et Creator Abrahae, et Sarae, et Auseae nomina reformavit, hunc vocando Jesum , illis syllabas adjiciendo. Sed et cur Petrum? Si ob vigorem fidei, multae materiae solidaeque nomen de suo accommodarent. An quia et petra et lapis Christus? Siquidem et legimus (Is., VIII, 14; I Petr., II, 8) positum eum in lapidem offendiculi, et in petram scandali. Omitto caetera. Itaque affectavit carissimo discipulorum de figuris suis peculiariter nomen communicare, puto proprius quam de non suis. Conveniunt a Tyro, et ex aliis regionibus multitudo etiam transmarina. Hoc spectabat Psalmus (Ps. LXXXVI, 4): Et ecce Allophyli et Tyrus, 0387Det populus Aethiopum, isti fuerunt illic. Mater Sion 0388Adicet homo; et homo factus est in illa (quoniam Deus homo natus est), et aedificavit cam voluntate Patris: ut scias ad cum tunc gentiles convenisse, quia Deus homo erat natus, aedificaturus Ecclesiam ex voluntate Patris, ex allophytis quoque. Sic et Esaias (Is. XLIX, 12): Ecce isti veniunt de longinquo; isti autem veniunt ab aquilone et mari; alii autem de terra Persarum. De quibus et rursus (ibid. 18): Attolle per circuitum oculos tuos, et vide, omnes congregati sunt. De quibus et infra (ibid. 21): Videsignotos et extraneos: et dices cordi tuo: Quis istos genuit mihi? Porro, hos quis mihi educavit? At hi mihi ubi fuerunt? Hic Christus non Prophetarum? Et quis erit Christus Marcionitarum, si perversitas placet, qui non fuerit Prophetarum?
