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which are fornication, idolatry, and things like these. And your fabrication is entirely refuted, O deceived Marcion, with the truth everywhere prevailing and securing the firmness of the preaching of life. 20Commentary20 7. “And those who are of Christ have crucified the flesh with its. passions and desires.” 20Refutation20 7. If those who are of Christ have also crucified the flesh, O Marcion, it is then clear that the servants of Christ, along with the desires and passions, have shown the flesh to be pure and have imitated Christ, showing that he crucified the flesh. Therefore they too, thinking the same as their master, have crucified the flesh. And if they crucified the flesh, it is impossible for the flesh that has suffered for Christ not to reign with Christ, as the 2.159 holy apostle also shows in another saying, that “just as you are partakers of the sufferings of Christ, so also of the glory.” 20Commentary20 8. “For not even those who are circumcised themselves keep the law.” 20Refutation20 8. Therefore, the former circumcision was not forbidden in its own time, if it kept the law. But the law proclaimed Christ as coming to provide a law of freedom, and circumcision in the flesh would no longer be of service in the time of Christ; for the true one through Christ has come, of which that one was a type. But those still being sealed in that one, even if they keep the whole law, the keeping of the law will no longer be reckoned to them; for since the law said concerning Christ that “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from my brothers like me, him you shall hear.” But since they did not hear Christ, “their circumcision becomes uncircumcision” and the keeping of the law is no longer keeping. Good, therefore, is the law and good is the circumcision, from which and from which we have known Christ and his more perfect law and his more perfect circumcision. From the first epistle to the Corinthians; for this is second among them and among us. 1 20and20 9 20commentary20. “For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the intelligent I will thwart.” 1 20and20 9 20refutation20. If the apostle gathers testimonies from the things written in the prophets for the presentation of truth and good teaching, the prophets are not foreign to the truth and to the good God and to his good teaching. 2 20and20 10 20commentary20. “So that, as it is written, let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” 2 20and20 10 20refutation20. If he who boasts in the Lord is praiseworthy according to the prophet, and he knows the Lord to be the God of the law who according to 2.160 you, O Marcion, is also called judge and creator and just. This one is no other than the Father of Christ, whose disciple Paul is; since Paul, the teacher of the gentiles appointed by Christ, drawing from the prophet’s teaching as from similar and the same teachings, like pure water waters the church with which he has been entrusted. 3 20and20 11 20commentary20. “Of the rulers of this age who are being brought to nothing.” 3 20and20 11 20refutation20. If the rulers of this age are many, and such ones are being brought to nothing, you will be compelled, O Marcion, no longer to seek the roots of three principles, but to search out for yourself another myth of many principles and many roots and much tragedy. And when you slanderously invent—for you would not find—the word “being brought to nothing” will meet you; and from the word that says “being brought to nothing,” the beginningless root of principles imagined by you will be done away with. For everything that ceases is not eternal, but if it had a beginning of being, it will also undergo an end. For it is impossible for that which has had a beginning to last eternally, unless the one who is, having become the cause of its not

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ἅτινά ἐστι πορνεία, εἰδωλολατρεία καὶ τὰ τούτοις ὅμοια. καὶ ἐξ ἅπαντος ἐλήλεγκταί σου ἡ σκευωρία, ὦ Μαρκίων πεπλανημένε, τῆς ἀληθείας πάντῃ προλαβούσης καὶ τὸ στερεὸν τοῦ κηρύγματος τῆς ζωῆς ἀσφαλιζομένης. 20Σχόλιον20 ˉζ. «Οἱ δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ τὴν σάρκα ἐσταύρωσαν σὺν τοῖς. παθήμασι καὶ ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις». 20Ἔλεγχος20 ˉζ. Εἰ ἐσταύρωσαν καὶ τὴν σάρκα οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὦ Μαρκίων, δῆλον οὖν ὅτι οἱ τοῦ Χριστοῦ δοῦλοι σὺν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις καὶ τοῖς παθήμασι καθαρὰν τὴν σάρκα ἀπέδειξαν καὶ ἐμιμήσαντο τὸν Χριστόν, δείξαντες αὐτὸν σάρκα ἐσταυρωκέναι. διὸ καὶ αὐτοὶ τὰ ἴσα τῷ δεσπότῃ αὐτῶν φρονήσαντες τὴν σάρκα ἐσταύρωσαν. καὶ εἰ τὴν σάρκα ἐσταύρωσαν, ἀνένδεκτον τὴν σάρκα ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ παθοῦσαν μὴ σὺν Χριστῷ βασιλεύειν, καθὼς καὶ ἐν ἄλλῳ ῥητῷ δείκνυσιν ὁ 2.159 ἅγιος ἀπόστολος λέγων ὅτι «καθάπερ κοινωνοί ἐστε τῶν παθημάτων τοῦ Χριστοῦ, οὕτως καὶ τῆς δόξης». 20Σχόλιον20 ˉη. «Οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι αὐτοὶ νόμον φυλάσσουσιν». 20Ἔλεγχος20 ˉη. Οὐκ ἀπηγόρευτο τοίνυν ἡ προτέρα περιτομὴ ἐν τῷ ἰδίῳ καιρῷ, εἰ νόμον ἐφύλαξε. νόμος δὲ Χριστὸν κατήγγελλεν ἐρχόμενον νόμον ἐλευθερίας παρασχέσθαι, καὶ οὐκέτι ἡ περιτομὴ ἐν σαρκὶ τῷ χρόνῳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐξυπηρετήσειεν· ἦλθεν γὰρ ἡ διὰ Χριστοῦ ἀληθινή, ἧς τύπος ἐκείνη ἦν. οἱ δὲ ἔτι ἐν ἐκείνῃ σφραγιζόμενοι, κἄν τε πάντα τὸν νόμον φυλάξωσιν, οὐκέτι αὐτοῖς λογισθήσεται νόμου φύλαξις· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ὁ νόμος ἔλεγεν περὶ Χριστοῦ ὅτι «προφήτην ἐγερεῖ ὑμῖν κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐκ τῶν ἀδελφῶν μου ὡς ἐμέ, αὐτοῦ ἀκούσετε». αὐτῶν δὲ τοῦ Χριστοῦ μὴ ἀκουσάντων, «ἡ περιτομὴ ἀκροβυστία αὐτοῖς γίνεται» καὶ ἡ φύλαξις τοῦ νόμου οὐκέτι φύλαξις. καλὸς τοίνυν ὁ νόμος καὶ καλὴ ἡ περιτομή, ἀφ' οὗ καὶ ἀφ' ἧς ἔγνωμεν Χριστὸν καὶ τὸν ἐντελέστερον αὐτοῦ νόμον καὶ τὴν ἐντελεστέραν αὐτοῦ περιτομήν. Ἀπὸ τῆς πρὸς Κορινθίους ἐπιστολῆς ˉα· αὕτη γὰρ παρ' αὐτοῖς δευτέρα καὶ παρ' ἡμῖν. ˉα 20καὶ20 ˉθ 20σχόλιον20. «Γέγραπται γάρ· ἀπολῶ τὴν σοφίαν τῶν σοφῶν καὶ τὴν σύνεσιν τῶν συνετῶν ἀθετήσω». ˉα 20καὶ20 ˉθ 20ἔλεγχος20. Εἰ ἀπὸ τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐν τοῖς προφήταις ἀναλέγεται ὁ ἀπόστολος μαρτυρίας εἰς παράστασιν ἀληθείας καὶ ἀγαθῆς διδασκαλίας, οὐκ ἀλλότριοι οἱ προφῆται τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀγαθῆς αὐτοῦ διδασκαλίας. ˉβ 20καὶ20 ˉι 20σχόλιον20. «Ἵνα, καθὼς γέγραπται, ὁ καυχώμενος ἐν κυρίῳ καυχάσθω». ˉβ 20καὶ20 ˉι 20ἔλεγχος20. Εἰ ἐπαινετὸς ὑπάρχει ὁ καυχώμενος ἐν κυρίῳ παρὰ τῷ προφήτῃ, κύριον δὲ οἶδεν τὸν θεὸν τοῦ νόμου τὸν παρὰ 2.160 σοί, ὦ Μαρκίων, καὶ κριτὴν καὶ δημιουργὸν καὶ δίκαιον καλούμενον. οὐκ ἄλλος ἐστὶν οὗτος παρὰ τὸν τοῦ Χριστοῦ πατέρα, οὗ μαθητὴς ὑπάρχει Παῦλος· ἐπειδήπερ ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ προφήτου διδασκαλίας ὁ διδάσκαλος κατασταθεὶς τῶν ἐθνῶν ὑπὸ Χριστοῦ Παῦλος ἀπὸ τῶν ὁμοίων καὶ τῶν αὐτῶν διδασκαλιῶν ἀνιμώμενος ὡς καθαρὸν ὕδωρ ἀρδεύει ἣν πεπίστευται ἐκκλησίαν. ˉγ 20καὶ20 ˉιˉα 20σχόλιον20. «Τῶν ἀρχόντων τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου τῶν καταργουμένων». ˉγ 20καὶ20 ˉιˉα 20ἔλεγχος20. Εἰ ἄρχοντες τοῦ αἰῶνος τούτου πολλοί, καταργοῦνται δὲ οἱ τοιοῦτοι, ἀναγκασθήσῃ, ὦ Μαρκίων, οὐκέτι τριῶν ἀρχῶν ζητεῖν τὰς ῥίζας, ἀλλὰ ἐρευνῆσαι σαυτῷ ἄλλον μῦθον πολλῶν ἀρχῶν καὶ πολλῶν ῥιζῶν καὶ πολλῆς τραγῳδίας. καὶ ὅταν συκοφαντῶν πλάσῃς οὐ γὰρ εὕροις, συναντήσει σοι τό «καταργουμένων»· ἐκ δὲ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ λέγοντος «καταργουμένων» ἀναιρεθήσεται ἡ παρὰ σοῦ φανταζομένη ἄναρχος τῶν ἀρχῶν ῥίζα. πᾶν γὰρ τὸ λῆγον οὐκ ἀίδιον ὑπάρχει, ἀλλὰ εἰ ἀρχὴν ἔσχε τοῦ εἶναι, καὶ τέλος ὑφέξει. ἀδύνατον γὰρ τὸ ἀρχὴν ἐσχηκὸς διαιωνίζειν ἀιδίως, εἰ μή τι ἂν θέλοι τὸ ὄν, αἴτιον γενόμενον τοῦ μὴ