Chapter II.—St. Luke’s Gospel, Selected by Marcion as His Authority, and Mutilated by Him.  The Other Gospels Equally Authoritative.  Marcion’s Terms of Discussion, However, Accepted, and Grappled with on the Footing of St. Luke’s Gospel Alone.

You have now our answer to the Antitheses compendiously indicated by us.1195    Expeditam a nobis.    Cum cognoveris unde sit. I pass on to give a proof of the Gospel1196    [The term εὐαγγέλιον was often employed for a written book, says Kaye (p. 298), who refers to Book i. cap. 1. supra, etc.]    Materiam.—not, to be sure, of Jewry, but of Pontus—having become meanwhile1197    Interim, perhaps “occasionally.”    We have already more than once referred to Marcion’s preference for St. Paul. “The reason of the preference thus given to that apostle was his constant and strenuous opposition to the Judaizing Christians, who wished to reimpose the yoke of the Jewish ceremonies on the necks of their brethren.  This opposition the Marcionites wished to construe into a direct denial of the authority of the Mosaic law. They contended also from St. Paul’s assertion, that he received his appointment to the apostolic office not from man, but from Christ, that he alone delivered the genuine doctrines of the gospel. This deference for St. Paul accounts also for Marcion’s accepting St. Luke’s Gospel as the only authentic one, as we saw in the last book of this treatise; it was because that evangelist had been the companion of St. Paul” (Bp. Kaye, On the Writings of Tertullian, 3d edition, pp. 474–475). adulterated; and this shall indicate1198    Præstructuram.    Novus aliqui discipulus. the order by which we proceed. We lay it down as our first position, that the evangelical Testament1199    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.]    Interim. has apostles for its authors,1200    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).    Temere. to whom was assigned by the Lord Himself this office of publishing the gospel. Since, however, there are apostolic1201    Apostolicos, companions of the apostles associated in the authorship.    Agnitione. men also,1202    He means, of course, St. Mark and St. Luke.    Ad sollicitudinem. they are yet not alone, but appear with apostles and after apostles; because the preaching of disciples might be open to the suspicion of an affectation of glory, if there did not accompany it1203    Adsistat illi.    In albo. the authority of the masters, which means that of Christ,1204    Immo Christi.    Ex incursu: in allusion to St. Paul’s sudden conversion, Acts ix. 3–8. [On St. Paul’s Epistles, see p. 324, supra.] for it was that which made the apostles their masters. Of the apostles, therefore, John and Matthew first instil1205    Insinuant.    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.] faith into us; whilst of apostolic men, Luke and Mark renew it afterwards.1206    Instaurant.    In acatos tuas. These all start with the same principles of the faith,1207    Isdem regulis.    Quo symbolo. so far as relates to the one only God the Creator and His Christ, how that He was born of the Virgin, and came to fulfil1208    Supplementum.    Quis illum tituli charactere percusserit. the law and the prophets. Never mind1209    Viderit.    Quis transmiserit tibi. if there does occur some variation in the order of their narratives, provided that there be agreement in the essential matter1210    De capite.    Quis imposuerit. of the faith, in which there is disagreement with Marcion. Marcion, on the other hand, you must know,1211    Scilicet.    Constanter. ascribes no author to his Gospel, as if it could not be allowed him to affix a title to that from which it was no crime (in his eyes) to subvert1212    Evertere.    Ne illius probetur, i.e., to the Catholic, for Marcion did not admit all St. Paul’s epistles (Semler). the very body. And here I might now make a stand, and contend that a work ought not to be recognised, which holds not its head erect, which exhibits no consistency, which gives no promise of credibility from the fulness of its title and the just profession of its author. But we prefer to join issue1213    Congredi.    Omnia apostolatus ejus instrumenta. on every point; nor shall we leave unnoticed1214    Dissimulamus.    Gal. i. 1. what may fairly be understood to be on our side.1215    Ex nostro.    Subscribit. Now, of the authors whom we possess, Marcion seems to have singled out Luke1216    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.]    Actis refert. for his mutilating process.1217    Quem cæderet.    Luke xxi. 8. Luke, however, was not an apostle, but only an apostolic man; not a master, but a disciple, and so inferior to a master—at least as far subsequent to1218    Posterior.    Conversor. him as the apostle whom he followed (and that, no doubt, was Paul1219    See Hieronymi, Catal. Scriptt. Eccles. 7, and Fabricius’ notes.    Jam hinc.) was subsequent to the others; so that, had Marcion even published his Gospel in the name of St. Paul himself, the single authority of the document,1220    Instrumenti.    Gen. xlix. 27, Septuagint, the latter clause being καὶ εἰς τὸ ἑσπέρας δίδωσι τροφήν. destitute of all support from preceding authorities, would not be a sufficient basis for our faith. There would be still wanted that Gospel which St. Paul found in existence, to which he yielded his belief, and with which he so earnestly wished his own to agree, that he actually on that account went up to Jerusalem to know and consult the apostles, “lest he should run, or had been running in vain;”1221    Gal. ii. 2.    Satisfactio. in other words, that the faith which he had learned, and the gospel which he was preaching, might be in accordance with theirs. Then, at last, having conferred with the (primitive) authors, and having agreed with them touching the rule of faith, they joined their hands in fellowship, and divided their labours thenceforth in the office of preaching the gospel, so that they were to go to the Jews, and St. Paul to the Jews and the Gentiles.  Inasmuch, therefore, as the enlightener of St. Luke himself desired the authority of his predecessors for both his own faith and preaching, how much more may not I require for Luke’s Gospel that which was necessary for the Gospel of his master.1222    [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.]    Non aliud portendebat quam.

CAPUT II.

Habes nunc ad antitheses expeditam a nobis responsionem. Transeo nunc ad Evangelii, sane non judaici, sed pontici, interim adulterati demonstrationem, praestructuram ordinem quem aggredimur. Constituimus in primis, evangelicum Instrumentum Apostolos auctores habere, quibus hoc munus Evangelii promulgandi ab ipso Domino sit impositum; si et Apostolicos , non tamen solos, sed cum Apostolis, 0363C et post Apostolos . Quoniam praedicatio discipulorum suspecta fieri posset de gloriae studio, si non adsistat illi auctoritas magistrorum, imo Christi, qui magistros Apostolos fecit. Denique, nobis fidem ex Apostolis Joannes et Matthaeus insinuant; ex Apostolicis, Lucas et Marcus instaurant, iisdem regulis exorsi, quantum ad unicum Deum attinet Creatorem, et Christum ejus, natum ex virgine, supplementum Legis et Prophetarum. Viderit enim si narrationem dispositio variavit, dummodo de capite fidei conveniat, de quo cum Marcione non convenit. Contra Marcion Evangelio, scilicet suo, nullum adscribit auctorem, quasi non licuerit illi titulum quoque affingere, cui nefas non fuit ipsum corpus evertere. Et possem hic jam gradum figere, non agnoscendum contendens 0363D opus, quod non erigat frontem, quod nullam constantiam praeferat, nullam fidem repromittat de plenitudine tituli, et professione debita auctoris. Sed 0364A per omnia congredi malumus , nec dissimulamus quod ex nostro intelligi potest. Nam ex iis commentatoribus quos habemus, Lucam videtur Marcion elegisse, quem caederet. Porro, Lucas non apostolus, sed apostolicus; non magister, sed discipulus; utique magistro minor; certe tanto posterior, quanto posterioris apostoli sectator, Pauli sine dubio: ut, etsi sub ipsius Pauli nomine Evangelium Marcion intulisset, non sufficeret ad fidem singularitas Instrumenti, destituta patrocinio antecessorum; exigeretur enim id quoque Evangelium quod Paulus invenit, cui fidem dedit, cui mox suum congruere gestiit. Siquidem (Gal. II, 1) propterea Hierosolymam ascendit ad cognoscendos Apostolos et consultandos, ne forte in vacuum cucurrisset, id est, ne non secundum illos credidisset, 0364B et non secundum illos evangelizaret. Denique, ut cum auctoribus contulit et convenit de regula fidei; dexteras miscuere, et exinde officia praedicandi distinxerunt, ut illi in Judaeos, Paulus in Judaeos et in nationes. Igitur si ipse illuminator Lucae, auctoritatem antecessorum et fidei et praedicationi suae optavit, quanto magis eam Evangelio Lucae expostulem, quae Evangelio magistri ejus fuit necessaria? Aliud est, si penes Marcionem a discipulatu Lucae coepit religionis christianae sacramentum. Caeterum, si et retro decucurrit, habuit utique authenticam paraturam, per quam ad Lucam usque pervenit, cujus testimonio adsistente, Lucas quoque possit admitti.