Friday, December 14, 2012

Is It Possible That This is What the Equivalent of the Tenth Chapter of the Marcionite Edition of Romans Looked Like?

μὴ συσχηματίζεσθε τῷ αἰῶνι τούτῳ, ἀλλὰ μεταμορφοῦσθε τῇ ἀνακαινώσει τοῦ νοός, εἰς τὸ δοκιμάζειν ὑμᾶς τί τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ,  τὸ ἀγαθὸν καὶ εὐάρεστον καὶ τέλειον.  καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη ἀνυπόκριτος ἔστω ἡμῖν, αὐτοί τε ἀποστυγοῦντες τὸ πονηρὸν γινώμεθα, κολλώμενοι τῷ ἀγαθῷ τῇ φιλαδελφίᾳ καὶ εἰ δυνατόν, τὸ ἐξ ὑμῶν, μετὰ πάντων ἀνθρώπων εἰρηνεύοντες. ἔπειτα μὴ νικῶ λέγει ὑπὸ τοῦ κακοῦ, ἀλλὰ νίκα ἐν τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ κακόν. μαρτυρω γαρ αυτοις οτι ζηλον θεου εχουσιν αλλ ου κατ επιγνωσιν, ἀλλ' οὐ κατ' ἐπίγνωσιν· ἀγνοοῦντες γὰρ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην, καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ζητοῦντες στῆσαι, τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐχ ὑπετάγησαν· οὐ γὰρ τὸ βούλημα τοῦ νόμου ἔγνωσάν τε καὶ ἐποίησαν, ἀλλ' ὃ ὑπέλαβον αὐτοί, τοῦτο καὶ βούλεσθαι τὸν νόμον ᾠήθησαν· οὐδ' ὡς προφητεύοντι τῷ νόμῳ ἐπίστευσαν, λόγῳ δὲ ψιλῷ καὶ φόβῳ, ἀλλ' οὐ διαθέσει καὶ πίστει ἠκολούθησαν· τέλος γὰρ νόμου Χριστὸς εἰς δικαιοσύνην, ὁ ὑπὸ νόμου προφητευθείς, παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι

Be not conformed, to this world: but be ye transformed in the renewal of the mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Be not conformed, to this world: but be ye transformed in the renewal of the mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Let your love be without dissimulation, and abhorring what is evil, let us become attached to what is good, to brotherly love, and if it be possible, as much as lieth in you, living peaceably with all men.  Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.  For I bear witness that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to everyone that believes. 

The 'Jews' clearly are identified in the original citation as 'the world' - a thoroughly Marcionite understanding.  Have to clean up the Greek text taken from Strom 2.9.

But look at how Stromata 2.9 continues to follow Romans 10 into chapter 11 in what immediately follows but:

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness," who was prophesied by the law to every one that believeth. Whence it was said to them by Moses, "I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are not a people; and I will anger you by a foolish nation, (Rom 10:19)  that is, by one that has become disposed to obedience." And by Isaiah it is said, "I was found of them that sought Me not; I was made manifest to them that inquired not after Me," (Rom 10:20) -- manifestly previous to the coming of the Lord; after which to lsrael, the things prophesied, are now appropriately spoken: "I have stretched out My hands all the day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people." Do you see the cause of the calling from among the nations, clearly declared, by the prophet, to be the disobedience and gainsaying of the people? Then the goodness of God is shown also in their case. For the apostle says, "But through their transgression salvation is come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy," (Rom 11.11) and to willingness to repent.
τέλος γὰρ νόμου Χριστὸς εἰς δικαιοσύνην, ὁ ὑπὸ νόμου προφητευθείς, παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι. ὅθεν εἴρηται τούτοις παρὰ Μωυσέως· ἐγὼ παραζηλώσω ὑμᾶς ἐπ' οὐκ ἔθνει, ἐπ' ἔθνει ἀσυνέτῳ παροργιῶ ὑμᾶς, τῷ εἰς ὑπακοὴν δηλονότι εὐτρεπεῖ γενομένῳ. καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου εὑρέθην λέγει τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ζητοῦσιν, ἐμφανὴς ἐγενόμην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ἐπερωτῶσι, πρὸ τῆς τοῦ κυρίου παρουσίας δηλαδή, μεθ' ἣν καὶ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἐκεῖνα τὰ προφητευθέντα οἰκείως λέγεται νῦν· ἐξεπέτασα τὰς χεῖράς μου ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐπὶ λαὸν ἀπειθοῦντα καὶ ἀντιλέγοντα. ὁρᾷς τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἐξ ἐθνῶν κλήσεως σαφῶς πρὸς τοῦ προφήτου ἀπείθειαν τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ ἀντιλογίαν εἰρημένην; εἶθ' ἡ ἀγαθότης καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις δείκνυται τοῦ θεοῦ· φησὶ γὰρ ὁ ἀπόστολος· ἀλλὰ τῷ αὐτῶν παραπτώματι ἡ σωτηρία τοῖς ἔθνεσιν εἰς τὸ παραζηλῶσαι αὐτοὺς καὶ μετανοῆσαι βουληθῆναι.

There can be no doubt that this entire section is following the section in Romans 10.  The question is whether or not all of this material was originally in Clement's text.  My guess is that it was because it continues the 'Israel rejected' theme from earlier on but the red marks clear interpolations from a later hand.



Email stephan.h.huller@gmail.com with comments or questions.


 
Stephan Huller's Observations by Stephan Huller
is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.