Sunday, November 17, 2013

"Marcion is Given Special Prominence in the Commentary [of Jerome]" But No Mention of Galatians Being First in their Canon

Of course the source of his knowledge of the Marcionites develops from Origen's lost Commentary.  Origen was particularly close to at least one Marcionite - his patron Ambrose.  Marcion is introduced right at the beginning of the introduction in the Commentary on Galatians with words most agree, came from Origen.  We read:

The heresy of Ebion and Photinus must be repelled because our Lord Jesus Christ is God: the Apostle, who was sent by Christ to preach the Gospel, denies that he was sent by man. Other heresies creep in the door and insinuate that Christ did not have a real body and that he is God but not man. There is also a new heresy that rips apart the incarnate humanity of Christ. The faith of the church, then, is trapped among formidable shipwrecks of false teaching. If it confesses that Christ is [only] man, then Ebion and Photinus gain ground. If it contends that he is [only] God, then Mani, Marcion, and the author of the new teaching all bubble up to the surface. Let each and every one of them hear that Christ is both God and man—not that one is God and the other man, but rather that he who is God from all eternity deigned to become man in order to save us.

We should be aware that the phrase “and through God the Father” is not found in Marcion's version of the Apostle. Marcion wished to present Christ as having been resurrected not by God the Father but through his own power, just as Christ says, “Tear down this temple and I shall raise it up on the third day,” and elsewhere, “No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." [Cain translation p. 65]

This certainly sounds to me like yet another proof that the gospel of Marcion included information from John. This is consistently reported in Origen and other sources (cf. his testimony that the Marcionites and Valentinians thought the Paraclete was Paul in Homilies on Luke.


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