Marcion and his Bible

In the 2nd century AD, a church leader divided over his views of the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. To the congregation in Rome, Marcion supposedly said, “I will divide your Church and cause within her a division, which will last forever.” His history comes primarily from the surviving material of those who wrote against his heresies. There are some discrepancies in the history, but generally, it is as follows.[i]
 
Marcion
Marcion was born in Sinope of Pontus, in Asia Minor. His father was the bishop/pastor there.[ii] This congregation possibly excluded Marcion for immorality (though some think his seducing a virgin is meant metaphorically).[iii] The exclusion story may be incorrect. Marcion appears to be recognized as a bishop when he reached Rome. Regardless, he left Sinope and went to Rome around AD 140. Rhodon and Tertullian describe him as a ship owner, and he apparently was a man of some means.[iv]
 
Marcion separated and founded his own church in AD 144, and created a canon of biblical texts that same year. Marcion compiled an abbreviated New Testament, consisting of a gospel and ten letters of Paul (edited by Marcion). He also wrote a work called Antithesis. It is possible that the “Antithesis” is simply Marcion’s writings over time in which he promoted and defended his position.[v] If it is a single book, it is lost. However, much of what Marcion taught can be found in what other writers wrote against him, and Epiphanius provides much comparison of his Bible verses.
 
The church of Marcion appears to have been a widespread competitor with the early churches of Christ.[vi] This church persisted for several centuries after his death. Once well established politically, the Roman Catholic Church gained the upper hand, as they did with others, by persecution of the people and destruction of their writings. It lived much longer in the East. In recent years there has been a move to restore or reconstruct the Marcionite Church.
 
The primary writers and writings against Marcion include:
Justin Martyr refers to the Marcionites in his first Apology.[vii] He mentions that Marcion is still alive at the time of his writing (circa AD 150-160), and that Marcion taught “his disciples to believe in some other god greater than the Creator.” This acknowledges some of the differences in belief regarding the Old Testament. Marcion thought that God of the Old Testament was the creator, but not the same as the God of the New Testament.
 
Irenaeus (circa AD 176) refers to Marcion a number of times in Against Heresies, especially in Book III. He recounts:

And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, “Dost thou know me?” “I do know thee, the first-born of Satan.”

Rhodo of Asia (or Rhodon, circa AD 180-192) wrote a treatise against Marcion. It is lost. However, Eusebius refers to it in his Church History (Book V, Chapter 13) and gives some references.
 
Tertullian (active writing circa AD 197-220) is a primary source of information about Marcion. He wrote his Adversus Marcionem – in five books – in AD 207. According to Tertullian, Marcion forbids marriage as sinful.

To put a complete stop, however, to the sowing of the human race, may, for aught I know, be quite consistent for Marcion’s most good and excellent god. For how could he desire the salvation of man, whom he forbids to be born, when he takes away that institution from which his birth arises? How will he find any one on whom to set the mark of his goodness, when he suffers him not to come into existence?

Hippolytus of Rome (circa AD 220) speaks of Marcion in his Refutation of All Heresies, Book VII (See Ante Nicene Christian Library, Volume VI, The Refutation of All Heresies, by Hippolytus of Rome).
 
Epiphanius of Salamis wrote his work against heresies in AD 374 (see The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: A Treatise Against Eighty Sects in Three Books, Chapters XLII-XLIV). Epiphanius cites Marcion’s Bible texts, showing where his New Testament differs from the canonical text. Marcion’s original text is in Greek, but not extant, so far as I know.[viii]
 
Marcion’s Bible
Marcion’s Bible contained a truncated Gospel of Luke (called The Gospel of the Lord, or the Evangelicon), ten epistles of Paul (the Apostolikon), edited by Marcion—and no Old Testament.[ix] According to Marcion and his church “The Hebrew bible (Old Testament) and the carnal deity portrayed within it, is antithetical to the words and teachings of Jesus Christ - the proof is self-evident. It represents an alien culture and religion diametrically opposed to the God revealed to us through Jesus Christ and The Gospel of the Lord.” It seems that Marcion did not deny the history of the Old Testament, such as the creation of the world, and the story of Moses and Israel, but rather denied it had anything to do with the Christian God. Below is an example of Marcion’s editing of Paul:

Laodiceans 3:9: “…the mystery, which has been hidden from the ages; hidden from God, that is, the one who created all things”
Ephesians 3:9 “…the mystery,  which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ”

The original Bible manuscripts of Marcion have not survived to the present. Modern day Marcionites have reconstructed the Marcionite text in recent times from quotes by early Christian writers. The reconstruction work hinges on the idea that the anti-Marcionites focused on the passages that were different and controversial, while in other places the Marcionite text likely was the same or very similar to the text of the canonical Bible accepted by a majority of Christian denominations. Therefore, they use the known text of the canonical Bible to fill in the gaps of the Marcionite Bible. It is my assumption that the restored Marcionite Christian Church created their recently printed The Very First Bible in this manner.  
 
However, when the Vatican Library (Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana) began digitizing many of its ancient manuscripts, a possible Latin copy related to Marcion’s Bible emerged – titled S. Pauli apostoli epistolae, with author listing as Hieronymus (Jerome) and Marcion di Sinope. It differs from the Marcion Canon by including First and Second Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews, as well as having the title of one book Ephesians rather than Laodiceans.[x] This Manuscript is displayed on the Vatican Library web site.
 
Concluding thoughts
Concerning the religion of Marcion, it proves the need of the warning of the Paul the apostle, “Take heed…after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.” Heresies rose early and often. Unlike Marcion, Paul knew, loved, and used the Old Testament.
 
Concerning the true Bible, Marcion’s Canon reveals some things of interest. First, it should teach us that the followers of Jesus knew and considered the apostolic writings canonical very early. Despite taking penknife in hand to cut the writings of Luke and Paul, Marcion left a mark that Luke’s Gospel and Paul’s writings were already accepted as canonical by the churches before AD 144. Knowing that he pared down Luke’s Gospel and Paul’s epistles, we know that Marcion likely started with a larger body of writings accepted as inspired, then removed entire books from the list in addition to editing the ones that he kept.[xi] By rejecting and removing other New Testament books such as the synoptic Gospels and the writings of Peter, James and John, Marcion proves they were in use and accepted by many as scripture.

Marcion did not canonize the first Bible. His work and the responses against it, rather, suggest that he adulterated and falsified the original New Testament as it already existed.

---

---

[i] Adolf von Harnack (1851-1930), German theologian and historian, produced what may still be the definitive work on Marcion – Marcion:  Das  Evangelium  vom  fremden  Gott (or, Marcion and the Gospel of the Alien God) in German in 1921 and enlarged in 1924. I only point to it. I have not read it.
[ii] Now known as Sinop, in Turkey. Note also, re the father of Marcion, that the “Romanized” forbidding bishops to marry was not in existence in this church at that time.
[iii] Epiphanius says that Marcion sought to join the church in Rome, but they refused him because the church in Sinope had excommunicated him. Modern Roman Catholics reject the story because it implies that the Roman Church could not or would not override the decision of the church in Pontus. However, remember, there was no such thing as the Roman Catholic Church in AD 140! See The Antiquities of the Christian Church (Joseph Bingham, p. 416).
[iv] According to Tertullian, Marcion gave the church at Rome a gift of 200 sesterces soon after his arrival. See The Prescription Against Heretics, Chapter 30.
[v] Perhaps to a large degree, the antithesis is between what he saw as the different “Gods” of the Old and New Testaments. The Marcionite Research Library gives this reconstruction of Marcion’s Antithesis.
[vi] By churches of Christ, I mean biblical churches like the ones in New Testament founded by the apostles. In Marcion’s day, other heretics of various stripes also vied to be recognized as the church of Christ.
[vii] Irenaeus mentions a writing by Justin Martyr that he calls Syntagma pros Markiona. It is not extant.
[viii] When I inquired about the provenance of Marcion’s Bible, the Outreach Director of the Marcionite Christian Church was a bit tight-lipped about it. However, this seems to be the case of the matter. As we know, Paul wrote his original in Greek. Marcion transcribed and edited Paul’s letters, also in Greek. Portions that had been found in early Christian writings and translated into English, combined with missing parts of the Marcion Canon which we have in English in standard Christian Bibles, made up an English version of Marcion’s Bible. The reconstituted Marcionite Christian Church has translated this into Spanish. Apparently the discovery of the possible Latin translation of Marcion’s Bible is too recent to have had any impact on scholars’s knowledge of it.
[ix] The ten edited epistles of Paul are: Galatians, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Romans, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, Laodiceans (our Ephesians), Colossians, Philemon and Philippians.
[x] Ad Romanos, Ad Corinthios I, Ad Corinthios II, Ad Galatas, Ad Ephesios, Ad Philippenses, Ad Colossenses, Ad Thessalonicenses I, Ad Thessalonicenses II, Ad Timotheum I, Ad Timotheum II, Ad Titum, Ad Philemonem, and Ad Hebreos. The present-day Marcionites conclude that Jerome added I Timothy, II Timothy, Titus, and Hebrews. In other words, Jerome translated the Greek Marcionite Bible, at least Paul’s epistles, into Latin and edited it. See “First Bible ‘vindicated’ after Vatican release shows Epistles based on Marcionite scripture”.
[xi] For example, Paul quotes from the Gospel of Matthew as scripture in 1 Timothy 5:18, showing both that it was already written at the time and considered scripture.