Herejía marcionita

ANTITHESIS


Contradictions Between the Old Testament Diety and the New Testament God.

O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and Contradictions [antithesis] of gnosis falsley so called.
- from the pseudo-Pauline epistle of I Timothy 6:20 (circ.150 C.E.).
This page represents a short exercise on my part (rather loose and by no means comprehensive)- the purpose of which is to provide a brief glimpse into Marcion's lost work, "Antithesis", which can be best described as a Marcionite commentary on the New Testament, which set forth contrasts on passages( via narrative commentary, or by the presentation of OT and NT scriptures side-by-side) between the Hebrew diety and the Alien God. It is not certain how this work was actually arranged, whether a separate work apart from Marcion's canon, or a commentary incorporated into it. For the first part of this exercise, an attempt is made here to extract and construct from Tertullian's hostile witness (Adversus Marcionem) a Marcionite narrative, so as to allow the marcionite voice to express its views on the following three subjects:
I. The Creator God and the Supreme God,
II. The Inconsistancies of the Creator God, and
III. The Two Christs.

For the second half of this exercise, a simple side-by-side presentation of OT and NT scriptures is given, which demonstrates the contradictions between the OT Creator God and the NT Supreme God. I must emphasize that this is a loose presentation, in that I have not confined myself to citing only passages which appeared in Marcion's canon, but have made free use of other canonical material as well. In any event, this will at least provide the reader a general idea of what Marcion's work "Antithesis" may have been like. For a further in-depth discussion on Marcion's "Antithesis", see Adolf Von Harnack's work, "Marcion: The Gospel of the Alien God" (pp.53-63; E.T. Labyrinth Press, 1990).

I. The Creator God and the Supreme God

For an evil tree bringeth forth not good fruit; neither does a good tree bring forth evil fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. Luke 6:43,44a
I am the Lord, and there is none else; I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil...
Isaiah 45:6,7

I create evil - This god is the author of evil - there must be another God, after the analogy of the good tree producing its good fruit. In Christ is found a different disposition, one of a simple and pure benevolence - which differs from the Creator.
In Christ a new God is revealed.

The Creator God is judicial, harsh, and mighty in war.
The Supreme God is gentle and simply good and excellent.
The title "God" is a vague one, and applied to other Beings as well; as it is written, " He standeth in the congregation of the mighty"; "He judgeth among the gods" (Psalm 82:1,6), "Ye are gods". Thus as the attribute of supremacy would be inappropriate to these, although they be called gods, so it is to the Creator.
Jesus Christ and none else revealed a new God, who, in the Old world and in the Old time and under the Old God was unknown and unheard of ; Whom is accounted by no one through long centuries back, and ancient in men's very ignorance of Him - even in ancient names He was unknown and concealed. He had remained unknown by any works from the beginning. Even the Creator was unaware of the Supreme God being above himself, Who, although He did not manifest Himself from the beginning and by means of the creation, has yet revealed Himself in Christ Jesus.
To be sure, this world is a grand work, worthy of a god. Yet the Supreme God has a creation of His own, and His own world, and His own sky. One work is sufficient for our God: He has delivered man by His supreme and most excellent goodness, which is preferable to the creation of all the locusts. A primary and perfect goodness is shed voluntarily and freely upon strangers without any obligation of friendship, on the principle that we are bidden to love our enemies, who as such on that very account are strangers to us.
The Supreme God is susceptible to no feeling of rivalry, or anger, or damage, or injury . He inflicts no punishment and takes no offence, and is not feared, as a good being ought not to be an object of fear, as a judicial being, in whom resides the grounds for fear - anger, severity, judgements, vengence, and condemnation.