Against Marcion 1.10
Summary: The Creator has been known since creation, not only since Moses: every human soul naturally speaks of God, so he was never unknown, even in Pontus.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Latin text · CSEL 47:302–303
siquidem a primordio rerum conditor harum cum ipsis pariter compertus est, ipsis ad hoc prolatis, ut deus cognosceretur. nec enim si aliquanto posterior Moyses primus uidetur in templo litterarum suarum deum mundi dedicasse, idcirco a Pentateucho natales agnitionis supputabuntur, cum totus Moysei stilus notitiam creatoris non instituat, sed a primordio enarret, a paradiso et Adam, non ab Aegypto et Moyse recensendam, denique maior popularitas generis humani, ne nominis quidem Moysei compotes, nedum instrumenti, deum Moysei tamen norunt; etiam tantam idolatria dominationem obumbrante, seorsum tamen illum quasi proprio nomine deum perhibent et deum deorum et si deus dederit et quod deo placet et deo commendo. uide, an nouerint quem omnia posse testantur. nec hoc ullis Moysei libris debent. ante anima quam prophetia. animae enim a primordio conscientia dei dos est; eadem nec alia et in Aegyptiis et in Syris et in Ponticis. [Iudaeorum enim deum dicunt animae deum.] noli, barbare haeretice, priorem Abraham constituere quam mundum. et si unius familiae deus fuisset creator, tamen posterior tuo non erat, etiam Ponticis ante eum notus. accipiat igitur ab antecessore formam, a certo incertus, a cognito incognitus: numquam deus latebit, numquam deus deerit, semper intellegetur, semper audietur, etiam uidebitur, quomodo uolet. habet deus testimonia: totum hoc quod sumus et in quo sumus. sic probatur et deus et unus, dum non ignoratur, alio adhuc probari laborante.
English · Claude translation
since from the beginning of things their Maker was discovered along with them, and they were brought forth for this very purpose, that God might be known. For even if Moses, somewhat later, seems to have been the first to dedicate the God of the world in the temple of his writings, the birth of acknowledgment will not for that reason be reckoned from the Pentateuch; for the whole of Moses' pen does not institute knowledge of the Creator but narrates it from the beginning, to be traced from paradise and Adam, not from Egypt and Moses. Indeed, the greater part of the human race, who have not even heard the name of Moses, let alone his writings, nevertheless know the God of Moses. Even while idolatry overshadows them with so great a dominion, they still speak of him apart, as though by a proper name, as “God,” and “God of gods,” and “if God grant,” and “what pleases God,” and “I commend it to God.” See whether they know him whom they testify to be able to do all things. Nor do they owe this to any books of Moses. The soul came before prophecy. For the consciousness of God is the soul's dowry from the beginning, the same and no other in Egyptians, in Syrians, and in the people of Pontus. Do not, barbarous heretic, make Abraham earlier than the world. Even if the Creator had been the God of one family, he would still not have been later than yours: he was known even to the people of Pontus before him. Let yours, then, take his pattern from his predecessor, the uncertain from the certain, the unknown from the known. Never will God be hidden, never will God be lacking; he will always be understood, always heard, even seen, in the way he wills. God has witnesses: all this that we are and in which we are. Thus he is proved both God and one, in that he is not unknown, while the other still labours to be proved.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The appeal to the soul's spontaneous witness (“God grant,” “I commend it to God”) is developed in Tertullian's The Testimony of the Soul; cf. Rom 1:19–20. The editor deletes the sentence “Iudaeorum enim deum dicunt animae deum” (“for they call the God of the Jews the God of the soul”) as spurious; it is left out of the translation.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Stray letter (line marker) in the digital text.; Stray marks in the digital text.): ut deus cognosceretur. I nec → ut deus cognosceretur. nec; nomine deum') → nomine deum.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Marc. 1.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/1/10/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Marc. 1.10 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/1/10/).
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