Against Marcion 1.28
Summary: Marcion's god hands sinners over to the Creator's fire, and his baptism makes no sense: he forgives sins he never charged, frees from a death he never imposed, and washes flesh he will not save.
Latin text · CSEL 47:329–330
Exitus autem illi abiecto quis? ab igni, inquiunt, creatoris deprehendetur. adeone nullum habet elementum uel in hanc causam prouisum, quo peccatores suos uel sine saeuitia releget, ne illos dedat creatori? quid tunc creator? credo. sulphuratiorem eis gehennam praeparabit, ut blasphemis suis scilicet; nisi quod deus zelotes fortassean desertoribus aduersarii sui parcat. o deum usquequaque peruersum, ubique inrationalem, in omnibus uanum, atque ita neminem! cuius non statum, non condicionem, non naturam, non ullum ordinem uideo consistere, iam nec ipsum fidei eius sacramentum. cui enim rei baptisma quoque apud eum exigitur? si remissio delictorum est, quomodo uidebitur delicta dimittere qui non uidebitur retinere, quia, si retineret, iudicaret? si absolutio mortis est, quomodo absoluet a morte qui non deuinxit ad mortem? damnasset enim, si a primordio deuinxisset. si regeneratio est hominis, quomodo regenerat qui non generauit? iteratio enim non competit ei, a quo quid nec semel factum est. si consecutio est spiritus sancti, quomodo spiritum adtribuet qui animam non prius contulit? quia suffectura est quodammodo spiritus animae. signat igitur hominem numquam apud se resignatum, lauat hominem numquam apud se coinquinatum. et in hoc totum salutis sacramentum carnem mergit exortem salutis? nec rusticus terram rigabit fructum non relaturam. nisi tam uanus quam deus Marcionis. proinde. cum tantam siue sarcinam siue gloriam infirmissimae aut indignissimae carni imponit sanctitatem, quid aut onerat infirmam aut exornat indignam? quid non salute remunerat quam onerat uel exornat? quid fraudat mercedem operis, non rependens carni salutem? quid et honorem sanctitatis in illa mori patitur?
English · Claude translation
And what is the end of that castaway? “He will be seized,” they say, “by the Creator's fire.” Has their god, then, no element provided even for this purpose, by which he might banish his sinners, even without cruelty, rather than hand them over to the Creator? And what will the Creator do then? I suppose he will prepare them a Gehenna with extra sulphur, as for his blasphemers — unless perhaps, being a jealous God, he spares those who desert his adversary. O god perverse at every point, everywhere irrational, empty in everything, and so no one at all! I see neither his state nor his condition nor his nature nor any order in him hold together — no, not even the very sacrament of his faith. For to what purpose does he too require baptism? If it is the remission of sins, how will he be seen to remit sins who is not seen to retain them? For if he retained them, he would judge. If it is release from death, how will he release from death who did not bind to death? For he would have condemned, if he had bound from the beginning. If it is man's regeneration, how does he regenerate who did not generate? For doing again does not suit one by whom a thing was not done even once. If it is the obtaining of the Holy Spirit, how will he grant the Spirit who did not first give the soul? For the Spirit is in a sense the complement of the soul. So he seals a man who has never been unsealed with him, washes a man who has never been defiled with him; and into this whole sacrament of salvation he plunges flesh that has no share in salvation? Not even a farmer will water land that will yield no fruit — unless he is as foolish as Marcion's god. Accordingly, when he lays on the weakest or most unworthy flesh so great a holiness, whether as burden or as glory, why does he either burden it when it is weak or adorn it when it is unworthy? Why does he not reward with salvation what he burdens or adorns? Why does he cheat it of the wages of its work, not repaying the flesh with salvation? Why does he even let the honour of holiness die in it?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The four meanings of baptism named here — remission of sins, release from death, regeneration, and receiving the Holy Spirit — are also treated in Tertullian's On Baptism.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (OCR: n read as u.; OCR: “siue … siue” pair.): elemeutum → elementum; sine sarcinam siue → siue sarcinam siue.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Marc. 1.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/1/28/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Marc. 1.28 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/1/28/).
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