THE HALL OF HERESIES: MARCIONISM
One of the subjects that recently captured the curiosity of many is Marcionism. It made noise today just as it did in the past. This heresy was a huge problem before, and it can be said that even now it still disturbs us. Heresies are dangerous because they misrepresent who God is and mislead believers from following the truth. And Marcionism is notorious for doing these things.
Marcion (c. 80–160 AD) came from Pontus (modern-day Turkey) and was said to be the son of a bishop in the second century. Because the early Christian churches rejected his teachings and excommunicated him in 144 AD, he ended up building his own church, which later expanded and became a headache for early church fathers such as Irenaeus and Tertullian. Aside from his strange beliefs, Marcion was also known for forming his own canon or official list of biblical books. He rejected the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible as the Word of God, selected only certain portions of the Gospel of Luke, and included edited versions of 10 of Paul’s letters. For him, those were the only authoritative Word of God; the rest were not.
For Marcion, there were two Gods—the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. The OT God, or Hebrew God, he claimed, was an unstable and violent demiurge (a lesser deity), who was also the Creator and Law-giver. Meanwhile, the NT God was the previously unknown Father of Jesus, a God of mercy and love, who sent Christ. He believed that God’s character and actions in the OT were contradictory to what was revealed in the NT, and so concluded they were not the same. Because of this, he did not recognize the OT as inspired Scripture and declared that only Paul was a legitimate apostle, while the rest were fakes for promoting the Hebrew God. He exaggerated the contrast between law and grace, making it seem like they were entirely opposed. Marcionites also promoted asceticism (avoidance of all forms of pleasure) and argued that avoiding sex would frustrate the Hebrew God. Thus, only the unmarried and abstinent were allowed to be baptized.
His actions in picking and choosing books to support his views prompted the early church to define the official canon of the inspired Word of God. This step not only refuted Marcionism but also benefits us today. Irenaeus even wrote Against Heresies to counter false teachings, including Marcionism. Tertullian, on the other hand, wrote five books titled Against Marcion. (We can really feel Tertullian’s frustration—imagine, five books!) The early church leaders demonstrated through their writings the unity of God in both the OT and NT. There are not two gods—one good and one evil. They also showed that God’s plan to save humanity is evident as early as the OT and fulfilled in the NT. This directly refuted Marcion’s claim of complete discontinuity between law and grace.
Although Marcionism is long dead, it still haunts us. While no Christian group today openly supports this heresy, traces of it can still be observed in many teachings and practices. Groups that promote the prosperity gospel share close similarities with Marcionism. Since they only choose passages that portray God as loving and merciful, they present an unbalanced image of Him. Teachers and preachers who seem to limit Bible reading, whether public or private, only to the NT or to Paul’s writings, are essentially doing the same thing Marcion did—cherry-picking passages they like. Similarly, those who downplay or feel embarrassed by the OT are at risk of committing the same error; they might think the OT God is hateful, and only Christ of the NT is gracious. They might wrongly conclude that the law is bad and contrary to grace.
There are even some who teach today that, because they cannot reconcile certain verses, they portray them as coming from different gods, or claim that one is right and the other wrong. Just last year, a well-known local pastor trended online for expressing views that closely resembled Marcionism. (But since he later retracted them, let’s not mention his name anymore.) I also recall hearing a pastor explain why James seems to say something different from Paul. James says, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:17), while Paul says, “we are saved by faith, not by works” (Ephesians 2:8–9). According to him, James was “under law,” while Paul was “under grace.” In other words, James was wrong, and Paul is the only one we should follow! See? Even now some still believe Paul alone is the legitimate apostle. Marcion may be gone, but his influence can still be seen here and there.
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Whether we admit it or not, it can sometimes be challenging to understand the character and actions of God in Scripture. But that’s no reason to assume there are different gods in the Bible, or that the Bible contradicts itself. Both the OT and NT affirm His unchanging nature (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8; James 1:7). We have one and the same unchanging God, who is both just and gracious, firm and loving. We have no right to pick and choose only what we like. To do that is to follow a god inconsistent with the revelation of Scripture. In other words, that’s worshiping a false god. Stay Curious.
Sources and Studies:
Edgar, W. and Oliphint S. (Gen. Ed.) (2009). “Marcionism”. 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘗𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵. Crossway Books.
Vanhoozer, K. (Gen.Ed.). (2005). “Paul’s Earliest Interpreters” . 𝘋𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦. Baker Books House
Geisler N. (1999). “Bible, Canonicity of.” 𝘉𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳 𝘌𝘯𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴. Baker Books.
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