Against Marcion 4.39
Summary: The false Christs, the signs of the end, the persecutions of the disciples, and the coming of the Son of Man in Luke 21 all follow the prophets, so that both the troubles before his coming and the blessings after it belong to the Creator's Christ.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Latin text · CSEL 47:552–559
Olim constitit de nominum proprietate, ei illam *, qui prior et Christum suum in homines adnuntiarit et Iesum transnominarit. constabit itaque et de impudentia eius, qui multos dicat uenturos in nomine ipsius, quod non sit ipsius, si non Christus et Iesus creatoris est, ad quem proprietas nominum pertinet. amplius et prohibeat eos recipi, quorum et ipse par sit, ut qui proinde in nomine uenit alieno: si non, ipsius erat a mendacio nominis praeuenire discipulos, qui per proprietatem nominis possidebat ueritatem eius. uenient denique illi dicentes: ego sum Christus: recipies eos, qui consimilem recepisti; nec hic enim in nomine suo uenit. quid nunc? quando et ipse ueniet nominum dominus, Christus et Iesus creatoris, reicies illum? et quam iniquum, quam iniustum et optimo deo indignum, ut non recipias eum in suo nomine uenientem, qui alium in nomine eius recepisti! Videamus et quae signa temporibus imponat: bella, opinor, et regnum super regnum et gentem super gentem et pestem et fames terraeque motus et formidines et prodigia de caelo, quae omnia seuero et atroci deo congruunt. haec cum adicit etiam oportere fieri, quem se praestat? destructorem an probatorem creatoris? cuius dispositiones confirmat impleri oportere, quas ut optimus tam tristes quam atroces abstulisset potius quam constituisset, si non ipsius fuissent ante haec autem persecutiones eis praedicat et passiones euenturas, in martyrium utique et in salutem. accipe praedicatum in Zacharia: dominus, inquit, omnipotens proteget eos et consument illos, et lapidabunt lapidibus fundae et bibent sanguinem illorum uelut uinum et replebunt pateras quasi altaris, et saluos eos faciet dominus illo die uelut oues, populum suum, quia lapides sancti uolutant. et ne putes haec in passiones praedicari, quae illos tot bellorum nomine ab allophylis manebant, respice ad species. nemo in praedicatione bellorum legitimis armis debellandorum lapidationem enumerat popularibus coetibus magis et inermi tumultui familiarem; nemo, tanta in bello sanguinis flumina paterarum capacitate metitur aut unius altaris cruentationi adaequat; nemo oues appellat eos, qui in bello armati et ipsi ex eadem feritate certantes cadunt, sed qui in sua proprietate atque patientia dedentes potius semetipsos quam uindicantes trucidantur. denique: quia lapides, inquit, sancti uolutant, non quia milites pugnant. lapides enim sunt et fundamenta, super quae nos aedificamur, exstructi secundum Paulum super fundamenta apostolorum, qui lapides sancti oppositi omnium offensui uolutant. et hic igitur ipse cogitari uetat, quid responderi oporteat apud tribunalia, qui et Balaae quod non cogitauerat, immo contra quam cogitauerat suggessit et Moysi causato linguae tarditatem os repromisit. et sapientiam ipsam, cui nemo resistet, per Esaiam demonstrauit: hic dicet: ego dei sum, et (hic) clamabit: in nomine Iacob, et alius inscribetur in nomine Israhelis. quid enim sapientius et incontradicibilius confessione simplici et exerta in martyris nomine, cum deo inualescentis, quod est interpretatio Israhelis? nec mirum, si is cohibuit praecogitationem, qui et ipse a patre excepit pronuntiandi tempestiue sumministrationem: dominus mihi dat linguam disciplinae, ** quando debeam proferre sermonem, nisi Marcion Christum non subiectum patri infert. a proximis quoque persecutiones et nominis, ex odio utique, blasphemiam praedicatam non debeo rursus ostendere. sed per tolerantiam, inquit, saluos facietis uosmetipsos, de qua scilicet psalmus: tolerantia iustorum non periet in finem, quia et alibi: honorabilis mors iustorum, ex tolerantia sine dubio, quia et Zacharias: corona autem erit eis, qui tolerauerint. sed ne audeas argumentari apostolos ut alterius dei praecones a Iudaeis uexatos, memento prophetas quoque, eadem a Iudaeis passos, tamen non alterius dei apostolos fuisse quam creatoris. sed monstrato dehinc tempore excidii, cum coepisset uallari exercitibus Hierusalem, signa iam ultimi finis enarrat: solis et lunae siderumque prodigia et in terra angustias nationum obstupescentium uelut a sonitu maris fluctuantis pro expectatione imminentium orbi malorum. quod et ipsae uires caelorum concuti habeant, accipe Iohelem: et dabo prodigia in caelo et in terra sanguinem et ignem et fumi uaporem: sol conuertetur in tenebras et in sanguinem luna, priusquam adueniat dies magnus et inlustris domini. habes et Abacuc: fluminibus disrumpetur terra, uidebunt te et parturient populi: dispergens aquas gressu dedit abyssus sonum suum, sublimitas timoris eius elata est: sol et luna constitit in suo ordine, in lucem coruscationes tuae ibunt, in fulgorem fulgur, scutum tuum: in comminatione tua diminues terram et in indignatione tua depones nationes. conueniunt, opinor, et domini pronuntiationes et prophetarum de concussionibus mundi et orbis, elementorum et nationum. post haec quid dominus? et tunc uidebunt filium hominis uenientem de caelis cum plurima uirtute. cum autem haec fient, erigetis uos et leuabitis capita, quoniam adpropinquabit redemptio uestra, in tempore scilicet regni, de quo subiecta erit ipsa parabola. sic et uos, cum uideritis omnia haec fieri, scitote adpropinquasse regnum dei. hic erit dies magnus domini et inlustris uenientis de caelis filii hominis secundum Danihelem: ecce cum caeli nubibus tamquam filius hominis adueniens et cetera, et data est illi regia potestas — quam in parabola postulaturus exierat relicta pecunia seruis, quae feneraretur, — et uniuersae nationes, — quas promiserat ei in psalmo pater: postula de me, et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam — et gloria omnis seruiens illi et potestas eius aeterna, quae non auferetur, et regnum eius, quod non corrumpetur, quia nec morientur in illo nec nubent, sed erunt sicut angeli. de eodem aduentu filii hominis et fructu eius apud Abacuc: existi in salutem populi tui ad saluos faciendos christos tuos, erecturos scilicet se et capita leuaturos in tempore regni redemptos. igitur cum et haec, quae sunt promissionum, proinde conueniant sicut et illa, quae sunt concussionum, ex consonantia propheticarum et dominicarum pronuntiationum nullam hic poteris interstruere distinctionem, ut concussiones quidem referas ad creatorem, saeuitiae scilicet deum, quas nec sinere, nedum expectare deberet deus optimus, promissiones uero deo optimo deputes, quas creator ignorans illum non prophetasset. aut si suas prophetauit, non distantes a promissionibus Christi (tui). par erit in liber(ali)tate optimo deo, nec plus uidebitur a Christo tuo repromitti quam a meo filio hominis. ipsum decursum scripturae euangelicae ab interrogatione discipulorum usque ad parabolam fici ita inuenies contextu sensus filio hominis hinc atque illinc adhaerere, ut in illum compingat et tristia et laeta et concussiones et promissiones nec possis separare ab illo alteram partem. unius enim filii hominis aduentu constituto inter duos exitus concussionum et promissionum necesse est ad unum pertineant filium hominis et incommoda nationum et uota sanctorum, quia ita positus est in medio, ut communis (sit) exitibus ambobus, alterum conclusurus aduentu suo, id est incommoda nationum, alterum incipiens, id est uota sanctorum, ut, siue mei Christi concesseris aduentum filii hominis, quo mala imminentia ei reputes, quae aduentum eius antecedunt, cogaris etiam bona ei adscribere, quae ab aduentu eius oriuntur, *** cogaris mala quoque ei deputare, quae aduentum eius antecedunt. tam enim mala cohaerent aduentui filii hominis antecedendo quam et bona subsequendo. quaere igitur, quem ex duobus Christis constituas in persona unius filii hominis, in quam utraque dispositio referatur, aut et creatorem optimum aut et deum tuum asperum dedisti natura. in summa ipsius parabolae considera exemplum: adspicite ficum et arbores omnes; cum fructum protulerint, intellegunt homines aestatem adpropinquasse; sic et uos, cum uideritis haec fieri, scitote in proximo esse regnum dei. si enim fructificationes arbuscularum signum aestiuo tempori praestant antecedendo illud, proinde et conflictationes orbis signum praenotant regni praecedendo illud. omne autem signum eius est res, cuius est signum, et omni rei ab eo imponitur signum, cuius est res. ita si conflictationes signa sunt regni, sicut fructificationes aestatis, ergo et regnum creatoris est, cuius conflictationes deputantur, quae signa sunt regni. praemiserat oportere haec fieri tam atrocia tam dira deus optimus, certe a prophetis et a lege praedicata: adeo legem et prophetas non destruebat, cum quae praedicauerant confirmat perfici oportere. Adhuc ingerit non transiturum caelum ac terram, nisi omnia peragantur. quaenam ista? si quae a creatore sunt (praedicata), merito sustinebunt elementa domini sui ordinem expungi: si quae a deo optimo, nescio an sustineat caelum et terra perfici quae aemulus statuit. hoc si patietur creator, zelotes deus non est. transeat age nunc caelum et terra, — sic enim dominus eorum destinauit — dum uerbum eius maneat in aeuum, — sic enim et Esaias pronuntiauit — admoneantur et discipuli, ne quando grauentur corda eorum crapula et ebrietate et saecularibus curis et insistat eis repentinus dies ille uelut laqueus, utique oblitis deum ex plenitudine et cogitatione mundi — Moysei erit admonitio —: adeo is liberabit a laqueo diei illius, qui hanc admonitionem retro intulit. Erant et loca alia apud Hierusalem ad docendum, erant et extra Hierusalem ad secedendum. sed enim per diem in templo docebat, ut qui per Osee praedixerat: in templo meo me inuenerunt et illic disputatum est ad eos, ad noctem uero in elaeonem secedebat; sic enim Zacharias demonstrarat: et stabunt pedes eius in monte elaeon. erant horae quoque auditorio competentes; diluculo conueniendum erat, quia per Esaiam cum dixisset: dominus dat mihi linguam disciplinae, adiecit: adposuit mihi mane aurem ad audiendum. si hoc est prophetias dissoluere, quid erit adimplere?
English · Claude translation
It was established long ago, concerning the ownership of the names, that they belong to him … who first both announced his Christ to men and renamed Hoshea “Jesus” (Joshua). So the shamelessness will be established of the one who says that many will come in his name — a name that is not his, if he is not the Christ and Jesus of the Creator, to whom the ownership of the names belongs. Further, he forbids them to be received, when he himself is their equal, as one who likewise came in another's name. If not, it was for him to forewarn his disciples against the lie about the name, since through the ownership of the name he possessed its truth. In short, those men will come saying, “I am the Christ”: you will receive them, you who received one just like them; for this one too did not come in his own name. What then? When the lord of the names himself comes, the Christ and Jesus of the Creator, will you reject him? And how unfair, how unjust, how unworthy of the most good god, that you should not receive the one who comes in his own name, when you have received another in his name!
Let us see also what signs he assigns to the times: wars, I think, and kingdom against kingdom and nation against nation, and pestilence and famines and earthquakes and terrors and portents from heaven, all of which befit a severe and dreadful god. When he adds too that these things must happen, what does he show himself to be, the destroyer or the approver of the Creator? He confirms that the Creator's arrangements must be fulfilled, which, as the most good, he would rather have abolished than established, grim and dreadful as they are, if they had not been his own. But before these things he foretells to them persecutions and sufferings to come, for martyrdom, surely, and for salvation. Hear it foretold in Zechariah: “The Lord almighty,” he says, “will protect them, and they will devour them, and will stone them with sling stones, and will drink their blood like wine, and will fill the bowls as of the altar; and the Lord will save them in that day like sheep, his people, because holy stones are rolled.” And lest you think these things are foretold of the sufferings which awaited them at the hands of foreigners in so many wars, look at their kinds. No one, in foretelling wars to be fought with regular arms, lists stoning, which belongs rather to popular gatherings and unarmed riots; no one measures such rivers of blood in war by the capacity of bowls, or makes them equal to the bloodying of one altar; no one calls sheep those who fall in war armed and themselves fighting with the same ferocity, but those who are slaughtered in their own proper character and patience, surrendering themselves rather than defending themselves. In fact he says, “Because holy stones are rolled,” not because soldiers fight. For stones are also foundations, on which we are built, having been built up, according to Paul, on the foundations of the apostles, who, as holy stones, are rolled, set in the way for all to stumble against. So here too he forbids them to think out beforehand what they should answer before tribunals, he who suggested to Balaam what he had not thought of, indeed the opposite of what he had thought of, and promised a mouth to Moses when he pleaded slowness of tongue. And the very wisdom which no one will resist he showed through Isaiah: “This one will say, I am God's; and (this one) will cry, In the name of Jacob; and another will be inscribed in the name of Israel.” For what is wiser and more unanswerable than a simple and open confession in the name of a martyr, prevailing with God, which is the meaning of “Israel”? No wonder that he forbade thinking things out beforehand, who himself received from the Father the supply of timely speech: “The Lord gives me the tongue of discipline … when I ought to utter a word,” unless Marcion brings in a Christ not subject to the Father.
That persecutions from one's nearest, and blasphemy of the name out of hatred, were foretold, I need not show again. “But by endurance,” he says, “you will save yourselves”; of which, of course, the psalm speaks: “The endurance of the righteous will not perish forever,” since elsewhere too: “Precious is the death of the righteous,” through endurance, no doubt; and Zechariah too: “But there will be a crown for those who have endured.” But do not dare to argue that the apostles were harassed by the Jews as heralds of another god; remember that the prophets too, who suffered the same things from the Jews, were nevertheless apostles of no other god than the Creator.
But having next pointed out the time of the destruction, when Jerusalem would begin to be surrounded by armies, he recounts the signs of the very end: portents of sun and moon and stars, and on earth the distress of nations bewildered as by the roar of the surging sea, in expectation of the evils hanging over the world. That the very powers of the heavens are to be shaken, hear Joel: “And I will give portents in heaven, and on earth blood and fire and vapor of smoke; the sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.” You have Habakkuk too: “The earth will be torn by rivers; the peoples will see you and be in labor; scattering the waters in your course; the abyss gave its voice; the height of its fear was lifted up; the sun and moon stood in their order; your flashes will go into light, your shield like lightning into brightness; in your threat you will diminish the earth, and in your indignation you will bring down the nations.” The Lord's pronouncements and the prophets' agree, I think, about the shakings of the world and of the earth, of the elements and of the nations. After this, what does the Lord say? “And then they will see the Son of Man coming from the heavens with great power. And when these things come to pass, you will stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption will be drawing near,” namely at the time of the kingdom, of which the parable itself will be added: “So you too, when you see all these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God has drawn near.” This will be the great and glorious day of the Lord, of the Son of Man coming from the heavens, according to Daniel: “Behold, one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven,” and so on, “and royal power was given to him” — which in the parable he had gone away to request, leaving his money with his servants to be put out at interest — “and all the nations” — which the Father had promised him in the psalm: “Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance” — “and all glory serving him, and his power everlasting, which will not be taken away, and his kingdom, which will not be corrupted,” because in it they will neither die nor marry, but will be like angels. Of the same coming of the Son of Man and its fruit, in Habakkuk: “You went out for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones,” those, namely, who will stand up and lift up their heads, redeemed in the time of the kingdom. So, since the things that belong to the promises agree in the same way as those that belong to the shakings, by the harmony of the prophetic and the Lord's pronouncements, you will be able to insert no distinction here, so as to refer the shakings to the Creator, as a god of cruelty — things which the most good god ought not even to permit, much less look forward to — and to credit the promises to the most good god, which the Creator, not knowing him, would not have prophesied. Or if the Creator prophesied them as his own, not differing from the promises of (your) Christ, he will be equal in generosity to the most good god, and no more will seem to be promised by your Christ than by my Son of Man. You will find the very course of the gospel Scripture, from the disciples' question to the parable of the fig tree, so bound up in its connected sense with the Son of Man on both sides that it joins to him both the sad and the glad, both the shakings and the promises, and you cannot separate either part from him. For since the coming of one Son of Man is set between two outcomes, the shakings and the promises, both the troubles of the nations and the longings of the saints must belong to one Son of Man, because he is placed in the middle so as to (be) common to both outcomes, bringing the one to a close by his coming, namely the troubles of the nations, and beginning the other, namely the longings of the saints; so that, if you grant that the coming of the Son of Man is my Christ's, and so attribute to him the impending evils which precede his coming, you are compelled also to ascribe to him the good things which arise from his coming; … you are compelled also to attribute to him the evils which precede his coming. For the evils are as bound up with the coming of the Son of Man by preceding it as the good things are by following it. Ask yourself, then, which of the two Christs you will set in the person of the one Son of Man, to whom both arrangements are referred; either you have made the Creator most good, or your god harsh, by nature. In sum, consider the example of the parable itself: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees: when they have put forth fruit, men understand that summer has drawn near; so you too, when you see these things come to pass, know that the kingdom of God is near.” For if the fruiting of the trees gives a sign of summer by preceding it, so too the conflicts of the world give advance notice of the kingdom by preceding it. Now every sign belongs to the one to whom the thing it signifies belongs, and on every thing a sign is set by the one to whom the thing belongs. So if the conflicts are signs of the kingdom, as the fruiting is of summer, then the kingdom too is the Creator's, to whom the conflicts that are signs of the kingdom are ascribed. The most good god had said beforehand that these things must happen, so dreadful and so dire, things surely foretold by the prophets and the law: so far was he from destroying the law and the prophets, since he confirms that what they had foretold must be fulfilled.
He further insists that heaven and earth will not pass away until all things are accomplished. What things are these? If those (foretold) by the Creator, the elements will rightly bear it that their own Lord's order be carried out; if those of the most good god, I doubt whether heaven and earth would bear the fulfillment of what a rival has decreed. If the Creator puts up with this, he is not a jealous God. Come now, let heaven and earth pass away — for so their Lord has determined — so long as his word abides forever — for so Isaiah too declared —; let the disciples too be warned lest at any time their hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and worldly cares, and that day come upon them suddenly like a snare, as upon those who, surely, have forgotten God out of fullness and preoccupation with the world — this will be Moses' warning —: so the one who will deliver from the snare of that day is the one who long ago gave this warning.
There were other places too in Jerusalem for teaching, and places outside Jerusalem to withdraw to. But by day he taught in the temple, as one who had foretold through Hosea: “In my temple they found me, and there it was discussed with them”; but at night he withdrew to the Mount of Olives; for so Zechariah had pointed out: “And his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.” There were also hours suited to hearing: they had to gather at dawn, because when he had said through Isaiah, “The Lord gives me the tongue of discipline,” he added, “He has set my ear in the morning to hear.” If this is dissolving the prophecies, what will fulfilling them be?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Num 13:16; Luke 21:8–38; Zech 9:15–16 (in a Greek-derived form); Eph 2:20; Isa 8:14; Num 22–23; Exod 4:10–12; Isa 44:5; Gen 32:28; Isa 50:4–5; Ps 9:18; Ps 116:15 (115:6 Vulg.); Zech 6:14 (in the Greek form); Joel 2:30–31; Hab 3:9–13; Dan 7:13–14; Luke 19:12–13; Ps 2:8; Luke 20:35–36; Isa 40:8; Deut 8:12–14; Hos 12:4 (in the Greek form); Zech 14:4. The first sentence is damaged in the digital text (a gap after “belong to him”); “Joshua” corrects the misreading legum for Iesum (Moses renamed Hoshea as Joshua, “Jesus” in Latin). Further gaps are marked “…”. Tertullian here reads the endurance of Luke 21:19 in the light of martyrdom.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (letters misread in the digital text; name misread in the digital text; point misread for comma in the digital text; question mark misread in the digital text; stray letter in the digital text; stray point in the digital text): legum transnominarit → Iesum transnominarit; reicies illum P et → reicies illum? et; opinor., et → opinor, et; pecunia serais → pecunia seruis; ad creatorem. saeuitiae → ad creatorem, saeuitiae; deputare. quae aduentum → deputare, quae aduentum; fructum protulerint. intellegunt → fructum protulerint, intellegunt; omne autem t signum → omne autem signum.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Marc. 4.39 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/4/39/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Marc. 4.39 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/4/39/).
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