Nothing New Under the Sun: Debunking Modern Marcionism | By Rev. Neil Boyet Fajardo
Introducing Marcionism (Part 1and 2)
In order to properly respond to Marcionism there is a need to know where it is coming from. Marcionism was a heresy in the early Church and Marcion was actually the first heretic in Church history. The basic premise of Marcion is that the God of the Old Testament is different from the New Testament.[1] The God of the OT is a vengeful God and the God of the NT is a loving God. All of the Church fathers rejected Marcion and argued that the God of the OT and NT is one and the same. Furthermore, Marcion argued that God of the OT is actually Satan—the Devil, something that everyone should be warned about. Origen, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus among others had altogether debunked this claim of Marcion. His theology was abhorred since then but there has been resurgence that makes think otherwise.
Because of his premise, Marcion came up with a different canon, making this attempt the very first in canonical history. Since Marcion thought of himself as disciple of Paul whom he believed the only true apostle since he was called as apostle to the Gentiles, he included 10 of Paul’s letters and shortened version of Luke’s gospel. Therefore, in a glance, this would dictate a Marcionite hermeneutic that furthers his theology. Also, he has anti-Semetic leaning, making his position and theology dangerous.
This video has all the signs of Marcionism. The God of the OT (YAHWEH) is the Devil; the God of the Pharisees and Jews is a vengeful God; Jesus is against the God of the OT. I think the preacher knew that he is furthering Marcionism. The preacher also cast aspersions towards the “YAHWEH Religion” of today. This means all Evangelical Christians who believed the OT and the OT canon and that the God of the OT and NT is one the same. Basically, he has an ‘axe to grind’ against all Bible believing Christians nowadays (ironic because he is interpreting John’s gospel). So, how should we debunk Marcionism and its modern advocates? Here are my suggestions:
Jesus Use of the Old Testament
Jesus quoted from 12 OT books. He quoted Jeremiah, Daniel, Zechariah, Hosea, Malachi, Psalm, and Isaiah et.al. He said he came to fulfill the entire Jewish Old Testament (Matt. 5:17), which he referred to as “the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 5:17; Luke 24:26–27), making OT and NT complementary. It has been estimated that over one-tenth of Jesus’ recorded New Testament words were taken from the OT. In the four Gospels, 180 of the 1,800 verses that report His discourses are either OT quotes or allusions. If Jesus heavily used the OT in his teaching and discourses, it is for us as well.
[1] From here forth Old Testament is expressed as OT and New Testament is NT for brevity.
Next is, Jesus fulfilled more than 351 OT prophecies. This heightens the mathematical probability that Jesus indeed is the Messiah that the OT has predicted. Meaning, we cannot understand Jesus fully without the OT.
Paul, Peter, and other Apostles Quoted and Alluded from the OT
Paul alone quoted or paraphrased from the OT 183 times. Peter quoted nearly 40 allusions and quotations from the OT, while John the Beloved has nearly 60 allusions and quotations from the OT. These quotations, allusions and paraphrase from the OT signify the authority of the OT. Furthermore, Peter told the religious leaders that, “The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus” showing the connection of the God of the Jews is the One that sent Jesus (Acts 3:13). Augustine argued the interconnection of OT and NT: “The new is in the old concealed; the old is in the new revealed.”
Understanding Marcion’s Hermeneutics
To be informed on Marcionism let us look how he interprets the Bible. Marcion of Sinope was an insider in fact he was a teacher and had some followings that furthered his teachings. As I explained earlier, fundamental to his theology was his view of the OT God as wrathful and Evil which heavily differed from orthodoxy and whole biblical revelation. And since he was considered to be the first heretic and tried to come up with a canon, the need for Christian apologies and true canon were sought. At this point, let me delve on his hermeneutics that suggests his theology.
A Great Example of Proof-Texting
For Marcion to promote his theology it has to be backed up by certain authority outside of him, hence the Scriptures or portions of it. His anti-Jewish sentiment obviously dictated his point of view and from this idea flow his unbridled deductions. Cutting and pasting were employed to fit the Christianity Marcion wanted (the reason why there’s many cults today). Basically he had to deduct the whole OT and redact Paul’s epistles and the gospel of Luke to favor his whole premise, all to portray the God of the Jews as Evil while the God of Jesus the true and loving Christian God (this is dualism). Marcion had to use the OT in his teaching but only for the purpose of maligning the God of Israelites (this is the tenor of the preacher in the video and his other videos as well). Furthermore, Marcion had to pick all passages and allusions that seemingly portray God as a bad deity. This is proof-texting since great portion of the OT see God as a loving, kind, patient, and sincere in his relationship with his chosen people ( Neh. 9:17; Exo. 34:6; Ps. 136; Jon. 3:8-10; Isa. 54:10 et.al). His inference that God is vengeful (Demiurge- a lesser god) boils from God’s judgment to the nations towards their sins; that God projected wrath rather than love which the NT God that according to him is characterized. J.I. Packer summarizes: “God’s wrath in the Bible is never the capricious, self-indulgent, irritable, morally ignoble thing that human anger so often is. It is, instead, a right and necessary reaction to objective moral evil” (Knowing God, 151). God’s judgment was never directed to the Gentiles alone in fact the Israelites received many punishments even included deaths for their transgressions. God therefore is just in his ways even in his judgment. Marcion’s proof-texting went overboard that’s why he was excommunicated and labeled as a heretic. In spite of this, he found untutored people about the Bible and orthodoxy and were swayed by his teachings without questioning him (a salient warning for today). This makes Paul’s prediction so true, 2 Timothy 4:3-4″For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Marcion’s Historical Revisionism
By slaughtering the Bible to fit his teachings, he went on revising the biblical history especially the story of Jesus. The Marcionite Gospel is a revised history of Jesus, taking out passages that linked Jesus to the Jews like genealogies, birth narratives of John the Baptist and Jesus in Luke 1-2. Since Marcion was the first to ever come up with a canon, his method of choosing was unhinged hence void of external accountability. Some modern scholars would even suggest that the Gospel of Marcion influenced the 4 gospels making his version at par or even more authoritative, in spite of the fact the Synoptic Gospels were written within the three decades post-ascension of Jesus. His manipulated gospel therefore is a dangerous ploy to deter the true and accepted ones.
Marcion’s Better-God Theology-A Suspect
Marcion’s inclination to Antinomianism is at play here, that the God of the OT employed slave-like coercion in stipulating laws for people to obey while Jesus freed people from it hence the God of Jesus is better. To further this idea, he inferred that God of the OT in all his dealings was indeed Evil so that the gap between OT God and NT God deepens and widens making Marcion’s God a better choice. So every time Marcionite hermeneutics is in play when OT passage in on the table, God-Yahweh is not the hero of the story but the villain. Hence OT passages and as a whole were used to portray God of the OT as malevolent.
-End of Part One and Two-
