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Lecture 3

The document provides an overview of early Christian heresies, focusing on the Marcionites. It defines key terms and lists sources for studying heresies. The Marcionites believed the god of the Old Testament was different than the god of Jesus, who was a god of mercy and love. Marcion viewed Jesus as not human. He edited Christian scriptures to remove anything inconsistent with his beliefs. Early church fathers like Irenaeus and Tertullian criticized Marcion for improperly changing scripture. The document concludes by previewing next week's topic on the Gnostics.

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198 views

Lecture 3

The document provides an overview of early Christian heresies, focusing on the Marcionites. It defines key terms and lists sources for studying heresies. The Marcionites believed the god of the Old Testament was different than the god of Jesus, who was a god of mercy and love. Marcion viewed Jesus as not human. He edited Christian scriptures to remove anything inconsistent with his beliefs. Early church fathers like Irenaeus and Tertullian criticized Marcion for improperly changing scripture. The document concludes by previewing next week's topic on the Gnostics.

Uploaded by

api-249898488
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Diversity in Early Christianity and Later Heresies

Week 3

Overview
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: The Ebionites
Week 3: The Marcionites
Week 4: The Gnostics
Week 5: Nestorianism
Week 6: Catharism

Defining Terms
Orthodox: Right way, right belief, correct opinion
Heresy: Choice
Heterodox: Different way
Proto-orthodox: group that would, one day, become
dominant
Canon: Collection of authoritative books
Codex: form of writing that uses both sides of the papyrus
Christology: Study of the nature of Jesus Christ
Church Fathers: Prominent Proto-orthodox Christian Writers
of the 2nd and 3rd century
Heresiologist: Someone who exposes the false nature of
heresies

Our Sources
Irenaeus: Bishop of Lyons, Gaul (France) about 180 A.D.
5 volume work Against Heresies

Tertullian: 160 A.D.


Wrote a five volume work The Five Books Against Marcion (earlychristianwritings.com)

Epiphanius: Bishop of Salamis, Cyprus around 340 A.D.


Compendium of heresies Panarion (Medicine Chest)
Persecuted non-Christians on the island of Cyprus
Spoke Hebrew, Greek, Syriac, Egyptian and Latin

Athanasius of Alexandria: 296-373 A.D.


1st record of our 27 books of the New Testament and only those books 367 A.D. (catholic.org)
Prominent figure in the Council of Nicea (justus.anglican.org)

Eusebius of Caesarea: 260-341 A.D.


Father of church history
Wrote 10 volume work, Ecclesiastical History, covering the time between the time of Christ until
the Council of Nicea

Nag Hammadi Library

Discovered by Muhammad Ali in 1945


West Bank of the Nile
23 leather bound codices containing 52 Gnostic writings
Coptic Gospel of Thomas

Ebionites
Source of name unclear
Ebion could have been the name of their leader
Ebyon is Hebrew for poor

Also called Jewish Christian Adoptionists


Believed Christianity was a Jewish religion
Jesus was the Jewish Messiah, sent to the Jewish people,
by the Jewish God in fulfillment of the Jewish scriptures
One must convert to Judaism before converting to
Christianity
Had to keep kosher, observe Sabbath, and if male, had
to be circumcised

Believed that God adopted Jesus to be His Son at


Jesus baptism
Jesus was completely human, not divine
Jesus death was a perfect sacrifice, so no further
sacrifices were needed

Ancient Viewpoints (2nd and 3rd


Century)
How many Gods are there?
a.
b.
c.
d.

1 Proto-Orthodox & Ebionites


2 - Marcionites
30 - Gnostic
365 - Gnostic

Was Jesus human or divine?


a. Fully human, not divine - Ebionites
b. Fully divine, not human - Marcionites
c. Fully divine and human
Proto-orthodox

What was the purpose of Jesus death?


a. Died for our sins Proto-orthodox
b. Substitute sacrifice - Marcionites
c. Didnt die - Gnostic

What was the nature of creation?


a. Created by the one true God Proto-orthodox & Ebionites
b. Created by the Wrathful god - Marcionites
c. Divine accident by the lowest of the gods - Gnostic

The New Testament


Four Sections
Gospels
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John

Acts
Acts

Epistles
13 credited to Paul
Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians,
Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, Philemon
Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians
1 & 2 Timothy, Titus

2 credited to Peter
1,2 Peter

1 credited to James
James

3 credited to John
1,2,3 John

1 credited to Jude
Jude

1 Anonymous
Hebrews

Apocalypse

Paul
Marcionites claim to follow the teaching of Paul
Paul held that faith in Jesus alone was sufficient for
salvation
Paul was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians (Phil.
3:5)
Paul had a vision of Jesus (Gal. 1:16, 1 Cor. 15:8, Acts
9,22&26 )
Pauls thinking may have been

Jesus was raised from the dead by God


Therefore Jesus death was part of Gods plan
So he must be blessed by God
If Jesus was so blessed, his death was not for his own sins
If not for his sins, his death was for others
Salvation comes by accepting the sacrifice of Jesus

Continuing to follow the law means that belief in


Jesus death and resurrection were not sufficient for
salvation
Marcionites developed Pauls teachings to a degree
Paul would probably not agree with

Marcionites
Named after their founder, Marcion
Saw Paul as the one Christian who understood
the Gospel
Believed that the Old Testament God could not
be the same as the God of Jesus
Viewed the Old Testament God as just, but extremely
wrathful
The God of Jesus was a God of Mercy and Love

Also believed Jesus was not human at all, only


appeared to be human
Docetism from the Greek dokeo (to seem or appear)

Jesuss Crucifixion was a means to trick the


Wrathful God
We know Marcion wrote two books neither has
survived
The Antitheses
The Gospel of the Lord

Marcion
Lived around 85-160 A.D. philosopher/theologian and most likely a
Bishop
Raised in Sinope in Northern Asia Minor (Turkey)
Father was Bishop of the Church there
Was cast out of the church by his father for seducing a young virgin
(Epiphanius, the Panarion)
Independently wealthy (may have been a ship builder)
Made a huge donation the Church in Rome
Worked on his books for five years
Called a council of church leaders
After hearing his arguments the church fathers had him
excommunicated and returned his donation
Marcion went to Asia Minor and founded churches, some of which
lasted until the 5th century

Polycarps Opinion of Marcion


And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him
on one occasion, and said, Dost thou know me? I do
know thee, the first-born of Satan. (Irenaeus, Against
Heresies, Book III, 3:4, ca 180 A.D.)

Interpreting Scripture with a


Penknife
Marcion cut out sections that did not fit
with his theology
Manuscript: any hand-written document
We have no original text from anything
in this period
The process of copying an existing text
inevitably resulted in errors
Some of these changes were intentional,
in attempts to correct something in the
text
Other changes added entire sections to
the text
Scribes also wrote notes in the margins
of some of the texts
(codexsinaiticus.org)

On Changes to the Scriptures


As our heretic is so fond of his pruning-knife, I do not wonder when
syllables are expunged by his hand, seeing that entire pages are usually
the matter on which he practises his effacing process. (Tertullian,
Against Heresies, Book 5).
Codex Vaticanus, Hebrews, Chapter 1, verse 5.
4th Century scribe had written,
Christ manifests all things by the word of his power
Several centuries later, a 2nd scribe, erased manifests and wrote in bears, so
that the text now read,
Christ bears all things by the word of his power.
Several more centuries later, a 3 rd scribe, erased bears and restored the original
word manifests.
He also added a marginal note to his long-dead colleague, Fool and knave, leave
the old reading; dont change it.

Next Week:

Gnostics

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