Marcion of Sinope

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Marcion of Sinope (ca. 110-160) was a Christian theologian who was excommunicated by the early Christian church as a heretic. His teachings were influential during the 2nd century and a few centuries after, rivalling that of the Church of Rome. As he offered an alternative theology to the Canonical, Proto-orthodox, Trinitarian and Christological views of the Roman Church, the early Church Fathers denounced him sharply; their views dominate Christianity today.

Marcion is sometimes referred to as one of the gnostics, but his teachings were quite different in nature. It included a rejection of the whole Hebrew Bible and of most of the books later incorporated into the New Testament Canon. He propounded a Christianity free from Jewish doctrines with Paul as the reliable source of authentic doctrine. Paul was, according to Marcion, the only apostle who had rightly understood the new message of salvation as delivered by Christ.

Life

Biographical information about Marcion stems mostly from writings of his detractors. Hippolytus says he was the son of the bishop of Sinope (modern Sinop, Turkey), in Pontus province. Rhodon and Tertullian described him as a ship owner. They further state that he was excommunicated by his father for seducing a virgin. However, Bart D. Ehrman's Lost Christianities suggest that his seduction of a virgin was a metaphor for his corruption of the Catholic Church, the Catholic Church being the virgin.

Marcion had travelled to Rome about 142–143. In the next few years, Marcion worked out his theological system and attracted a large following. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, Marcion was a consecrated bishop and was probably an assistant or suffragan of his father at Sinope. When conflicts with the bishops of Rome arose, Marcion began to organize his followers into a separate community. He was excommunicated by the Church of Rome around 144 and had a donation of 200,000 sesterces returned.

After his excommunication, he returned to Asia Minor where he continued to spread his message. He created a strong ecclesiastical organization resembling the Church of Rome, and put himself as bishop.

Teachings

Marcionism is the dualist belief system that originates in the teachings of Marcion around the year 144. Marcion affirmed Jesus Christ as the savior sent by God and Paul as his chief apostle. Marcion declared that Christianity was distinct from and in opposition to Judaism. He rejected the entire Hebrew Bible, and declared that the God of the Hebrew Bible was a lesser demiurge, who had created the earth, and whose law represented bare natural justice i.e. eye for an eye.

The premise of Marcionism is that many of the teachings of Christ are incompatible with the actions of Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament. Tertullian claimed Marcion was the first to separate the New Testament from the Old Testament. Focusing on the Pauline traditions of the Gospel, Marcion felt that all other conceptions of the Gospel were opposed to the truth. He regarded Paul's arguments of law and gospel, wrath and grace, works and faith, flesh and spirit, sin and righteousness and death and life as the essence of religious truth. He ascribed these aspects and characteristics as two principles: the righteous and wrathful God of the Old Testament, the creator of the world, and a second God of the Gospel who is only love and mercy and who was revealed by Jesus.

His canon consisted of eleven books: his own version of the Gospel of Luke, and ten of Paul's epistles. All other epistles and gospels of the New Testament were rejected.

Legacy

The church that Marcion founded had expanded throughout the known world within his lifetime, and was a serious rival to the Catholic church. Its adherents where strong enough in their convictions to have the church retain its expansive power for more than a century. It survived heathen persecution, Christian controversy, and imperial disapproval for several centuries more.

The Roman Polycarp called him "the first born of Satan. His numerous critics also included Ephraim of Syria, Dionysius of Corinth, Theophilus of Antioch, Philip of Gortyna, Hippolytus and Rhodo in Rome, Bardesanes at Edessa, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. Nevertheless, "not even Tertullian can find any strictures to pass on the morals of Marcion or his adherents

Some ideas of Marcion's reappeared with Manichaean developments among the Bulgarian Bogomils of the 10th century and their Cathar heirs of southern France in the 13th century.

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