Against Marcion — Book IV

Tertullian

  1. 0. Greeting
  2. 1. Examination of the Antitheses of Marcion, Bringing Them to the Test of Marcion's Own Gospel
  3. 2. St. Luke's Gospel, Selected by Marcion as His Authority, and Mutilated by Him. The Other Gospels Equally Authoritative. Marcion's Terms of Discussion, However, Accepted, and Grappled with on the Footing of St. Luke's Gospel Alone.
  4. 3. — Marcion Insinuated the Untrustworthiness of Certain Apostles Whom St. Paul Rebuked. The Rebuke Shows that It Cannot Be Regarded as Derogating from Their Authority. The Apostolic Gospels Perfectly Authentic.
  5. 4. Each Side Claims to Possess the True Gospel. Antiquity the Criterion of Truth in Such a Matter. Marcion's Pretensions as an Amender of the Gospel.
  6. 5. By the Rule of Antiquity, the Catholic Gospels are Found to Be True, Including the Real St. Luke's. Marcion's Only a Mutilated Edition. The Heretic's Weakness and Inconsistency in Ignoring the Other Gospels.
  7. 6. Marcion's Object in Adulterating the Gospel
  8. 7. Marcion Rejected the Preceding Portion of St. Luke's Gospel. Therefore This Review Opens with an Examination of the Case of the Evil Spirit in the Synagogue of Capernaum. He Whom the Demon Acknowledged Was the Creator's Christ.
  9. 8. Other Proofs from the Same Chapter, that Jesus, Who Preached at Nazareth, and Was Acknowledged by Certain Demons as Christ the Son of God, Was the Creator's Christ. As Occasion Offers, the Docetic Errors of Marcion are Exposed.
  10. 9. Out of St. Luke's Fifth Chapter are Found Proofs of Christ's Belonging to the Creator, E.g. In the Call of Fishermen to the Apostolic Office, and in the Cleansing of the Leper. Christ Compared with the Prophet Elisha.
  11. 10. Further Proofs of the Same Truth in the Same Chapter, from the Healing of the Paralytic, and from the Designation Son of Man Which Jesus Gives Himself. Tertullian Sustains His Argument by Several Quotations from the Prophets.
  12. 11. The Call of Levi the Publican. Christ in Relation to the Baptist. Christ as the Bridegroom. The Parable of the Old Wine and the New. Arguments Connecting Christ with the Creator.
  13. 12. Christ's Authority Over the Sabbath
  14. 13. Christ's Connection with the Creator Shown
  15. 14. Christ's Sermon on the Mount. In Manner and Contents It So Resembles the Creator's Dispensational Words and Deeds. It Suggests Therefore the Conclusion that Jesus is the Creator's Christ. The Beatitudes.
  16. 15. Sermon on the Mount Continued. Its Woes in Strict Agreement with the Creator's Disposition. Many Quotations Out of the Old Testament in Proof of This.
  17. 16. The Precept of Loving One's Enemies
  18. 17. Concerning Loans. Prohibition of Usury and the Usurious Spirit. The Law Preparatory to the Gospel in Its Provisions; So in the Present Instance. On Reprisals. Christ's Teaching Throughout Proves Him to Be Sent by the Creator.
  19. 18. Concerning the Centurion's Faith. The Raising of the Widow's Son. John Baptist, and His Message to Christ; And the Woman Who Was a Sinner. Proofs Extracted from All of the Relation of Christ to the Creator.
  20. 19. The Rich Women of Piety Who Followed Jesus Christ's Teaching by Parables. The Marcionite Cavil Derived from Christ's Remark, When Told of His Mother and His Brethren. Explanation of Christ's Apparent Rejection Them.
  21. Chapter 20
  22. Chapter 21
  23. 22. The Same Conclusion Supported by the Transfiguration. Marcion Inconsistent in Associating with Christ in Glory Two Such Eminent Servants of the Creator as Moses and Elijah. St. Peter's Ignorance Accounted for on Montanist Principle.
  24. 23. Impossible that Marcion's Christ Should Reprove the Faithless Generation
  25. 24. On the Mission of the Seventy Disciples, and Christ's Charge to Them. Precedents Drawn from the Old Testament. Absurdity of Supposing that Marcion's Christ Could Have Given the Power of Treading on Serpents and Scorpions.
  26. 25. Christ Thanks the Father for Revealing to Babes What He Had Concealed from the Wise. This Concealment Judiciously Effected by the Creator. Other Points in St. Luke's Chap. X. Shown to Be Only Possible to the Creator's Christ.
  27. 26. From St. Luke's Eleventh Chapter Other Evidence that Christ Comes from the Creator
  28. 27. Christ's Reprehension of the Pharisees Seeking a Sign. His Censure of Their Love of Outward Show Rather Than Inward Holiness. Scripture Abounds with Admonitions of a Similar Purport. Proofs of His Mission from the Creator.
  29. 28. Examples from the Old Testament, Balaam, Moses, and Hezekiah, to Show How Completely the Instruction and Conduct of Christ Are in Keeping with the Will and Purpose of the Creator.
  30. 29. Parallels from the Prophets to Illustrate Christ's Teaching in the Rest of This Chapter of St. Luke
  31. 30. Parables of the Mustard-Seed, and of the Leaven
  32. 31. Christ's Advice to Invite the Poor in Accordance with Isaiah
  33. 32. A Sort of Sorites, as the Logicians Call It, to Show that the Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Drachma Have No Suitable Application to the Christ of Marcion.
  34. 33. The Marcionite Interpretation of God and Mammon Refuted
  35. 34. Moses, Allowing Divorce, and Christ Prohibiting It, Explained
  36. Chapter 35
  37. 36. The Parables of the Importunate Widow, and of the Pharisee and the Publican
  38. 37. Christ and Zacchæus. The Salvation of the Body as Denied by Marcion. The Parable of the Ten Servants Entrusted with Ten Pounds. Christ a Judge, Who is to Administer the Will of the Austere Man, I.e. The Creator.
  39. 38. Christ's Refutations of the Pharisees
  40. 39. Concerning Those Who Come in the Name of Christ
  41. 40. How the Steps in the Passion of the Saviour Were Predetermined in Prophecy
  42. Chapter 41
  43. 42. Other Incidents of the Passion Minutely Compared with Prophecy
  44. 43. Conclusions

In Which Tertullian Pursues His Argument. Jesus is the Christ of the Creator. He Derives His Proofs from St. Luke's Gospel; That Being the Only Historical Portion of the New Testament Partially Accepted by Marcion. This Book May Also Be Regarded as a Commentary on St. Luke. It Gives Remarkable Proof of Tertullian's Grasp of Scripture, and Proves that The Old Testament is Not Contrary to the New. It Also Abounds in Striking Expositions of Scriptural Passages, Embracing Profound Views of Revelation, in Connection with the Nature of Man.