Posted on 12/20/2008 2:44:08 AM PST by Gamecock
Marcion of Pontus
Referred to by Polycarp as “the first born of Satan,” Marcion was one of the most famous heretics of the early church and the leader of the sect known as the “Marcionites.” Marcion is known for his Gnostic leanings which he integrated into a version of Christianity. Marcion rejected the entire Old Testament, believing the God of the Hebrew Scriptures was full of wrath and hatred. In the New Testament, Marcion only accepted a modified version of the Gospel of Luke (excluding the birth narratives) and ten of Paul’s epistles. Tertullian said that he was the first to separate the Old Testament and the New Testament. This became known as the Marcion canon and served as a motivation for the church to deal more precisely with the issue of the canon of Scripture. Marcion was docetic with regard to be view of Christ, denying his full humanity.
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Marcion quite interestingly kept only the Pauline Epistles and rejected the entire OT. So, he was more a follower of Paul than of Christ (and of course he added in his own sole interpretations). With his thoughts that the God fo the NT is different from the God of the OT, he created his own religion. His teachings were echoed in the Albigensians and others
Marcion’s thoughts about the corruption of humanity shows how we can all misinterpret the word of God on our own.
Uh Gamecock, that’s more like three words :)
Whenever I hear a Christian set God’s Law at opposition to His Grace, I hear echos of Marcion.
What a terribly flawed reading of history.
If nothing else, Marcion serves as an example of how Christians led by the Holy Spirit exercised discernment. At that time there was no state run church with the power of the state to enforce it's will. Yet Christians were clearly able to see what was Scripture and what wasn't.
Christians knew there were books of Scripture missing from Marcion's canon and that his understanding was flawed. They didn't need an arm of the state to burn people at the stake to figure it out.
There were multitudes who followed Marcion and he did seduce many away from orthodoxy. The Church led by the Holy Spirit, ended Marcionism.
Do you mean those Christians who set Law above Grace?
I am not sure what you mean by echoed. Are you saying that there is some historical continuity between Marcion and the Albigensians? Or do you mean that there are similarities between the two when you compare them?
***There were multitudes who followed Marcion and he did seduce many away from orthodoxy. The Church led by the Holy Spirit, ended Marcionism.***
Incorrect. The Church merely damped it down. Many of the children of the Reformation are Marcionists. The best friend of my wife (a conservative Church of Christ bible thumping preacher’s daughter) told us that the only verses that we needed out of the Bible were Luke, Acts, and Paul.
Calvinism is largely recycled Marcion. The WCF certainly indicates a largely Marcionite bias.
The best friend of my wife (a conservative Church of Christ bible thumping preacher’s daughter) told us that the only verses that we needed out of the Bible were Luke, Acts, and Paul.
Which sounds like a very extreme form of dispensationalism.
Calvinism is largely recycled Marcion.
Which shows you're not familiar with Calvin.
***Calvinism is largely recycled Marcion.
Which shows you’re not familiar with Calvin.***
Actually I am. The largely Paulian proofs of Reformed theology, backed up by OT proofs comprise approximately 95% of the Scriptural backing of Reformed theology. The Gospels are mostly ignored.
I mean that Albigensians derived their teachings from Marcion — heresies re-arise like bad dreams over and over again.
Not really, most Calvinist “teachings” are focused on just Pauline epistles.
Also, Calvinism believes in a very gnostic idea of total depravity — viz. that the world created by God is depraved or distorted. from there it is but a small step to state that since the created world is depraved, perhaps it was a demiurge who created it, not God and that Jesus was the Son of the “higher” God, not the demiurge. That ties in witht he ultradispensationalism (exclusive Pauline) nature that most Calvinistic thought seems to believe in
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