Panarion (Medicine Chest Against Heresies), Haer. 1-64 42.12.3

At that time we made the selection not in the order his book has, but as the Apostle [of the church] has it, placing Romans first; but here we set it out in this way, following his arrangement. From the letter to the Galatians. Scholion 1. “Learn that the righteous shall live by faith. For as many as are under the law are under a curse; but he who does them shall live by them.” Refutation 1. “Learn that the righteous shall live by faith,” according to what the apostle said, points to the old Scripture; these are words spoken by the apostle for our life … from the Law and the prophets about the new covenant, and yoked with our hope. And “they are under a curse” he says because in the Law there was a threat against Adam's disobedience, until he who came from above came, and, clothing himself in a body from the lump of Adam, changed the curse into a blessing. Scholion 2. “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.” “But the one from the promise, through the free woman.” Refutation 2. The holy apostle, showing again the plan of the coming in the flesh and of the cross, carried out for the undoing of the curse, and that this was written beforehand concerning the Saviour, showed clearly that the Law is not foreign to the Saviour. For it prophesied and bore witness to what was going to take place through him. Scholion 3. “And I testify again that a man who is circumcised is bound to keep the whole law.” Refutation 3. “He is bound” he no longer says as of something forbidden, but as of a heavier burden that can be lightened. And there is one Master, who can both make heavy and make light, according to the choice of those who have not refused to accept the salvation that comes by his grace in his coming in the flesh. Scholion 4. Instead of “a little leaven leavens the whole lump,” he made it “corrupts.” Refutation 4. So that nothing true might be found with him, he has handled the Scriptures almost nowhere without tampering. But the meaning of the saying becomes plain from the sequence itself: for the leaven is the work of the kind of lump, and from the lump comes the leavening; and one who composed the parable of the riddle intelligently would not have destroyed the image in its original terms. Scholion 5. “For the whole law is fulfilled for you: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’” Refutation 5. What need would the holy apostle have to use the Law, if the new covenant were estranged from the old legislation? But to show that the two covenants belong to the one God, and that their agreement in the fulfilling of the Law through love of neighbour is known in equal measure in the two covenants, since love works the perfect good, he said that love is the fulfilment of the Law. Scholion 6. “Now the works of the flesh are plain, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, rivalries, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing; I warn you of these, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Refutation 6. O wonderful mysteries and contrasting … examples of God! For he attached all these terrible things to the flesh. But the flesh did not always exist; the flesh came to be on the sixth day of the making of the world, when Adam was formed. From then it had its beginning, I mean from its forming, so that those who say that evil exists always and from the beginning might be refuted. For the flesh did not sin from the moment it was formed, so that the former might not be thought the cause of sin, as having formed sinful flesh; nor did evil exist before the thing formed. But after a time Adam fell into disobedience; having free will, he devised sin for himself by his own choice and did it, I mean by setting aside his Master through disobedience. Where, then, was evil before the flesh existed? And how is it that, once formed, it did not do evil at once, but only some time afterwards? So the doctrine of a principle of evil has been abolished. For it cannot be primordial, since wickedness has its coming to be, or not coming to be, in the flesh, which came later. And again, the flesh is not excluded from inheriting heavenly things; and let no one seize on the holy apostle's saying, “Flesh and blood will not inherit the kingdom of God.” For he does not blame all flesh. How could flesh be blamed that has not done the things mentioned? And I shall establish the point from other proofs. “Who,” it says, “will bring a charge against God's elect?” How will holy Mary not inherit the kingdom of heaven with the flesh, she who did not commit sexual immorality, was not licentious, did not commit adultery, nor do any of the incurable works of the flesh, but remained undefiled? So he does not say that flesh does not inherit the kingdom of heaven, but that fleshly people do not, who do evil things through the flesh, which are sexual immorality, idolatry, and the like. And in every way your contrivance has been refuted, Marcion, you who have gone astray, since the truth has anticipated it on every side and secured the firmness of the preaching of life. Scholion 7. “And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Refutation 7. If Christ's people crucified even the flesh, Marcion, it is plain that Christ's servants rendered the flesh pure, with its desires and passions, and imitated Christ, showing that he had crucified flesh. That is why they too, having the same mind as their Master, crucified the flesh. And if they crucified the flesh, it is impossible that the flesh, which was present for Christ's sake, should not reign with Christ, as the holy apostle shows in another saying too: “As you are sharers in the sufferings of Christ, so also in the glory.” Scholion 8. “For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law.” Refutation 8. So the earlier circumcision was not forbidden in its own time, if it kept the Law. But the Law proclaimed that Christ would come to provide a law of freedom, and circumcision in the flesh would no longer serve in the time of Christ; for the true circumcision through Christ had come, of which that was a type. And those who are still sealed with that one, even if they keep the whole Law, will no longer have it counted to them as keeping the Law. For the Law said of Christ, “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet from among my brothers like me; you shall hear him.” And since they did not hear Christ, “their circumcision becomes uncircumcision,” and their keeping of the Law is no longer keeping. So the Law is good, and circumcision is good, since from it and from them we came to know Christ, and his more perfect law and his more perfect circumcision. From the [first] letter to the Corinthians: this is second in their order and in ours. Scholion 1 and 9. “For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the understanding I will set aside.’” Refutation 1 and 9. If the apostle gathers testimonies from what is written in the prophets to establish the truth and good teaching, the prophets are not foreign to the truth, or to the good God, or to his good teaching. Scholion 2 and 10. “So that, as it is written, ‘Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” Refutation 2 and 10. If, in the prophet, the one who boasts in the Lord is praiseworthy, and he knows as Lord the God of the Law, who with you, Marcion, is called judge, craftsman and just, then this one is no other than the Father of Christ, whose disciple Paul is. For Paul, appointed by Christ as teacher of the Gentiles, drawing from the prophet's teaching, from like and the same teachings, waters as with pure water the church entrusted to him. Scholion 3 and 11. “Of the rulers of this age, who are passing away.” Refutation 3 and 11. If there are many rulers of this age, and such are passing away, you will be compelled, Marcion, no longer to seek the roots of three principles, but to make up for yourself another myth of many principles and many roots and much theatre. And when you invent it by slander (for you would not find it), you will meet the word “passing away”; and by the word “passing away” the root of principles without beginning that you imagine will be abolished. For everything that ceases is not eternal, but, if it had a beginning of being, [it exists only] if that which is wills it, having become the cause of what once was not but began to be. And that which is, is Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and that which is not is all created things, which had a beginning of being; among these is also what is called evil and is evil, beginning from men who came to be when once they were not. And since evil had a beginning, from the time that man, who once was not, … evil will no longer exist. For it will beyond doubt be abolished, because he who is does not consent with what had a beginning and set itself among wicked things. For it will cease after the resurrection; and not only then, but also from the proclamation of the Law, and before the Law from the many who lived by the natural law, and still more from Christ's coming in the flesh, and most perfectly from the resurrection of the dead, since “they are sown in corruption, they are raised in incorruption,” no longer doing evil, no longer dying. And that it will cease the same word of the apostle will bear witness, saying, “of the rulers of this age, who are passing away.” And your system, Marcion, has been abolished on every side, being a thing of fantasy, false, unstable and irrational. Scholion 4 and 12. “For it is written, ‘He who catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of men, that they are futile.’” Refutation 4 and 12. When “it is written” is brought forward as a citation and “the Lord knows” is acknowledged, the saying is not foreign to the one who selected it, I mean the holy apostle, in whom the citation appears. From this citation the character [of his teaching] will be seen not to be foreign, in the apostle's preaching, to the old covenant, from which the testimony was drawn for him. Scholion 5 and 13. “For Christ our Passover has been sacrificed.” Refutation 5 and 13. If the apostle confesses a Passover and does not deny that Christ was sacrificed, the Passover is not foreign to Christ, who truly and not in semblance sacrificed the lamb of the Passover according to the Law; of which lamb the type was Christ, sacrificed not in semblance nor suffering without flesh. For how could a spirit be sacrificed? Plainly it could not. And since he could not be sacrificed without flesh, but was sacrificed in truth, as is confessed by the apostle's indisputable testimony, … So it has been clearly proved in every way that the Law is not foreign, being carried on in type for a time until the more perfect and manifest Lamb, Christ, was sacrificed in truth, whom the perceptible lamb, sacrificed in ancient times, went before. “And our Passover, Christ, has been sacrificed.” Scholion 6 and 14. “Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ it says, ‘shall become one flesh.’” Refutation 6 and 14. If the Law is not true, for what reason do the truthful take testimonies from the Law? One of them is God's holy apostle Paul, who took this testimony, with many others, for a clear demonstration of the truth and of the preaching of the good God. Scholion 7 and 15. Altered: for instead of “in the law” he says “in the law of Moses.” And before this he says, “Or does not the law say these things?” Refutation 7 and 15. Even if in the second statement you change the form, Marcion, and think that by writing “in the law of Moses” you estrange the Law from God through the words “of Moses,” the connecting words above refute your folly: “Or does not the law say these things? For in the law it is written, ‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.’” And you have done us no harm, even if you add the name of Moses; rather you have helped us, and bound the testimony tight against yourself, and without knowing it confessed on every side that the Law of Moses belongs to God, from “in the law of Moses” and “the law says.” For the apostle goes on in agreement, saying afterwards, “Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake?” And if the Law spoke for the sake of the apostles, then the God who spoke in the Law cares for Christ's apostles in commanding that they not be muzzled, whether from speaking the teaching of his Christ, or from having their daily food from the people without want. So he does not know the apostles as strangers to his Godhead, nor do the apostles regard him as a foreign God. [This is] the testimony the holy apostle gave for all, saying of the apostles, “Is it for oxen that God is concerned? But he spoke for their sake.” And if he spoke for the sake of the apostles, and he is creator of men and beasts, among which are oxen and sparrows, reptiles and wild creatures, sea creatures and the rest, then he cares for all according to the measure of each. And he cares for all, in saying, “Men and beasts you will save, O Lord,” and in having said, “Who has given food to the raven?” and “The young ravens cry to the Lord, seeking food,” and “You will give food in due season to all.” But it was not with a view to the oxen threshing that he commanded not to muzzle the ox that threshes, since he would then have shown that God cannot feed his creation except through the food supplied by men to the beasts. And the holy apostle showed that it was not for lack of food that God cares for oxen through the threshing floor in commanding that they not be muzzled, but that through the riddle the relation concerning the apostles is signified. … For he makes provision for all things in the perceptible world, and cares for all alike. For the apostle did not write in opposition to the Saviour, as many might so pretend. For sparrows are smaller than oxen, and about them the Saviour said, “Five sparrows are sold for two pennies,” and again, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?” If, then, two sparrows are sold for a penny, and not one of them will fall into a snare without your Father in heaven, he provides for all together, but cares for the greater according to the greater form of the spiritual sequence. So in every way it is confessed that the same one is maker, craftsman and lawgiver of the old and new covenants, God good and just and Lord of all. Scholion 8 and 16. “Is it for oxen that God is concerned?” Refutation 8 and 16. This has already been dealt with and explained at length in the saying before it. So, thinking it superfluous to speak of it again, I have been content with what was said before. Scholion 9 and 17. “For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed, and the rock was Christ. But with most of them he was not pleased. Now these things became examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters, as some of them did, as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’ Let us not put Christ to the test,” as far as where he says, “These things happened to them as types, but were written for us,” and so on. Refutation 9 and 17. O great derangement! Who that has eyes will lead himself away from the light when the sun is rising? For if the holy apostle calls the people of that time his fathers, and says they passed under the cloud and through the sea, and that there was spiritual food and drink, and that they ate and drank from a spiritual rock that followed, and says that the rock was Christ, who will be persuaded by the folly of Marcion, who darkens his own mind and that of his hearers, to say that Christ is foreign to what took place under the Law, when these things are confessed by the apostle in truth and not in semblance? And the apostle says that Christ was not pleased with most of them, surely because of their lawless conduct. And if he was not pleased with those who acted lawlessly against the Law, then he is angry with such people as the one who gave the Law, and he judges that the Law is his, given for a time and rightly served until his coming in the flesh. For it is fitting for the master of a house to give his servants, at each season, the commands suited to it. And he at once adds, “Now these things became examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters, as some of them did,” not passing sentence on all. And from where do you know these things, apostle? He adds, saying, “as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.’” So, then, the Scripture is true, from which the apostle takes his refutation of the lawless. Then again, “Let us not put the Lord to the test.” But Marcion made “Christ” instead of “Lord.” But Lord and Christ are the same, even if Marcion does not think so, since the name of Christ was set down before, when he said, “The rock was Christ; and with most of them he was not pleased.” And the holy apostle, again going through the whole subject of the chapter, says, “These things happened to them as types, but were written for our admonition.” If, then, what happened to them as types was written for our admonition, he who wrote what happened then for our admonition cared for those he admonished, that we should not desire evil. And he who does not wish us to desire evil is good and not evil. For in the things in which he himself is, he urges us to be, being himself the good and just God, the God of those written of before and of those admonished afterwards, creator of all, craftsman and lawgiver, giver of the gospels and guide of the apostles. Scholion 10 and 18. “What then do I say? That a sacred offering is anything, or that an idol offering is anything? But that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.” Marcion added “sacred offering.” Refutation 10 and 18. “What then do I say? That an idol offering is anything? But that what they sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God.” The apostle did not condemn the ancient time of the fathers, up to himself and as long as Jerusalem stood, by saying that those who sacrifice to idols sacrifice to demons and not to God. So he did not condemn those who sacrificed to God when there was need of sacrifices. He condemns those who sacrifice to idols, not because they sacrifice but because they sacrifice to idols instead of to God. For they do not sacrifice in order to make food given them by God into something to partake of, but sacrifice to demons and in vain-mindedness … But you, Marcion, added “sacred offering,” thinking that by mixing the two names, of the sacred and of the idol, the character of the two practices is joined. And it is not so. For if, after the new covenant came, sacrifices were offered to Christ privately and animals were brought up in his name, your slanderous lie would have been found plausible, as though those who now sacrifice to God sacrifice to Christ, while those who sacrificed then in the temple at Jerusalem and those who sacrifice to idols were joined together and sacrificed to demons and not to God. But since no one has sacrificed animals to Christ since Christ's coming and the new covenant, your addition is manifest. And even if the word about sacred offering and idol offering actually stood in the apostle, it would still be judged one and the same by those who have sound reasoning, the word being used loosely by the apostle because of the custom of people who always call an idol a sacred thing. And your lying notion has collapsed on every side, since the truth has been shown: that those who sacrifice to idols (whether, in their own language, what they made or make is a sacred offering …) do a lie, sacrificing to demons and not to God; but not those who once sacrificed most rightly according to the Law. But now this is no longer done, since he so wills, as he said from ancient times through Jeremiah the prophet, “Why do you bring me frankincense from Sheba and cinnamon from a far country?” and again, “Your sacrifices have not pleased me,” and elsewhere, “Take away your sacrifices, Israel, and eat meat. For I did not command your fathers, on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, concerning sacrifices, but this I commanded them, that each should do justice to his neighbour.” And while he says, “I did not command,” and in the Law he says to Moses, “If any of the sons of Israel brings a sacrifice from the oxen or the sheep, let him offer a male without blemish,” and again, “If anyone sins and falls into some offence, let him bring a sheep,” and again, “If the people sins, let it offer a calf,” he showed that he received favourably the sacrifices once offered for the people's salvation, not because he needed them or wanted them, but condescending to their weakness and to the preconception of mankind, so as to bring men's minds over from polytheism to the knowledge of the one God. For since their mind was firmly founded on sacrifice as piety, the sacrifice offered to idols for their own propitiation and salvation, and so that they might not take it hard all at once because of custom, [he allowed them] to do this for a time in his name, turning them from the fantasy of many gods; he chose to transfer to himself what they were accustomed to do, so that afterwards, having known the one and believed securely in the one, they might hear from him, “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?” and “Did you offer me sacrifice for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?” And yet many sacrifices were offered then; [he said this] to show that they did not offer them to him, although he received them and they offered them in his name, but because of their custom, which had been brought up in such things, until he could draw them away from the custom of many [gods] to the one, and from the one they might learn thereafter that he neither needed nor needs them, and might then cut off, through the coming in the flesh of his Christ, the whole business of sacrifices, since the one sacrifice has perfected all that came before, that is, the sacrifice of Christ, for “Christ our Passover has been sacrificed,” as it is written. Of this sacrifice, Passover and teaching the Law became the schoolmaster, guiding by the type and restoring to the more perfect teaching. Scholion 11 and 19. “A man ought not to wear long hair, since he is the glory and image of God.” Refutation 11 and 19. The apostle defines man not only as the image of God but also as his glory. And in speaking of the hair of the body, which belongs to the body and not to the soul, he does not define the good God's workmanship as foreign to him, since he confesses what was in the old covenant fulfilled in the new. Scholion 12 and 20. “But God has blended the body together.” Refutation 12 and 20. If God blended the body together, and the apostle preaches no other God but the one who is, and he confesses that God blended the body with its members, he knows no other God than the craftsman, himself good and creator and just, maker of all things, among all of which man is one work, well blended by him in his members. Scholion 13 and 21. Marcion, in error, added after “but in church I would rather speak five words with my mind,” the words “because of the law.” Refutation 13 and 21. So tongues too come from the gift of the Spirit. And what tongues does the apostle mean? … so that those [might know] the Hebrew words, variously and skilfully adorned with wisdom in each expression, and also those who boasted of the pompous tongue of the Greeks, speaking Attic and Aeolic and Doric, … some of those among the Corinthians who caused the troubles and factions, to whom the letter was sent. And he confessed that it is a spiritual gift to use Hebrew words and teach the Law; and moreover, putting down the other pomp of the Greek tongue, he said that he speaks in tongues more than they, because he is a Hebrew of Hebrews, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel; he praises the letters of the Hebrews as being gifts of the Spirit's bounty too …; which is why, writing about them to Timothy, he said, “that from childhood you have known the sacred writings.” And further, adding the same things to those who drew on Greek poets and orators, he likewise said, “I speak in tongues more than all of you,” to show that he was also exceedingly experienced in Greek learning. For his style also shows that he had a preparatory education, whom … Epicureans and Stoics could not resist, being overthrown by his learned reading of the inscription on the altar inscribed “To an unknown god,” read by him word for word and at once paraphrased, “What you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you”; and again he said, “One of their own, a prophet of theirs, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, idle bellies,’” to point out Epimenides, an ancient philosopher and maker of the idol among the Cretans; from whom Callimachus the Libyan also borrowed the testimony for himself, speaking falsely about Zeus: “Cretans are always liars; for they built a tomb for you, O lord; but you did not die, for you are for ever.” And you see how the holy apostle speaks about tongues: “but I would rather speak five words in church with my mind,” that is, through interpretation. As the prophet, in the Holy Spirit, bringing to light through prophecy what was supplied beforehand to his mind, benefits his hearers, so I too [wish], he says, to speak for the hearing and building up of the church, and not, by the pomp of Greek and Hebrew, for the one who knows to build up himself and not the church by the tongue he knows. But you, Marcion, added “because of the law,” as though the apostle said, “I would rather [speak] five words in church because of the law.” Be ashamed, second Babylon and new confusion of Sodom! How long will you confuse the tongues? How long will you dare against those whom you cannot harm? For you seek to do violence to angelic powers, casting the words of truth out of the church, saying to holy Lot, “Bring out the men.” And what you attempt, you attempt against yourself; you live in blindness and in a gloomy night, groping for the door and not finding it, until the sun rises and you see the day of judgment, in which the fire too will meet your lying. For this awaits you, as you see. For “because of the law” does not stand in the apostle, and was made up by you. And even if the apostle had said “because of the law,” he would have said it in harmony with his Lord, who came not to abolish the Law but to fulfil it. Scholion 14 and 22. “In the law it is written, ‘By people of other tongues and by other lips I will speak to this people.’” Refutation 14 and 22. If the Lord did not fulfil what was said beforehand in the Law, what need was there for the apostle to recall what from the Law is fulfilled in the new covenant? As the Saviour too showed that he was the one who spoke then in the Law and decreed against them by a threat, saying, “Therefore I was provoked with this generation and said, ‘They always go astray in heart,’ and I swore, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” So he promised to speak to them in other tongues, as he did speak, and they did not enter. For he is found saying this to his disciples: “To you are given the mysteries of the kingdom, but to them in parables, so that seeing they may not see,” and so on. So, since everywhere in the new the things of the old are fulfilled, it is clear to everyone that the two covenants are established not by one God and another God, but by the same. Scholion 15 and 23. “Let the women keep silent in church; for they are not permitted to speak, but let them be subject, as the law also says.” Refutation 15 and 23. If God's holy apostle prescribes good order for God's holy church according to the Law, the Law is not disorderly, from which he transfers good order, nor does the Law, which subjected the woman to the man, belong to a foreign God. For this also pleases the apostle in the church's legislation, as he says, “as the law also says.” And where did the Law say it, if not when God said at once to Eve, “Your turning shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you”? For even if it is said in other places, here is the beginning. If, then, from that time the woman was subjected to the man by God's command, and the apostle accordingly subjects her, he too, in giving this command, is not opposed to God who made man and woman, and shows in every way that the apostle is a lawgiver of the same God, to whom belonged both the Law and the whole old covenant, and to whom belongs the new covenant; that is, the two covenants, which then and now subject the woman to the man for a pious and balanced good order. Scholion 16 and 24. On the resurrection of the dead: “Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I preached to you,” and that “if Christ has not been raised, [our preaching] is in vain,” and so on; “so we preach and so you believed,” “that Christ died and was buried and has been raised on the third day”; “and when this mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory.’” Refutation 16 and 24. “Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I preached to you.” If he preached it and now makes it known again, there is no other gospel, nor another knowledge after the one and the single [gospel], which is one through the four gospels and the apostles; [he says this] to refute Marcion, who came so many years later, after the times of the man called Hyginus, bishop of the Romans, who was ninth in succession from the perfecting of the apostles Peter and Paul. That is why the same apostle, guarding against it, said, “Even if we or an angel should preach to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be accursed,” knowing by the Holy Spirit that Marcion and those like him would pervert the well-established road. So he no longer said, “I preach to you,” but “I make known to you the gospel,” not another, but “the one I already preached to you,” of which I am reminding you. “I make known to you in what terms I preached to you, if you hold it fast, unless you believed in vain.” For if you do not hold it fast as I proclaimed it to you, you believed in vain apart from it. “For I preached to you that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” and not according to a myth, nor according to the teaching of those who would speak from themselves what is not written. For the Jews say from themselves that he was not raised, and Marcion and the others say from themselves that he suffered and was buried in semblance; but I secure you according to the Scriptures. For he at once adds, saying, “So we preach and so you believed, that Christ died and was buried and has been raised on the third day”; and at once, “If the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain.” And after all this, “For this mortal must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on incorruption.” And he did not say that this mortal will make room for immortality, or this corruptible make room for incorruption, but that the mortal and corruptible will put on immortality and incorruption. And what is mortal, if not the body, which not only makes room in itself for immortality, but makes it its own and is to put on immortality? Not by the body being cast off and the soul, which does not die, putting on immortality, but by the mortal putting on immortality and the corruptible incorruption, that is, the body. For death and temporary corruption belong to it, because of the dissolution brought upon it through Adam's disobedience. And that he speaks of the benefits to be perfected in it, he indicates by the promise that it is to be fulfilled, saying, “then shall come to pass the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory,’” to signify the resurrection of the dead that is to take place then. For death was swallowed up in part in the resurrection of Christ and of those who rose with him (“for many bodies of the saints arose,” as the gospel says, “and went in with him into the holy city”); but it is swallowed up in victory then, when it is made to vanish from all universally. The second letter to the Corinthians. This stands third with Marcion, altered because with him Galatians is placed first. Scholion 1 and 25. “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him; that is why through him [we utter] the Amen to God.” Refutation 1 and 25. Open your eyes and be saved, Marcion. And if you can no longer (for you are dead), let those deceived by you open their eyes and flee from you as from a dreadful reptile that destroys those who come near. For if “all the promises of God find their Yes in him,” and the apostle knows promises of God through the Law and the prophets, then in Christ the Yes of the promises of fulfilment was confirmed. So Christ is not foreign to the old Law and the prophets, nor to the God who spoke in the Law and fulfilled his promises in Christ. Nor is Christ opposed to the God who gave the Law and the prophets. For because in him the promised pledges become Yes, for this reason, he says, through him too is the Amen to God: God the Father having promised, and Christ confirming, and … the Lord securing the Amen through himself in those who have been confirmed in the promise through him and have recognized his Father, who spoke in the Law and has given saving gifts to those who believed in the gospel; to those who say [Amen] through him, since Christ says, “Yes, Father, for so it was well pleasing before you.” Scholion 2 and 26. “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake; because God, who said, ‘Out of darkness light shall shine.’” Refutation 2 and 26. The apostles do not preach themselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord. So there is no sect or church named after Paulians or Bartholomaeans or Thaddaeans, but from the beginning one preaching of all the apostles, not preaching themselves but Christ Jesus as Lord. That is why all gave the church one name, not their own but that of their Lord Jesus Christ, since they began to be called Christians at Antioch; this is the only catholic church, having no other [name] but Christ's, being the church of Christians, not of “Christs” but of Christians, since he is one, and those from the one are called Christians. After this church, all [the sects] … its preachers too, no longer appearing with the same stamp …, through the added names of Manichaeans, Simonians, Valentinians and Ebionites; of whom you too, Marcion, are one, and those deceived by you have taken your name, as though you had preached yourself and not Christ. Then he says, “because God, who said, ‘Out of darkness light shall shine.’” And what God, if not the one who showed in the prophet light out of darkness, that is, light and knowledge in Christ shining out of human unbelief and ignorance in the hearts of us who were once idolatrous Gentiles, but now [have come to know] God, who then in the prophet promised beforehand that his light would shine in the world; since the old and new covenants are not foreign to each other. It has become our custom, Marcion, to persuade you from the remnants of the gospel you have in writing, and not to be deceived by you. Scholion 3 and 27. “Having the same spirit of faith, we too believe, and so we speak.” But he cut out “according to what is written.” Refutation 3 and 27. There will be no room for you in whatever you dare. For even if you cut out “according to what is written,” the sequence of the words written before appears. For from “I believed, and so I spoke,” the apostle at once adds the like, saying, “Having the same spirit of faith, we too believe, and so we speak.” And it is clear to everyone that the saying “I believed” is written in the hundred and fifteenth psalm, which has the heading Alleluia and belongs to the book of David and was prophesied by him. That is where the apostle took the saying, and likewise said, “so we too believe and speak,” being one of the number of the apostles. That is why he does not say, “so I believed and spoke,” but “we believe, and so we speak,” to join himself with the other apostles; and he says, “having the same spirit,” to show that the Spirit who spoke in David is the same Spirit also in the apostles, from whom David then believed when he prophesied, and in which Spirit they too believe and speak. Great is the injustice and greed, so to speak, … of thought. For when the apostle says that the Spirit is one and the same, how does Marcion's folly, while confessing that the holy apostle said this word, dare to say that the Spirit then was one and the Spirit in the apostles another? The letter to the Romans, the fourth: for so it stands in Marcion, so that nothing with him may be right. Scholion 1 and 28. “As many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned under law will be judged by law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” Refutation 1 and 28. If as many as sinned without law will also perish without law, the Law, when kept, is a cause of salvation and does not let those who keep it perish. And if those who sinned under law will be judged by law, then the Law is judge of transgressions, not of destruction but of just judgment, judging transgressors in holiness. “For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law will be justified.” And if the Law, when done, justifies the one who does it, the Law is not unjust or bad, since through it those who fulfil the Law are made righteous. And from the Law comes the faith in Christ that it prophesied, without which no one will be justified; and one who has believed contrary to the testimony prophesied by the Law cannot again be justified, since Christ is the fulfilment of the Law, according to what the apostle said, “Christ is the fulfilment of the law for righteousness,” showing that without the Law and Christ there is no righteousness. For neither will the Jews be justified without Christ, not having received Christ, nor will you, Marcion, be justified, denying the Law. Scholion 2 and 29. “For circumcision is of value if you practise the law; but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” Refutation 2 and 29. If the holy apostle declares that circumcision will be of value, who would find fault with things that are of value, unless he were to become like the serpent? For you are like him, Marcion; he too, turning round what God had said, persuaded Eve, saying, “You shall not surely die.” For he bound the Law to circumcision and showed that circumcision fits with the Law, and indicated that the command belongs to the same God who once gave circumcision and gave the Law as a help, from which Christ, when believed in, grants believers to speak and do what is perfect. Scholion 3 and 30. “Having the embodiment of knowledge and truth in the law.” Refutation 3 and 30. If knowledge has an embodiment, and from the embodiment the form appears, and the apostles who have knowledge and truth, and their disciples, know that they have obtained the form, that is, knowledge and truth, from the embodiment of the Law, then the Law is not foreign to knowledge and truth. For through the embodiment in it the heralds of truth recognized knowledge and truth. Scholion 4 and 31. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Refutation 4 and 31. “Still” and “died” signify not semblance but truth. For if it was semblance, what need was there to say “still,” since Christ could always appear in semblance, both then and now, and it would not be said, “while we were still weak”? For by “still” he gave … dying at that time, and justified it by the death, so that he who once died for sinners and does not die for himself might no longer need to die. [Scholion 5 and 32: “So the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.”] Refutation 5 and 32. He agrees that the Law is holy, and so is the commandment given in it, securing it with three testimonies, calling it holy and just and good, to refute you, Marcion, and to teach us that the Law belongs to the Holy One, whose commandment also is holy, and that he himself is holy and good. So, belonging to the good one, the commandment is called good; belonging to the holy one, it is holy; and belonging to the just one, it is called a just commandment; since the one of then and now is one …, who is holy and just and good. That is why his commandment, from then and now, in the Law and in the new covenant, is holy and just and good. Scholion 6 and 33. “That the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.” [Refutation] 6 and 33. If the just requirement of the Law is fulfilled in the apostles and in us, how do you dare, Marcion, to speak … of apostles of God? Scholion 7 and 34. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Refutation 7 and 34. If Christ has come for righteousness to everyone who believes, and the Law is not perfected unless Christ perfects it by his coming, then you will not be perfected, Jews, remaining in the Law, unless you believe in Christ who has come and receive him. But neither will you, Marcion, be able to be saved in Christ, casting away the beginning and root of the preaching, which is the Law, from which Christ, when known, perfects the one who does not abhor the Law as foreign to Christ. Scholion 8 and 35. “For he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law.” Refutation 8 and 35. If the Law is fulfilled through loving one's neighbour, the Law that commands love of neighbour is not foreign to Christ and to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; because God is love, and everything he proclaims is proclaimed alike always, both then and now, both in the old and in the new covenant. From the [first] letter to the Thessalonians, the fifth letter (for so it stands in Marcion), but the eighth in the Apostle: since Marcion has all of it in perverted form, we have set out nothing from it. From the second to the Thessalonians, placed sixth in Marcion but ninth in the Apostle, likewise perverted by Marcion himself, again we have set out nothing. From the letter to the Ephesians, seventh in Marcion but placed fifth in the Apostle, the following: Scholion 1 and 36. “Remember that you were once Gentiles, called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision, made in the flesh by hands, that you were at that time without Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and godless in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who were once far off have been brought near by his blood. For he is our peace, who has made both one,” and so on. Refutation 1 and 36. “Remember” signifies the character of a time; and “called by what is called” signifies the types of things; and so does “in the flesh,” to show that the type in the flesh awaited the time of the Spirit, so that he might show the more perfect things from the type. For without Christ the uncircumcision was alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and, being alienated, it was a stranger to promise and covenant; and those who came from it had no hope but were godless in the world, as has been shown from the apostle's words. But you, Marcion, neither see nor hear; otherwise you would understand of how many good things the holy apostle says the Law was the cause for those who lived under the Law in that former time: “For in Christ Jesus you who were once far off [have been brought] near by his blood. For he is our peace, who has made both one.” And if he made both one, and did not destroy the one and establish the other, then the first was not foreign to him, nor did he separate the second from the first, but brought both together into one, not simply nor in semblance, but manifestly in his blood, as the apostle's sure teaching shows. Scholion 2 and 37. “Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.’” Refutation 2 and 37. From where does the apostle get “therefore it says,” if not plainly from the old covenant? This is found in Elijah. And where did Elijah come from? He was one of the prophets who lived under the Law, coming from the Law and the prophets. And if he prophesied in Christ, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you,” then the first type of it was fulfilled through Lazarus and the others, about whom the same people doubted, Martha and Mary saying, “He already stinks; he has been dead four days,” and the people of the ruler of the synagogue saying, “Do not trouble the teacher any more,” while he said, “Do not be afraid; she is not dead but sleeping.” For clearly from then the preaching announced that the resurrection would come through Christ, and showed his authority and ease, to show Christ's power: that as it is easy for a man to wake with his voice not one who is dead but one who is sleeping, so it was entirely ready for Christ to say, “Lazarus, come out,” and “Koumi, koumi, talitha,” that is, “Arise, girl.” Through these … and manifest proofs the word signified our calling from dead works and from the heavy sleep of us who once slept, and that Christ raises us and enlightens us through the calling; this is the second relation. And the perfect and universal [fulfilment] is awaited, when he who says, “I am the resurrection,” will call all and raise them in body and soul and enlighten them at his coming to come. Scholion 3 and 38. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to the wife, and the two shall become one flesh” — against “to the wife.” Refutation 3 and 38. It has often been shown that what is in the Law is not foreign to what the apostle teaches, even if you, Marcion, cut out “to the wife.” For from “the two shall become one flesh” all your tampering will be plain. From the letter to the Colossians, placed eighth in Marcion but placed sixth in the Apostle: Scholion 1 and 39. “Let no one then judge you in food or in drink or in respect of a festival or new moon or sabbaths, which is a shadow of things to come.” Refutation 1 and 39. A shadow falls from nowhere, Marcion, except from a body; and a body cannot be without a shadow appearing from it. So those deceived by you ought to be persuaded, through the remnants of the truth of the divine Scriptures still kept by you, that since good things were to be revealed, the ordinances of that time were not foreign [to them], being commanded for a time concerning food and drink and festivals and new moons and sabbaths; the things mentioned were shadows of these good things, and through the shadows we have grasped the body of the present good things, sketched in shadow in the Law but perfected in Christ. To Philemon, the ninth: for so it stands in Marcion, but in the Apostle it stands last. In some copies it is placed thirteenth, before Hebrews as the fourteenth; other copies have Hebrews tenth, before the two to Timothy and Titus and Philemon. But all the sound and true copies have Romans first, not as you, Marcion, placed Galatians first. Yet from this letter to Philemon we have set out nothing, because it stands with him in an entirely perverted form. To the Philippians, the tenth: for so it stands in Marcion, last and tenth, but in the Apostle sixth. Likewise we selected nothing from it either, because it stands with him in a perverted form. This completes the account of Marcion's compilation of the surviving remnants of words from the Gospel according to Luke and from the Apostle; selecting from it what tells against him, from what he himself preserves, we have set out the refutations. But in his own so-called Apostolikon he also added [parts] of the so-called letter to the Laodiceans: Scholion 1 and 40. “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” Refutation 1 and 40. In agreement with Ephesians, Marcion, you gathered these testimonies against yourself from the so-called letter to the Laodiceans, so that at the end of the compilation, having read what you have and known what tells against you, we may condemn the three principles without beginning, differing from one another, which you have strangely devised. For that is not the purport of the holy apostle and his secure preaching, but something other than your invention. For he said clearly: “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God, the same the Father of all, the same over all, the same through all and in all,” through the Law and the prophets and in all the apostles and in those who came after.