Against Marcion 2.11
Summary: God's severity after the fall (pain in childbirth, the cursed ground, death) followed his original goodness as a response to sin; justice is not evil but the safeguard of goodness.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Latin text · CSEL 47:350–351
Igitur usque ad delictum hominis deus a primordio tantum bonus, exinde iudex et seuerus et, quod Marcionitae uolunt, saeuus: statim mulier in doloribus parere et uiro seruire damnatur, sed quae ante sine ulla contristatione per benedictionem incrementum generis audierat — crescite, tantum, et multiplicamini — sed quae in adiutorium masculo. non in seruitium fuerat destinata; statim et terra maledicitur. sed ante benedicta; statim tribuli et spinae, sed ante foenum et herbae et arborum fructuosa; statim sudor et labor panis. sed ante ex omni ligno uictus inmunis et alimenta secura. exinde homo ad terram, sed ante de terra; exinde ad mortem. sed ante ad uitam; exinde in scorteis uestibus, sed ante sine scrupulo nudus. ita prior bonitas dei secundum naturam. seueritas posterior secundum causam. illa ingenita, haec accidens; illa propria, haec accommodata; illa edita, haec adhibita. nec natura enim inoperatam debuit continuisse bonitatem nec causa dissimulatam euasisse seueritatem. alteram sibi, alteram rei deus praestitit. incipe nunc etiam iudicis statum ut adfinem mali arguere, qui idcirco alium deum somniasti, solummodo bonum, quia non potes iudicem; quamquam et illum aut iudicem ostendimus, aut si non iudicem, certe peruersum ac uanum disciplinae non uindicandae, id est non iudicandae, constitutorem. non reprobus autem deum iudicem qui non iudicem deum probas: ipsam sine dubio iustitiam accusare debebis, quae iudicem praestat, aut t da eam in species malitiae deputare, id est iniustitiam in titulos bonitatis adscribere. tunc enim iustitia malum, si iniustitia bonum. porro cum cogeris iniustitiam de pessimis pronuntiare, eodem iugo urgeris iustitiam de optimis censere. nihil enim aemulum mali non bonum, sicut et boni aemulum nihil non malum. igitur quanto malum iniustitia, tanto bonum iustitia. nec species solummodo, sed tutela reputanda bonitatis, quia bonitas, nisi iustitia regatur, ut iusta sit. non erit bonitas, si iniusta sit, nihil enim bonum quod iniustum, bonum autem omne quod iustum.
English · Claude translation
So until man's sin God was from the beginning only good; from then on a judge, and severe, and — as the Marcionites will have it — cruel. At once the woman is condemned to give birth in pain and to serve her husband — she who before had heard, without any sorrow, by way of blessing, of the increase of the race: “Only increase and multiply”; she who had been destined to be a helper to the man, not his servant. At once the earth too is cursed — but before it was blessed. At once thistles and thorns — but before grass and herbs and fruitful trees. At once sweat and toil for bread — but before, food from every tree free of labour and nourishment without care. From then on man is bound for the earth — but before he was taken from the earth; from then on for death — but before for life; from then on in garments of skin — but before naked without shame. So God's goodness came first, according to his nature; his severity afterwards, according to the cause. The one is inborn, the other incidental; the one his own, the other adapted; the one put forth, the other applied. For neither ought his nature to have kept his goodness idle, nor ought the cause to have let his severity slip by in silence. The one God displayed for his own sake, the other for the occasion.
Now go on and accuse the judge's state too, as akin to evil — you who dreamed up another god, only good, because you cannot bear a judge; although we have shown that he too is either a judge or, if not a judge, then certainly the perverse and empty founder of a discipline that is not enforced, that is, not judged. But you who reject God as judge, without proving him not to be a judge, will surely have to accuse justice itself, which makes the judge, or else count it among the kinds of malice — that is, list injustice among the titles of goodness. For justice is evil only if injustice is good. Further, when you are compelled to declare injustice among the worst things, you are pressed by the same yoke to reckon justice among the best. For nothing that is the rival of evil is not good, just as nothing that is the rival of good is not evil. So as much as injustice is evil, so much is justice good. And it must be reckoned not merely a kind of goodness but its safeguard; for goodness, unless it is governed by justice so as to be just, will not be goodness, if it is unjust. For nothing unjust is good, and everything just is good.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The judgments are Gen 3:16–19, 21; the earlier blessings, Gen 1:28, 2:18, 1:11–12, 1:29, 2:25. The phrase “aut t da eam” is garbled in the digital text (the “t” is probably the editor's crux mark †); the sense (“or else count it”) is clear. The clause rendered “you who reject God as judge, without proving him not to be a judge” (non reprobus … qui non iudicem deum probas) is difficult as printed.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Stray character in the digital text.; Stray letter (line marker) in the digital text.): audierat, ■— crescite → audierat — crescite; Isi iniusta → si iniusta.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Marc. 2.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/2/11/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Marc. 2.11 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/2/11/).
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