Against Marcion 2.26
Summary: God swears by himself because there is no other god to swear by; and when he told Moses “let me alone” to destroy Israel, he was inviting Moses to intercede, prefiguring Christ.
Latin text · CSEL 47:371–372
Sed et iurat deus). numquid forte per deum Marcionis? immo>, inquit, multo uanius, quod per semetipsum. quid uelles faceret, si alius deus non erat in conscientia eius, hoc cum maxime iurantis alium absque se omnino non esse? igitur peierantem deprehendis an uane deierantem? sed non potest uideri peierasse qui alium esse non sciuit, ut dicitis. quod enim sciit, hoc deierans uere, non peierauit. sed nec uane deierat alium deum non esse. tunc enim uane deieraret, si non fuissent qui alios deos crederent, tunc quidem simulacrorum cultores, nunc uero et haeretici. iurat igitur per semetipsum. ut uel iuranti deo credas alium deum omnino non esse. hoc ut deus faceret, tu quoque, Marcion, coegisti. iam tunc enim prouidebaris. proinde si et in promissionibus aut comminationibus iurat, fidem in primordiis arduam extorquens, nihil deo indignum est, quod efficit deo credere. satis et tunc pusillus deus in ipsa etiam ferocia sua, cum ob uituli consecrationem efferatus in populum de famulo suo postulat Moyse: sine me. et indignatus ira disperdam illos et faciam te in nationem magnam. unde meliorem soletis adfirmare Moysen deo suo, deprecatorem, immo et prohibitorem irae. non facies enim, inquit, istud, aut et me una cum eis impende. miserandi uos quoque cum populo, qui Christum non agnoscitis, in persona Moysi figuratum, patris deprecatorem et oblatorem animae suae pro populi salute. sed sufficit, si et Moysi proprie donatus est populus ad praesens. quod ut famulus postulare posset a domino, id dominus a se postulauit. ad hoc enim famulo dixit: sine me, et disperdam illos, ut ille. postulando et semetipsum offerendo non sineret, atque ita disceres, quantum liceat fideli et prophetae apud deum.
English · Claude translation
But God also swears. By Marcion's god, perhaps? “No,” he says, “much more idly: by himself.” What would you have him do, if no other god was within his knowledge — especially when he swears precisely that there is no other at all besides himself? Do you catch him, then, perjuring himself, or swearing idly? But he cannot be seen to have perjured himself who did not know, as you say, that another existed; for in swearing to what he knew, he swore truly and did not perjure himself. Nor does he swear idly that there is no other god. For he would swear idly only if there had been no one who believed in other gods — then the worshippers of images, and now the heretics too. He swears by himself, then, so that you might believe God, at least on oath, that there is no other god at all. You too, Marcion, compelled God to do this; for even then you were foreseen. Likewise, if he swears in his promises or threats, extorting a faith that was difficult in the beginning, nothing is unworthy of God that makes men believe God.
“God was petty enough then, even in his very ferocity, when, enraged against the people over the consecration of the calf, he demands of his servant Moses: Let me alone, and in indignant anger I will destroy them, and I will make you a great nation.” That is why you are accustomed to declare that Moses was better than his God, as the one who interceded — indeed, who prevented his anger: “For you shall not do this,” he says, “or else spend me too along with them.” You too are to be pitied along with the people, you who do not recognize Christ, prefigured in the person of Moses, the intercessor with the Father, who offers his own life for the salvation of the people. But it is enough that for the present the people was granted to Moses in his own right. So that the servant might be able to ask this of the Lord, the Lord asked it of himself. For this reason he said to the servant, “Let me alone, and I will destroy them”: so that Moses, by asking and offering himself, would not let him alone; and so you might learn how much is allowed to a faithful man and a prophet with God.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- God's oath by himself is Isa 45:23 (cf. Gen 22:16; Heb 6:13) with Isa 45:5, 21; the golden calf, Exod 32:10 and 32:32.
Cite this passage
Tertullian, Marc. 2.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/2/26/).
Plain text
Tertullian, Marc. 2.26 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/tertullian-marcionem/2/26/).
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