What was the Marcionite heresy ?

[Guest guest]

What Was the Marcionite Heresy?

by Michael J. Vlach, Ph.D.

 

Marcion (c. 140) was a second century heretic who made a distinction

between the creator God of the Old Testament and the redeemer God of

Jesus Christ. For Marcion, the creator God of the Jews inspired the

Old Testament Scriptures, but he was an inferior God of judgment and

justice. The good redeemer God, however, sent Jesus Christ.

 

According to Marcion, the creator God deceived the apostles into

becoming Judaizers by having them connect the Gospel with corrupt

Jewish elements and Old Testament teachings. Because Marcion rejected

all Jewish elements and Old Testament teachings, he posited a

biblical canon that did not evidence any of these items. Thus,

Marcion formulated a canon that only had ten of Paul's epistles and

parts of the Gospel of Luke. Marcion's heretical canon eventually

spurred Christians to formulate a true list or canon of the inspired

books of the Old and New Testaments.

 

Like the Gnostics, Marcion believed that matter was evil and that

asceticism was the best way. The Marcionite church that he

established rivaled the Catholic Church and existed for several

centuries.