Tertullian’s Against Marcion Book Five

Tertullian, the founder of Latin Christianity and a man of great intellect, was born in Carthage to a proconsular centurion sometime around A.D. 145. He was likely educated in Rome as an expert in law and joined the Church around 185, becoming a presbyter in 190. His writings profoundly influenced Augustine and Cyprian who, in turn, provided inspiration to the Reformers in Europe and in the Anglican Church. 

In his later years Tertullian embraced Montanism, a movement, labeled a heresy by the Church, which claimed to have further revelation from the Holy Spirit, held to a strict moral code, and elevated female prophets. Tertullian perhaps embraced this because he was discontent with the orthodox church of his day and found the uncompromising morality of Montanism appealing. Despite this, he is recognized as the founder of Latin Christianity and an incredibly influential Christian thought leader and writer.

Presented here is book five of five in Tertullian’s series Against Marcion. As relayed by Tertullian, Marcion was unable to reconcile the divinely sanctioned violence found in the Old Testament with the God revealed by Christ in the New and concluded that there must be two Gods. Tertullian took no small issue with this and employed both reason and Scripture to show that the God of Christ and the God of Saini are indeed one and the same. In doing so, we are treated to examples of Tertullian’s hermeneutical principles, an attempt to answer the problem of evil, discussions on the nature of Christ and God, and a whole host of connections showing how Christ indeed fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament. While lengthy, this series provides great insight into how one of the Church’s earliest thought leaders used the Bible to address a heresy that sometimes appears in the works of popular preachers today.

And now, please enjoy this rendition of Tertullian’s Against Marcion, Book Five.

If you would like to read more of the writings of the Early Christian Fathers, please visit ccel.org to view the full collection.