Background to the Gospel of Marcion

• Marcion believed that two gods existed: The harsh god of the Old Testament and the loving god of the New Testament that is revealed in Jesus. He rejected the Old Testament and believed that only Paul correctly understood Jesus out of all the Apostles. Therefore, Marcion decided to craft his own "scripture" out of writings linked to Paul. He used ten of Paul's letters (not the Pastorals, for some reason which no one has figured out) and Luke, since Luke traveled with Paul.

Date of composition

• Mid-100s
• We do know the author: Marcion. He led a heretical movement in the mid-100s.

Biography of Jesus?

• Yes, but a shortened version. The Gospel of Marcion and the Gospel of Luke are very similar. Basically, Marcion removed some parts of the Gospel of Luke that he disagreed with. Different theories exist about why this is so, but the underlying fact is that Marcion did not use some of what Luke used in his Gospel. [This is also true of some of Paul's letters; Marcion edited some of those writings.]

Type of Apocrypha (heretical or in error (made up))

• Heresy.

Length

• Unknown; we do not have a complete copy but only quotes and descriptions from other books. Still, a good gauge of its length is that it is a shortened version of the Gospel of Luke.

Summary

• While missing the first three chapters of Luke, much of the Gospel of Marcion is similar or identical to the Gospel of Luke.

Noteworthy from the book

1. Since Marcion believed in two gods, with only the NT god being good, he edited out any reference to the OT in this Gospel.