Luke 18

For a side-by-side English translation of the text of Marcion's Gospel of the Lord and Luke 18, see Luke Chapter 18

Summary:

From Ernest Evans on Adv. Marcion IV: Appendix 2: At 18:19 he reads God the Father, and at verse 20, I know the commandments: he omits vv. 31-3 [Behold we go up etc.].

Details:

Luke 18:1-8 – The Widow and the Judge

Tertullian mentions “the parable of the judge who was compelled to listen to the widow” at the beginning of his chapter 36, and refers directly to Mcg [Marcion's gospel] 18:7. As Epiphanius does not refer to this passage, we should assume that it was the same in Mcg as in Luke.

Luke 18:9-14 – The Tax Collector and the Pharisees

Tertullian summaries this parable as follows:

And yet, when He introduces to our view the Creator's temple, and describes two men worshipping therein with diverse feelings -- the Pharisee in pride, the publican in humility -- and shows us how they accordingly went down to their homes, one rejected, the other justified, [18:10-14] He surely, by thus teaching us the proper discipline of prayer, has determined that that God must be prayed to from whom men were to receive this discipline of prayer----whether condemnatory of pride, or justifying in humility.

As Epiphanius does not comment on this passage this and Tertullian’s summary tells us that this passage was present and unchanged in Mcg. (Note: Lk 18:14 is the last verse of the Lukan Travel Narrative).

Luke 18:15-17 – Suffer the Children

Neither Tertullian nor Epiphanius refer to this passage. However, as it has parallels at Mt 19:13-15 and Mk 10:13-16 we can assume that it was present in both Mcg and Luke.

Luke 18:18-22 – Inheriting Eternal Life (2)

And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? [18:18]  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. [18:19]  Though knowest the commandments - Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. [18:20]  All these have have I kept from my youth up. [18:21]  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. [18:22]

Epiphanius quotes from Mcg 18:18-20, noting differences from Luke:

One said unto him, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? [18:18] He replied, “Call not thou me good. One is good, God.” Marcion added, “the Father,” [18:19] and instead of, “Thou knowest the commandments,” says “I know the commandments. [18:20a] (Scholion 50)

Although Epiphanius notes a difference in Mcg 18:20a, Sense suggests that:

His further remark that Marcion substituted "I knew the commandments," instead "thou knowest the commandments," can be explained by the accidental omission of the final letter in the Marcionite manuscript.

Epiphanius also appears to see a difference in Mcg 18:19b (although not reporting it as such), as does Hippolytus, in his Refutation of All Heresies, Book VII, Chapter 17:

… For if He is a Mediator, He has been, he says, liberated from the entire nature of the Evil Deity. Now, as he affirms, the Demiurge is evil, and his works. For this reason, he affirms, Jesus came down unbegotten, in order that He might be liberated from all (admixture of) evil. And He has, he says, been liberated from the nature of the Good One likewise, in order that He may be a Mediator, as Paul states [Gal 3:19], and as Himself acknowledges: “Why do you call me good? There is one good.” [v. 18:19]

Tertullian either refers to or quotes from all these verses. He agrees with Epiphanius regarding the beginning of Mcg 18:18, reading “a certain man” (or just “one”) instead of “a certain ruler,” although neither recognizes this as a difference, indicating that this was what they saw in Luke. This matches the parallels in Matthew and Mark, as noted in the NET:

Only Luke states this man is a ruler (cf. the parallels in Matt 19:16-22 and Mark 10:17-22, where the questioner is described only as “someone”).

In Mcg 18:20b Tertullian gives the order of commandments as: "Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother." This is not the order found in either Lk 18:20 or the parallel in Mk 10:19, but that found only in Mt 19:18. It seems very unlikely that Marcion would change the order seen in Luke to that in Matthew, but a plausible explanation is that Mcg pre-dates Matthew, and aMatthew used the order he saw in Mcg. A second point from the same verse suggesting that Mcg pre-dates Matthew is raised by Klinghardt, who comments on Mcg 18:20 when discussing the fact that Mt 19:19b: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself  is unique to Matthew:

… Like Luke 18:20, Mcn contained only the selection of Decalogue commandments but not the additional love commandment as Matt. 19:19 has it.

As in previous examples, Klinghardt is using this as evidence that Luke did not have this text because Mcg (which does not have it either) predates Matthew. Based on the above comments, Mcg 18:18-20 probably read as follows:

[Some]one said unto him, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? [18:18]  And Jesus said unto him, Call not thou me good. One is good, God the Father. [18:19]   Thou knowest the commandments - Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. [18:20]

Luke 18:23-30 – Camels and Rich Men

And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich. [18:23]  And when Jesus saw that he was very sorrowful, he said, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! [18:24]  For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. [18:25]  And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved? [18:26]  And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God. [18:27]  Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee. [18:28]  And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, [18:29]  Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting. [18:30]

These verses are not mentioned either by Tertullian or Epiphanius. Additionally, P45 is not extant after Lk 17:17, and P75 is missing five leaves covering Lk 18:18b–22:4a, so we have no early ms evidence of their existence. However, as these verses have parallels in both Matthew and Mark, and continue the passage started in Lk 18:18-22, it is most likely that they were present in Mcg. The NET notes a variant in Lk 18:24:

The phrase περίλυπον γενόμενον (perilupon genomenon, “[When Jesus saw him] becoming sad”) is found in the majority of mss (A [D] W Θ Ψ 078 Ë13 33vid Ï latt sy), and it is not unknown in Lukan style to repeat a word or phrase in adjacent passages (TCGNT 143). However, the phrase is lacking in some significant mss (א B L Ë1 579 1241 2542 co). The shorter reading is nevertheless difficult to explain if it is not original: It is possible that these witnesses omitted this phrase out of perceived redundancy from the preceding verse, although intentional omissions, especially by several and varied witnesses, are generally unlikely. NA27 places the words in brackets, indicating doubts as to their authenticity.

However, without any other evidence we should assume that Mcg 18:24 was as found in the majority of mss of Luke.

Luke 18:31-34 - Jesus Again Foretells His Death

Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. [18:31]  For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: [18:32]  And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again. [18:33]  And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken. [18:34]

Epiphanius quotes most of Lk 18:31-33, stating that this text was not present in Mcg:

Marcion falsified, “He took unto him the twelve and said, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written in the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered [18:31-32a] and killed, and the third day he shall rise again.” [18:33b] He falsified this in its entirety. (Scholion 52)

In Elenchus 52 Epiphanius then provides the following reason why he believed that Marcion removed this text:

To make sure that he would not be upright in anything and, not being upright, would be convicted of tampering in every way. For he concealed the lines to deny what is said of the passion, if you please. But since he later admits that Christ has been crucified, his labor of tampering (with the text) will be labor in vain for him.

From his comments we can be sure that Epiphanius did not see in Mcg any of the text he quotes, but he does not mention other text that we see in these verses, omitting any mention of this part of the prediction:

unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: [18:32b] ... And they shall scourge him [18:33a]

Although Epiphanius mentions that Marcion did admit “that Christ has been crucified,” he did not mention the more relevant fact that the other two passion predictions in Lk (vv. 9:22 and 9:44) were present in Mcg, making the reason he gives for Marcion removing the third prediction very unlikely. It is possible that he did know all this text, even though he did not mention that some of it was not in Mcg, but it is more likely that some or all of it was not present in his copy of Luke. As noted by Willker, several mss omit or have other variants of parts of Lk 18:32b:

Omit “kai hybristhēsetai” (and mistreated)    D, L, 828, 700, 1241, 2766, pc6, it(a, b, d, e, ff2, i, q), vgms, Sy-P

Omit “kai emptysthēsetai” (and spit on)          P, R, pc

Omit both:                                                                       pc, l, r1, arm

Swap both:                                                                      892

Unfortunately none of the early mss of Luke are extant for these verses, so we do not know which variants they contained, but the existence of the variants shown above increases the likelihood that some or all of the text Epiphanius did not quote was not in his copy of Luke. As Tertullian has no mention of this passage it is likely that it was not in his copy of Luke. As it is not referred to by Origen, Irenaeus, or Clement it seems most likely that this particular passage foretelling the death of Jesus was not removed by aMarcion, but instead was simply not in Mcg, and was later added to Luke. On this point it is worth noting that Lk 18:34 is one half of a doublet, with the other half at Lk 9:45 (par. Mk 9:32).

Luke 18:35-43 – The Blind Man by the Roadside

And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: [18:35]  And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. [18:36]  And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. [18:37]  And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. [18:38]  And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. [18:39]  And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, [18:40]  Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. [18:41]  And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. [18:42]  And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God. [18:43]

Tertullian mentions Mcg 18:35-43 in sufficient detail to indicate that he knows almost all of this passage, although he does not refer directly to the multitude passing by and so may not have seen Mcg 18:36. He also does not quote from Mcg 18:37, but writes only that “on hearing that He was passing by…” He may therefore not have seen “of Nazareth” in Mcg, as he comments earlier.  Epiphanius reports the following shortened form of this passage:

And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, [18:35] a blind man cried, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. [18:38] And when he was healed, he said, Thy faith hath saved ye. [18:42] (Scholion 51)

There can be no lie in faith; if it lies, it is not faith. Now he who confessed the name says, “Son of David,” [18:38-39] and is commended and granted his request. [18:41-42] He was not reproved as a liar, but congratulated as a believer. (Elenchus 51)

Neither Tertullian nor Epiphanius refer to Mcg 18:36, and Epiphanius does not refer to Mcg 18:40. However, because neither suggest that they saw any differences (except possibly “of Nazareth” in Mcg 18:37), it is likely that Epiphanius is simply not quoting in full. Because of the extent of Tertullian’s quotes, it is likely that all these verses were present in Mcg.

Next Chapter: Luke 19