For a side-by-side English translation of the text of Marcion's Gospel (Ev) and Luke 4, see Luke Chapter 4
Summary:
After v. 4:31a, Marcion's Gospel continues with Ev 4:31b-32.
Details:
From what we see today in Lk 4:31-32 we have no clue as to what Jesus taught in Capernaum, or why the people were astonished:
And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. [4:31] And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. [4:32]
However, in the Nazareth episode Luke provides us with an explanation of why they “wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth” by having Jesus read from Isaiah in Lk 4:17-21, a reading which is not present in either Matthew or Mark. With Capernaum before Nazareth in Ev it would make sense if this or some other explanation was provided in Capernaum instead of Nazareth, for example, by moving the scroll reading. Tertullian does indeed suggest that Ev had additional text here, as after indicating that Ev began with Jesus coming down to Capernaum, he writes (and here it is necessary to quote Tertullian at length, with emphasis added):
Then, what had he to do with Galilee, if he did not belong to the Creator by whom that region was destined (for His Christ) when about to enter on His ministry? As Isaiah says: "Drink in this first, and be prompt, O region of Zabulon and land of Nephthalim, and ye others who (inhabit) the sea-coast, and that of Jordan, Galilee of the nations, ye people who sit in darkness, behold a great light; upon you, who inhabit (that) land, sitting in the shadow of death, the light hath arisen." [Tertullian's version of Isa 9:1-2. The first clause closely follows the LXX. Tertullian's old Latin Bible had the passage thus: "Hoc primum bibito, cito facito, regio Zabulon," etc.]
It is, however, well that Marcion’s god does claim to be the enlightener of the nations, [Lk 2:32] that so he might have the better reason for coming down from heaven [Tertillian's interpretation of where Jesus was coming from]; only, if it must needs be, he should rather have made Pontus his place of descent than Galilee. But since both the place and the work of illumination according to the prophecy [Isa 9:1-2] are compatible with Christ, we begin to discern that He is the subject of the prophecy, which shows that at the very outset of His ministry, He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfil them; [Mt 5:17] for Marcion has erased the passage as an interpolation [Tertullian's take on why it was not in Ev].
It will, however, be vain for him [Marcion] to deny that Christ uttered in word what He forthwith did partially indeed. For the prophecy about place He at once fulfilled. From heaven straight to the synagogue. As the adage runs: "The business on which we are come, do at once." Marcion must even expunge from the Gospel, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; "[Mt 15.24] and, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs," [Mt 15.26] -- in order, forsooth, that Christ may not appear to be an Israelite [Again, Tertullian's opinion].
But facts will satisfy me instead of words. Withdraw all the sayings of my Christ, His acts shall speak. Lo, He enters the synagogue; [Lk 4:16] surely (this is going) to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Behold, it is to Israelites first that He offers the "bread" of His doctrine; surely it is because they are "children" that He shows them this priority. Observe, He does not yet impart it to others; surely He passes them by as "dogs." For to whom else could He better have imparted it, than to such as were strangers to the Creator, if He especially belonged not to the Creator? [Yet more opinon from Tertullian]
And yet how could He have been admitted into the synagogue -- one so abruptly appearing, so unknown; one, of whom no one had as yet been apprised of His tribe, His nation, His family, and lastly, His enrolment in the census of Augustus -- that most faithful witness of the Lord's nativity, kept in the archives of Rome? They certainly would have remembered, if they did not know Him to be circumcised, that He must not be admitted into their most holy places.
And even if He had the general right of entering the synagogue (like other Jews), yet the function of giving instruction was allowed only to a man who was extremely well known, and examined and tried, and for some time invested with the privilege after experience duly attested elsewhere. But "they were all astonished at His doctrine." [Lk 4.32a] Of course they were; "for, says (St. Luke), "His word was with power [Lk 4.32b] -- not because He taught in opposition to the law and the prophets. No doubt, His divine discourse gave forth both power and grace, building up rather than pulling down the substance of the law and the prophets.
In summary, Tertullian quotes from Isa 9:1-2, and then offers the following opinions on the assumption that Marcion wrote Ev:
Marcion has erased a passage “as an interpolation;”
Marcion has expunged [removed] from the Gospel text we see at Mt 15:24 and 26;
Even if Marcion has withdrawn “all the sayings of my Christ,” what he writes about his actions will suffice;
He entered the synagogue and uttered these sayings in Capernaum, not Nazareth;
“they were all astonished.”
It is clear from the way Tertullian writes that not only does what he saw at this point in his copy of Luke not match what we see in canonical Luke, but also that Ev did not have some of the text that he saw in Luke. Unfortunately, as Tertullian’s writing is somewhat opaque at this point, it needs careful ‘unpacking’ in order to make sense of what he writes.
But since both the place and the work of illumination according to the prophecy are compatible with Christ, we begin to discern that He is the subject of the prophecy, which shows that at the very outset of His ministry, He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfil them; [c.f. Mt 5:17] for Marcion has erased the passage as an interpolation.
Tertullian is referring to something in his copy of Luke that he did not see in Ev, but what passage did he not see? At first sight he appears to be saying that the text we see in Mt 5:17 was in his copy of Luke, but not in Ev. However, from the sentence construction it is more likely that he is just using Mt 5:17 to highlight the fact that, by his actions regarding “the place and the work of illumination according to the prophecy,” Christ in Ev is fulfilling the same prophecies as Christ in Luke. As a result it is more likely that “the place and the work of illumination according to the prophecy” were not present in Ev.
The “work of illumination” is mentioned in Jesus’ reading in Lk 4:18-19:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, [c.f. Isa 61:1a]
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised, [c.f. Isa 61:1b] To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. [c.f. Isa 61:2a]
From this it appears that “and recovering of sight to the blind,” which is a reference to “the work of illumination” but is not part of Isa 61, was not in Ev. The place of illumination is not referred to here, but is mentioned in Isa 9:1-2, previously quoted by Tertullian. Although we do not today see any reference to this passage in Luke, we do see a version of Isa 9:1-2 at Mt 4:14-16, at the beginning of the Capernaum passage:
And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: [Mt 4:13] That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, [Mt 4:14] The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; [Mt 4:15] The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. [Mt 4:16]
It is possible that Tertullian saw this text in Luke, but it is instead more likely that his copy of Lk 4:31 read the same as the variant in Bezae:
And came down to Capernaum, a city near the sea, in the borders ot Zabulon and Nephthalim, and taught them on the sabbaths.
Tertullian next identifies two other passages, but in this case he quotes text that Marcion had removed (or perhaps should have removed) from Ev, suggesting that it was present in his copy of Luke:
Marcion must even expunge from the Gospel, "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel;" and, "It is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs," -- in order, forsooth, that Christ may not appear to be an Israelite.
Marcion, aufer etiam illud de evangelio, Non sum missus nisi ad oves perditas domus Israel, et, Non est auferre panem filiis et dare eum canibus, ne scilicet Christus Israelis videretur.
Again, this presents us with an interesting problem as the above passages are not found in our copies of Luke, but instead in Mt 15.24 and 26 respectively, in a completely different context. However, this problem is not insurmountable. On the assumption of Markan priority it is common for us to see in Luke text that we also see in Matthew, but re-ordered and re-cast to suit the author’s requirements. These passages are no different, except that Tertullian’s copy of Luke appears to have included them, but ours does not. This may be because Tertullian’s copy came from a family of mss that have not been preserved, or perhaps because these verses were later removed from Luke.
Here Tertullian suggests that Marcion may have removed actual sayings of Jesus, but that the descriptions of Jesus’ actions left in place will suffice:
It will, however, be vain for him to deny that Christ uttered in word what He forthwith did partially indeed. For the prophecy about place He at once fulfilled. From heaven straight to the synagogue. As the adage runs: "The business on which we are come, do at once.
[Even if you] Withdraw all the sayings of my Christ, His acts shall speak.
This appears to suggest that Ev may have not included some of Jesus' sayings from Luke, but that if any such were omitted the description of Jesus' actions in Ev is enough to show that Marcion's Jesus is Tertullian's Jesus.
Tertullian mentions Jesus entering the synagogue:
Lo, He enters the synagogue; [Lk 4:16b] surely (this is going) to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
In Luke the phrase regarding entering the synagogue appears in Lk 4:16b, preceding the reading from Isaiah. The same applies here, with this phrase preceding the reading, except that in Ev this introduction to Jesus’ purpose takes place in Capernaum, not Nazareth.
Tertullian continues as follows:
But "they were all astonished at His doctrine." [4.32a] Of course they were; "for, says (St. Luke), "His word was with power [4.32b] -- not because He taught in opposition to the law and the prophets. No doubt, His divine discourse gave forth both power and grace, building up rather than pulling down the substance of the law and the prophets.
Here we have a reason for their astonishment, unlike in our copy of Luke. It is clear from what Tertullian writes that in Luke he saw additional text describing the events in Capernaum, containing a “divine discourse” from Jesus “building up … the law,” and being an expansion of what we see as Lk 4:17-21, including at the least text from what we see as Mt 15:24, 26. Finally, it is possible that Tertullian may have seen a shorter version of Lk 4:18, as the NET notes:
The majority of mss, especially the later Byzantines, include the phrase “to heal the brokenhearted” at this point (A Θ Ψ 0102 Ë1 Ï). The phrase is lacking in several weighty mss (א B D L W Ξ Ë13 33 579 700 892* pc lat sys co), including representatives from both the Alexandrian and Western texttypes. From the standpoint of external evidence, the omission of the phrase is more likely original. When internal evidence is considered, the shorter reading becomes almost certain.
Taking the above into account a reasonable interpretation of what Tertullian saw in Luke as the events in Capernaum is therefore as follows:
He came down to Capernaum, a city near the sea, in the borders ot Zabulon and Nephthalim, [4:31aD] and taught them on the sabbath days. [4:31b]
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, [4:17] The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, [4:18] To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. [4:19] And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. [4:20] And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. [4:21]
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. [Mt 15:24] [because] it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. [Mt 15:26]
And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. [4:32]
The overall conclusion of the above analysis of Tertullian’s text is that in his copy of Luke Capernaum and Nazareth were swapped, but the passages were not simply reversed wholesale. Instead, Lk 4:16 and 31 were swapped, but Lk 4:17-21 stayed in their current position, so that the reading from Isaiah took place in Capernaum. Lk 4:22-30 were moved to the new Nazareth location after Lk 4:16, and after Lk 4:21 there was additional text that we do not see today.
Most of this passage was not present in Ev, which as far as we can tell from Tertullian excluded the reading from Isaiah, and thus the first few verses of Ev likely read:
In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, [Ev 3:1a]
he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. [Ev 4:31] And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with power. [Ev 4:32]
Next: Luke 4:33-39