Marcion of Sinope facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Marcion of Sinope
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Apostle John (left) and Marcion of Sinope (right), from Morgan Library MS 748, 11th century
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| Born | AD 85 Sinope, Roman Empire
(modern-day Sinop, Turkey)
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| Died | AD 160 |
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Notable work
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Gospel of Marcion |
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| Era | Patristic age |
| Tradition or movement | Gnosticism |
| Main interests | Dualism, Nontrinitarianism |
| Notable ideas | Marcionism |
Marcion of Sinope (/ˈmɑːrkiən, -siən/; Ancient Greek: Μαρκίων Σινώπης; c. 85 – c. 160) was an important Christian thinker in the early days of Christianity. He taught that God had sent Jesus Christ, who was a completely new and different God. This God was not the same as the God of Israel, who Marcion believed created the world and was often seen as strict.
Marcion saw himself as a true follower of Paul the Apostle. He believed Paul was the only real apostle of Jesus Christ. This idea is known as Marcionism. Marcion also created the first known collection of New Testament books.
Early Christian leaders, like Justin Martyr and Tertullian, disagreed with Marcion. They said his ideas were a heresy, which means beliefs that go against the main teachings of the church. Because of this, he was removed from the church in Rome around the year 144. Marcion's collection of Christian writings included ten letters from Paul and a shorter version of the Gospel of Luke. This collection helped push the early church to decide which books would be part of the official New Testament.
Contents
Marcion's Life Journey
Marcion was born around the year 85 AD in a place called Sinope in what is now Turkey. His father was a bishop, a leader in the church. Some people who knew Marcion described him as a "mariner" or "ship-master," meaning he worked with ships.
In the late 130s, Marcion traveled to Rome. He joined the church there and even gave a large sum of money, 200,000 sesterces, to the church. However, he soon had disagreements with the church leaders in Rome. In 144 AD, he was excommunicated, meaning he was officially removed from the church. His donation was given back to him. After this, he went back to Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). There, he continued to lead his own church groups and teach his ideas.
Some early Christian writers said that Marcion learned from a teacher named Cerdo. Cerdo taught that the God described in the Old Testament was not the same as the Father of Jesus Christ. These writers also said that Marcion was friends with another Gnostic thinker named Valentinus while in Rome.
The Marcionite Church
The church that followed Marcion's teachings grew very quickly during his lifetime. It became a big rival to the growing Catholic church. Even after Marcion died, his followers continued his church for several centuries. They kept his ideas alive despite disagreements from other Christians and disapproval from the Roman Empire.
What Marcion Believed
Marcion studied the Hebrew scriptures (what Christians call the Old Testament) and other writings from the early church. He felt that many of Jesus' teachings did not match the actions of Yahweh, the God described in the Hebrew Bible. Marcion saw Yahweh as a strict and warlike God.
Around 144 AD, Marcion came up with a new belief system. He thought there were two different gods. One was a higher, perfect God, and the other was a lower God who created the world and ruled it. This idea helped Marcion explain what he saw as differences between the Old Testament and the message of the New Testament.
Marcion believed that Christianity was completely separate from Judaism. He said that the Jewish scriptures were true, but they described a different God than the one Jesus spoke about. For example, Marcion argued that when the Genesis says Yahweh walked in the Garden of Eden and asked where Adam was, it showed that Yahweh had a physical body and didn't know everything. Marcion thought these traits were not like the perfect Heavenly Father Jesus talked about.
According to Marcion, the God of the Old Testament, whom he called the Demiurge, was the creator of the physical universe. Marcion saw this God as a jealous, tribal deity of the Jews. He believed this God's law was about strict rules and "an eye for an eye" justice. This God punished people with suffering and death for their sins.
In contrast, Marcion believed the God Jesus spoke about was completely different. This God was a universal God of kindness and love. He looked upon people with goodness and mercy. Marcion even wrote a book called Antitheses, which is now lost. It compared the Demiurge of the Old Testament with the Heavenly Father of the New Testament.
Marcion believed Jesus was the son of the Heavenly Father. However, he thought Jesus' body was only an imitation of a real body. This idea is called Docetism. Because of this, Marcion did not believe Jesus had a physical birth, death, or resurrection.
Marcion was the first person to create a specific collection of Christian writings, known as a canon. His canon had only eleven books. One part was called the Evangelikon, which was a shorter version of the Gospel of Luke. The other part was the Apostolikon, a collection of ten letters from Paul the Apostle. These letters were also slightly shorter than the versions we have today.
Early Christians like Irenaeus and Tertullian said that Marcion changed Luke's Gospel and Paul's letters to fit his own ideas. Many modern experts agree with this. However, some scholars think Marcion's texts might have been earlier versions of these writings. Marcion's Gospel, like the Gospel of Mark, did not include stories about Jesus' birth or childhood.
Paul's letters were very important in Marcion's collection. Marcion believed Paul was the best person to understand and share Jesus' teachings. He thought the other apostles and the early church in Jerusalem were still too influenced by the Old Testament God.
Marcion and Gnosticism
Marcion is sometimes described as a Gnostic thinker. Some of his ideas were similar to Gnostic beliefs. For example, like Gnostics, he believed Jesus was a divine spirit who only seemed to have a human body. He didn't think Jesus truly became a human with flesh and blood.
However, Marcion's ideas about God were different from most Gnostic beliefs. Gnostics believed that some people have a small piece of God's soul inside them. This meant God was connected to his creation. For Gnostics, salvation meant turning away from the physical world (which they saw as an illusion) and finding the godlike parts within themselves.
Marcion, on the other hand, believed the Heavenly Father (Jesus' father) was a completely separate God. He had no part in creating the world and no connection to it. According to scholar Bart Ehrman, Marcion was not a typical Gnostic. Marcion believed in only two gods, not many. He didn't see the world as a disaster, but as the creation of the Old Testament God. Also, he didn't think divine sparks were in human bodies waiting to be freed by special knowledge.
See also
In Spanish: Marción para niños
- Antinomianism
- Manichaeism
Images for kids
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Apostle John (left) and Marcion of Sinope (right), from Morgan Library MS 748, 11th century
