en in a transcendental sense of the
emanation and descent to earth of the Aeon Christus [Endnote
219:1]. It is impossible to think that this sense is more original
than the plain historical use of the word by St. Luke, or to
mistake the dogmatic motive in the heretical recension. There is
also an evident reason for the omission of the first chapters
which relate the human birth of Christ, which Marcion denied, and
one somewhat less evident, though highly probable, for the
omission of the account of the Baptist's ministry, John being
regarded as the finisher of the Old Testament dispensation--the
work of the Demiurge. This omission is not quite consistently
carried out, as the passage vii. 24-28 is retained--probably
because ver. 28 itself seemed to contain a sufficient qualification.
The genealogy, as well as viii. 19, was naturally omitted for the
same reason as the Nativity. The narrative of the Baptism Marcion
could not admit, because it supplied the foundation for that very
Ebionism to which his own system was diametrically opposed. The
Temptation, x. 21 ('Lord ... of earth'), xxii. 18 ('the fruit of
the vine'), xxii. 30 ('eat and drink at my table'), and the Ascension,
may have been omitted because they contained matter that seemed too
anthropomorphic or derogatory to the Divine Nature. On the other hand,
xi. 29-32 (Jonah and Solomon), xi. 49-51 (prophets and apostles),
xiii. 1 sqq. (the fig-tree, as the Jewish people?), xiii. 31-35 (the
prophet in Jerusalem), the prodigal son (perhaps?), the wicked
husbandmen (more probably), the triumphal entry (as the fulfilment
of prophecy), the announcement of the Passion (also as such), xxi.
21, 22 (the same), and the frequent allusions to the Old Testament
Scriptures, seem to have been expunged as recognising or belonging
to the kingdom of the Demiurge [Endnote 220:1]. Again, the changes
in xiii. 28, xvi. 17, xx. 35, are fully in accordance with
Marcion's system [Endnote 220:2]. The reading which Marcion had in
xi. 22 is expressly stated to have been common to the Gnostic
heretics generally. In some of these instances the dogmatic motive
is gross and palpable, in most it seems to have been made out, but
some (such as especially xiii. 1-9) are still doubtful, and the
method of excision does not appear to have been carried out with
complete consistency.

This, indeed, was only to be expected. We are constantly reminded
that Tertullian, a man, with all his faults, of enormous