Get Rid of the Old Testament

The Marcionist Response

‘Get rid of the Old Testament’ was the solution typified by Marcion (in around CE 140). Marcion of Sinope (100–160), the son of a Christian bishop in Pontus, found the Old Testament to be absolutely different from the Christian faith and therefore completely separated the two Testaments in his canon, rejecting the Hebrew Bible entirely. Marcion, observes Grant, “believed that the earliest apostles had distorted the original tradition in order to make it relevant to their earliest hearers.”

Dualistic Cosmology: Marcion believed in a dualistic cosmology, distinguishing between the God of the Old Testament, whom he saw as a lesser deity or a "demiurge," and the God of the New Testament, whom he identified as the true, supreme God of love and mercy. He saw these two gods as being fundamentally different in nature.

Marcion believed that there were two gods in existence. One, the Creator and Just God of the Old Testament, and the second the good God who loved and redeemed humanity from the angry and jealous God of the Old Testament. It was this latter good God who in his opinion sent Jesus to be crucified as atonement to satisfy the justice of the Old Testament God.

Rejection of the Old Testament: Marcion completely rejected the Old Testament, believing that it represented the teachings of the lesser god and was incompatible with the message of Jesus Christ as conveyed in the New Testament. He argued that the God of the Old Testament was a god of law and wrath, contrasting sharply with the God of love revealed by Jesus. Carmichael observes that the redemption in Christ was to him in no way to be understood in terms of Judaism or the Scriptures of Judaism, in which he found much to offend him. The God of the Old Testament is another and inferior being, the Demiurge-creator, the vindictive God of the law, wholly opposed to the Gracious God revealed in the Gospel.”

For Marcion redemption meant redemption from the Law (Old Testament). He had no reservation in declaring that as the book of a different and hostile god, the Old Testament had no place in the Christian scheme of divine revelation or Christian Canon.

Marcion further maintained that both Jesus and Paul had held the same views about the Old Testament, but that their teachings had been corrupted by the apostles. Marcion’s radical views were well accepted among his followers. The Church, on the other hand, rejected his views and declared him a heretic because, in the words of Irenaeus, “he persuaded his disciples that he was more trustworthy than the apostles who transmitted the gospel.”

Marcion's Canon: Marcion is notable for creating one of the earliest Christian canonical lists of Scripture. His canon included only parts of the New Testament, specifically an edited version of the Gospel of Luke and ten of Paul's epistles, which he also edited. He excluded all other texts, including the other Gospels and the Old Testament writings.

His canon consisted of the Gospel (Luke, without interpolations) and Apostle (Paul, without interpolations and without the Pastoral Epistles). He is classified by some as a Gnostic and an extreme dualist while others, disputing the degree to which he was influenced by Gnosticism, do accept that his systematic effort to justify the devaluation of Hebrew Scripture was an outcome of Gnostic teachings that swept over the ancient world.

Marcionism as a Heresy: The early church strongly opposed Marcion's teachings. Church leaders like Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian wrote extensively against Marcion, and his views were condemned as heretical. The main Christian tradition affirmed the continuity between the Old and New Testaments and maintained that both were integral parts of Christian Scripture.

Though the Christian Church roundly rejected this solution and persecuted Marcion’s followers, his teachings nevertheless maintained their corporate existence until the fifth century.

Modern Marcionists

In modern times, a Marcion-like attitude re-emerged in the Liberal period of the late nineteenth century, with Goethe, Schelling, Feuerbach and Schleiermacher being just a few examples of Christian Marcionite tendencies. Friedrich Schleiermacher (1786–1834), accepted as the father of modern Protestant theology during the nineteenth and for about half the twentieth century, made a systematic effort to draw a stark line and pinpoint the gulf that lay between Old Testament theology and that of the New Testament by placing Old Testament theology on a par with heathenism. He contended that “The relations of Christianity to Judaism and Heathenism are the same, inasmuch as the transition from either of these to Christianity is a transition to another religion.” Though he did not object to the Old Testament being printed in the Bible, he did feel that its addition to the New Testament would be more appropriate in the form of a sort of appendix and not as something of equal rank and authority for “The Old Testament Scriptures do not ... share the normative dignity or the inspiration of the New.”

The proponents of this trend argued that there existed no bond of continuity or internal relationship between Judaism and Christianity. The two faith traditions followed two very different deities, that of the Old and New Testaments, with very different schemes of salvation.

Friedrich Delitzsch and Adolph Harnack

The Marcionist strain has survived in Christianity down to the present day. Although people like Friedrich Delitzsch are accused of Nazism, anti-Semitism, and their views on the Old Testament are often discarded as biased and sick, the views of scholars like A. Harnack, one of the great historians of dogma, are not given the same treatment. Harnack like Marcion concluded that “the Old Testament should be removed from the Christian canon.”

It is clear by now that the debate about the inclusion of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible has been a topic of discussion among Christian scholars and theologians for centuries. This discussion revolves around various theological, historical, and doctrinal issues. Here are some of the key points often raised by those who question the inclusion of the Old Testament in the Christian Bible:

Differences in Theological Themes: Some scholars argue that the Old Testament, which reflects Jewish law and history, contains themes and teachings that are significantly different from those in the New Testament, which focuses on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. For example, the concept of grace and forgiveness in the New Testament can seem at odds with some of the more stringent laws and punishments found in the Old Testament.

Historical Context and Relevance: Critics often point out that the Old Testament was written in a very different historical context. They argue that its laws and narratives were specifically aimed at the ancient Israelites and may not be directly applicable to modern Christian life and ethics.

Interpretation of Scripture: The Old Testament includes various literary genres, such as law, history, wisdom literature, and prophecy, which can be complex and challenging to interpret. Some Christian scholars argue that misinterpretations of these texts can lead to theological errors or misapplications in Christian doctrine and practice.

The Concept of a New Covenant: In Christianity, the New Testament is often seen as establishing a new covenant that supersedes the old covenant (primarily represented by the laws given in the Old Testament). This perspective is based on passages in the New Testament, like Hebrews 8:13, which speaks of the old covenant becoming obsolete and vanishing away.

Early Church Controversies: Historically, there were debates in the early church about the role of Jewish law and traditions, as evidenced in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). Some early Christian sects, like the Marcionites, advocated for a Christianity distinct from its Jewish roots, including the rejection of the Old Testament.

Ecumenical and Interfaith Considerations: In modern times, some Christian scholars also consider the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, and how the inclusion of the Old Testament impacts interfaith dialogue and understanding.

However, it's important to note that the mainstream Christian tradition has consistently affirmed the value and authority of the Old Testament, seeing it as an integral part of Christian Scripture. The Old Testament is viewed as providing the foundation for understanding the New Testament, with its prophecies considered as foretelling the coming of Christ and its teachings as providing a historical and theological context for the Christian faith.

Now we turn to this official response.