- There is one god who rules over the monarchy in heaven and on earth.
- The Father is at once the same as the Son.
- The Son went to earth to witness the Father, who was always known to the Jews but not the Gentiles.
- His mission was prompted by the fact that 'it was time' to go beyond the Jews i.e. to include the Gentiles in 'the Promise' as per Paul.
- So the Son was established in Mary's womb. Jesus was born with no seed from Joseph. He was man and God.
- Previously God had established himself through the Son exclusively to the Jews. The story of the Pentateuch was now the possession of all of humanity.
- The laws formerly established with Moses (sacrifice, divorce etc) were now replaced by the 'grace' associated with Jesus Christ.
- The law and the prophets were until John but the overt demonstration of that was the destruction of the temple. There were no more sacrifices because God decreed he didn't want sacrifices any more. Something new was coming in the person of Jesus which replaced the former slaughter of animals. It was new but it wasn't completely new. It was in keeping with what happened before which is why the reading of the 'Old Testament' still shines a light on the new. Because they are 'in harmony' with one another because one and the same god established both.
- One becomes a Christian by declaring a creed and being baptized. Accepting baptism is a one time chance to wash away old sins. If you sin again, you're liable for punishment as per the rules of the 'old god' (who is still the 'new god') of Christianity.
- The world is going to be judged and the sinners go to hell forever and the good lambs receive the promise made to Abraham and his seed.
- The Son had to manifest himself to the world because the Gentiles didn't know him. He went to the Jews so they could kill him and lose their religion. He offered the world 'sacraments' which made the body whole (i.e. established the perfection that once existed in Adam before his sin).
- He established a college of twelve apostles but Judas fell but was replaced - not by Paul - but someone else to make twelve. Twelve isn't a magical number as the heretics allege but it was a sign of the 'harmony' which exists between the old (Israel) and new (apostles).
- Paul appeared later and wrote a gospel and went to Jerusalem and submitted for an hour by handing over the text to be reviewed and approved by the pillars. They did. But in the process certain Judaizers misinterpreted the gospel (the Marcionites 'misunderstood' this as meaning that they wrote other 'Judaized' gospels.
- Eventually Paul and the Twelve reconciled with one another. But Paul was never included as one of the Twelve. He was an apostle. But one appointed 'to the Gentiles' who were the whole purpose of Jesus's coming - i.e. Jesus came to spread 'the Promise' to the Gentiles after the Jews were rejected because of their wickedness or because God knew they would reject his Son (who was at once Himself).
- But ultimately, for the only Church which would survive (i.e. the Church would made up of only Gentiles and was only meant to spread among the Gentiles viz. 'it was known' the Jewish Church would die out as it did) was the Church of Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Which meant the Marcionites were ultimately right. Except they hated Judaism which is wrong because harmony, rather than antitheses, exists between the Law and the gospel.
- There was a Jewish Church. It was headquartered in Jerusalem where Jews were actively hunting down Christians and murdering them like they did Jesus.
- There was a Jerusalem episcopal succession made up of the 'family of Jesus' which went down to the time of the Bar Kochba revolt where it disappeared. 'Jewish Christianity' ultimately disappeared except for some documents which are now in our canon. But it's lasting legacy was to force Paul to tone down his radicalism as 'documented' in Acts. Paul not only submitted 'for an hour' to its authority but also reconciled with Peter.
- Marcion was one of the leftovers of 'pure Paulism.' He was in error because he didn't 'know' that Paul and Peter 'made up.' He thought Paul continued to promote an anti-Jewish doctrine when in fact he submitted to Jewish Christianity. This is where it breaks down for me. In order for the story to make sense, Marcion read Galatians as it was preserved among Irenaeus and Tertullian and 'knew' that Paul submitted for 'an hour' giving up his written gospel to the Judaizers and they corrupted his text with Jewish readings. The Judaizers must also have corrupted Paul's letters too. So that means the letters were in existence before the meeting at Jerusalem. So Paul wrote to the various communities before he actually visited them which is an impossibility. Not understanding things from here.
But the underlying point is that in point of fact, only Paul 'matters.' The 'Jewish Church' only has one role in history - to 'soften' Paul. They have no real existence, no legacy of any sort. They are raised as a proof that Marcion's version of Christianity was rejected by Paul himself because he 'submitted' to the Jerusalem Church and Peter. Marcion is alleged to have 'misread' Galatians. But the actual 'history' is even more ridiculous. Paul voluntarily submits his written gospel which somehow is Luke. Mark and Matthew are written in a way that betrays some sort of mutual dependence (plagiarism). But again, Marcion's (alleged) inference that Judaizers copied Luke and made it more Jewish is said by the Church Fathers to be a misreading of the text. Paul simply had his text approved and then had a dispute ABOUT THE APPLICATION of the gospel - namely that Jewish dietary laws, circumcision practices and calendar observances remained in force. But if they 'misunderstood' this from Paul's written gospel i.e. Luke (which is clearly how Irenaeus and Tertullian read Galatians chapters 2, 3 and the rest) then Paul must be faulted fro writing a largely incomprehensible gospel. For there is nothing in Luke which would suggest that the Law and the prophets had come to an end.
What is clear from Irenaeus and especially Tertullian now is the fact that the 'Marcionite gospel' - i.e. the written gospel that they said was written by Paul and which Tertullian says they learned about through reading Galatians - originally had the Matthean antitheses (i.e. Matt 5:21 - 48). It also had an opening narrative where Jesus came down from heaven and immediately entered a synagogue declared the antitheses and was recognized by a man possessed by a demon who presumably knew he was a powerful heavenly figure and then the crowd quickly jammed him at the edge of a precipice and tried to push him over only to fall over themselves (when he either flew or passed through the crowd). So already we begin to see the break down in some of this story. Paul wrote a gospel which wasn't quite like Matthew, Mark, Luke or John but as Baarda notes was something like the Diatessaron of Tatian. The idea that Paul submitted 'for an hour' to allow THIS gospel to have been transmitted among the Jewish Christians led to the creation of a gospel which supported the idea that the laws of sacrifices were over had something to do with THIS opening narrative. It was from this opening narrative that Marcionites thought or knew that the Law had come to an end.