Luke prior to Gospel of Marcion ?

[Secret Alias]

Here is the start of the insane notion that the Marcionite canon can be reconstructed. It starts not from Tertullian but Epiphanius:

9:1 But I shall come to his writings, or rather, to his tamperings. This man has only Luke as a Gospel, mutilated at the beginning because of the Saviour's conception and his incarnation.32

9:2 But this person who harmed himself rather than the Gospel did not cut just the beginning off. He also cut off many words of the truth both at the end and in the middle, and he has added other things besides, beyond what had been written. And he uses only this (Gospel) canon, the Gospel according to Luke.

9:3 He also possesses ten Epistles of the holy apostle, the only ones he uses, but not all that is written in them. He deletes some parts of them, and has altered certain sections. He uses these two volumes (of the Bible) but has composed other treatises himself for the persons he has deceived.

9:4 Here are what he calls Epistles: 1. Galatians. 2. Corinthians. 3. Second Corinthians. 4. Romans. 5. Thessalonians. 6. Second Thessalonians. 7. Ephesians. 8. Colossians. 9. Philemon. 10. Philippians. He also has parts of the so-called Epistle to the Laodiceans.

9:5 From the very canon that he retains, of the Gospel and the Pauline Epistles, I can show with God's help that Marcion is a fraud and in error, and can refute him very effectively.

9:6 For he will be refuted from the very works which he acknowledges without dispute.33 From the very remnants of the Gospel and Epistles which he still has, it will be demonstrated to the wise that Christ is not foreign to the Old Testament, and hence that the prophets are not foreign to the Lord's advent—

9:7 and that the apostle preaches the resurrection of the flesh and terms the prophets righteous, and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob among the recipients of salvation—and that all the teachings of God's holy church are saving, holy, and firmly founded by God on faith, knowledge, hope and doctrine.

10:1 I am also going to append the treatise which I had written against him before, a your instance, brothers, hastening to compose this one.

10:2 Some years ago, to find what falsehood this Marcion had invented and what his silly teaching was, I took up his very books which he had mutilated, his so-called Gospel and Apostolic Canon. From these two books I made a series of extracts and selections of the material which would serve to refute him, and I wrote a sort of outline for a treatise, arranging the points in order, and numbering each saying one, two, three (and so on).

10:3 And in this way I went through all of the passages in which it is apparent that, foolishly, he still retains against himself these leftover sayings of the Saviour and the apostle.

10:4 For some of them had been falsely entered by himself, in an altered form and unlike the authentic copy of the Gospel and the meaning of the apostolic canon.

10:5 But others were exactly like both the Gospel and Apostle, unchanged by Marcion but capable of completely demolishing him. By these it is shown that the Old Testament is in agreement with the New, and the New with the Old.

10:6 In turn, other sayings from the same books give intimation that Christ has come in the flesh and been made perfect man among us.

10:7 Others in turn, moreover, confess the resurrection of the dead, and that God is one almighty Lord of all, himself the maker of heaven and earth, and of everything on earth. They do not counterfeit the call of the Gospel nor, certainly, do they deny the maker and artificer of all, but make manifest the One who is plainly confessed by the Apostolic Canon and the Proclamation of the Gospel.

10:8 And here, below, is my treatise, as follows:

Preface to the Publication concerning Marcion’s Bible and the Refutation of It

11:1 Whoever cares to understand the phoney inventions of the deceiver Marcion thoroughly and perceive the false contrivances of this victim (of the devil), should not hesitate to read this compilation.

11:2 I hasten to present the material from his own Gospel which is contradictory to his villainous tampering, so that those who are willing to read the work may have this as a training-ground in acuity, for the refutation of the strange doctrines of his invention.

11:3 For the (Marcionite) canon of Luke is revelatory of their form of the Gospel: mutilated as it is, without beginning, middle or end, it looks like a cloak full of moth holes.

11:4 At the very beginning he excised everything Luke had originally composed—his 'inasmuch as many have taken in hand,' and so forth, and the material about Elizabeth and the angel's announcement to Mary the Virgin; about John and Zacharias and the birth at Bethlehem; the genealogy and the story of the baptism.

11:5 All this he cut out and turned his back on, and made this the beginning of the Gospel, 'In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar,' and so on.

11:6 He starts from there then and yet, again, does not go on in order. He falsifies some things, as I said, he adds others helter-skelter, not going straight on but disingenuously wandering all over the material. Thus:

1. 'Go show thyself unto the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded—that this may be a testimony unto you,'34 instead of the Saviour's 'for a testimony unto them.'
2. 'But that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power to forgive sins upon earth.'35
3. 'The Son of Man is lord also of the Sabbath.'36
4. 'Judas Iscariot, which was a betrayer.' Instead of, 'He came down with them,' he has, 'He came down among them.'37
5. 'And the whole multitude sought to touch him. And he lifted up his eyes,'38 and so forth.
6. 'In the like manner did your fathers unto the prophets.'39
7. 'I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.'40
8. 'Blessed is he who shall not be offended in me,'41 is altered. For he had it as though it refers to John.
9. 'He it is of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face.'42
10. 'And entering into the Pharisee's house he reclined at table. And the woman which was a sinner, standing at his feet behind him, washed his feet with her tears, and wiped and kissed them.'43
11. And again, 'She hath washed my feet with her tears, and wiped and kissed them.'44
12. He did not have, 'His mother and his brethren,' but only, 'Thy mother and thy brethren.'45
13. 'As they sailed he fell asleep. Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the sea.'46
14. 'And it came to pass as they went the people thronged him, and a woman touched him, and was healed of her blood. And the Lord said, Who touched me?' And again, 'Someone hath touched me; for I perceive that virtue hath gone out of me.'47
15. 'Looking up to heaven he pronounced a blessing upon them.'48
16. 'Saying, The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be slain, and be raised after three days.'49
17. 'And, behold, there were talking with him two men, Elijah and Moses in glory.'50
18. 'Out of the cloud, a voice, This is my beloved Son.'51
19. 'I besought thy disciples.' But in addition to, 'And they could not cast it out,' he had, 'And he said to them, O faithless generation, how long shall I suffer you?'52
20. 'For the Son of Man shall be delivered into the hands of men.'53
21. 'Have ye not read so much as this, what David did: he went into the house of God.'54
22. 'I thank thee, Lord of heaven.'55 But he did not have, 'and earth,' nor did he have, 'Father.' He is shown up, however; for further down he had, 'Even so, Father.'
23. He said to the lawyer, 'What is written in the Law?' And after the lawyer's answer he replied, 'Thou hast answered right; this do, and thou shalt live.'56
24. And he said, 'Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, asking three loaves?' And then, 'Ask, and it shall be given. If a son shall ask a fish any of you that is a father, will he for a fish give him a serpent, or a scorpion for an egg? If, then, ye evil men know of good gifts, how much more the Father?'57
25. The saying about Jonah the prophet has been gutted; Marcion had, 'This generation, no sign shall be given it.' But he did not have anything about Nineveh, the queen of the south, and Solomon.58
26. Instead of, 'Ye pass over the judgment of God,'59 he had, 'Ye pass over the calling of God.'
27. 'Woe unto you, for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.'60
28. He did not have, 'Therefore said the wisdom of God, I send unto them prophets,' and the statement that the blood of Zacharias, Abel and the prophets will be required of this generation.61
29. 'I say unto my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body. Fear him which, after he hath killed, hath authority to cast into hell.' But he did not have, 'Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?'
30. Instead of, 'He shall confess before the angels of God,'62 Marcion says, 'before God.'
31. He does not have, 'God doth clothe the grass.'63
32. 'And your Father knoweth ye have need of these things,'64 physical things, of course.
33. 'But seek ye the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you.'65
34. Instead of, 'Your Father,' Marcion had, 'Father.'66
35. Instead of, 'In the second or third watch,' he had, 'in the evening watch.'67
36. 'The Lord of that servant will come and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint his portion with the unbelievers.'68
37. 'Lest he hale thee to the judge and the judge deliver thee to the officer.'69
38. There is a falsification from 'There came some that told him of the Galilaeans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices' down to the place where he speaks of the eighteen who died in the tower at Siloam; and of 'Except ye repent' and the rest until the parable of the fig tree of which the cultivator said, 'I am digging about it and dunging it, and if it bear no fruit, cut it down.'70
39. 'This daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound.'71
40. Again, he falsified, 'Then ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God.' In place of this he put, 'When ye see all the righteous in the kingdom of God and yourselves thrust'—but he put, 'kept'—'out.' 'There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'72
41. Again, he falsified, 'They shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down in the kingdom,' 'The last shall be first,' and 'The Pharisees came saying, Get thee out and depart, for Herod will kill thee'; also, 'He said, Go ye, and tell that fox,' until the words, 'It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem,' and, 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets and stonest them that are sent, Often would I have gathered, as a hen, thy children,' 'Your house is left unto you desolate,' and, 'Ye shall not see me until ye shall say, Blessed.'73
42. Again, he falsified the entire parable of the two sons, the one who took his share of the property and spent it in dissipation, and the other.74
43. 'The Law and the prophets were until John, and every man presseth into it.'75
44. The story of the rich man, and that Lazarus the beggar was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.76
45. 'But now he is comforted,'77 again meaning this same Lazarus.
46. Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them, since neither will they hear him that is risen from the dead.'78
47. He falsified, 'Say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.'79
48. When the ten lepers met him. Marcion excised a great deal and wrote, 'He sent them away, saying, Show yourselves unto the priests'; and he substituted different words for others and said, 'Many lepers were in the day of Elisha the prophet, and none was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.'80
49. 'The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man.'81
50. 'One said unto him, Good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He replied, Call not thou me good. One is good, God.' Marcion added, 'the Father,' and instead of, 'Thou knowest the commandments,' says, 'I know the commandments.'82
51. 'And it came to pass that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a blind man cried, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And when he was healed, he said, Thy faith hath saved thee.'83
52. Marcion falsified, 'He took unto him the twelve, and said, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written in the prophets concerning the Son of Man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered and killed, and the third day he shall rise again.'84 He falsified the whole of this.
53. He falsified the passage about the ass and Bethphage, and the one about the city and the temple, because of the scripture, 'My house shall be called an house of prayer, but ye make it a den of thieves.'85
54. 'And they sought to lay hands on him and they were afraid.'86
55. Again, he excised the material about the vineyard which was let out to husbandmen, and the verse, 'What is this, then, The stone which the builders rejected?'87
56. He excised, 'Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, in calling the Lord the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But he is a God of the living, not of the dead.'88
57. He did not have the following: 'Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, saying that the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob is God of the living.'89
58. Again he falsified, 'There shall not an hair of your head perish.'90
59. Again, he falsified the following: 'Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains,' and so on, because of the words subjoined in the text, 'until all things that are written be fulfilled.'91
60. 'He communed with the captains how he might deliver him unto them.'92
61. 'And he said unto Peter and the rest, Go and prepare that we may eat the passover.'93
62. 'And he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him, and he said, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer.'94
63. He falsified, 'I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God.'95
64. He falsified 'When I sent you, lacked ye anything,' and so on, because of the words, 'This also that is written must be accomplished, And he was numbered among the transgressors.'96
65. 'He was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed.'97
66. 'And Judas drew near to kiss him, and said ...'98
67. He falsified what Peter did when he struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.99
68. 'They that held him mocked him, smiting and striking him and saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?'100
69. After, 'We found this fellow perverting the nation,' Marcion added, 'and destroying the Law and the prophets.'101
70. The addition after 'forbidding to give tribute' is 'and turning away the wives and children.'102
71. 'And when they were come unto a place called Place of a Skull they crucified him and parted his garments, and the sun was darkened.'103
72. Marcion falsified the words, 'Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.'104
73. 'And when he had cried with a loud voice he gave up the ghost.'105
74. 'And, lo, a man named Joseph took the body down, wrapped it in linen and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn out of the rock.'106
75. 'And the women returned and rested the sabbath day according to the Law.'107
76. 'The men in shining garments said, Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is risen; remember all that he spake when he was yet with you, that the Son of Man must suffer and be delivered.'108
77. He falsified what Christ said to Cleopas and the other when he met them, 'O fools, and slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not he to have suffered these things?' And instead of, 'what the prophets have spoken,' he put, 'what I said unto you.' But he is shown up since, 'When he broke the bread their eyes were opened and they knew him.'109
78. 'Why are ye troubled? Behold my hands and my feet, for a spirit hath not bones, as ye see me have.'110

11:7 And in further opposition to this heresiarch I also attach, to this arrangement (of texts) which has been laboriously accumulated against him by myself, such other texts as I find in his works, as in an arbitrary version of the apostle Paul's epistles; not all of them but some of them—(I have listed their names in the order of his Apostolic Canon at the end of the complete work)—and these mutilated as usual by his rascality.

11:8 (They are) remains of the truth which he preserves as, to be honest, there are remains of the true Gospel in his Gospel in name which I have given above. All the same, he has adulterated everything with fearful ingenuity

[Secret Alias]

So Epiphanius started the ball rolling on this nonsense. And Epiphanius is the worst Patristic source. But my question would be here - did Epiphanius really write the treatise attached to the Panarion and to what degree did it actually come from first hand knowledge of the Marcionite "bible"?

[Secret Alias]

There are a lot of parallels to things said in Tertullian 4 like:

All this he cut out and turned his back on, and made this the beginning of the Gospel, 'In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar,' and so on. He starts from there then and yet, again, does not go on in order.

ταῦτα πάντα περικόψας ἀπεπήδησεν καὶ ἀρχὴν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου ἔταξε ταύτην «ἐν τῷ πεντεκαιδεκάτῳ ἔτει Τιβερίου Καίσαρος» καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ἐντεῦθεν οὖν οὗτος ἄρχεται καὶ οὐ καθ' εἱρμὸν πάλιν ἐπιμένει

This seems to reflect this in Tertullian

Marcion premises that in the fifteenth year of the principate of Tiberius he came down into Capernaum, a city of Galilee—from the Creator's heaven, of course, into which he had first come down out of his own. Did not then due order demand that it should first be explained how he came down from his own heaven into the Creator's?

Anno quintodecimo principatus Tiberiani proponit eum1 descendisse in civitatem Galilaeae Capharnaum, utique de caelo creatoris, in quod de suo ante descenderat. Ecquid2 ergo ordinis fuerat ut prius de suo caelo in creatoris descendens describeretur?

[Secret Alias]

My question would be whether Epiphanius's echo of Tertullian is really a result of a commonality in the underlying Marcionite text or whether it comes from both Tertullian and Epiphanius repurposing a common anti-Marcionite source? Notice also that Evans translation inserts "Marcion" into the text. In reality it is an assertion made by Tertullian without reference to whether or not Marcion had it in his canon. It is almost rabbinic in its terseness. A scriptural citation followed by commentary. The reference to Marcion not following due "order" underlies what follows in both T and E.

[Secret Alias]

The difference between T and E's development of Marcion's "lack of order" is significant. T's text is principally interested in attacking M's dogma which isn't sufficiently monarchian. To this end M's gospel's lack of "order" is linked to its failure to explain a heavenly descent from beyond the Creator. But I think this a secondary development made by Irenaeus. The original theme of a "lack of order" was originally closer to Papias's charge against Mark. So E's treatise is actually closer to the original (and common) source in this regard.

[Secret Alias]

The "orderly narrative" trope in T

Did not then due order demand that it should first be explained how he came down from his own heaven into the Creator's? For why should I not pass censure on such matters as do not satisfy the claims of orderly narrative, <but let it> always tail off in falsehood? So let us ask once for all a question I have already discussed elsewhere,2
whether, while coming down through the Creator's territory and in opposition to him, he could have expected the Creator to let him in, and allow him to pass on from thence into the earth, which no less is the Creator's. Next however, admitting that he came down, I demand to know the rest of the order of that descent. It is no matter if somewhere the word 'appeared' is used. 'Appear' suggests a sudden and unexpected sight, <by one> who at some instant has cast his eyes on a thing which has at that instant appeared. To have come down, however—when that takes place the fact
is in view and comes beneath the eye: it also puts the event into sequence, and enforces the inquiry in what sort of aspect, in what sort of array, with how much speed or moderation, as also at what time of day, or of night, he came down: and besides that, who saw him coming down, who reported it, and who gave assurance of a fact not easily credible even to him who gives assurance. It is quite wrong in fact, that Romulus should have had Proculus to vouch for his ascent into heaven,3 yet that Christ should not have provided himself with a reporter of his god's descent from heaven—though that one must have gone up by the same ladder of lies by which this one came down.

The reference to Romulus is likely a gloss or later addition from Tertullian. But again I suspect all these concerns about HOW Jesus descended from heaven are not original. The original author complained - like Papias of Mark - that the Gospel of M was in the wrong order.

[Secret Alias]

Now the first mention of an interpolation comes almost immediately after this. Unfortunately for the Luke-thesis it references a passage found only now in Matthew

For Isaiah says: Drink this first, do it quickly, province of Zebulon and land of Naphtali, and ye others who <dwell between> the sea-coast and Jordan, Galilee of the gentiles, ye people who sit in darkness, behold a great light: ye who inhabit the land, sitting in the shadow of death, a light has arisen upon you.a It is indeed to the good that Marcion's god too should be cited as one who gives light to the gentiles, for so there was the greater need for him to come down from heaven—though, if so, he ought to have come down into Pontus rather than Galilee. Yet since both that locality and that function of enlightenment do according to the prophecy have their bearing upon Christ, we at once begin to discern that it was he of whom the prophecy was made, when he
makes it clear on his first appearance that he is come not to destroy the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfil them.b For Marcion has blotted this out as an interpolation. But in vain will he deny that Christ said in words a thing which he at once partly accomplished in act. For in the meanwhile he fulfilled the prophecy in respect of place. From heaven straightway into the synagogue. As the saying goes, let us get down to it: to your task, Marcion: remove even this from the gospel, I am not sent but
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and, It is not <meet> to take away the children's bread and give it to dogs:c for this gives the impression that Christ belongs to Israel. I have plenty of acts, if you take away his words. Take away Christ's sayings, and the facts will speak; See how he enters into the synagogue: surely to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See how he offers the bread of his doctrine to the Israelites first: surely he is giving them preference as sons. See how as yet he gives others no share of it: surely he is passing them by, like dogs. Yet on whom would he have been more ready to bestow it than on strangers to the Creator, if he himself had not above all else belonged to the Creator? Yet again how can he have obtained admittance into the synagogue, appearing so suddenly, so unknown, no one as yet having certain knowledge of his tribe, of his nation, of his house, or even of Caesar's census, which the Roman registry still has in keeping,4 a most faithful witness to our Lord's nativity?They remembered, surely, that unless they knew he was circumcised he must not be admitted into the most holy places. Or again, even if there were unlimited access to the synagogue, there was no permission to teach, except for one excellently well known, and tried, and approved, and already either for this occasion or by commendation from
elsewhere invested with that function. 'But they were all astonished at his doctrine.' Quite so. Because, it says, his word was with power, not because his teaching was directed against the law and the prophets.

What's curious about this extended passage is it's meandering character. There is this underlying sense throughout the chapter that the Marcionite gospel not only did not contain any remnant of the birth narrative(s) but that he appeared from heaven. The only gospel material which could be used to support a heavenly descent is of course the prologue to John.

The fact that T doesn't mention this is irrelevant as he starts his commentary at Luke 4:30 - 31. That's one of the threads that runs through Adversus Marcion - an eye on canonical Luke. When T says "From heaven straightway into the synagogue" this is a reflection of the eye-on-Luke narrative. But that can't have been original. It was added to the text. The deeper layer of the material is concerned with Isaiah 9 and another gospel's use of that scripture (whether that's Matthew or a Gospel harmony isn't important right now.

Why the original author was focused on this material is obvious. The M gospel had Jesus come down in Judea (see Irenaeus). The new gospel has Jesus appearing in Galilee. Why Galilee? I think it has something to do with the strange text of Isaiah used by the proto-Orthodox tacking the last verses of chapter 8 on to the beginning of 9 so that the prophesy of Isaiah is now about a king appearing in Capernaum in Galilee instead of Hezekiah.

[Secret Alias]

My reading of Adversus Marcionem is clearly that it is a text with many layers. The Luke layer is a more recent layer; the arguments on behalf of a Jesus who appeared in Galilee is likely one layer older than that. Notice however that the first attested "interpolation" of Marcion appears in relation to the Canaanite woman in Matthew 15. Why does this material appear here in - what are now - the introductory words to Luke in the context of Marcion corrupting Luke? Hard to discern. It is certainly unexpected.

Let's look deeper into the first mention of "Marcionite interpolation" in AM:

It is indeed to the good that Marcion's god too should be cited as one who gives light to the gentiles, for so there was the greater need for him to come down from heaven—though, if so, he ought to have come down into Pontus rather than Galilee. Yet since both that locality and that function of enlightenment do according to the prophecy have their bearing upon Christ, we at once begin to discern that it was he of whom the prophecy was made, when he makes it clear on his first appearance that he is come not to destroy the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfil them.b For Marcion has blotted this out as an interpolation. But in vain will he deny that Christ said in words a thing which he at once partly accomplished in act. For in the meanwhile he fulfilled the prophecy in respect of place. From heaven straightway into the synagogue. As the saying goes, let us get down to it: to your task, Marcion: remove even this from the gospel, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and, It is not <meet> to take away the children's bread and give it to dogs:c for this gives the impression that Christ belongs to Israel. I have plenty of acts, if you take away his words. Take away Christ's sayings, and the facts will speak; See how he enters into the synagogue: surely to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See how he offers the bread of his doctrine to the Israelites first: surely he is giving them preference as sons. See how as yet he gives others no share of it: surely he is passing them by, like dogs. Yet on whom would he have been more ready to bestow it than on strangers to the Creator, if he himself had not above all else belonged to the Creator?

So after citing a contextually manipulated version of Isaiah 9 (introduced by the last verses of Isaiah 8) a strong attempt is made to argue against Marcion. While T doesn't echo I's information about a M gospel's descent into Judea the problems M would have with Galilee are referenced - a sarcastic "why not Pontus?" - itself likely again a more recent layer. But the sidestepping of the Marcionite interest in a descent from heaven to Jerusalem shows us we aren't getting the full picture of earlier layers of the treatise.

That Ephrem speaks of "Marcion" and "Bethsaida" here and moreover infers his text had the same reading once again implies that the shape of Luke has made an impression on the later layers of AM not the other way around (ie that AM was "reporting" on Luke from the beginning). Luke 4:30 - 31 keeps popping up in this section of AM because of the hand of a later editor.

[Secret Alias]

If we are going to engage in source criticism here the next more recent layer after the Luke layer is an argument in favor of Jesus appearing in Galilee as the prophesied royal figure formerly identified as Hezekiah. This sounds suspiciously like something Justin would write. But why reference Matthew 15/Mark 7 here? Indeed what starts out as an exposition of Isaiah 9 veers off in a completely unexpected direction:

we at once begin to discern that it was he of whom the prophecy was made, when he makes it clear on his first appearance that he is come not to destroy the law and the prophets, but rather to fulfil them.b For Marcion has blotted this out as an interpolation. But in vain will he deny that Christ said in words a thing which he at once partly accomplished in act. For in the meanwhile he fulfilled the prophecy in respect of place. From heaven straightway into the synagogue. As the saying goes, let us get down to it: to your task, Marcion: remove even this from the gospel, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and, It is not <meet> to take away the children's bread and give it to dogs:c for this gives the impression that Christ belongs to Israel. I have plenty of acts, if you take away his words. Take away Christ's sayings, and the facts will speak; See how he enters into the synagogue: surely to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. See how he offers the bread of his doctrine to the Israelites first: surely he is giving them preference as sons. See how as yet he gives others no share of it: surely he is passing them by, like dogs.

So T's argument seems to be Luke 4:30 - 31 supports the contextually manipulated context of Isaiah 9. Isaiah predicted the Messiah would appear in Galilee and Luke says this. The Marcionites disagreed and presumably their gospel supported whatever they believed. Why Matt 15/Mark 7 pops up is because it appeared in the M gospel but why here exactly I haven't got a clue.

[Secret Alias]

Interestingly the first "Marcionite falsification" of Luke in T:

As far as concerned avoidance of human glory, he told him to tell no man: as concerned the observance of the law, he ordered the proper course to be followed: Go, show thyself to the priest, and offer the gift which Moses commanded. Knowing that the law was in the form of prophecy, he was safeguarding its figurative regulations even in his own mirrored images of them, which indicated that a man who has been a sinner, as soon as he is cleansed by the word of God, is bound to offer in the temple a sacrifice to God, which means prayer and giving of thanks in the church through Christ Jesus, the universal high priest of the Father. This is why he added, That it may be to you for a testimony—no doubt by which he testified that he did not destroy the law but fulfilled it, a testimony that it was he and no other of whom it was foretold that he would take upon him their diseases and sicknesses

Is the first "Marcionite falsification" of Luke in E:

1. Go show thyself unto the priest, and offer for thy cleansing, according as Moses commanded—that this may be a testimony unto you,'34 instead of the Saviour's 'for a testimony unto them.'

But notice for T the variant is accepted begging the question was there a common source behind T and E who had "to you" here rather than "to them."