Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 8
In opposing Marcion’s claim that the Old Testament God differs from the New Testament God, the speaker says the early church acknowledged real differences (war, oaths, divorce) without solving it by creating “two gods”; how does this reveal God’s patience and progressive revelation, and how does it confront evangelical instincts either to flatten the differences or to discard the Old Testament as irrelevant?
Another way to ask: If the Old Testament and New Testament show real differences (like war, oaths, and divorce) but not “two gods,” what does that teach about God being patient and revealing truth over time? How does that challenge Christians who either try to ignore the differences or treat the Old Testament as unimportant?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript shows the early church recognized genuine differences between Old and New Testament practice, yet insisted it is one God, not “two gods.” That confronts two opposite impulses the speaker mentions: denying any difference at all, or reacting by rejecting the Old Testament’s God or message.
- The speaker summarizes the perceived tension: in the Old Testament there is “war… swearing oaths,” while in the New Testament “war’s forbidden… You don’t swear oaths. There’s no divorce.”
- He says some, like “Calvin,” claimed “there isn’t any difference… Old Testament morality is still our morality,” and he responds: “Well, that’s not correct. There is that clear difference.”
- He explains the Gnostic/Marcion solution: “that must’ve been a different God then,” which “creates all kinds of problems… now you’ve got two gods.”
- Tertullian “really hammers Marcion,” pressing the problem of OT prophecies about Christ and how Marcion had to “play with the New Testament” and remove OT quotations.
- Marcion is described as “put out of the church” and treated as heresy.