I realized in writing my first entry griping about the Low regard that people have for the Old Testament I did not really flesh out my reasons for calling such people “Marcionite” in their attitude. Marcion was the first person to really make a theological system of the Old Testament vs. the New Testament. Some of the old Gnostics did have some ideas like that but they were not that nearly crystallized. Some of the Gnostics for instance could see some positive things in the Old Testament. For instance, concerning the Fall of Man in the book of Genesis, many Gnostics saw this in positive terms much like Latter Day Saints that followed them. In Mormon terms this was a “Fall Forward”., and the Gnostics would agree but frame it as the Serpent bringing man Gnosis (enlightenment) that would free him from the evil power of the Demiurge Creator God.
Marcion, however constructed a much more simplistic theological system that thoroughly equated the material of the Old Testament with something that was consistently bad or evil, while that of the New Testament as universally good. And strangely it is this kind of oversimplified dichotomist thinking where the Similarities between Marcionites and some theologically impoverished Christians come in. Because many Christians can have a lop-sided view of the Old Testament. It’s like these people took what saint Paul said in the 3rd chapter of Romans describing how the Law was put their by God to bring us to Christ (by showing us we cannot fulfill it in its entirety). And basically, ignored and forgot everything else that saint Paul said regarding the Old Testament! Where they seem to equate everything out of the Old Testament in a knee jerk way “as legalism”. Such a picture is not even true to the much of the work of Saint Paul let alone the other apostles. For it is saint Paul in the book of Hebrews that mentions that “the Gospel” was preached to the Old Testament believers. The Exodus for instance is a Type and Shadow of the Gospel. And Likewise, many of the other heroes of the old Testament likewise give us lessons in regards to the Gospel.
Saint Paul also derives his philosophy of ministry from the Old Testament. For Him the Old Testament was a work that showed God’s intention for humanity and the Church. Like many of the rabbis of his day, Saint Paul could draw forth abstract principles from seemingly obscure verses that many today would see as being dated and obsolete.
1 Corinthians 9
3 This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4 Don’t we have the right to food and drink? 5 Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas[a]? 6 Or is it only I and Barnabas who lack the right to not work for a living?
7 Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its grapes? Who tends a flock and does not drink the milk? 8 Do I say this merely on human authority? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? 10 Surely he says this for us, doesn’t he? Yes, this was written for us, because whoever plows and threshes should be able to do so in the hope of sharing in the harvest.
