16. О том, что Один и Тот же и благ и справедлив

Since the vile Marcion calls one just and calls Him the Creator, and the other good, and this, according to Marcion, is Jesus Christ, then let’s talk a little about this and prove that our Lord Jesus Christ is both the Creator and the Savior, that He is both good and just. since the damned Marcion heard the requirement of the law: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, ... burning for burning, ulcer for ulcer” (Exodus 21:24–25), and the Lord commands us to the one who strikes “on the right cheek” to turn the “other”, and “to the one who wants to sue and take the robe”, to let go “and the swearer” (Matthew 5, 39–40 ), then this madman concluded that one is fair and the other is good. But he did not understand that the severity of the Gospel laws is worse than the Mosaic law. For the law of Moses prohibits murder, and the law of the Gospel threatens with hell the one who calls his brother a freak. It is said: “Everyone... who says to his brother:... a freak, is guilty of the fiery hell” (Matthew 5:22). Thus, the Old Law condemns fornication, but the Gospel also calls foul lust aroused by an indecent glance as fornication. The old law prohibits lying, and the new law prohibits swearing. The old law commanded the man who hated his wife to let her go, but the new law calls the letting go of a wife who has not been convicted of fornication adultery, for it says: “Whoever lets his wife go without saying the word of the fornicator commits adultery, and whoever understands the prostitute commits adultery” (Matthew 5:32). And beyond this, the gospel law threatens with the demand for an account for idle words, and eternal torment, and total darkness, and fiery hell, and many other similar things. From this, everyone will see that what Marcion calls just good and what is called good is just; That’s why he gave the strictest laws and threatens the most severe punishments. But it is sheer madness to even say what Marcion asserted. For He who commanded in the Gospel to love enemies and in the old law prescribed not to leave without care the enemy’s livestock that had fallen under a burden, but to help them and in times of need not to remember hostility (Ex. 23:5). Thus, he also commands, if the enemy’s ox has gone astray, to bring it and give it to its owner (Ex. 23:4). And not only does the old law teach mercy towards people, but it even commands us to have pity for dumb animals. For it is said: “Do not stop the mouth of the threshing ox” (1 Cor. 9:9); and again: “Do not let the lamb boil in the flesh of its mother” (Ex. 23:19). And the law prohibits those who find bird chicks from taking their mothers with the chicks (Deut. 22:6-7). And he commands that the seventh day be spent in idleness, so that not only the male and female slaves, but also the ox and the donkey can rest (Ex. 23:12). He also has such care for the dumb. One can find that the laws written about aliens are filled with all kinds of love for humanity. For it is said: “do not embitter the stranger: for the strangers are in the land of Egypt” (Ex. 22:21). And he commanded the reapers to leave the ears of corn that escaped from under the sickle to “the stranger, the orphan, and the widow” (Deut. 24:19). Likewise, he forbids those who pick grapes to collect berries that have slipped from their hands and hidden clusters another time. And this same thing commands us to observe in the discussion of other fruits. For it is said: “And you shall not gain the second hand of your grapes” (Lev. 19:10); Do not strip your olives another time, but let it be for the stranger, the orphan, the widow, the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth (Deut. 24:21). Even a captive is honored by the law with great care for her. For he does not give her over to be desecrated by the sensualists, but commands first to allow her to indulge in tears in order to honor her own, and then to shave her and then “copulate with her”; and if the ruler is sated in pleasure, the law does not allow her to be sold, does not give the right to leave her in slavery, but commands her to be set free, counting the communication with her as her price (Deut. 21:13-14). Therefore, what kind of punishment will be punished, worthy of their blasphemy, for those who dared to call such a good lawmaker not only unjust, but also evil? You might be interested in: