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The Five Books Against Marcion

Tertullian

Book 2 · Chapter 12

About this work

A sustained refutation of Marcion’s theology and edited Scriptures, defending the unity of the Creator and Christ’s Father and reading the Gospel and Pauline letters against Marcionite claims.

Author: Tertullian
Date: Early 3rd century
Origin: Carthage, North Africa
Genre: Heresiology

Chapter XII.—The Attributes of Goodness and Justice Should Not Be Separated. They are Compatible in the True God. The Function of Justice in the Divine Being Described.

Since, therefore, there is this union

‹ Book 2 · Chapter 11 Book 2 · Chapter 13 ›

and

agreement

between

goodness

and

justice

,

you

cannot

prescribe

their

separation

.

With

what

face

will

you

determine

the

separation

of

your

two

Gods

,

regarding

in

their

separate

condition

one

as

distinctively

the

good

God

,

and

the

other

as

distinctively

the

just

God

?

Where

the

just

is

,

there

also

exists

the

good

.

In

short

,

from

the

very

first

the

Creator

was

both

good

and

also

just

.

And

both

His

attributes

advanced

together

.

His

goodness

created

,

His

justice

arranged

,

the

world

;

and

in

this

process

it

even

then

decreed

that

the

world

should

be

formed

of

good

materials

,

because

it

took

counsel

with

goodness

.

The

work

of

justice

is

apparent

,

in

the

separation

which

was

pronounced

between

light

and

darkness

,

between

day

and

night

,

between

heaven

and

earth

,

between

the

water

above

and

the

water

beneath

,

between

the

gathering

together

of

the

sea

and

the

mass

of

the

dry

land

,

between

the

greater

lights

and

the

lesser

,

between

the

luminaries

of

the

day

and

those

of

the

night

,

between

male

and

female

,

between

the

tree

of

knowledge

of

death

and

of

life

,

between

the

world

and

paradise

,

between

the

aqueous

and

the

earth

-

born

animals

.

As

goodness

conceived

all

things

,

so

did

justice

discriminate

them

.

With

the

determination

of

the

latter

,

everything

was

arranged

and

set

in

order

.

Every

site

and

quality

of

the

elements

,

their

effect

,

motion

,

and

state

,

the

rise

and

setting

of

each

,

are

the

judicial

determinations

of

the

Creator

.

Do

not

suppose

that

His

function

as

a

judge

must

be

defined

as

beginning

when

evil

began

,

and

so

tarnish

His

justice

with

the

cause

of

evil

.

By

such

considerations

,

then

,

do

we

show

that

this

attribute

advanced

in

company

with

goodness

,

the

author

of

all

things

,

—

worthy

of

being

herself

,

too

,

deemed

innate

and

natural

,

and

not

as

accidentally

accruing

to

God

,

inasmuch

as

she

was

found

to

be

in

Him

,

her

Lord

,

the

arbiter

of

His

works

.

Notes

1
Cavere. This is Oehler’s reading, and best suits the sense of the passage and the style of our author.
2
Habitus.
3
Auctrice.
4
Obventiciam.