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The Prescription Against Heretics

Tertullian

Chapter 33

About this work

Tertullian argues that apostolic churches possess the proper claim to interpret Christian Scripture and that rival teachers should not be granted equal standing in debates over the inherited rule of faith.

Author: Tertullian
Date: c. AD 200–210
Origin: Carthage, North Africa
Genre: Heresiology

Chapter XXXIII.—Present Heresies (Seedlings of the Tares Noted by the Sacred Writers) Already Condemned in Scripture. This Descent of Later Heresy from the Earlier Traced in Several Instances.

Besides all this, I add a review

‹ Chapter 32 Chapter 34 ›

of

the

doctrines

themselves

,

which

,

existing

as

they

did

in

the

days

of

the

apostles

,

were

both

exposed

and

denounced

by

the

said

apostles

.

For

by

this

method

they

will

be

more

easily

reprobated

,

when

they

are

detected

to

have

been

even

then

in

existence

,

or

at

any

rate

to

have

been

seedlings

of

the

(

tares

)

which

then

were

.

Paul

,

in

his

first

epistle

to

the

Corinthians

,

sets

his

mark

on

certain

who

denied

and

doubted

the

resurrection

.

This

opinion

was

the

especial

property

of

the

Sadducees

.

A

part

of

it

,

however

,

is

maintained

by

Marcion

and

Apelles

and

Valentinus

,

and

all

other

impugners

of

the

resurrection

.

Writing

also

to

the

Galatians

,

he

inveighs

against

such

men

as

observed

and

defend

circumcision

and

the

(

Mosaic

)

law

.

Thus

runs

Hebion’s

heresy

.

Such

also

as

“

forbid

to

marry

”

he

reproaches

in

his

instructions

to

Timothy

.

Now

,

this

is

the

teaching

of

Marcion

and

his

follower

Apelles

.

(

The

apostle

)

directs

a

similar

blow

against

those

who

said

that

“

the

resurrection

was

past

already

.

”

Such

an

opinion

did

the

Valentinians

assert

of

themselves

.

When

again

he

mentions

“

endless

genealogies

,

”

one

also

recognises

Valentinus

,

in

whose

system

a

certain

Æon

,

whosoever

he

be

,

of

a

new

name

,

and

that

not

one

only

,

generates

of

his

own

grace

Sense

and

Truth

;

and

these

in

like

manner

produce

of

themselves

Word

and

Life

,

while

these

again

afterwards

beget

Man

and

the

Church

.

From

these

primary

eight

ten

other

Æons

after

them

spring

,

and

then

the

twelve

others

arise

with

their

wonderful

names

,

to

complete

the

mere

story

of

the

thirty

Æons

.

The

same

apostle

,

when

disapproving

of

those

who

are

“

in

bondage

to

elements

,

”

points

us

to

some

dogma

of

Hermogenes

,

who

introduces

matter

as

having

no

beginning

,

and

then

compares

it

with

God

,

who

has

no

beginning

.

By

thus

making

the

mother

of

the

elements

a

goddess

,

he

has

it

in

his

power

“

to

be

in

bondage

”

to

a

being

which

he

puts

on

a

par

with

God

.

John

,

however

,

in

the

Apocalypse

is

charged

to

chastise

those

“

who

eat

things

sacrificed

to

idols

,

”

and

“

who

commit

fornication

.

”

There

are

even

now

another

sort

of

Nicolaitans

.

Theirs

is

called

the

Gaian

heresy

.

But

in

his

epistle

he

especially

designates

those

as

“

Antichrists

”

who

“

denied

that

Christ

was

come

in

the

flesh

,

”

and

who

refused

to

think

that

Jesus

was

the

Son

of

God

.

The

one

dogma

Marcion

maintained

;

the

other

,

Hebion

.

The

doctrine

,

however

,

of

Simon’s

sorcery

,

which

inculcated

the

worship

of

angels

,

was

itself

actually

reckoned

amongst

idolatries

and

condemned

by

the

Apostle

Peter

in

Simon’s

own

person

.

Notes

1
Traducentur.
2
Semina sumpsisse.
3
1 Cor. xv. 12.
4
Comp. Tertull. De Resur. Carnis, xxxvi.
5
Gal. v. 2.
6
1 Tim. iv. 3.
7
Æque tangit.
8
2 Tim. ii. 3.
9
1 Tim. i. 4.
10
Nescio qui.
11
Charite.
12
Sermonem.
13
De qua prima ogdoade. [See Irenæus, Vol. I. p. 316, etc. this Series.]
14
Gal. iv. 9.
15
Non natam, literally, “as being unbegotten.”
16
Deo non nato.
17
Comparat.
18
Rev. ii. 14.
19
Gaiana. So Oehler; the common reading being “Caiana.”
20
1 John iv. 3.
21
Comp. Epiphanius, i. 30.
22
Referred to perhaps in Col. ii. 18.