Marcionite 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Here is my analysis of the famous passage 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 to reveal the underlying Marcionite Original, and then a discussion of how I reached that opinion from the sources. This is a bit of  a teaser for the release of my complete reconstruction of 1 & 2 Corinthians in Marcionite form.

1 Corinthians 15:1-3 – ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον and – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς {A}
      15:4b-10 – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς … οὐκ ἐγὼ δὲ ἀλλὰ ἡ χάρις τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ σὺν ἐμοί

The traditions of 15:4(b)-10 were placed by the Catholic redactor to lessen Paul’s role, and to harmonize to Acts (Jesus appearing to Peter in 15:5, the elevation of James and the Apostles in 15:7, Saul/Paul persecuting the “Church of God” in verse 15:9, et al). The most that could remain forms a simple coherent statement


“Now I make known to you, brothers, the Gospel which I preached to you, which you received, in which you also have stood, through which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless in vain you believed. For I handed on to you, in the very first things, that Christ died for our sins, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day. Therefore whether I or they, so we preach and so you believe.”

Epiphanius and Tertullian do not mention verses 15:5-10. And as you can see there is no need for them to have a sensible statement. What is of note is the two camp them of I (Paul/Marcion) and they (implies Jewish Christians of the Catholic opponents).

Additional testimony comes from DA 5.6 which although not quoting Marcion also deletes ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον and both κατὰ τὰς γραφάς from the text. The κατὰ τὰς γραφάς is understandable, since the only text it could refer to is the Gospel of Luke (in Marcionite form), but this doesn’t fit Paul’s other claims that what he presents comes from revelation not scripture.

DA 5.6 Greek:
Γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν, ὃ καὶ παρελάβετε, ἐν ᾧ καὶ ἑστήκατε, δι᾽ οὖ καὶ σῴζεσθε, τίνι λόγῳ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν εἰ κατέχετε, ἐκτὸς εἰ μὴ εἰκῇ ἐπιστεύσατε. παρέδωκα γὰρ ὑμῖν ἐν πρώτοις ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν καὶ ὅτι ἐτάφη καὶ ὅτι ἐγήγερται τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ.

Epiphanius P42 γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν
Epiphanius P42 ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀπέθανε καὶ ἐτάφη καὶ ἐγήγερται τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ

DA 5.6 Rufinus:
Notem autem uobis facio, fratres, euangelium. Quod euangelium? Quod euangelizaui uobis, quod et suscepistis, in quo et statis, per quod et salui efficiemini, qua ratione euangelizaui uobis si retinetis, nisi forte sine causa credidistis. Tradidi enim uobis in primus quia Christus mortuus est pro peccatis nostris secundum scripturas et quia sepultis est et quia resurrexit tertia die.

AM 3.8.5 Tradidi enim, inquit, vobis inprimis, quod Christus mortuus sit pro peccatis nostris, et quod sepultus sit, et quod resurrexerit tertia die.


   DA Greek:           DA Rufinus Latin      Epiphanius P42 Tertullian AM 3.8.5   Marcion
15:1 – ἀδελφοί                      +                             +                    (no witness)                +
15:3 – ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον   – ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον      (no witness)         – ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον        –
15:3 – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς                +               – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς        –
15:4 – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς   – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς        –

The deletion of ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον in verse 15:3 is surprising since verse 11:23 uses the same formulation, Ἐγὼ γὰρ παρέλαβον ἀπὸ τοῦ κυρίου, ὃ καὶ παρέδωκα ὑμῖν, when addressing the subject of Jesus’ betrayal.
AM 3.8.5 Tradidi enim, inquit, vobis inprimis, quod Christus mortuus sit pro peccatis nostris, et quod sepultus sit, et quod resurrexerit tertia die.
'For I delivered, he says, to you first of all, that Christ died for our sins, and that he was buried, and that He rose again the third day'
DA 5.6 Epiphanius P42 ὅτι Χριστὸς ἀπέθανε καὶ ἐτάφη καὶ ἐγήγερται τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ and ~ τῇ τρίτῃ ἡμέρᾳ support F G K L P Ψ 049 maj, but not reflected in Tertullian; both accounts delete – κατὰ τὰς γραφάς (probably also delete verse 5ff)

Epiphanius P42 "on the raising of the dead" γνωρίζω δὲ ὑμῖν, ἀδελφοί, τὸ εὐαγγέλιον ὃ εὐηγγελισάμην ὑμῖν

Western non-interpolation (Latin b Ambrosiaster Irenaeuslat Tertullian) "that which I also received" ὃ καὶ παρέλαβον was almost certainly not in Marcion, as it implies a teacher-student relationship, clearly rejected by Marcion (see Galatians 1:11-12, 15-17a)

The question here is why place any weight on the testimony of DA 5 when Clabeaux had demonstrated thoroughly the unreliability of this chapter containing any Marcionite readings? There are two reasons, first the text is an independent witness, almost certainly from an earlier unknown anti-heretic work, that knows the text of 1 Corinthians 15 in an earlier form which coincides exactly with the Marcionite text we know from Tertullian and Epiphanius. That the source is Catholic implies that the additions to the text may have been ongoing even after the initial Catholic redaction of the Marcionite collection, something at times hinted at by the silence of Tertullian on obvious points that are presented in the modern text. The second reason is the claimed Marcionite passage of Luke 18:35-38, 39-43 in DA 5.14, which although carrying a very late HT on verse 39, and using the Lukan form παραχρῆμα instead of the expected εὐθέως (Rufinus however uses statim which more often reflects εὐθέως than παραχρῆμα in DA – this could simply reflect corruptions in both the Greek text we have and the Greek text Rufinus translated), yet it also carries the Marcionite reading in 18:37 of deleting ὁ Ναζωραῖος indicating it likely came from an earlier anti-Marcionite tract – albeit in rather corrupted form (the only other potential Marcionite readings are the deletion of ὁ Ἰησοῦς in 18:40, and deleting the obvious Catholic/Lukan glorifying God passage starting with καὶ ἠκουλούθει αὐτῷ δοξάζων τὸν θεόν  in 18:43). The conclusion on DA 5 is that it serves as another text witness of the 4th century based on earlier texts that had some contact to the Marcionite texts. Thus the text can be used as a sort of category III type witness.

Note: The term παραχρῆμα ‘in a word’ was favored by Luke, and here and there (missing some due to fatigue) replaced the original term εὐθεώς ‘in an instant’, such as in Luke 4:30, but preserved as εὐθὺς in Mark 1:30.