c. 140–144

Marcion: Two Gods – the Creator of the Law and the Good God of the Gospel

Marcion, a native of Sinope, came to Rome around 140 and, probably in 144, was expelled from the Roman church and founded his own. Marcion's "special and principal work," according to Tertullian, was "the separation of the Law and the Gospel." The God of the Old Testament, the Creator of the world, is just, severe and warlike (according to different testimonies, "evil" or "just"), while the Father of Jesus Christ is pure goodness, an "unknown" god who revealed himself in Christ in the fifteenth year of Tiberius. Christ, according to Marcion, was not born and took only a seeming body. Pelikan writes that Marcion resolved the tension in the doctrine of God by sacrificing the unity of God for the sake of salvation.