Subject: Clarification on the Good Father and the Creator/Lawgiver
I would appreciate some clarification concerning one precise point of Marcionite theology: the exact relationship between the Good Father revealed by Jesus Christ and the Creator/Lawgiver.
My understanding is that the Father revealed by Christ is, by definition, supreme, transcendent and above the Creator/Lawgiver. The Creator may govern or have fashioned the material cosmic order and may be responsible for the Law, but he is not “God” in the same absolute sense as the previously unknown Father revealed by Christ.
In other words, I do not understand Marcionism as teaching two equal gods or two competing supreme principles. There is only one supreme God: the Good Father revealed by Christ. The Creator/Lawgiver is necessarily subordinate to Him and therefore cannot possess the same divine status.
This is why I am trying to understand certain expressions in your liturgy, particularly:
“Creator of the universe, you sent down your only Son, Jesus Christ…”
and:
“He is your Word, inseparable from you; you made all things through him…”
Taken literally, these formulations seem to identify the Good Father directly with the Creator of the material universe, whereas I understand the fundamental Marcionite distinction to be precisely that the Father revealed by Christ transcends the Creator/Lawgiver and cannot simply be identified with him.
Would it therefore be accurate to describe your position as follows:
The Good Father revealed by Christ is the supreme and ultimate reality, entirely above the Creator/Lawgiver, while the Creator/Lawgiver is a subordinate cosmic power associated with the material order and the Law, and is not God in the supreme sense in which the Father alone is God?
If so, how should the expressions “Creator of the universe” and “you made all things through him” in the liturgy be understood?
I ask because this distinction seems absolutely fundamental to understanding Marcion correctly and also to understanding why Marcionism should not simply be reduced to a doctrine of “two gods” or two equal opposing divine principles.
Thank you very much for your clarification.
