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THE BIBLE CANON : M. M. NINAN<br />
Marcion of Sinope (85- 150 AD)<br />
The concept of a Christian <strong>Canon</strong> was first introduced by Marcion He rejected the Old<br />
Testament as the document of a Jewish God who was an evil God whom Jesus came to<br />
destroy. In AD 140, he was expelled from the Christian community of Rome and he formed<br />
a church of his ownAccording to Marcion, the Jewish Yahveh was a jealous, wrathful, and<br />
legalistic god. The material world this demiurge created was defective, a place of suffering.<br />
Jesus was not the Messiah promised by Judaism; that Messiah was to be a conqueror and a<br />
political leader. Jesus was sent by the Supreme God who was greater than the Creator<br />
Yahveh. He accepted only the Gospel of Luke and the letters of Paul as canon. Marcion<br />
called his <strong>Bible</strong> testamentum [Latin for testament]. In 144, Marcion became one of the<br />
first declared heresiarchs for his deviations from the orthodox viewpoints of the apostolic<br />
church. The suppression of the Marcionist form of Christianity, if it can be called "a form of<br />
Christianity," is thus viewed as a catalyst for the development of the New Testament canon,<br />
the establishment of a centralised church law, and the structuring of the Church.<br />
Marcion’s <strong>Canon</strong><br />
Gospel according to<br />
Luke<br />
Romans<br />
I Corinthians<br />
II Corinthians<br />
Galatians<br />
Ephesians<br />
(Laodiceans)<br />
Colossians<br />
Thessalonians I<br />
Thessalonians II<br />
Philemon<br />
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