Passages in the Gospel of the Lord

"For the Sons of this Aeon are unto their own generation wiser beyond the children of light." (Luke 16:8 also found in the Gospel of the Lord as evidenced by Tertullian)
 

The above passage is intriguing and a good start for understanding some of Marcions key beliefs. Notice here that 'this Aeon' is the material realm and it implies that there is a 'that Aeon'. We find in many of Paul's an belief in 'this Aeon' and 'that Aeon', one being spirit, and one being worldy and flesh and blood. There are 'sons of this Aeon' and 'children of light'. 'This Aeon' is composed of matter and 'that Aeon' is composed of light. Both are physical realities but as modern science affirms (and keep in mind 'gnosis' becomes 'sciencia' in Latin and means 'science' in English not knowledge alone) light does not share the same properties with matter. Light does not even travel at the same rate as matter nor does it have weight. It has physical properties in the sense that it performs work because it travels.

The deeper meaning to the passage becomes evident in koine Greek.

1. fron'-ee-mos means 'mindful of ones own interests' (see www.Greekbible.com and Strong's strongest concordance for this word and the rest of the words listed below). The word translated to 'wiser'. 
  

2. foce means 'light' but more specifically refer to 'heavenly light'. Heaven is a realm not of this world and is sometimes used in Hebrew as the name of God.
 

3. ghen-eh-ah' (note the souns 'eyah' as in YHWH or Yah the Demiurge) literally means 'naturally begotten descendents'.
 

4. hwee-os' 'offspring' or 'children' 

Although the passage is translated the way it is, that does not convey the full meaning. A wise translator would actually translate this as saying the following:

"For the Sons of this Aeon are unto their own naturally begotten descendents mindful of their own interests beyond the children of lights interests."
 

This message is much more satisfactory and shows the truth about the passage, that it very clearly teaches two worlds or realms that are made of light and matter and that material creatures are naturally begotten whereas spiritual people are adopted. Renunciation, natural men, and the two Aeons are very imbedded ideas in the Gospel of Luke.

"Who shall not receive manifold more in this time , and in the coming Aeon, eternal life." (Luke 18:30)
 

1. Kairos- 'due time'
2. er'-khom-ahee- 'to come from one place to another' 'to come into being' 'to become known'
3. ahee-o'-nee-os (Aeoneos)- 'without beginning or end' 'eternal'

"Who shall not receive manifold more in due time, and in the coming Aeon, eternal life."
 

Note that the deeper meaning here is that the 'coming Aeon' is 'that Aeon' from which we must pass into from 'this Aeon', thus they are realms and states of being. We must come from one Aeon to the other and we therefore come into being (or as Church Fathers like to sarcastically say 'materialize out of thing air like phantoms'). The coming or 'other Aeon' is without beginning or end and is invisible and has always existed.

"The Sons of this Aeon marry, and are given in marriage, but those accounted worthy of that Aeon, to obtain the resurrection of the dead; neither marry nor are they given in marriage." (Luke 20:34-35 Marriage at the Resurrection)
 

In the Epistle to the Ephesians, when translated into English, they hide the word Aeon and translate it generation to make it seem as though Paul intended to say genea and therefore the first passage of Luke we discussed above is turned on its head. This passage boldly states that for one to obtain the resurrection from the dead they must not be married. Marcion had his disciples renounce marriage vows in order to be baptized, a practice Tatian is said to have carried on. Much of the Marcionite practices trickle into the writing the Testimony of Truth. In Romans 6 we find the following:

"We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with (or rendered powerless), that we should no longer be slaves to sin." (Romans 6:2-6)
 

"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." (Romans 6:14)
 

 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matthew 6:24 which reinterprets the other master as Money and uses an Aramacism ot make Jesus Aramaic. John and Mark never mention this teaching. It seems logical that it comes from the Gospel of the Lord since it is found mostly in Luke and Romans.)

"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon." The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him. But he said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God." (Luke 16:13-15)
 

If Jesus were truly Aramaic then it is easy to understand the reference to Mammon as Baal which appeared on the Phoenician silver coins used to pay the temple tax, hence the temple cleansing incident. Baal is the conception of deity that slowly became assimilated into the beliefs about YHWH the creator God. Marcion saw this passage on the two masters as the Law of the Jews and the Gospel of grace. Romans reflects that belief.

"Jesus said, "It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows. And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters; otherwise he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously. No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch is not sewn onto a new garment, because a tear would result." (Gospel of Thomas logion 47)
 

 Marcions says we are either slaves to the Law of flesh and sin or servants to the God of love and compassion and grace and truth, we are therefore slaves of the Gospel of Christ his Son. It is impossible for servants to obey the Law of Moses and the Gospel of Christ because they are at odds thus, the reason for writing the Antitheses. Thomas is interesting because it relates the parable of the wineskins found in Luke, Mark and Matthew. This passage is a very good example of Catholic retranslation of Jesus' message.

Read the above and you will see the differences. It is originally about the Old and New Covenants/ Testaments and is re-translated to relate to heretics and orthodox believers.