Marcion's Gospel (The Apostle's) in synoptic verse reading with Luke, Mark and Matthew III (Luke 5:17-26; Mark 2:1-12; Matthew 9:1-8)

5:17-26 The Healing of the Paralytic

The next passage provides a staggering passage (Luke 5:17-26; Mark 2:1-12; Matth. 9:1-8) that confirms our previous findings, where it was proposed that The Apostle’s provided the source for the other Gospels. In this story of ‘The Healing the Paralytic’, a comparison shows:

1)                           Where the text of The Apostle’s is attested (vv. Luke 5:17-8,20-1,24,26), we have close parallels between The Apostle’s, Luke, Mark and Matthew.

2)                           Where the text of The Apostle’s is unattested, we have, as in the most obvious case of v. 19 a lacuna in Matthew (with regards to the vv. 22-3 see the commentary below).

3)                           Mark starts off with The Apostle’s, but quickly deviates from its narrative structure and content.

4)                           In both, he is followed by Matthew who in writing his own version draws on The Apostle’s, but is also heavily dependent on Mark. He alters The Apostle’s further, by elaborating on Mark. Where, however, The Apostle’s is missing, Matthew shows reluctancy in accepting Mark’s elaboration. 

Let us look at the details:
The Apostle's starts off with 'and' (Καὶ) which remains present in all three synoptic authors. The Apostle's only has a simply 'it happened' (ἐγένετο) that introduces the Pharisees and teachers of law as the main targets of blame in this story who are confronted with him (αὐτὸς) who in the presence of them – they are shown like students who had come to listen and to sit with him rather than colleagues – was teaching (ἦν διδάσκων). The lessons, he is going to give, however, were not simply words, but words connected with the powerful deed of healing.
Different from The Apostle’s is the beginning in Mark: ‘In on one of those days, while he was teaching’, Mark writes Jesus ‘returned [again] into Capernaum’ (Mark 2:1). That Mark is broadening the text in his own version can still be recognized by his insertion of ‘again’ (πάλιν) which, therefore, is left out in Matthew. In The Apostle’s ‘there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting nearby (who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem), and the power of the Lord was with him to heal’. Astonishingly, in the opening of Mark, The Apostle’s assertion of the Lord’s power is no longer present, although this power clearly is the condition for the healing-story that is unfolding. Mark only retains the healing itself. Moreover, the fact that Jesus is teaching the Pharisees and teachers of the law (and added are the provenances of them, the entire country: Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem) - an important element in Marcion who wants to demonstrate the antithesis between Christ and the Law-teachers - is also missing in Mark.
Mark had good reasons for cutting off this first part, as it did not only lay blame with the Pharisees and law teachers, these were seen as representing the present crowed which, as one can see from the end of the story (v. 26), according to The Apostle’s were amazed, praised God, and, yet, ended in fearfully saying that they had seen paradoxical things (Εἴδομεν παράδοξα σήμερον). The goal of The Apostle’s teaching was to reveal the amazement, the praising of God, combined with fear and ending in non-belief of the crowed and their leaders.
Instead, when we look into how Mark deals with this Vorlage, we see a reversal of its content. The contrast between the teaching Jesus and the Pharisees and law teachers, the real raison d’être of the story, has gone. And accordingly has the end of the story been altered. The two elevating and positive elements were retained, namely the ecstatic experience and the praise of God, but both fear and unbelief have gone. The ‘paradox’ was watered down into a more general or neutral astonishment: ‘We have never seen anything like this!’ When Mark, following The Apostle’s, mentions Jesus’ discussion with ‘Scribes’ (Luke 5:21; Mark 2:6), these are introduced, as if some of them just happened to be at the scene (ἦσαν δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων ἐκεῖ καθήμενοι), but the Scribes don’t take center-stage. Unlike as in The Apostle’s, it is not a public discussion which continues The Apostle’s introductory debate between Scribes and Pharisees (οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι), where the Scribes have now replaced the law teachers, but in Mark there are ‘some’ (τινες) random Jewish learned people who reflect by themselves (διαλογιζόμενοι* ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν) about an important theological detail, Jesus’ claim of forgiving sins. This theological reasoning, in Mark, becomes pointed to the Jewish God. Jesus’ blasphemy is not, as in The Apostle’s, that ‘God alone can forgive sins’ (ἁμαρτίας ἀφεῖναι εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ θεός), but so that nobody could mistakenly think of Marcion’s supreme God, Mark introduces ‘the single God’ who forgives sins (εἷς ὁ θεός). As we can see from Mark’s strategy, he smoothens the edges which were directed against the Pharisees and law teachers (Scribes). Already in Luke 4:32 we read The Apostle’s statement that Jesus’ teaching was authoritative (ἐν ἐξουσίᾳ ἦν ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ) – again, a firm view which was reduced in power in its parallel text in Mark and Matthew, where we read that ‘the people there were amazed by his teaching, because he taught them like one who had authority, not like the experts in the law’. Being ‘like one who had authority’ (ὡς ἐξουσίαν ἔχων) is not the same as having authority, the introduction of ‘like’ is a significant downplay of Jesus’ power, hence Walter L. Liefeld’s remark that the author of Luke ‘stresses the authority of Jesus once more’ in Luke 5:17-26, in this Gospel which ‘is especially concerned … to clarify the original relationship between Christianity and Judaism and to show the reasons why the gospel had to break out of the confines of Judaism’, topics that are typically associated with Marcion.[1]
The following verses, Luke 5:22-3 (Mark 2:8-9) are difficult to place. If they had been present in The Apostle’s, they could have served Mark and given him the idea that the Scribes were first only thinking by themselves of their counter-argument. But, as this inner reflection was not present in The Apostle’s before, but a genuine introduction by Mark, it seems that there are good reasons that these verses were not part of The Apostle’s, hence there content originally fabricated by Mark and taken on board by both, Matthew and Luke. A similar case as with vv. 22-3 we can see with regards to v. 25. In v. 25 the author writes: ‘Immediately he stood up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God’. This verse, unattested for The Apostle’s refers back to the bed on of the paralytic. Luke’s somehow awkward expression ‘what he had been lying on’ (ἄρας ἐφ᾿ ὃ κατέκειτο) is an alteration of Mark’s ‘low’[2] stretcher (τὸν κράβαττον) which already did not meet his style in the same pericope in Luke 5:19 where he had exchanged it for ‘bed’ (τῷ κλινιδίῳ), following The Apostle’s use which in 5:18 had used the ‘better-Greek’[3] term for ‘bed’ (κλίνη) and in 5:24 uses the diminutive form ‘small bed’ (τὸ κλινίδιόν). Not only the differences in terminology indicate different authors at work, Mark using here twice ‘stretcher’ (Mark 2:4.9) makes the link between two passages which both have parallels in Luke that are unattested in The Apostle’s. To Mark (but not to The Apostle’s) the detail was important that the paralytic was moved through the roof towards Jesus, it makes up the entire opening of the scene (Mark 2:1-4). If it, Luke only picked up the last bit that related to the stretcher – unattested in The Apostle’s, as said. And it is precisely this part to which Mark comes back in the parallel to the next Luke-passage that is unattested for The Apostle’s, Mark 2:9. And as with Mark’s last verse of the introduction which Luke picked up, Luke also includes this entire verse (Mark 2:9) and integrates it into his Vorlage, The Apostle’s. Another, a third time the bed is mentioned in this story, now towads the end of it. And again, the v. 25 is not attested for The Apostle’s, and Luke follows closely Mark, except that he replaces ‘stretcher’ (τὸν κράβαττον) this time with ‘what he had been lying on’ (ἄρας ἐφ᾿ ὃ κατέκειτο). In this way and with the additions from Mark the story in Luke is no longer focussed against the Pharisees and law teachers, but gains a narrative storyline in itself.
Let us also compare how Matthew deals with this Marcionite story. The pericope forms part of a series of healings around the see of Galilee, hence the idiosyncratic opening that uses elements of both The Apostle’s and Mark to fit the geography in the narrative: ‘After getting into a boat he crossed to the other side and came to his own town’ (Matth. 9:1). Like Mark, Matthew omits the anti-Pharisean and anti-Scribal opening section of The Apostle’s, but also leaves aside Mark’s side-track of the carrying of the paralytic through the roof. Instead he begins with The Apostle’s 5:18, the second verse of the story, and relies on its core narrative, also builds in Mark’s text and adds The Apostle’s proper Greek term for bed (κλίνη). As he skipped Mark’s narrative broadening of the opening, so does he leave aside the last verse of this opening (Mark 2:4) which was taken on board by Luke. Instead, he keeps closer to The Apostle’s. He continues, using now Mark as the dominant Vorlage, where Mark is parallel to The Apostle’s. Hence, Matthew accepts Mark where this text was backed up by the reassuring double tradition of The Apostle’s. Where these two sources disagree, as in Luke 5:21 and Mark 2:6, he keeps to the latter, simplifying the text. Similarly, he is cautious with Mark 2:8 (Luke 5:22-3) as this verse has no parallel backing in The Apostle’s, instead, he adds his own wordings. Luke, in turn, accepts this verse Matth. 9:7 and combines it with Mark 2:12 and creates Luke 5:25 as addition to The Apostle’s, emphasising the Lord’s praise. With regards the ending of the story (Matth. 9:8; Luke 5:26), Matthew must, again, have recognized the differences between his two sources, The Apostle’s and Mark. And in the same way as before, he relies on The Apostle’s first and foremost, keeps the balance between fear and praise, but continues to diminishes even further The Apostle’s claim of the paradoxical power of the Lord, by claiming that the Lord is being feared and praised because he ‘had given such authority to men’ (Matth. 9:8) – the Lord’s extraordinary status has gone.
Just to summarize: All three synoptic Gospel authors use The Apostle’s as their Vorlage, but deal with The Apostle’s it in different ways, although with the same goal – to reduce the paradoxical privilege of Jesus Christ and to remove the antithesis between him and the Pharisees and Scribes. Mark altered the storyline most drastically, Matthew keeps closer to The Apostle’s, but also sides with Mark, Luke keeps most of the wording of The Apostles, but adds what Mark and Matthew has written to balance the content.

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[1] See W.L. Liefeld, Luke (1995), 85f.

[2] M.D. Goulder, Luke (1989), 331.

[3] M.D. Goulder, Luke (1989), 331.

Luke 5:17-8,?,20-1,?,24,?,26	Luke 5:17-26	Mark 2:1-12	Matthew 9:1-8
17 Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν διδάσκων, καὶ ἦσαν καθήμενοι Φαρισαῖοι καὶ νομοδιδάσκαλοι οἳ ἦσαν ἐληλυθότες ἐκ πάσης κώμης τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ Ἰουδαίας καὶ Ἰερουσαλήμ· καὶ δύναμις κυρίου ἦν εἰς τὸ ἰᾶσθαι αὐτόν.18 καὶ ἰδοὺ, ἄνδρες φέροντες ἐπὶ κλίνης* ἄνθρωπον ὃς ἦν παραλελυμένος, καὶ ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν εἰσενεγκεῖν καὶ θεῖναι αὐτὸν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ.19 καὶ μὴ εὑρόντες ποίας εἰσενέγκωσιν αὐτὸν διὰ τὸν ὄχλον ἀναβάντες ἐπὶ τὸ δῶμα διὰ τῶν κεράμων  καθῆκαν αὐτὸν σὺν τῷ κλινιδίῳ εἰς τὸ μέσον ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. 20 καὶ ἰδὼν τὴν πίστιν αὐτῶν εἶπεν· Ἄνθρωπε, ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου.21 καὶ ἤρξαντο διαλογίζεσθαι* οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι λέγοντες· Τίς ἐστιν οὗτος ὃς λαλεῖ βλασφημίας; τίς δύναται ἁμαρτίας ἀφεῖναι εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ θεός;22 ἐπιγνοὺς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς  τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς αὐτῶν ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Τί διαλογίζεσθε ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν;23 τί ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον, εἰπεῖν· Ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου, ἢ εἰπεῖν· Ἔγειρε καὶ περιπάτει;24 ἵνα δὲ εἰδῆτε ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐξουσίαν ἔχει* ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας, εἶπεν τῷ παραλελυμένῳ· Σοὶ λέγω, ἔγειρε καὶ* ἄρας τὸ κλινίδιόν σου πορεύου εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου. 25 καὶπαραχρῆμα ἀναστὰς ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν, ἄρας ἐφ᾿ ὃ κατέκειτο, ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ δοξάζων τὸν θεόν. 26 καὶ ἔκστασις ἔλαβεν ἅπαντας καὶ ἐδόξαζον τὸν θεόν, καὶ ἐπλήσθησαν φόβου* λέγοντες ὅτι, Εἴδομεν παράδοξα σήμερον.	17 Καὶ  ἐγένετο ἐν μιᾷ τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ αὐτὸς ἦν διδάσκων, καὶ ἦσαν καθήμενοι Φαρισαῖοι καὶ νομοδιδάσκαλοι οἳ ἦσαν ἐληλυθότες  ἐκ πάσης κώμης τῆς Γαλιλαίας καὶ Ἰουδαίας καὶ Ἰερουσαλήμ· καὶ δύναμις κυρίου ἦν εἰς τὸ ἰᾶσθαι αὐτόν. 18 καὶ ἰδοὺ, ἄνδρες φέροντες ἐπὶ κλίνης* ἄνθρωπον ὃς ἦν παραλελυμένος, καὶ ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν εἰσενεγκεῖν καὶ θεῖναι αὐτὸν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ.19 καὶ μὴ εὑρόντες ποίας εἰσενέγκωσιν αὐτὸν διὰ τὸν ὄχλον ἀναβάντες ἐπὶ τὸ δῶμα διὰ τῶν κεράμων  καθῆκαν αὐτὸν σὺν τῷ κλινιδίῳ εἰς τὸ μέσον ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ. 20 καὶ ἰδὼν τὴν πίστιν αὐτῶνεἶπεν·  Ἄνθρωπε, ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου.21 καὶ ἤρξαντο διαλογίζεσθαι* οἱ γραμματεῖς καὶ οἱ Φαρισαῖοι  λέγοντες· Τίς ἐστιν οὗτοςὃς λαλεῖ βλασφημίας; τίς δύναται ἁμαρτίας ἀφεῖναι εἰ μὴ μόνος ὁ θεός; 22 ἐπιγνοὺς δὲ ὁ Ἰησοῦς  τοὺς διαλογισμοὺς αὐτῶν ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν πρὸς αὐτούς· Τί διαλογίζεσθε ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν;23 τί ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον, εἰπεῖν· Ἀφέωνταί σοι αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου, ἢ εἰπεῖν· Ἔγειρε καὶ περιπάτει;24 ἵνα δὲ εἰδῆτε ὅτι ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐξουσίαν ἔχει* ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας, εἶπεν τῷ παραλελυμένῳ· Σοὶ λέγω, ἔγειρε καὶ* ἄρας τὸ κλινίδιόν σουπορεύου εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου.25 καὶπαραχρῆμα ἀναστὰς ἐνώπιον αὐτῶν, ἄρας ἐφ᾿ ὃ κατέκειτο, ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ δοξάζων τὸν θεόν. 26 καὶ ἔκστασις ἔλαβεν ἅπαντας καὶ  ἐδόξαζον τὸν θεόν,καὶ ἐπλήσθησαν φόβου*λέγοντες ὅτι, Εἴδομεν παράδοξα σήμερον.	1 Καὶ  εἰσελθὼν πάλιν εἰς Καφαρναοὺμ  δι᾿ ἡμερῶν ἠκούσθη ὅτι ἐν οἴκῳ ἐστίν.  2 καὶ συνήχθησαν πολλοὶ ὥστε μηκέτι χωρεῖν μηδὲ τὰ πρὸς τὴν θύραν, καὶ ἐλάλει αὐτοῖς τὸν λόγον.  3 καὶ ἔρχονται φέροντες πρὸς αὐτὸν  παραλυτικὸν  αἰρόμενον ὑπὸ τεσσάρων.  4 καὶ μὴ δυνάμενοι προσενέγκαι αὐτῷ διὰ τὸν ὄχλον ἀπεστέγασαν τὴν στέγην ὅπου ἦν, καὶ ἐξορύξαντες χαλῶσι τὸν κράβαττον ὅπου ὁ παραλυτικὸς κατέκειτο. 5 καὶ ἰδὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν πίστιν αὐτῶν λέγει τῷ παραλυτικῷ· Τέκνον, ἀφέωνταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι.6 ἦσαν δέ τινες τῶν γραμματέων ἐκεῖ καθήμενοι καὶ διαλογιζόμενοι*ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις αὐτῶν· 7 Τί οὗτοςοὕτως λαλεῖ; βλασφημεῖ· τίς δύναται ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεός; 8 καὶ εὐθὺς ἐπιγνοὺς ὁ Ἰησοῦςτῷ πνεύματι αὐτοῦ ὅτι οὕτως διαλογίζονται ἐν ἑαυτοῖς λέγει αὐτοῖς· Τί ταῦτα διαλογίζεσθε ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν;9 τί ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον, εἰπεῖν τῷ παραλυτικῷ· Ἀφέωνταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι, ἢ εἰπεῖν· Ἔγειρε καὶ ἆρον τὸν κράβαττόν σου καὶ περιπάτει;10 ἵνα δὲ εἰδῆτε ὅτι ἐξουσίαν ἔχει* ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, λέγει τῷ παραλυτικῷ· 11 Σοὶ λέγω, ἔγειρε, ἆρον τὸν κράβαττόν σου καὶ* ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου.12 καὶ ἠγέρθη καὶ εὐθὺς  ἄρας τὸν κράβαττον ἐξῆλθεν ἔμπροσθεν πάντων,  ὥστε ἐξίστασθαι πάντας καὶ δοξάζειν τὸν θεὸν  λέγοντας ὅτι, Οὕτως οὐδέποτε εἴδομεν.	1 Καὶ ἐμβὰς εἰς πλοῖον διεπέρασεν καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν πόλιν.  2 καὶ ἰδοὺ, προσέφερον αὐτῷ παραλυτικὸν ἐπὶ κλίνης*βεβλημένον. καὶ ἰδὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς τὴν πίστιν αὐτῶν εἶπεν τῷ παραλυτικῷ· Θάρσει, τέκνον· ἀφίενταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι.3 καὶ ἰδού, τινες τῶν γραμματέων  εἶπαν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς· Οὗτος βλασφημεῖ.  4 καὶ ἰδὼν ὁ Ἰησοῦς  τὰς ἐνθυμήσεις αὐτῶν εἶπεν· Ἱνατί ἐνθυμεῖσθεπονηρὰ ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ὑμῶν;5 τί γάρ ἐστιν εὐκοπώτερον, εἰπεῖν· Ἀφίενταί σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι, ἢ εἰπεῖν· Ἔγειρε καὶ περιπάτει;6 ἵνα δὲ εἰδῆτε ὅτι ἐξουσίαν ἔχει* ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας,τότε λέγει τῷ παραλυτικῷ· Ἐγερθεὶς ἆρόν σου τὴν κλίνην καὶ* ὕπαγε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου.7 καὶ ἐγερθεὶς  ἀπῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ.  8 ἰδόντες δὲ οἱ ὄχλοι ἐφοβήθησαν* καὶἐδόξασαν τὸν θεὸντὸν δόντα  ἐξουσίαν τοιαύτην τοῖς ἀνθρώποις.

(more to follow, and also more details to be added - work in progress!)