Tertullian, Against Marcion 16
I say this to you who are listening — pointing out that the Creator gave this command long ago: 'Speak to the ears of those who hear' — love your enemies, bless those who hate you, and pray for those who slander you (Isaiah). The Creator wrapped all this into a single statement through Isaiah: say to those who hate you, 'You are our brothers.' If people who are enemies, who hate, curse, and slander are to be called brothers, then the One who ordered them to be called brothers certainly also ordered that those who hate be blessed and that prayer be made for slanderers. 'Christ teaches a brand-new patience, even restraining the revenge the Creator permitted — an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth — while commanding that the other cheek also be offered and that the cloak be given up along with the tunic.' True enough. If Christ added these as supplements that fit the Creator's teaching, we must immediately ask: is the discipline of patience preached by the Creator? Through Zechariah He commanded: let no one remember the evil of his brother — nor that of his neighbor; for He says again: let no one recall the evil of his neighbor, so He taught patience toward injury who taught forgetfulness of it (Zechariah). And when He says, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' He teaches patience as the posture that awaits vengeance (Deuteronomy). To the degree that faith cannot accept that the same God who forbids not only revenge but even the memory and recollection of injury would demand an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth in return for injury, to that degree it becomes clear how He judged 'an eye for an eye': not to permit a second injury as retaliation — which He had already prohibited by banning vengeance — but to restrain the first injury by the threat of retaliation, so that each person, looking ahead to the license a second injury would bring, would hold himself back from the first. He knew violence is more easily checked by the representation of retaliation than by the promise of vengeance. Both had to be established for human nature and faith: so the one who believes in God expects vengeance from God, and the one with less faith fears the law's retaliation. The Lord Christ revealed and fulfilled the will of this law — a will straining to be understood, the Lord of Sabbath, Law, and every paternal disposition — by commanding the offer of the other cheek, so that He might extinguish revenge far more thoroughly than the Law and its retaliation ever aimed to, and than prophecy clearly restrained, since prophecy banned the memory of injury and referred vengeance to God (Isaiah; Ezekiel). So if Christ introduced anything, He did it not as an adversary to the command but as its helper; He did not destroy the Creator's disciplines. Finally, if we examine the very reason for teaching patience — and such full, perfect patience — it cannot hold together unless it comes from the Creator, who promises vengeance and provides a Judge. Otherwise, if patience carries this much weight — not only refusing to strike back but offering the other cheek, not only refusing to curse but blessing, not only keeping your tunic but handing over your cloak as well — the One imposing this on me is the One who will not defend me. He commands patience in vain, without showing me the reward of the command, the fruit of patience, which is vengeance. He ought to have permitted me that vengeance if He does not provide it Himself, or, if He forbade it to me, He ought to provide it Himself, since it is in the interest of discipline that injury be avenged. Fear of vengeance restrains all wickedness; but given free rein, wickedness will dominate, gouging out both eyes and knocking out every tooth, secure in its impunity. Yet this — avenging injury, opening the door to violence, failing to defend the righteous, failing to restrain the wicked — is said to be the mark of a supremely good God, a God who is only good. Give to everyone who asks, certainly to the needy, or even more so to the needy, even if also to the one who has abundance. So that no one might lack a giver, you have the form of the Creator's command in Deuteronomy: 'There will be no one in need among you,' says the Lord your God, 'blessing you' — that is, the giver who makes it so there is no one in need (Deuteronomy). And this goes further. He does not command that something be given to the one who asks; He says, 'Let there be no one in need among you,' that is, 'See to it beforehand, lest there be.' All the more, therefore, does He prejudge the case in favor of giving to the one who asks, and also in what follows: if anyone among your brothers is in need, do not harden your heart or close your hand against your needy brother. You will open your hand wide to him; you will lend to him, as much as he desires. For a loan is not usually given except to the one who asks. But we will return to loans later. Now, if someone wants to argue that the Creator commanded giving to brothers, but Christ commanded giving to all who ask, so that this is something new and different — it is actually one and the same, through which the Creator's Law will be in Christ. For Christ commanded nothing different for all people than what the Creator commanded for brothers. Although the goodness shown to outsiders is greater, it is not prior to the goodness owed to neighbors. Who can love outsiders if he has not first loved his neighbor? And if the second degree of goodness is toward outsiders, while the first is toward neighbors, the second degree will belong to the same One to whom the first belongs, more easily than it would belong to the One to whom the first does not belong. Thus the Creator first taught kindness to neighbors according to the natural order, intending to extend it later to outsiders; and according to the plan of His disposition, first to the Jews, then to all humankind. So as long as the sacrament was within Israel, He rightly commanded mercy only for brothers. But when Christ gave the Gentiles their inheritance and possession — the boundaries of the earth — and the word spoken through Hosea began to be fulfilled: 'Not My people — My people,' and 'No mercy — mercy obtained,' that is, for the nation — from then on Christ extended the law of paternal kindness to all, excluding no one from mercy, just as from the call (Hosea). So even if He taught something more, He received this too as part of the Gentiles' inheritance. 'And as you want people to treat you, so you must treat them.' In this command the other half is certainly implied: 'As you do not want people to treat you, so you must not treat them.' If a new and unknown God, not yet fully revealed, commanded this — a God who had not previously formed me through any institution by which I might know beforehand what I ought to will or not will, and so do to others what I want done to me and not do what I do not want — He permitted the passivity of my judgment and did not bind me to the agreement of will and deed, so that I might do to others what I will, and not do to others what I do not will. For He did not define what I ought to will or not will for myself and others, so that my deed might conform to the law of will. And I can now fail to give another what I want another to give me — love, obedience, comfort, protection, and such goods — and likewise do to another what I do not want done to me — violence, injury, insult, fraud, and such evils. Finally, Gentiles not yet instructed by God act with this inconsistency of will and deed. Although nature knows good and evil, it is not yet the discipline of God, which, once known, is then acted upon in the agreement of will and deed through faith, under the fear of God. So the God of Marcion, even if He were revealed — which He is not — could not have issued such a strict and obscure command, still blind and more easily interpreted by my own whim, for which He had established no distinction. But my Creator long ago and everywhere commanded that the needy, the poor, orphans, and widows be protected, helped, and comforted, just as through Isaiah: 'Break your bread for the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, cover him' (Isaiah). Likewise through Ezekiel concerning the just man: 'He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked' (Ezekiel). So He already taught me to do to others what I want done to me. Thus, proclaiming: 'Do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness,' He taught me not to do to others what I do not want done to me. And therefore the command in the Gospel will be His, who previously established and distinguished it, and arranged it according to the judgment of His discipline, and rightly subjected it to a summary, since the Lord Christ was going to make a concise statement on earth — that is, to preach.
Latin
Sed uobis dico, inquit, qui auditis — ostendens hoc olim mandatum a creatore: loquere in aures audientium —-.diligiteinimicosuestrosetbenediciteeos, qui uos oderunt, et orate pro eis, qui uos calumniantur. haec creator una pronuntiatione clusit per Esaiam: dicite 'fratres nostri estis' eis, qui uos oderunt. si enim qui inimici sunt et oderunt et maledicunt et calumniantur fratres appellandi sunt, utique et benedici odientes et orari pro calumniatoribus iussit qui eos fratres deputari praecepit. 'Nouam plane patientiam docet Christus, etiam uicem iniuriae cohibens permissam a creatore, oculum exigente pro oculo et dentem pro dente, contra ipse alteram amplius maxillam offerri iubens et super tunicam pallio quoque cedi.' plane. (ni) haec Christus adiecerit ut supplementa consentanea disciplinae creatoris. atque adeo hoc statim renuntiandum est: an disciplina patientiae praedicatur penes creatorem? si per Zachariam praecepit: ne unusquisque malitiae fratris sui meminerit, — sed nec proximi; nam et rursus: malitiam, inquit, proximi sui unusquisque ne recogitet multo magis patientiam indixit iniuriae qui indixit obliuionem. sed et cum dicit: mihi uindictam, et ego uindicabo, proinde patientiam docet, uindictae expectatricem. in quantum ergo fidem non capit, ut idem uideatur oculum pro oculo et dentem pro dente in uicem iniuriae exigere, qui non modo uicem sed etiam ultionem, etiam recordationem et recogitationem iniuriae prohibet, in tantum aperitur nobis, quomodo oculum pro oculo et dentem pro dente censuerit: non ad secundam iniuriam talionis permittendam, quam prohibuerat interdicta ultione, sed ad primam coercendam [quam prohibuerat] opposito talione, ut unusquisque respiciens licentiam secundae iniuriae a prima semetipsum contineret. facilius enim uim comprimi sciit repraesentatione talionis quam repromissione ultionis. utrumque autem constituendum fuit pro natura et fide hominum, ut qui deo crederet, ultionem a deo expectaret, qui minus fideret, legis taliones timeret. hanc legis uoluntatem de intellectu laborantem dominus et sabbati et legis et omnium paternarum dispositionum, Christus, et reuelauit et compotem fecit, mandans alterius quoque maxillae oblationem, ut tanto magis uicem iniuriae extingueret, quam et lex et per talionem uoluerat impedisse, certe quam prophetia manifeste coercuerat, et memoriam iniuriae prohibens et ultionem ad deum redigens. ita si quid Christus intulit, non aduersario sed adiutore praecepto, non destruxit disciplinas creatoris. denique si in ipsam rationem patientiae praecipiendae, et quidem tam plenae atque perfectae, consideremus, non consistet, si non est creatoris, qui uindictam repromittit, qui iudicem praestat. alioquin si tantum patientiae pondus non modo non repercutiendi sed et aliam maxillam praebendi, et non modo non remaledicendi sed etiam benedicendi, et non modo non retinendi tunicam sed et amplius et pallium concedendi, is mihi imponit, qui non sit me defensurus, in uacuum patientiam praecipit, non exhibens mihi mercedem praecepti, patientiae dico fructum, quod est ultio, quam mihi permisisse debuerat, si ipse non praestat, aut, si mihi non permittebat. ipse praestare, quoniam et disciplinae interest iniuriam uindicari. metu enim ultionis omnis iniquitas refrenatur, ceterum passim emissa libertate dominabitur, utrumque oculum effossura et omnem dentem excitatura prae impunitatis securitate. sed hoc est dei optimi et tantum boni, patientiae iniuriam facere, uiolentiae ianuam pandere, probos non defendere, improbos non coercere. Omni petentitedato, utique indigenti, uel tanto magis indigenti, si etiam et abundanti. ne quis ergo indigeat datorem, imperatam habes in Deuteronomio formam creatoris: non erit, inquit, in te indigens, uti benedicens benedicat te dominus deus tuus, datorem scilicet, qui fecerit non esse indigentem. et plus hic. non enim petenti iubet dari, sed non sit, inquit, indigens in te, id est 'cura ultro, ne sit'. quo magis petenti praeiudicat dandum, etiam in sequentibus: si autem fuerit indigens ex fratribus tuis, non auertes cor tuum nec constringes manum tuam a fratre tuo indigente. aperiens aperies illi manum, fenus fenerabis illi, quantum desiderarit. fenus enim nisi petenti dari non solet. sed de fenore postmodum. nunc, si qui uoluerit argumentari creatorem quidem fratribus dari iussisse, Christum uero omnibus petentibus, ut hoc sit nouum atque diuersum, immo unum erit ex his, per quae lex creatoris erit * in Christo. non enim aliud Christus in omnes praecepit quam quod creator in fratres. nam etsi maior est bonitas, quae operatur in extraneos, sed non prior ea, quae ante debetur in proximos. quis enim poterit diligere extraneos, ***? quodsi secundus gradus bonitatis est in extraneos, qui in proximos primus est, eiusdem erit secundus gradus, cuius et primus, facilius quam ut eius sit secundus, cuius non extitit primus. ita creator et secundum naturae ordinem primum in proximos docuit benignitatem, emissurus eam postea et in extraneos, et secundum rationem dispositionis suae primo in Iudaeos, postea et in omne hominum genus. ideoque quamdiu intra Israhelem erat sacramentum, merito in solos fratres misericordiam mandabat, at ubi Christo dedit gentes hereditatem et possessionem terminos terrae et coepit expungi quod dictum est per Osee: non populus meus populus meus, et non misericordiam consecuta misericordiam consecuta, natio scilicet, exinde Christus in omnes legem paternae benignitatis extendit, neminem excipiens in miseratione, sicut in uocatione. ita et si quid amplius docuit, hoc quoque in hereditatem gentium accepit. Et sicut uobis fieri uultis ab hominibus, ita et uos facite illis. in isto praecepto utique alia pars eius subauditur: et sicut uobis fieri non uultis ab hominibus, ita et uos ne faciatis illis. hoc si nouus deus et ignotus retro et nondum plane editus praecepit, qui me nulla antehac institutione formauerit, qua prius scirem, quid deberem mihi uelle uel nolle atque ita et aliis facere quae et mihi uellem, non facere quae et mihi nollem, passiuitatem sententiae meae permisit nec adstrinxit me ad conuenientiam uoluntatis et facti, ut id aliis faciam, quod mihi uelim, et id nec aliis faciam, quod mihi nolim. non enim definiit, quid mihi atque aliis debeam uelle uel nolle, ut ad legem uoluntatis parem factum. et possum (iam) alii non praestare quod ab alio mihi uelim praestitum, amorem obsequium solatium praesidium et eiusmodi bona, proinde et alii facere quod ab alio fieri mihi nolim, uim iniuriam contumeliam fraudem et eiusmodi mala. denique hac inconuenientia uoluntatis et facti agunt ethnici nondum a deo instructi. nam etsi natura bonum et malum a notum est, non tamen dei disciplina, qua cognita tunc demum conuenientia uoluntatis et facti ex fide, ut sub metu dei, agitur. itaque deus Marcionis cum maxime reuelatus, si tamen reuelatus, non potuit huius praecepti, de quo agitur, tam strictum et obscurum et caecum adhuc et facilius pro meo s potius arbitrio interpretandum compendium emittere, cuius nullam praestruxerat distinctionem. at enim creator meus olim et ubique praecepit indigentes pauperes et pupillos et uiduas protegi iuuari refrigerari, sicut et per Esaiam: infringito panem tuum mendicis, et qui sine tecto sunt in domum tuam inducito, et nudum si uideris, tegito; item per Ezechielem de uiro iusto: panem suum dabit esurienti et nudum conteget. satis ergo iam tunc me docuit ea facere aliis, quae mihi uelim fieri. proinde denuntians: non occides, non adulterabis, non furaberis, non falsum testimonium dices, docuit, ne faciam aliis quae fieri mihi nolim. et ideo ipsius erit praeceptum in euangelio, qui illud retro et praestruxit et distinxit et ad arbitrium disciplinae suae disposuit et merito iam compendio substrinxit, quoniam et alias recisum sermonem facturus in terris dominus, id est Christus, praedicabatur.