Tertullian — Against Marcion 42

For when He was brought before Pilate , they proceeded to urge Him with the serious charge , of declaring Himself to be Christ the King ; that is, undoubtedly, as the Son of God , who was to sit at God's right hand. They would, however, have burdened Him with some other title, if they had been uncertain whether He had called Himself the Son of God — if He had not pronounced the words, You say that I am, so as (to admit) that He was that which they said He was. Likewise, when Pirate asked Him, Are you Christ (the King)? He answered, as He had before (to the Jewish council) You say that I am Luke 23:3 in order that He might not seem to have been driven by a fear of his power to give him a fuller answer. And so the Lord has stood on His trial. And he placed His people on their trial.

The Lord Himself comes to a trial with the elders and rulers of the people, as Isaiah predicted. And then He fulfilled all that had been written of His passion . At that time the heathen raged, and the people imagined vain things; the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers gathered themselves together against the Lord and against His Christ. The heathen were Pilate and the Romans; the people were the tribes of Israel ; the kings were represented in Herod , and the rulers in the chief priests . When, indeed, He was sent to Herod gratuitously by Pilate , Luke 23:7 the words of Hosea were accomplished, for he had prophesied of Christ: And they shall carry Him bound as a present to the king. Herod was exceeding glad when he saw Jesus, but he heard not a word from Him.

Luke 23:8-9 For, as a lamb before the shearer is dumb, so He opened not His mouth, Isaiah 53:7 because the Lord had given to Him a disciplined tongue, that he might know how and when it behooved Him to speak — even that tongue which clove to His jaws, as the Psalm said it should, through His not speaking. Then Barabbas, the most abandoned criminal, is released, as if he were the innocent man; while the most righteous Christ is delivered to be put to death , as if he were the murderer. Luke 23:25 Moreover two malefactors are crucified around Him, in order that He might be reckoned among the transgressors.

Although His raiment was, without doubt , parted among the soldiers, and partly distributed by lot, yet Marcion has erased it all (from his Gospel ), for he had his eye upon the Psalm: They parted my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. You may as well take away the cross itself! But even then the Psalm is not silent concerning it: They pierced my hands and my feet. Indeed, the details of the whole event are therein read: Dogs compassed me about; the assembly of the wicked enclosed me around. All that looked upon me laughed me to scorn; they did shoot out their lips and shake their heads, (saying,) He hoped in God , let Him deliver Him. Of what use now is (your tampering with) the testimony of His garments? If you take it as a booty for your false Christ, still all the Psalm (compensates) the vesture of Christ .