1)That assumption is correct. I think this argument is strong, but I agree that it isn't decisive on its own.(3) I'm guessing this refers to the sequencing of Capernaum and Nazareth. I have previously discussed this issue on this forum and don't intend to repeat it here. I think it may be the best argument that the Evangelion-prior-to Luke position has, but I don't think it's decisive. It's a single example and could be explained other ways.
According to widespread opinion, the different sequence of Nazareth and Capernaum in GLuke and GMarcion is considered an excellent argument to justify the priority of GMarcion over GLuke. This is based on the following verse in GLuke:
Luke 4:23b Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.
The statement in this verse seems to require that healings or other miraculous events have already occurred in Capernaum. However, GLuke does not describe such events. In GLuke, Jesus' mission begins with the pericope in Nazareth. In GMarcion, however, Jesus' mission is said to begin in Capernaum, therefore GMarcion appears consistent on this point, while GLuke is somewhat contradictory.
2)
The first problem seems to be that things aren't really much better with GMarcion. For GMarcion the verse is attested:
Physician, heal yourself!
This statement seems to require that Jesus has already acted as a healer and that he healed other people. However, Marcion does not attest to a healing in Capernaum, but merely an exorcism. We may, with our secular understandings, somehow accept this as a "healing," but that is clearly not the view of the evangelists: According to their understanding, there is a big difference between healings and exorcisms.
The statement "Physician, heal yourself!" also seems to allude to the fact that there is something not quite right with Jesus himself and probably refers to the Beelzebul pericope, which is told much later in GLuke and GMarcion. This point is critical in both GMarcion and GLuke.
It is obvious that both GLuke and GMarcion lack strict coherence.
3)
It is also overlooked that GLuke also lacks comprehensible coherence in other points, e.g. with regard to the introduction of Simon Peter. This becomes obvious when comparing GLuke with GMark.
| GMark | GLuke |
| Jesus calls Peter among the first disciples | after leaving the synagogue, Jesus goes into Peter's house |
| they go together in the synagogue of Capernaum | Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law there |
| after leaving the synagogue, Jesus goes into Peter's house | Jesus calls Peter among the first disciples |
| Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law there | x |
GLuke therefore already mentions Simon Peter's house and his mother-in-law, even though Simon Peter himself has not yet been mentioned and introduced in the story.
4)
The explanation for all this confusion in Luke cannot therefore lie in the assumption that Luke changed the order of Nazareth/Capernaum in GMarcion. This solution only explains the most obvious contradiction in Luke's narrative, but not the other points. A plausible explanation seems to be the following:
- The crucial point is that Luke wanted to begin with a pericope in which Jesus is rejected and cast out.
- In a first step, Luke only expanded on Mark’s/Matthew’s Nazareth pericope and added further elements of rejection and expulsion.
- In a second step, he placed the expanded Nazareth pericope from Mark/Matthew at the beginning without regard for losses or narrative coherence, and in doing so accepted many inconsistencies.
- Marcion corrected only the most obvious contradiction in Luke's story, changing the order of Nazareth and Capernaum. But he left all other, less obvious, inconsistencies uncorrected.
Statistics: Posted by Kunigunde Kreuzerin — Wed Apr 30, 2025 1:17 am
