Marcion of Sinope (85-160 CE) was the son of the bishop of Sinope (modern-day Turkey) and a wealthy shipowner. He made large contributions to the church of Rome and was likely a respected member of the Christian community.

Its objective is to show how the God of the New Testament differs from the god of the Old Testament. Due to this, Marcion may have been among the first to divide the Bible’s writings into the Old and New Testaments. He claimed that the God of the New Testament is not the same as the god of the Old Testament.

The Marcionites viewed the Old Testament god as genocidal and his wrathful actions were morally repugnant and in contradiction with the New Testament’s God of love and compassion.

Some historians have identified what they believe to be Gnostic elements in Marcion’s teachings about the identity of Jesus. The Gnostics believed that Jesus was a spirit who only manifested in human form during his ministry. He was not a real, living human person as believed by the early Christians. It is unclear how much of this Marcion agreed with the mainstream early views about Jesus at the time.

Marcion rejected some of the New Testament sources. He accepted eleven of them in the form of an edited version of the Gospel of Luke and ten of the Apostle Paul’s letters. Marcion edited Luke’s gospel to support his own ideas. Marcion accepting ten of the thirteen letters traditionally attributed to Paul suggests that he had respect for the Apostle who he believed captured the essence of Jesus’ teachings.

The Church considered Marcion’s views as undermining biblical scripture and theology and was excommunicated. Any money he had donated was returned. But Marcion’s theology would continue to have a presence in the Roman Empire after he planted churches. By the end of the second century, Christian writers such as Justin Martyr (100-165 CE) and Tertullian considered it essential to contend against Marcion’s perceived heretical ideas.