Marcion of Sinope was a shipmaster who established a church in Rome after traveling throughout the early Christian world. Believing the reports on Christ contradictory and inaccurate, Marcion sought to establish the truth as he understood it. In doing so, he arrived at a controversial revelation: that the Yahweh of the Hebrew Bible was not the Father that Christ spoke of. Despite later church fathers deriding his views, Marcion circulated a gospel account similar to Luke. Scholars debate whether he “mutilated Luke,” as Tertullian alleged, or if he instead transmitted an earlier version that the author of Luke expanded. This page presents a reconstruction of Marcion's gospel, pieced together from the extensive quotes of his critics.
| white | likely content |
| green | debated content |
| red | words attributed to Christ |
| yellow | translator notes |
Original reconstructions by August Hahn (1823), Theodor Zahn (1888), and James Hill (1891) now in the public domain.