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Against Marcion
Tertullian, ANF 3
A Sort of Sorites, as the Logicians Call It, to Show that the Parables of the Lost Sheep…
Who sought after the lost sheep and the lost piece of silver?1 Was it not the loser? But who was the loser? Was it not he who once possessed2 them? Who, then, was that? Was it not he to whom they belonged?3 Since, then, man is the property of none other than the Creator, He possessed Him who owned him; He lost him who once possessed him; He sought him who lost him; He found him who sought him; He rejoiced who found him. Therefore the purport4 of neither parable has anything whatever to do with him5 to whom belongs neither the sheep nor the piece of silver, that is to say, man. For he lost him not, because he possessed him not; and he sought him not, because he lost him not; and he found him not, because he sought him not; and he rejoiced not, because he found him not. Therefore, to rejoice over the sinner’s repentance-that is, at the recovery of lost man-is the attribute of Him who long ago professed that He would rather that the sinner should repent and not die.
Notes
- Luke xv. 1-10.
- Habuit.
- Cujus fuit: i.e., each of the things respectively.
- Argumentum.
- Vacat circa cum.