The Lawless One

Marcion's position that Christians are under faith and not law was very close to the prophecy of Paul in II Thessalonians. This would mean the doctrine of faith without law is a doctrine of Satan.

2Th 2:8 Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will destroy with the breath of his mouth, rendering him powerless by the manifestation of his coming.

Some bible versions translate this as "wicked", the word does mean to be lawless. It is used for "without law" in regard to the pagans.

1Co 9:21 To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

It was a doctrine of Paul that saw the pagan institutions as a form of lawlessness. They were free from the Law of Moses. Perhaps Marcion took this to mean God approved of all lawlessness. The idea that faith alone was all that God approved.

The concept of lawlessness was carried forth by the pagan emperors, but its full embodiment was taught by Marcion.

Paul never said we were lawless, only that we were not under law in justification.

1Co_9:21 To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

It was a law of Christ that we should bear with those under the law or those not under the law. The emphasis being, Christians have a law under Christ.

Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Christians are not lawless, we are free from the law of sin and death, which is highlighted in the law of Moses.

Even faith is a law, which Marcion would deny.

Rom 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Paul's anti-law passages were speaking of the law of Moses, not law under God.

Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Paul in these passages isn't saying we are justified apart from all law, for faith was a law, and the words used are showing it is a law of faith man is justified through.

Look at the wording,

Rom 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

The word for faith is the same word in verse 27 and 28.

The Greek word for faith in this passage is often used of a system of faith, not belief only. It is often translated with an article "the faith".

It implies a belief in a system of faith.

pis'-tis (4102, which is a different tense than the word belief)

From G3982; persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: - assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

Paul is not saying we are justified by faith, as in an unidentifiable system, but blief in the system itself, through believing a teacher's word.

This system is the Gospel,

Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

The word of Christ is the power to salvation.