xxii. 17, 18:  doubtful.

       23-27:  omitted, Ritschl; retained, Hilgenfeld and Volkmar.

       43, 44:  ditto ditto.

xxiii. 39-42:  ditto ditto.

       47-49:  omitted, Hahn; retained, Ritschl, Hilgenfeld, Volkmar.

xxiv. 47-53:  uncertain [Endnote 212:1].

This would give, as a maximum estimate of variation, some 55 verses out of about 804, or, in other words, about seven per cent.  But such an estimate would be in fact much too high, as there can be no doubt that the earlier researches of Hahn and Ritschl ought to be corrected by those of Hilgenfeld and Volkmar; and the difference between these two critics is quite insignificant.  Taking the severest view that it is possible to take, no one will maintain that the differences between the critics are such as to affect the main issue, so that upon one hypothesis one theory would hold good, and upon another hypothesis another.  It is a mere question of detail.

We may, then, reconstruct the Gospel used by Marcion with very considerable confidence that we have its real contents before us.  In order to avoid any suspicion I will take the outline given in ‘Supernatural Religion’ (ii. p. 127), adding only the passage St. Luke vii. 29-35, which, according to the author’s statement (a mistaken one, however) [Endnote 213:1], is ‘generally agreed’ to have been wanting in Marcion’s Gospel.  In that Gospel, then, the following portions of our present St. Luke were omitted:—­

Chaps. i. and ii, including the prologue, the Nativity, and the birth of John the Baptist.

Chap. iii (with the exception of ver. 1), containing the baptism of our Lord, the preaching of St. John, and the genealogy.

iv. 1-13, 17-20, 24:  the Temptation, the reading from Isaiah.

vii. 29-35:  the gluttonous man.

xi. 29-32, 49-51:  the sign of Jonas, and the blood of the prophets.

xiii. 1-9, 29-35:  the slain Galileans, the fig-tree, Herod, Jerusalem.

xv. 11-32:  the prodigal son.

xvii. 5-10:  the servant at meat.

xviii. 31-34:  announcement of the Passion.

xix. 29-48:  the Triumphal Entry, woes of Jerusalem, cleansing of the Temple.

xx. 9-18, 37, 38:  the wicked husbandmen; the God of Abraham.

xxi. 1-4, 18, 21, 22:  the widow’s mite; ‘a hair of your head;’ flight of the Church.

xxii. 16-18, 28-30, 35-38, 49-51:  the fruit of the vine, ’eat at my table,’ ‘buy a sword,’ the high-priest’s servant.

xxiv. 47-53:  the last commission, the Ascension.

Here we have another remarkable phenomenon.  The Gospel stands to our Synoptic entirely in the relation of defect.  We may say entirely, for the additions are so insignificant—­some thirty words in all, and those for the most part supported by other authority—­that for practical purposes they need not be reckoned.  With the exception of these thirty words inserted, and some, also slight, alterations of phrase, Marcion’s Gospel presents simply an abridgment of our St. Luke.