Lk 12:49-53 in Marcionite texts

The new books by D. Roth and M. Klinghardt regarding the Gospel of Marcion allow us to reconsider some difficult passages on the mission of Jesus: He has come to bring fire on earth, division and a sword. Tertullian complains that Marcion changed the Lukan text, even if the canonical textual tradition is closer to Marcion than to the African writer. In the light of the Synoptic tradition, the Gospel of Thomas and the Recognitiones of Pseudo-Clement, the pericope of Lk 12:49-53 is interesting in that it gathers at least five logia which we nowhere else find together. The fire mentioned in v. 49 is understood by Tertullian with OT overtones, while Marcion reads in it a new christological revelation. The reference to baptism in v. 50, unknown to Tertullian according to Harnack, Roth and Klinghardt, is well transmitted in the Synoptic tradition, whereas division and sword in v. 51 are the very points which allow us to consider that Tertullian knows of a Lukan text older than Marcion. Last but not least, the division among the generations finds different interpretations in Matthew, Luke, and Marcion. The analysis of the Marcion text is of great interest because it focuses on the process leading to the final redaction of the Gospels and on the reception history of the words of Jesus.