Tertullian · a new plain-English translation from the original language
[1] But plainly he does judge evil, by refusing it, and he does condemn it, by forbidding it — yet he lets it go by not avenging it, and acquits it by not punishing it. O this god, betrayer of truth! Circumventor of his own verdict! He is afraid to condemn what he condemns, afraid to loathe what wins no love from him; he lets happen what he does not let happen; he would rather show what he does not want than prove it. This will be an imaginary goodness, a phantom discipline in itself — commandments that vanish, sins made safe. [2] Hear this, you sinners — and you who are not yet sinners, so that you can become them! A better god has been discovered, one who is neither offended nor angered nor takes vengeance, for whom no fire is stoked in Gehenna, for whom no gnashing of teeth is dreaded in the outer darkness: he is simply good. In fact he forbids wrongdoing — but only in writing. It is up to you, if you care to, to sign your obedience to him, so that you may appear to have paid him honor; for he does not want your fear. [3] And indeed the Marcionites openly boast that they feel no fear at all of their god. "The evil one," they say, "will be feared, but the good one will be loved." Fool — you call him lord, yet deny he is to be feared, when that very name belongs to power, and to power that is already to be feared! But how will you love him, unless you fear not to love him? Clearly he is not even your father, in whom love could rightly join with reverence on account of paternal duty, and fear with reverence on account of power; nor is he your lawful master, whom you would love out of humanity and fear out of discipline. [4] It is this way, in fact, that kidnappers are loved, but never feared. For only a just and lawful dominion will be feared, whereas even an adulteress can be loved; for her hold rests on seduction, not on authority, and on flattery, not on power. And what, after all, is more flattering than refusing to enforce a law against sin? [5] Come now, then — you who do not fear god as though he were good — what do you not boil over into, in every kind of lust, seeing that this is, so far as I know, the crowning fruit of life for all who do not fear god? What solemn pleasure do you not frequent — the raging circus, the savage arena, the wanton stage? In times of persecution, the moment the incense-box is set before you, do you not straightaway profit your soul by denial? "Never," you say, "never!" So then — you already fear sin, and by fearing it you have proved that the one who forbids sin is rightly feared. It is a different matter if, by the same perversity of your god whom you do not fear, you keep observing what he does not avenge though he forbids it. [6] Even more absurd is their answer when asked, "What will become of any sinner on that day?" They reply that he will be cast away, as it were, out of god's sight. And is this not also the working of judgment? For he is judged worthy of being cast away, and certainly by a judgment of condemnation — unless the sinner is cast away for his salvation, so that this too may suit the supremely good god! And what will it mean to be "cast away," except to lose what he would have obtained had he not been cast away — that is, salvation? So then he will be cast away to the loss of his salvation, and this can be decreed by no one except one who is angry and offended and who executes judgment on sin — that is, a judge.
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