100 Reasons to Believe New Testament History
73. Tatian
Tatian was an Assyran-born, Greek educated man who lived in Rome between 150-165 A.D. He became a disciple of Justin Martyr, and after Justin’s death, compiled a harmony of the four Gospels called the Diatessaron, which became the standard Gospel text for many eastern Christian communities for the next several hundred years. Though Tatian was later denounced as a heretic for his understanding of the New Testament Gospels, it is certain that what he regarded as authoritive, and what he harmonized into the Diatessaron, were the four canonical Gospels we know today A.
73. Tatian - Notes and References
A. “Stemming from Saturninus and Marcion, the so-called Encratites preached celibacy, annulling the original creation of God and tacitly condemning him who made them male and female for the generation of humanity. They also abstained from what they called “animate” things, in ingratitude to God who made all things, and deny the salvation of the first created man. This innovation they made recently when a certain Tatian first introduced this blasphemy. He had been a student of Justin, and as long as he was with him he offered nothing like this, but, after Justin’s martyrdom, he left the church and grew inflated at the idea of becoming a teacher superior to others. He taught his own brand of doctrine, spinning stories of invisible eons, like the followers of Valentinus, and condemning marriage as depravity and fornication, as did Marcion and Saturninus. He devised arguments of his own in denying Salvation to Adam.” Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, “Against Heresies” 1.26 (cited by Eusebius, “The Church History”, 4.29.
The historicity of Jesus or the reliability of Scripture was not an issue. Eusebius notes that Tatian compiled the Gospels into the “Diatessaron” (Harmony of Four Parts). Though Irenaeus and Tatian were opposed to each other with respect to how to interpret Scripture, it appears almost certain they were working from the same body of inspired text. Eusebius notes:
“Their former leader Tatian somehow produced a combination of the Gospels and called it the Diatessaron, which is still extant in some places. They say that he dared to alter some of the apostles words as if correcting their style.” Eusebius, “The Church History”, 4.29