The Gospel of Mark
Key Verse: 1:1 “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
Key Idea: No ordinary man, Jesus is shown by evidence to be the Messiah and God’s Son.
1. About the Author
a. John surnamed Mark was son of Mary who lived in Jerusalem. Apparently a woman of means, she opened her home for a meeting place for the church (Acts 12:12).
b. John Mark was a cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10) who may have been a Levite (Acts 4:36). The means that Mark’s mother was the aunt of Barnabas.
c. About A.D. 44, Mark was a missionary associate of Paul & Barnabas on their 1st missionary journey but for some unspecified reason, returned home (Acts 12:12; 13:13). Mark wanted to return with Paul & Barnabas about A.D. 50 on the 2nd missionary journey, but Paul disagreed so vigorously, they separated. Silas went with Paul and Mark with Barnabas.
d. He was Paul’s friend later in life (Philemon 24) & also worked with Peter in Babylon (1 Peter 5:13). Thus he overcame whatever youthful immaturities he had on the 1st missionary journey and became an intimate helper of the two apostles.
e. The oldest historical accounts say that Mark wrote what the apostle Peter told about Jesus’ life. A trainee of the apostle John, Papias (A.D. 70-155) was an elder of the Hierapolis church. He claimed that the apostle John said that Mark was Peter’s interpreter and wrote with accuracy what Peter remembered.
2. About the Book
a. Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the “synoptics,” from a word meaning “to see together.” 93% of the material in Mark is covered by Matthew and Luke but Mark gives more vivid detail. The fact that the synoptics do not agree in every detail shows there was no collusion but are three independent accounts of the same events.
b. It is shortest of the four Gospel accounts. Like the other three, it is anonymous and we must rely on external evidence to know who authored it.
c. In the most ancient Bibles, the Four Gospels generally appear in the same order as in ours indicating the early tradition of chronology in which they were authored. John sometimes appeared 1st but Mark never does.
d. It is thought that each biographer of Jesus had a different audience:
i. Matthew wrote for the Jews as evidenced by numerous quotations from the Old Testament.
ii. Luke wrote to a Greek named Theophilus, perhaps a political leader, after he conducted a careful investigation.
e. John wrote many years later including material not covered by the synoptics. It is thought that John wrote for all audiences, Jew or Gentile. Only 8% of John’s material is common to the synoptics.
f. In the late 1800’s in Germany, universities poisoned the minds of those training to be preachers by telling them there was a “synoptic problem.” They insisted that Matthew and Luke copied Mark because almost all of Mark's content is found in Matthew, and about two-thirds of Mark is found in Luke. 610 of Mark’s 661 verses are duplicated in Matthew and Luke. They had been influenced by Darwinism and rejected miracles, Biblical inspiration, and the divinity of Christ.
i. Then they insisted that Mark based his writing on “oral traditions of Jesus” passed around the ancient church. The Germans called Mark’s source, QUELLE (meaning source in German) and today it is abbreviated as Q. Another proposed theory is that Matthew and Luke obtained their information from two sources: from Mark and from Q.
They noticed similarity of wording and order among the synoptics and this “proved” they copied Mark.
ii. This solution fails to account for the subtle differences among the three writers. It also fails to account for Mark’s colloquial and Aramaic expressions (Boanerges, Corban, etc.) and rough grammatical expressions not used by Matthew and Luke.
iii. 151 times Mark also uses in Greek what is called the “historical present” compared to the 78 times in Matthew and 9 times in Luke.
“And when Jesus heard it, he says to them, ‘Those who are strong do not need a doctor, but those who are ill’.” (Mk.2:17.); “And when they come near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and to Bethany, to the Mount of Olives, he sends two of his disciples, and says to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you...’ ” (Mk.11:1-2). “And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of The Twelve, comes” (Mk.14:43).
“Generally speaking we do not keep these historic presents in translation, because in English they do not sound well; but they show how vivid and real the thing was to Mark's mind, as if it was happening before his very eyes” (William Barclay, Commentary on Mark, Introduction).
iv. Most who believe there is a synoptic problem do not believe in the inspiration of the Bible.
v. There is evidence that there were “many” written accounts of Jesus’ life (Luke 1:1). Before these were written, the accounts existed in verbal form and could be traced back directly to the apostles teaching (Acts 2:42). We believe the Bible is inspired (2 Timothy 3:16-17) but that the writers of the New Testament used personal experiences, eyewitness testimony, oral and written traditions in compiling their story of Jesus.
g. Characteristics of the book
i. Mark provides detail not supplied by the other synoptics: When Jesus placed a small child in the midst of the fighting disciples only Mark tells us that Jesus held the small child in his arms while he rebuked them (Mk. 9:36). When Jesus fed the 5000 men, only Mark tells us that He made them to sit in organized groups of 50’s and 100’s (Mk. 6:40). When Jesus and his disciples made the last journey to Jerusalem, only Mark tells us, “and Jesus went before them” reminded us of the loneliness that Jesus had in those last hours (10:32). When the disciples were frightened in their boat by the pounding storm, only Mark tells us that Jesus had been sleeping in the back on a pillow (4:38).
ii. Mark’s literary style is unpolished and unrefined. He does not write as an educated man (like Paul, Luke or the writer of Hebrews) but as a common man. Mark is the only writer who mentions, “And the common people heard him gladly” (Mark 12:37). Mark’s account is realistic and simple. Barclay adds, “In the third chapter of the gospel, in the Greek, there are 34 clauses or sentences one after another introduced by “and” after one principal verb. It is the way in which an eager child would tell the story.”
iii. Mark is fond of the word “straightway” and “immediately” as they appear over 40 times. He moves from one story to another and bridges them together by the word “straightway,” almost in breathless fashion because he cannot wait for us to hear all the details of this great story.
iv. Mark has more to say about Peter than any of the other writers including his errors and mistakes.
v. John Stott says, “If Matthew presents Jesus as the Messiah of Scripture, then Mark presents him as the Suffering Servant of God who dies for the peoples’ sins. The cross is at the center of Mark’s understanding of Jesus” (The Incomparable Christ 26).
h. Purposes of the book of Mark
i. To present Jesus is God’s Son (1:1)
ii. To show God’s Gospel in a concise manner (1:1)
iii. To preserve for future generations an inspired, accurate, & permanent record of Jesus (13:31)
3. Outline of Mark
a. According to Content
i. The Messiah’s preparation (1:1—1:13)
ii. The Messiah’s proclamation (1:14—8:26)
iii. The Messiah’s prediction of death (8:27—10:52)
iv. The Messiah’s last days (11:1—16:20)
b. Accord to Geography
i. In Galilee (1:1—9:50)
ii. In Perea (10:1—10:52)
iii. In Jerusalem (11:1—15:47)
iv. His resurrection appearances (16:1-20)
4. Various dates of writing have been proposed, anywhere from A.D. 50 to70. It seems safe to say that it was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
5. What about the ending of the book of Mark? English translations from the ASV (1901) onward either place Mark 16:9-20 in the text with a footnote questioning its reliability or relegating it to footnote status.
a. Four endings of the Gospel of Mark are in existence. The last twelve verses found in the KJV-1611 are absent from the two oldest Greek manuscripts, the Sinaiticus and the Vaticanus. However, some evidence suggests these two manuscripts are related to the same uncial manuscript (Pulpit Commentary on Mark and Luke, vol. 18, p. viii). If true, then the evidence is from only one source instead of two.
b. In the Vaticanus, the scribe left a blank space large enough to contain the verses in question. Because expensive animal skins were used in the place of paper, scribes did not leave spaces between words or books of the New Testament. This is significant. An 8th century manuscript bearing strong resemblance to the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus manuscripts contains 16:9-20 in their entirety. All other manuscripts contain the words in question.
c. Some of the early church father quoted these words:
i. Shepherd of Hermas (A.D. 150) quoted 16:16
ii. Justin Martyr (A.D. 155) quoted 16:19-20
iii. Irenaeus (A.D 185) quoted the beginning of Mark and the end of Mark as well as 16:19 verbatum.
d. If Mark’s gospel ends at 16:8, the ending is abrupt. Since Jesus asked His disciples in 16:8 to meet Him in Galilee, it only seems natural for mark to record the events of that meeting.
e. How did these verses disappear in the two ancient manuscripts? One possible proposal has the loss of a page at the end of a New Testament book.
f. J.W. McGarvey said of these verses: “Let it first be observed that it is not the historicity of the passage by which is meant the historical representations that is called in question, but only its genuineness as a part of Mark’s original manuscript.” He went on the show that 16:9-20 have no new information not already taught elsewhere in the New Testament. “All the ancient versions contain it and thereby testify that it was in the Greek copies from they were translated…Among these versions are the Peshito Syriac, the Old Italic, the Sahidic, and the Coptic all of which were in existence earlier than the Sinaitic and Vatican manuscripts and before the time of Jerome…” Peshito in an Aramaic word meaning “easy to be understood.” The Peshito Syriac dates to A.D. 175. The Old Italic dates to A.D. 157. The Sahidic New Testament was an Egyptian translation that was compiled in the late 190’s or early 200’s. The Coptic New Testament was the Memphis dialect of Egyptian language that dates to the 200’s.