The Gospel According to Mark

Written By Michael Cruz

Introduction to Mark

For the next few months, our attention will focus on the Gospel of Mark. The shortest of the 4 Gospels, yet as richly theological as the others. Mark makes up 30% of the Gospel readings during the liturgical cycle! This is why we must dig deeper into these familiar stories, so that the power of God may transform our lives even more.

The Gospel of Mark, from the moment of its conception, has been regarded by all Christians in all places to be a reliable account of Jesus of Nazareth. Mark’s gospel moves quickly from story to story. The first 8 chapters showcase Jesus’ earthly ministry’s duality: the popularity of Jesus and the disapproval of the Jewish leaders. Starting at the end of chapter 8, there is a shift in tone. Jesus announces that he must die while the disciples become perplexed and discouraged.

Emmanues Tzanes, 1657

Who Wrote The Gospel?

Though modern scholarship (and our modern world!) wishes to make you doubt everything and not trust our fathers and mothers in the faith, the traditional view that John Mark wrote the Gospel holds the most weight. This is because we have universal consensus from the Early Christians on this matter. John Mark (Acts 12:12, 25; 13:13; Phlm 24; Col: 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:11; 1 Pet. 5:13) is the author of the Gospel and he got his stories from Peter, with whom he travelled to and preached in Rome. Here are some examples of the early Christians attesting to this:

  1. Papias (60-130 AD): But now we must add to the words of his [Papias] which we have already quoted the tradition which he gives in regard to Mark, the author of the Gospel. It is in the following words: “This also John the Presbyter said: Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not indeed in order, whatever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied him, but afterward, as I said, he was in company with Peter, who used to offer teaching as necessity demanded, but with no intention of giving a connected account of the Lord’s discourses. So Mark committed no error in thus writing some single points as he remembered them. For upon one thing he fixed his attention: to leave out nothing of what he had heard and to make no false statements in them.” (Fragments of Papias, from Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 3.39.14–15)

  2. Clement of Alexandria (150-215 AD): Again, in the same books, Clement gives the tradition of the earliest presbyters, as to the order of the Gospels, in the following manner: “The Gospels containing the genealogies, he says, were written first. The Gospel according to Mark had this occasion. As Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome, and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark, who had followed him for a long time and remembered well what he had said, should write them out. And having composed the Gospel he gave it to those who had requested it. When Peter learned of this, he neither directly hindered nor encouraged it.” (Fragments of Clement, Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 6.14.5–7)

  3. Origen (184-253 AD): Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism, and published in the Hebrew language. The second is by Mark, who composed it according to the instructions of Peter, who in his Catholic epistle acknowledges him as a son, saying, “The church that is at Babylon elected together with you, salutes you, and so does Mark, my son.” (Fragments of Origen, Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 6.25.4–5)

  4. Irenaeus (130-202 AD): Since, in the beginning of this work, we promised to give, when needful, the words of the ancient presbyters and writers of the church, in which they have declared those traditions which came down to them concerning the canonical books, and since Irenaeus was one of them, we will now give his words and, first, what he says of the sacred Gospels: “Matthew published his Gospel among the Hebrews in their own language, while Peter and Paul were preaching and founding the church in Rome. After their departure Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, also transmitted to us in writing those things which Peter had preached.” (Fragments of Irenaeus, Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 5.8.1–3)

  5. Jerome (347-420 AD): Mark the disciple and interpreter of Peter wrote a short Gospel at the request of the brethren at Rome embodying what he had heard Peter tell. When Peter had heard this, he approved it and published it to the churches to be read by his authority, as Clement in the sixth book of his Hypotyposes, and Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, record. Peter also mentions this Mark in his first epistle, figuratively indicating Rome under the name of Babylon: “She who is in Babylon elect together with you salutes you and so does Mark my son.” So, taking the Gospel which he himself composed, he went to Egypt and first preaching Christ at Alexandria he formed a church so admirable in doctrine and continence of living that he constrained all followers of Christ to this example. Philo, most learned of the Jews, seeing the first church at Alexandria still Jewish in a degree, wrote a book on their manner of life as something creditable to his nation telling how, as Luke says, the believers had all things in common at Jerusalem, so he recorded what he saw was done at Alexandria, under the learned Mark. He died in the eighth year of Nero and was buried at Alexandria, Annianus succeeding him. (Lives of Illustrious Men 8)

  6. Augustine (354-430 AD): For Matthew is understood to have taken it in hand to construct the record of the incarnation of the Lord according to the royal lineage, and to give an account of a great deal of his deeds and words as they stood in relation to this present life of men. Mark follows him closely, and looks like his associate and epitomizer. For in Mark’s narrative he gives nothing in concert with John apart from the others.… Taken by himself, Mark has relatively little exclusively to record, and taken in conjunction with Luke even less. In concurrence with Matthew, Mark has a greater number of passages. Frequently he narrates in words almost numerically and identically the same as those used by Matthew. (Harmony of the Gospels 1:2)

Vitore Carpassio, 1516

Did you know… Though virtually no one questioned the legitimacy of the authority and authorship of the gospel, we do not have a single, full, line-by-line commentary or homiletical series in the first five centuries of the church. Why? Because it was believed that Mark was simply a shorter version of Matthew.

When Was It Written And Why?

There is little to no debate on the dating of Mark. Most scholars believe the gospel of Mark was written somewhere between 60 and 70 AD. This is around the Jewish was with Rome and shortly after the deaths of Peter and Paul. As we have seen above, tradition regards the writing of the gospel of be right before the death of St. Peter (mid-60s). Another factor in the dating of the Mark, is that in Mark 13:1-2, Jesus predicts the destruction of the temple. If the gospel had been written after 70 AD (when the temple was destroyed) we would see a comment on how this prophecy had already been fulfilled (because Mark likes to add editorial comments to his stories, e.g., 7:3-4). These two factors have help us date the gospel of Mark pretty safely to in the 60s AD.

There are three main (but not exclusive) reasons why Mark wrote the gospel.

  1. To make the gospel message accessible to Gentiles. This is made apparent by his very little usage of the OT in comparison to Matthew, as well, how he explains Jewish customs in several places.

  2. To encourage persecuted Christians in Rome. The fast pace of the gospel, the strong emotions from Jesus and his disciples, the plots to kill Jesus starting very early on, the exhortation to pick one s cross, and the promise of resurrection would have helped the persecuted Christians to have a right framework to understand their current circumstances.

  3. To preserve a faithful account of Jesus of Nazareth. By doing this, converts in throughout the Roman Empire can be assured that they have access to the testimony of Peter concerning Jesus even after his martyrdom.

Sources:

  1. Walter A. Elwell, Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible

  2. Thomas C. Oden (General Editor), Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: Mark

  3. Mark Allan Powell, Introducing the New Testament: A Historical, Literary, and Theological Survey

  4. John D. Barry (General Editor), Lexham Bible Dictionary

  5. D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and Gordon J. Wenham, New Bible Commentary

  6. Allen P. Clifton, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Matthew–Mark

Michael Cruz