The Gospel According to Mark

Content of this Introduction (top)

Fast Facts
Author
Date
Audience
Purpose
Outline of Content
For Further Information

Fast Facts (top)

Author: John Mark, disciple of Peter the Apostle (more info) (Biography of John Mark) (Biography of the Apostle Peter)
Date of composition: Probably late fifties to sixties, possibly forties to seventies (more info)
Place of composition: Almost certainly Rome
Sent to: Gentile Christians in Rome (more info)
No. of chapters: 16
No. of verses: 677 (45, 28, 35, 41, 43, 56, 37, 38, 50, 52, 32*, 44, 37, 72, 47, 20). This number is the sum of all verses in Mark, not including 11:26 which is not printed in many modern translations for the sake of textual integrity, but does include the 12 verses in ch.16 not found in the earliest manuscripts, but still printed in most modern translations - see Notes.

Author (top)

Within the Gospel According to Mark itself there is no explicit indication of the identity of the author. The title "The Gospel According to Mark" was probably inserted in the beginning of the 2nd century as a means to distinguish it from the other gospels. However, this at least shows that the Church in the early 2nd Century believed the author to have been called 'Mark.'

The Church historian Eusebius recorded Papius’ defence of the second Gospel (as it was not chronologically ordered), and reads: "Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not indeed in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things done or said by Christ..."("Ecclesiastical History", iii.39). This short record of Papias, a Phyrgian bishop of the early 2nd Century, and the continued record following it tells us two things of importance to this study: 1) Someone named 'Mark' wrote it, and; 2) this Mark was not an eyewitness but received his information from Peter.

Later Christian writers such as Irenaeus (Against Heresies 3.1.2), Tertullian (Against Marcion 4.5), Clement of Alexandria (Hypotyposes), Eusebius (Ecclesiastical Histories 6.14.5-7 & 6.25.5) and Origen (Commentary on Matthew) confirm that they believed these two suggestions.

The Mark to which they refer is almost certainly John Mark (known as 'Mark'), mentioned in the four Gospels and Acts and in other NT texts. It seems clear that no other Mark was so well-known as to be mentioned without need of further description, which is fairly strong evidence for authorship by John Mark.

It is also important that according to Acts, John Mark spent some time with Paul (which would explain what some believe to be Pauline themes in Mark's Gospel) and time with Peter; in fact Peter even refers to Mark as 'his son' (1 Peter 5:13), probably indicating that Mark was converted by the preaching of Peter, and certainly indicating that there was ample opportunity for Mark to record what Peter said regarding Christ in the second Gospel.

Further, it seems that the content of the Gospel points towards an apostolic author, for Marks' Gospel seems particularly harsh on the Apostles and so would only have been written by one of them. It also seems to point specifically to Peter, for example where Peter 'remembers' [11:21, 14:72] or the prominence of Peter in the gospel. Also we see that the order of the second gospel follows the order of Peter's preaching in Acts 10:36-41 (which is occasional rather than chronological), suggesting that Peter often followed this pattern in his preaching, which Mark picked up in his writing.

Now the only extant evidence that suggests with authority that Mark wrote the words of Peter to produce the second gospel is the testimony of Papias - which some question. However, there is nothing within the Bible or external evidence that suggests that this could not have been the case. So it seems that there is no reason to doubt the testimony of the early church on this matter and remain with John Mark as writing the second gospel based on the teaching of the Apostle Peter.

Date (top)

The Gospel according to Mark was most likely written in the late fifties or sixties, though there is much discussion on the subject and there are some who suggest dates anywhere from the forties to the seventies.

Audience (top)

Mark was probably writing for the benefit of Gentile Christians in Rome. This can be established from several internal clues. First, Peter was in Rome and as noted above, the majority of the content of Mark's gospel is most likely the result of Peter's preaching. Second, several passages in Mark (namely 7:3-4,34; 14:36) indicate that he is writing to non-Jewish (therefore Gentile) believers. Thirdly, there is a great presence of Latin words in the gospel, indicating the intended readers would have been comfortable with Latin. Fourthly, there is a reference to divorce in Mark (10:11-12) that implies the right of women in secular society to divorce their husbands. Jewish women did not have this right but Roman women did.

Purpose (top)

If the date of the Gospel is to be placed in the late sixties, we could also see that Mark's emphasis on the power of Christ (expressed most obviously in Jesus' miracles of 4:35-41 and 6:45-51) and His forgiveness even of traitors like Peter, would be especially relevant, as the mid-to-late sixties saw great persecution of believers under Nero - and many Christians during this time had betrayed their fellow-believers out of fear and were consequently seeking forgiveness; much like Peter.

Outline of Content (top)

1:1-13 Prologue

1:1-8 John the Baptist
1:9-13 The Baptism and temptation of Jesus

1:14-6:44 The Earlier Galilean Ministry

1:14-20 The calling of Simon (Peter) and Andrew, and James and John
1:21-28 Jesus drives out an evil spirit
1:29-34 Jesus heals Many
1:35-39 Jesus prays
1:40-45 Jesus heals a man with leprosy
2:1-12 Jesus heals a paralytic, who was lowered through the roof
2:13-17 Jesus eats with "sinners"
2:18-22 Jesus asked about fasting
2:23-3:6 Jesus teaches regarding the Sabbath
3:7-12 Crowds surround Jesus
3:13-19 Jesus appoints His twelve apostles
3:20-30 Jesus teaches regarding Beelzebub
3:31-35 Jesus' true family
4:1-20 The parable of the sower
4:21-25 'A lamp in open view'
4:26-29 The parable of the scattered seed
4:30-34 The parable of the mustard seed
4:35-41 The wind and the waves obey Jesus
5:1-20 Jesus heals the man with many demons
5:21-43 Jesus raises a dead girl and heals a sick woman
6:1-6a Jesus finds a lack of faith in His hometown
6:6b-13 Jesus sends the twelve out preaching and healing
6:14-29 John the Baptist beheaded
6:30-44 Jesus feeds five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish

6:45-9:50 The Later Galilean Ministry

6:45-56 Jesus walks on water
7:1-23 Jesus teaches what true cleanliness is
7:24-30 Jesus heals a child because of the faith of her mother
7:31-37 Jesus heals a deaf and mute man
8:1-13 Jesus feeds four thousand people with only seven loaves of bread and a few small fish
8:14-21 'The yeast of the Pharisees'
8:22-26 Jesus heals a blind man
8:27-30 Peter confesses Jesus to be the Christ
8:31-9:1 Jesus discusses His death
9:2-13 The transfiguration
9:14-32 Jesus heals a boy that has an evil spirit
9:33-37 Jesus teaches that anyone who wants to be first, must be last
9:38-41 Jesus teaches that 'whoever is not against us is for us'
9:42-50 Jesus teaches regarding causes of sin

10:1-52 The Road to Jerusalem

10:1-12 Jesus teaches regarding divorce
10:13-16 Jesus teaches regarding the Kingdom and little children
10:17-31 Jesus teaches that 'it is hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom - but with God all things are possible'
10:32-34 Jesus again discusses his death, and mentions a betrayal
10:35-45 James and John ask the Lord to sit at His right and left in His glory
10:46-52 Jesus heals blind Bartimaeus

11:1-13:37 The Jerusalem Ministry

11:1-11 The Triumphal Entry
11:12-25 The Fig tree, and Jesus clears the temple
11:26 [see notes]
11:27-33 Jesus' authority
12:1-12 The parable of the Tenants
12:13-17 Giving to God what is God's
12:18-27 Marriage at the resurrection
12:28-34 The Greatest Commandment
12:35-40 Christ the Lord of David
12:41-44 Giving out of poverty
13:1-31 Jesus discusses the end of the age
13:32-37 ...And the end of the age will come unexpectedly

14:1-16:8 Passion and Resurrection

14:1-11 A woman anoints Jesus' head with perfume
14:12-26 The Lord's Supper
14:27-31 Jesus predicts Peter's act of denial
14:32-42 Jesus prays at Gethsemane
14:43-52 Judas the betrayer leads a mob who arrest Jesus
14:53-65 Jesus the Christ before the Jewish authority (the Sanhedrin)
14:66-72 Peter's acts of denying Jesus
15:1-5 Jesus the Christ before the Roman authority (Pilate)
15:6-15 Jesus condemned to crucifixion
15:16-19 Roman Soldiers mock Jesus
15:20-32 Jesus' crucifixion
15:33-41 Jesus' death
15:42-47 Jesus' burial
16:1-8 Jesus' resurrection
16:9-20 [See notes] Jesus first appears to many then ascends into heaven.

Notes (top)

11:26 "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your sins" is absent as it is absent in the most reliable manuscripts of Mark. It was probably inserted following the publication of the gospel from Matthew 6:15.
16:9-20 These verses are usually presented with an introductory statement that there is a problem establishing their authenticity; and have even been left out altogether in some modern translations. There are several reasons to doubt the authenticity of Mark 16:9-20: 1) The passage is missing from the most reliable manuscripts; 2) Early Church historians note that the best manuscripts available to them do not contain the passage; 3) Other possible endings are in existence (so there is obviously something weird going on), and; 4) The passage does not seem to fit very well with the rest of the Gospel. It seems most likely that following the publication of this gospel, people were unhappy with Mark's characteristic understatement (in this case recording the announcement of Jesus' resurrection as the only mention of this spectacular occurrence) and consequently added an ending based on other gospels.