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The Gospel According to Mark

The Gospel According to Mark online

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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.

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1way2God.net - This page last updated 31 July 2009. Copyright © 1way2God.net 2002-2008.