This is a bible study and expository practice for the gospel of Mark. The goal is grab onto the deeper details of the gospel and give a second look at details that are usually overlooked. Please feel free to put your own insights in the comments below.
1:1-8
Verse 1 – The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
The opening of the Mark’s gospel account starts with a proclamation of an important truth of the message. The gospel is of and from Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is noticeably different from the openings of the other gospels. Matthew and Luke explore Jesus’ lineage. John provides a theological opening. This could give credence to the idea that Mark was writing to a population of people outside of the Palestine region; Because, the genealogies and deep theological discussion may not effectively communicate the gospel to those unfamiliar with the Hebrew/Christian faith.
Verse 2 – As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way,
Verse 3 – the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’”
Mark attributes his words and Jesus’ coming to Isaiah but his quote is actually scripture stitched together from Malachi, exodus, and Isaiah. What I’ve read from theologians is that this is not an uncommon practice in ancient Jewish writing.
What is happening here is that Mark is using the prominent theme from Isaiah to communicate the messianic nature of Jesus’ gospel. I have also heard that ancient Jewish writing commonly referred to the prophets as “Isaiah” as a form of shorthand or tradition. Later, scribes observed this and made an editorial decision to bring clarity to this issue and began using the phrase, “The Prophets”, instead of simply Isaiah. This change is observable in translations such as the KJV. I would assume the same is true of other translations utilizing the Textus Receptus. The modern use of older Greek texts in today’s translations results in many modern translations going back to saying, “Isaiah”.
Verse 4 – John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
The baptism that John proclaimed was one of repentance in water. He proclaimed the forgiveness of sins to those who would respond to his message and be baptized. This further fulfills the themes of repentance in Isaiah.
Verse 5 – And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins
People from the surrounding region heard of John and were filled with conviction enough to be baptized in the Jordan River. This appears to be the fulfillment of the prominent theme from the second part of Isaiah (40-55) where a new exodus is described that gathers God’s people to the promised land.
Verse 6 – Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey.
John’s unusual appearance is noted here and actually resembles Elijah’s appearance. Jesus later identifies John as Elijah and as the fulfillment of the prophecy that Elijah would come before the messiah. This is how verse 4,5, and 6 fulfill the prophecy of verse 2 and 3. This is coherent messianic theology hidden in language meant to communicate the gospel to outsiders.
Verse 7 – And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.
This is John, “making way” for Jesus. He is Elijah proclaiming the coming of the messiah. Untying the straps of sandals could be the responsibility of a low servant. A Jew proclaiming this status of another is an incredible exclamation. John is emphasizing the importance of Jesus’ nature, not only as another prophet to come, but someone even greater.
Verse 8 – I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Jesus’ salvific work and the establishment of a new covenant are proclaimed.
Conclusion
While Mark’s account of the gospel does not immediately have the most front-facing theological approach, there is much more beneath the surface. The opening of the first chapter is full of the Lordship of Christ and the fulfillment of messianic prophecies.
The next article will cover the baptism of Jesus, the implications of His baptism, and the trinity. It may be a smaller section of scripture, but we’ll see what I can squeeze in.
This is my first series on this site. This is a collection of notes taken from study bibles, personal time spent researching the scripture, and my time in bible college. I believe it is beneficial for those who could range from beginners to intermediates in biblical study. This will not be groundbreaking new stuff.
Throughout Mark’s Gospel, I will be studying in my ESV and using a Nestle-Aland 28th edition for my Greek. Please join me in this study and I hope you enjoy.
The Author of Mark
The Gospel According To Mark is actually attributed to the author’s surname. Our author here, is actually named, “John Mark” (Acts 12:12; 13:5; 2 Tim. 4:11).
John Mark is a relative of Barnabas according to Col. 4:10. This is also the same John Mark that departs with Barnabas when Paul splits ways to go with Silas in Acts 15:36-39. They appear to later reconcile after some time (Col. 4:10, Phile. 1:24). Paul eventually writes to Timothy in 2 Tim 4:11 to fetch John Mark because he is useful to Paul’s ministry.
Speculation on Mark’s Witness to The Gospel
Though I don’t find it to be compelling at this time, there are is a running theory, that Mark wrote hints of his story into the gospel. This theory starts in Mark 14:51-52, where our author refers to a young man who fled naked from the Garden of Gethsemane after being seized by soldiers during Jesus’ arrest. He slipped out of his robe and pulled the surprisingly effective move of leaving his tunic behind. This detail is unique to the Gospel of Mark and does not appear in the other gospel accounts.
The idea of those who promote this theory is that you can follow John Mark’s journey from his flight from Gethsemane, to his departure from Paul in Acts, to his later appearance in Paul’s Epistle. I’ve heard this preached from the pulpit as a story of John Mark’s growth from being cowardly and weak to becoming a strong man of God.
I admit it is an interesting theory but I just don’t see it. It is mostly benign but espousing this idea as truth from the pulpit requires you to read your own assumptions into the text instead of from it.
I believe that the text provides enough details from Acts to Paul’s epistles on to make this point without forcing this view of Mark into the narrative.
The scholarship
The scholarship surrounding The Gospel According To Mark largely agrees that Mark was writing to those who lived outside of Palestine. This is indicated by a couple of quirks in his writing style.
Among these unique characteristics are a tendency to emphasize the supernatural nature of Christ and a rapid pace that switches from one scene to the next. This is frequently illustrated by Mark’s use of the term “immediately” (eutheō).
Another indication that John Mark is writing to people outside of the region is that he uses very graphic and specific details, more so than the other gospels, when depicting scenes.
Mark also takes the time to describe Jewish customs as if the reader wasn’t familiar with them.
The inference from this observation is that he is writing to people who would be unfamiliar with the region and customs that he writes about.
In my bible college days, the phrase I heard was that this was the, “Roman Gospel”. Because the Romans would appreciate the fast paced nature of the book and it’s focus on the miraculous nature of Jesus’ ministry. This may or may not be the case, but I find the peculiar details about John Mark’s writing style to be very convincing when discussing its nature as a gospel to gentiles outside of the Palestine region.
The date of writing is estimated to be approximately 68AD. It is typically agreed upon in biblical scholarship that John Mark is obtaining his information for his writings from Peter, the apostle, prior to his martyrdom in Rome.
Markan Priority and Q
Approximately 93% of the material of Mark’s gospel is repeated in Matthew and Luke, the other synoptics. This is a common subject of conversation when considering the sources of the information for the gospels and Markan Priority.
It is theorized that the authors of Matthew and Luke drew from two common sources. Under this theory, Matthew and Mark used Mark for narrative structure and a mysterious second source referred to as “Q” for the teachings that are not specifically found in Mark’s Gospel.
The Q source is unknown and remains a mystery to us. However, as much as modern scholarship loves to shy away from the seemingly obvious answer here, I do not.
I have no shame in saying that source for all written scripture is The Holy Spirit. God weaved His words into His great tapestry of creation and the series of circumstances may have led to the event that Matthew and Luke utilized Mark’s work and one other source for writing scripture.
But under the assumption that these men were first century Christians that were inspired by The Holy Spirit, of course the narrative would align! Of course there would be a source outside of Mark that led to corroborating teachings between Matthew and Luke!
What I believe is an overlooked aspect of biblical study is that although God has enacted His will in many wonderful and miraculous ways, He has also always been at work in the seemingly mundane parts of life that we overlook.
Conclusion
For now, that covers the basics of the background we need to take a closer look at Mark. Please be on the lookout for the next part.
In part 2, we will be jumping into the first verses of Mark to explore John’s entrance onto the scene and the significance of the role he played in the gospel story.
Matthew, also known as Levi and the son of Alphaeus, was a tax collector in Capernaum, Galilee, during the first century AD. Being a tax collector was a profession that was highly despised in ancient Judaism due to its association with Roman rule and corruption. Matthew is considered the second oldest account of the gospel of Jesus Christ but is placed first in the traditional order of the new testament canon. This tradition dates very far back as early Christian writers of approx. 2nd-3rd century.
Matthew’s purpose was writing to the Jewish community to demonstrate Jesus as the Jewish messiah of the prophecies of the Old Testament. That being his goal, we can observe Matthew often references old testament prophecy, Jewish customs, and even leaves some Aramaic words untranslated. If you don’t know, Aramaic is a Semitic language similar to Hebrew, which would be difficult for the Roman reader to understand, demonstrating Matthew’s intended audience being the Jewish reader.
The Genealogy Discrepancy:
There is a discussion that has been resolved long before this study was done but will be restated to clear any confusion. When reading Jesus’ genealogy in the gospels according to Matthew and Luke, one can run into the fact that they are not the same list.
This discrepancy can make studying this genealogy difficult for some. But when studying a text, one has to ask what the purpose is for the author’s writing. We have already established that Matthew is seeking to prove that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, and so accordingly he writes his genealogy, not exhaustively but to highlight key figures to prove his point (From what I have read was a common practice of the time).
It is observed that Matthew reports the paternal lineage of descent from after Solomon to Joseph, where Luke reported the material line through Solomon’s brother, Nathan to Mary. The two lines converse with the intermarriage of Shealtiel and Zerubbabel, Rhesa and Abiud, and finally Joseph and Mary.
This study looks at unpacking Matthew’s account with verse by verse examination from the Greek text.
Ultimately, the intended message to be communicated here is Jesus’ legal right to the throne of David via blood lineage.
The Genealogy of Jesus Christ According to Matthew
Verse 1 – The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of
Biblos (The inner bark of the papyrus plant, implying a sheet or scroll of writing.)
genesis (following the origin, implying lineage)
iēsous (Jesus or Joshua in greek, meaning “The Lord is Salvation”)
christos (Christ, Anointed, an epithet of the messiah)
huios (a son, contextually used as son of a male figure or meaning son of man)
Explanation – According to the study material, the opening can can literally be translated as “record of genealogy” or “record of the origins”. This text is the opening to Matthew’s account of the gospel, opening with fulfillment of messianic prophecy in being the descendent of David and Abraham. (2Sa 7:13, 2Sa7:16, PSa89:36, Psa 132:11, Isa 9:6,7; Isa 11:1; Jer 23:5; Jer 33:15-17,26; Amo 9:11; Zec 12:8; Gen 12:3; Gen 22:18; Gen 26:3-5; Gen 28:13,14). Biblos here refers to a scroll or the paper that this was written upon as a book or “codex”, while adopted by christians very early, was not adopted in the early first century.
Verse 2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob
Adelphos (Brother, sharing a single parent or both parents)
Explanation
This lineage is used as prophetic proof of Jesus being the jewish messiah, demonstrating that Jesus is the descendent of Abraham, (Gen. 12:3), the first “jew who fathered Isaac and grandfathered the sons that give the tribes their namesake (Gen. 26:3,4; 35:11,12) Followed by the fulfillment of messianic prophecy via descending from the tribe of Judah (Gen. 49:10)
Verse 4 and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Explanation – “By the wife of Uriah”, this is Bathsheba, who is excluded by name, possibly due to the sins surrounding the joining of David and Bathsheba.
Verse 7 and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah,
Explanation – This is yet another example of Jesus fulfilling the messianic prophecies descending through Jesse (Isaiah 11) and line of Dave(2 Sam. 7:12). But also other key biblical figures as other proofs for consistency throughout the kingly lineage of David. Beyond understanding this as a kingly lineage of Israel, to understand this greater would require one to read through the OT historical books such as 1 & 2 Sam, 1 & 2 Kings, and 1 & 2 Chronicles to understand the nuances of the stories of each king and their standing with God.
Verse 8 and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram,
“Joram begot Uzziah.” This is an example of Matthew skipping some generations. There were three kings between these two, but Matthew specifically chose to introduce these two. Perhaps because of Uzziah’s stature of being one of the good kings of Israel who did not lead their nation into sin.
Verse 9 and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz
Jehoakim, son of Josiah is notably and controversially excluded from the genealogy. The easy is that he was an evil king with his deeds recorded in 2 chronicles. However in that verse there is a curse against him and his offspring sitting on the throne. Jeconiah, son of Jehoakim sat on the throne, however only for three months. However, this would potentially pose a problem for the messianic inheritance of David’s throne. However, this is interestingly resolved through the virgin birth. Joseph, not Mary, was descended from Jehoakim. So while legally Jesus was Joseph’s son, he was not his son by blood, thereby side-stepping the curse while also fulfilling the davidic covenant.
Verse 13 and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and
Explanation – Matthew is careful to say that Joseph is the “Husband of Mary” rather than Father to Jesus. This points to Jesus’ legal ancestry rather than physical descent. Gennaō is used here to say “Jesus was born of Mary” rather than “Joseph was the father of” like in the earlier verses.
Verse 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen
