SERMON 170: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK
Germaine Charles Lockwood

Mark was John Mark the son of Mary. Mary was a cousin of Barnabas, a Levite (Acts 4:36). Mary lived in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). Mary had a house with a gate. She had servants. Christians gathered at Mary’s house when Peter was in prison. John Mark was from Jerusalem. John Mark went on the first missionary journey with Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:5,13). Mark went with Barnabas on the second missionary journey to Cyprus (Acts 15:37-39). Mark was with the Apostle Paul in Rome during Paul’s first imprisonment (Colossians 4:10). Paul also wrote to Philemon from Rome near the end of Paul’s first imprisonment, and gave greetings from Mark who was with Paul (Philemon 22-24). Possibly Mark went from Rome to Colosse in A.D. 62 (Colossians 4:10). A study of the chronology of Acts is given in The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia, vol. IV, pp. 2270-72. See also St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen by Sir William M. Ramsay, p. 289 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1962). 
 Paul did not mention the Apostle Peter in his letters from Rome. During Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome, Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. Paul sent greetings from those who were with him in Rome, but not from Peter. Evidently Peter was not in Rome at that time.

In the book, Paul, by John McRay, p. 78 (Grand Rapids: Baker Acadenic, 2003), the time for Paul’s first Roman imprisonment is given as Mar. 57-c. Feb. 59. Paul was set free and left Rome in A.D. 62 or 59. Paul went to Ephesus (1 Tim. 1:3), Philippi in Macedonia (Phil. 2:24), and Colosse (Philemon 22). Paul also preached in Crete (Titus 1:3). He intended to spend the winter in Nicopolis in western Greece (Titus 3:12). Most likely Paul went to Spain as he had planned (Rom. 15:24).

Peter wrote in:

1 Peter 5:13: She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, greets you; And so does Mark my son. 1 Peter 5:13.

Mark was with Peter when he wrote The First Epistle of Peter. In Revelation 17 and 18, Babylon is the cryptic name for Rome. Scholar Clement of Alexandria (150-215) wrote that Peter and Mark were together in Rome when Mark began to write The Gospel According to Mark. (Ecclesiastical History VI.xiv.) 1 Peter 3:8-18 prepared Christians for suffering and persecution. However, there is no indication that the persecution by Nero and the Roman government had started. It seems that Peter was in Rome after Paul had been released from his first imprisonment. Peter wrote The First Epistle of Peter before the beginning of the persecution of Christians by the Roman government of Nero. The persecution of Christians began after the great fire in Rome, which was in July, 64.

If Babylon in 1 Peter 4:13 means literal Babylon on the Euphrates River, then Mark was with Peter there before the Roman persecution. Later they went to Rome, or were sent there.

Early church scholars have written that Mark wrote The Gospel According to Mark when Mark was with Peter in Rome and handed it down after Peter died. (Ecclesiastical History VI. xiv.) (Against Heresies III.i.1,2.) Peter wrote in 2 Peter 2:14: Knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. When Peter wrote The Second Epistle of Peter, he knew that he would soon die. 

Most likely, Mark and Peter were together in Rome while Paul was free after his first imprisonment. The persecution by Nero of Christians was started in 64. Probably Peter was crucified in 65, and The Gospel According to Mark was handed down in 65 for the Romans.

The Gospel According to Matthew was written about A.D.45 for the Jews.

The Gospel According to Luke was written about A.D.59 or 57 for the Gentiles.

In 2 Timothy 4:11, we learn that Mark was later in Ephesus with Timothy when Paul wrote 2 Timothy from Rome. No mention is made of Peter being in Rome when Paul wrote 2 Timothy during his second imprisonment in Rome. Paul told Timothy: Get Mark and bring him with you.

In 2 Timothy we learn that before Paul was imprisoned the second time, he had recently been to Troas (2 Tim. 4:13), Miletus (2 Tim. 4:20), and Corinth (2 Tim. 4:20).

Eusebius gave 67 as the date of Paul’s execution (Chronicon). Nero died in 68. Eusebius wrote:
	
It is related that in his (Nero’s) reign Paul was beheaded in Rome itself and that Peter was also crucified, . . . (Ecclesiasstical History II.xxv).

 The Apostle Peter was an eyewitness of the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit in what he preached. Jesus had promised His apostles the Holy Spirit.

John 14:26: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 14:26.

Later, Jesus promised the apostles in:

John 16:13: “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. John 16:13.

The Apostle Peter was guided by the Holy Spirit into all truth, and the Spirit brought to Peter’s remembrance all things that Jesus had said to him. Mark recorded what the inspired Peter preached. You can read and study what Peter preached, which is recorded in The Gospel According to Mark. Peter was an eyewitness and an inspired apostle of Christ.

Mark was an evangelist. He had the laying on of the hands of an apostle, receiving gifts of the Holy Spirit as it was with Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:6. Mark would have had the gifts of wisdom and the word of knowledge through the Spirit (1 Cor. 12:8). Peter gave Mark such instruction as was necessary (Ecclesiastical History III.xxxix). “Markus Q” is a fictitious nonexistent document. The Source “Q” of Mark is the eyewitness testimony of the Apostle Peter.

From history we learn that Mark wrote the Gospel in Rome for the Romans. In the Greek text there are some Latin words. Mark translated four Aramaic words for Gentiles to understand.

Professor Eta Linnemann listed 187 Greek words used in Mark that were not used in Matthew and Luke [Is There a Synoptic Problem? pp. 133, 134. (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1992.)] Each Gospel is an independant historical witness of the life of Christ. 

21.02 percent of The Gospel According to Mark cannot be found in Matthew or Luke (Linnemann, p. 101). 21.02 percent of Mark is unique information that you need to know. 	258 additional minor details are given in Mark that are not given in Matthew or Luke, a total of 2,023 words. (Linnemann, pp. 99-101.) 
 Greek scholar, Professor Hugo McCord wrote: 

A count of the Greek words (Synopsis of the First Three Gospels, revised by Hans Lietzmann, ninth edition, Oxford: B.H.Blackwell, Ltd., 1949) unique to each of the three Gospels shows Matthew with 13,590; Mark with 5,743; Luke with 16,211, thus showing the independent work “of three witnesses,” not “only one.”

There are four Gospels that give you four independent historical testimonies of eyewitnesses to the life of Jesus Christ, His teaching, His deeds, and His resurrection. You need to study each of the four Gospels so that you can learn to know Messiah Jesus, and come to believe in Him.

Jesus said in:

Mark 13:31:  “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away. Mark 13:31.

Mark 10:45: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45.
	
Mark 14:61, 62: . . . Again the high priest asked Him, saying to Him, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” And Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” Mark 14:61, 62.

The Gospel, the Good News, is that Messiah Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Jesus said in:

Mark 16:16: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. Mark 16:16.

You will meet Jesus the Messiah when you appear before Him on the Day of Judgment (2 Cor. 5:10).

Amen!

HISTORICAL NOTES

 Early church historian Eusebius Pamphilus quoted Papias about Mark. He wrote:
	“Mark, who wrote the gospel in the following words: Mark being the interpreter of Peter 	whatsoever he 	recorded he wrote with great accuaracy, but not however, in the order in 	which it was spoken or done by our Lord, for he neither heard nor followed our Lord, but 	as before said, he was in company with Peter, who gave him such instruction as was 	necessary, but not to give a history of our Lord's discources: wherefore Mark has not 	erred in any thing, by writing some things as he has recorded them; for he was carefully 	attentive to one thing, not to pass by any thing that he heard, or to state any thing falsely 	in these accounts." (Ecclesiastical History III.xxxix.) 
Papias wrote about A.D. 130-140. Historically, he was in a better position to know than any modern critical scholar.
 Eusebius also quoted Clement of Alexandria concerning Mark. He wrote:
	. . . the gospel of Mark was occasioned in the following manner: 'When Peter
	had proclaimed the word publicly at Rome, and declared the gospel under the
	influence of the spirit; as there was a great number present, they requested 
	Mark, who had followed him from afar, and remembered well what he had 
	said, to reduce these things to writing, and that after composing the gospel he
	gave it to those who requested it of him. Which, when Peter understood, he directly 	neither hindered nor encouraged it. (Ecclesiastical History VI.xiv.) 
So then, we have learned that Mark recorded what the Apostle Peter had proclaimed.
Peter was an eyewitness of the deeds and teaching of Messiah Jesus. The Gospel of Mark is The Gospel According to Peter, written by Mark for the Romans. 
 Irenaeus in about A.D. 180, wrote in Against Heresies III.i.1,2.:
	And after their (Peter's and Paul's ) deaths Mark, the disciple and interpreter
	of Peter, himself also handed down to us in writing the things preached by
	Peter. 
 In the Anti-Marcionite Prologue Old Latin manuscripts of the Gospels (A.D. 160-180):
	. . . Mark declared, who is called "stump-fingered," because he had rather small 
	fingers in comparison with the stature of the rest of his body. He was the 
	interpreter of Peter. After the death of Peter himself he wrote down this same 
	gospel in the regions of Italy. (D. de Bruyne, "Les plus anciens prologues 
latines des Evangiles," Revue Benedicine 40 (1928) pp. 193-214.)
(R.G.Heard, "The Old Gospel Prologues," IThS n.s.6(1955), pp,1-16.)