The Beginning of the Gospel E-Book

Peter Orr

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: New Testament Theology
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Understanding Mark in the Context of the Old and New Testaments The book of Mark—the first and shortest Gospel written—serves as both a historical and theological account, connecting Jesus to the whole storyline of the Bible. Mark writes against the backdrop of the Old Testament and draws from other New Testament writers, specifically Peter and Paul, to articulate many themes that are found in the rest of the New Testament. In this addition to the New Testament Theology series, scholar Peter Orr offers an accessible summary of the theology of Mark, examining its relationship to both the Old and New Testaments. Each chapter focuses on a key theological theme—the identity of Christ, the announcement of the kingdom, the call to follow, and more—and explains how it is relevant for the church today.  - Part of the New Testament Theology Series: Other volumes include The Joy of Hearing; The Mission of the Triune God; and United to Christ, Walking in the Spirit - Ideal for Anyone Wanting to Study the Bible More Deeply: Perfect for pastors, seminarians, college students, and laypeople - Written by Peter Orr: New Testament lecturer and author of Fight for Your Pastor

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“This is maybe the best short theology of Mark I’ve read. Unique to Orr’s book is how he places Mark in conversation with both Peter and Paul. When Mark composed his work, Peter and Paul were already preaching aspects of Mark’s Gospel. Mark more fully narrates the story of this great hero who is more than the Jewish Messiah. He is the divine Son.”

Patrick Schreiner, Associate Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; author, The Kingdom of God and the Glory of the Cross and The Visual Word

“Peter Orr offers readers a rich biblical-theological treatment of the Gospel of Mark, which summons us to follow Christ, the Son of God and servant King. Orr insightfully calls Mark ‘the beginning of the gospel,’ drawing historical and theological links between this foundational narrative of Jesus’s life and the apostolic preaching of Paul and Peter. This is essential reading for all who study and teach Mark’s Gospel.”

Brian J. Tabb, Academic Dean and Professor of Biblical Studies, Bethlehem College & Seminary

“Peter Orr offers a brief, accessible, and insightful survey of the theology of Mark’s Gospel. Orr emphasizes in The Beginning of the Gospel what Mark emphasizes—the gospel of Jesus Christ—and invites readers to see connections between this Gospel and the epistles of the apostle Paul. This book will equip both specialists and general readers to read and reread Mark’s Gospel with deeper understanding and appreciation.”

Guy Prentiss Waters, James M. Baird, Jr. Professor of New Testament and Academic Dean, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson

The Beginning of the Gospel

New Testament Theology

Edited by Thomas R. Schreiner and Brian S. Rosner

The Beginning of the Gospel: A Theology of Mark, Peter Orr

From the Manger to the Throne: A Theology of Luke, Benjamin L. Gladd

The Mission of the Triune God: A Theology of Acts, Patrick Schreiner

United to Christ, Walking in the Spirit: A Theology of Ephesians, Benjamin L. Merkle

The God Who Judges and Saves: A Theology of 2 Peter and Jude, Matthew S. Harmon

The Joy of Hearing: A Theology of the Book of Revelation, Thomas R. Schreiner

The Beginning of the Gospel

A Theology of Mark

Peter Orr

The Beginning of the Gospel: A Theology of Mark

Copyright © 2023 by Peter Orr

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Kevin Lipp

First printing 2023

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Quotations marked NETS are taken from A New English Translation of the Septuagint, © 2007 by the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Inc. Used by permission of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-7531-0 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7534-1 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7532-7 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-7533-4

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Orr, Peter, 1984– author. 

Title: The beginning of the gospel : a theology of Mark / Peter Orr. 

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2023. | Series: New Testament theology | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2021063096 (print) | LCCN 2021063097 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433575310 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433575327 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433575334 (mobipocket) | ISBN 9781433575341 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Mark—Theology. 

Classification: LCC BS2585.52 .O77 2023 (print) | LCC BS2585.52 (ebook) | DDC 226.3/06—dc23/eng/20220215

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021063096

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021063097

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2022-11-28 11:02:42 AM

For Ben, Ollie, Jonny, and Daniel

Contents

Series Preface

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

The Beginning of the Gospel: Mark as Backstory

1  Divine Identity

Jesus Christ, the Son of God

2  Revelation

Written, Proclaimed, Received

3  The Kingdom of God Is at Hand

Jesus and the New Creation

4  Repent and Believe the Gospel

Salvation through Jesus

5  Follow Me

Being a Disciple of Jesus

6  What Moses Commanded

Jesus, the Law, and the People of God

7  Died, Buried, and Raised

The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

Epilogue

The End of the Beginning

Recommended Resources

General Index

Scripture Index

Series Preface

There are remarkably few treatments of the big ideas of single books of the New Testament. Readers can find brief coverage in Bible dictionaries, in some commentaries, and in New Testament theologies, but such books are filled with other information and are not devoted to unpacking the theology of each New Testament book in its own right. Technical works concentrating on various themes of New Testament theology often have a narrow focus, treating some aspect of the teaching of, say, Matthew or Hebrews in isolation from the rest of the book’s theology.

The New Testament Theology series seeks to fill this gap by providing students of Scripture with readable book-length treatments of the distinctive teaching of each New Testament book or collection of books. The volumes approach the text from the perspective of biblical theology. They pay due attention to the historical and literary dimensions of the text, but their main focus is on presenting the teaching of particular New Testament books about God and his relations to the world on their own terms, maintaining sight of the Bible’s overarching narrative and Christocentric focus. Such biblical theology is of fundamental importance to biblical and expository preaching and informs exegesis, systematic theology, and Christian ethics.

The twenty volumes in the series supply comprehensive, scholarly, and accessible treatments of theological themes from an evangelical perspective. We envision them being of value to students, preachers, and interested laypeople. When preparing an expository sermon series, for example, pastors can find a healthy supply of informative commentaries, but there are few options for coming to terms with the overall teaching of each book of the New Testament. As well as being useful in sermon and Bible study preparation, the volumes will also be of value as textbooks in college and seminary exegesis classes. Our prayer is that they contribute to a deeper understanding of and commitment to the kingdom and glory of God in Christ.

Peter Orr’s Mark volume, The Beginning of the Gospel, demonstrates that underlying Mark’s concise and energetic historical account of Jesus lies profound theology connected to every part of Scripture, especially the Old Testament and the writings of Paul and Peter. If Peter is Mark’s historical source, Paul is Mark’s theological partner. According to Orr, Mark provides “the beginning of the gospel,” forging historical and theological connections between Jesus’s life and ministry and the preaching of the apostles. Mark’s Gospel calls us to follow Jesus, the divine Son and servant King, who inaugurates the long-awaited kingdom of God and whose death is a model for us to emulate and a ransom for our sins.

Thomas R. Schreiner and Brian S. Rosner

Preface

This book is my attempt to capture some of the main themes of Mark’s Gospel. As the shortest and earliest Gospel, Mark gives us a crisp, fast-paced picture of Jesus. However, I discovered (although it should have been obvious) that Mark does not simply write a stand-alone piece. Not only does he draw from the rich resources of the Old Testament, but he also consciously writes with an awareness of other New Testament voices (particularly Paul and Peter). As the first Gospel to be written, Mark is something of a linchpin for the New Testament, in fact for the whole Bible, as voices from the Old Testament and the New Testament join in a conversation that centers on the most important person in history. I hope this book helps you to become more excited about Mark and, more importantly, about Jesus.

I am very thankful to many people for their help and support during the writing of this book. First and foremost, my sincere thanks to the governing board of Moore Theological College for granting me six months of study leave to work on this volume. Thank you to my friend, colleague, and the principal of the college, Mark Thompson, for his encouragement to use my study leave in this way.

Thank you to Tom Schreiner and Brian Rosner for inviting me to contribute to this series and for their encouragement as I have written this book. Thank you to everyone at Crossway, especially to Chris Cowan whose editorial skill has greatly improved this volume.

My colleagues on the faculty at Moore College have been a wonderful support during this project in different ways. I want to especially thank my friends and colleagues in the New Testament department—Chris Conyers, Philip Kern, Will Timmins, and Lionel Windsor. Philip, in addition to being a great friend, colleague, and department head, is a wonderful model of godly, careful teaching. It has been a delight to sit and listen to him lecture in the classes we teach together. Thanks as well to Simon Gillham, Chase Kuhn, and Paul Grimmond for their friendship and frequent encouragement.

A number of people have very kindly read portions of this book or helped with its production in other ways. Thank you to Jeff Aernie, Joel Atwood, Keith Hill, and Adam Wood. Philip Kern gave detailed feedback for which I am especially grateful.

Thanks to the wonderful church family at All Saints Petersham. I also want to acknowledge a number of friends who have, in different ways, given encouragement or support during this writing process and for whom I am very thankful to God: Ben and Sara Gray, Russ and Aimee Grinter, Luke and Anna Jackson, Paul and Caroline Ritchie, and Ross and Megan Walker.

Writing this during the COVID-19 pandemic and with borders closed, I have more than ever felt the distance from my parents Philip and Kay and my sister Susannah in the UK. I hope we can see each other soon. I am very grateful to you, Em, as always and for everything.

Finally, to the dedicatees of this book, my four sons—the arrows in my quiver/liver—I love you all and hope that you will always believe in, follow, and love the Jesus of Mark’s Gospel (now get off your devices and tidy your rooms).

Soli Deo Gloria!

Peter Orr

Sydney, 2021

Abbreviations

AB

Anchor Bible

ATJ

Ashland Theological Journal

BBR

Bulletin for Biblical Research

BDAG

Bauer, Walter, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000

BECNT

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

BIS

Biblical Interpretation Series

BNTC

Black’s New Testament Commentary

BZNW

Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

CBQ

Catholic Biblical Quarterly

JBL

Journal of Biblical Literature

JSNT

Journal for the Study of the New Testament

LCL

Loeb Classical Library

LNTS

Library of New Testament Studies

LXX

Septuagint

MT

Masoretic Text

NETS

News English Translation of the Septuagint

NIGTC

New International Greek Testament Commentary

NSBT

New Studies in Biblical Theology

NTL

New Testament Library

NTS

New Testament Studies

PNTC

Pillar New Testament Commentaries

RTR

Reformed Theological Review

SBLDS

Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series

SNTSMS

Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series

TNTC

Tyndale New Testament Commentaries

TynBul

Tyndale Bulletin

WBC

Word Biblical Commentary

WUNT

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

ZECNT

Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

ZNW

Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

Introduction

The Beginning of the Gospel

Mark as Backstory

Mark starts at the beginning. His first words are “the beginning [archē] of the gospel.” This phrase, lacking a verb as it does, functions as the title for the book.1 Mark has written the beginning, origin, or backstory of the gospel that has been preached about Jesus.2

A first-century Christian who read Mark would have understood the “gospel” as a message to be heard, not a book to be read. That is the way Mark uses the term gospel (euangelion) throughout his work (1:14, 15; 8:35; 10:29; 13:10; 14:9)—always a message that is preached and heard. After Mark wrote, his book became known as a “Gospel,” thus creating two related but distinct understandings of the word gospel (i.e., a book about Jesus’s life or a message about him that is preached). However, as Mark writes, the gospel was only known as a preached message. Mark, then, is providing his readers with the beginning—that is, the fleshed out, detailed backstory to the gospel they had heard preached.

Thinking about this book as the backstory to the gospel invites us to consider Mark in relation to the two (for want of a better word) leading apostles in the New Testament: Peter and Paul. Put simply, Peter is Mark’s historical source while Paul is his theological conversation partner.

Peter: Mark’s Historical Source

Traditionally, Mark has been associated with the apostle Peter, while Luke has been associated with Paul. In Eusebius’s Ecclesiastical History, he discusses “the extant five books of Papias” (a second-century bishop of Hierapolis).3 At one point he quotes what Papias says about Mark: “Mark, having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately, though not in order, whatsoever he remembered of the things said or done by Christ.”4 This quote is subject to considerable debate, but we need simply to note the clear, early association made between Mark and Peter.

A little later, Irenaeus, bishop of Lyons, also wrote about how the Gospels came to be written. He records that “Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him.”5 Here again, we have Mark described as the “interpreter of Peter,” while Luke is associated with Paul.

There are also indications in Mark’s Gospel itself that point to Peter’s influence. An inclusio in the narrative has Peter as the first (1:16) and last (16:7) named disciple.6Richard Bauckham suggests that this may be an ancient literary device to indicate Peter as the eyewitness on whose testimony the narrative depends.7 Other details highlight Peter as well—such as the double reference to Simon Peter in 1:16 (Jesus saw “Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon”) and the inclusion of Peter’s name in 16:7 (“go, tell his disciples and Peter”).8

Peter is certainly the most prominent disciple in the Gospel, mentioned by Mark more frequently (proportionally) than by Matthew or Luke. At points in the narrative Peter is the disciple who is the focus, perhaps most notably in his dialogue with Jesus in 8:31–38 (cf. 9:5; 10:28; 11:21; 14:29, 37, 54–72).9 Furthermore, while Mark frequently “narrates what different characters see and hear . . . the act of remembering is only attributed to Peter.”10 In 11:21 Peter remembers the fig tree Jesus cursed, and in 14:72 he remembers Jesus’s prediction of his denial. These and other features that highlight Peter’s perspective suggest that Mark is telling his Gospel primarily through the lens and perspective of Peter.11

One potential objection to this view is that Mark often portrays Peter in a negative light. However, we will see that the portrayal of Peter is complex and certainly not wholly negative. In any case, the first readers of Mark would know that Peter ultimately underwent a transformation, and the Gospel itself indicates that this would happen (e.g., 16:7).

None of these features provides incontrovertible proof of Petrine influence on Mark’s Gospel, but together with the testimony of Papias and Irenaeus they point to a likely link between Peter and Mark’s Gospel. Mark, it seems, has written his Gospel from Peter’s perspective.

Paul: Mark’s Theological Partner

This close connection between Mark and Peter meant that any possible relationship between Mark and Paul was left largely unexplored until the nineteenth century with the publication of two monographs by the German scholar Gustav Volkmar.12 Volkmar argued that Mark’s Gospel was essentially an allegorical defense of Paul. He suggested that Jesus in Mark represents Paul, Jesus’s family stands for the Jerusalem church led by James, and the Pharisees correspond to Paul’s opponents.

Volkmar’s argument was largely refuted by Martin Werner in a 1923 monograph.13As a result, although the relationship between Paul and Mark was periodically touched on in scholarship, it was not until the publication of an article by Joel Marcus in 2000 that scholarly focus turned to the question.14 Marcus’s article has sparked a mini-revival in the study of Mark’s dependence on Paul, and if we can speak of a scholarly consensus, it seems to be now held that Mark wrote under the theological influence of Paul.

One of the clearest connections between Paul and Mark is their use of the word “gospel” (euangelion). The word “gospel” occurs four times in Matthew (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; 26:13), twice in Acts (Acts 15:7; 20:24), and not at all in Luke or John.15 Its appearance seven times16 in Mark makes it the New Testament book with the most occurrences outside of Paul (the only two other occurrences are in 1 Pet. 4:17 and Rev. 14:6). In the New Testament, this is a particularly Pauline and Markan word. Even the phrase with which Mark starts his work, “the beginning of the gospel,” is found in Paul when he reminds the Philippian church of their partnership with him “in the beginning of the gospel” (en archē tou euangeliou; Phil. 4:15).17

The strong parallels are found not only in the frequency of usage but also in the ways in which Mark and Paul employ the word gospel. Paul tends to refer to “the gospel” without modifiers (e.g., Rom. 1:16; 10:16; 1 Cor. 4:15).18 Apart from 1:1 and 1:14, Mark also writes the word without any modifiers, as opposed to Matthew who tends to use modifiers (e.g., “the gospel of the kingdom” in 4:23; 9:35; 24:14).

For Paul, the gospel can be an “episodic narrative”19 expressed in two stages as seen in 1 Thessalonians 4:14: “we believe that [1] Jesus died and [2] rose again.” Or it can be expressed in multiple episodes as in 1 Corinthians 15:3–8: “[1] Christ died . . . [2] was buried . . . [3] was raised . . . [4] appeared.” It seems that part of Mark’s reason for writing is to “render the Pauline oral gospel episodic narrative for the first time into a written long-form episodic narrative.”20

Paul and Mark share a number of additional theological convictions. I will touch on these in later chapters, but at this stage I can note the following: the inability for people to naturally understand the cross (cf. Mark 8:31–33 and 1 Cor. 1:18); the attitude to the law, particularly concerning food (cf. Mark 7:18–19 and Rom. 14:20); the temporal priority of mission to Israel and then to the world (cf. Mark 7:26–27 and Rom. 1:16); the relationship between Jesus and Rome (cf. Mark 12:17 and Rom. 13:1).21

For Marcus, however, their shared understanding of the cross is their clearest point of similarity. For both Mark and Paul, the death of Jesus, in addition to bringing salvation, is an “apocalyptic event”—that is, one that reveals what could not otherwise be known.22 Paul speaks of the cross in apocalyptic terms in 1 Corinthians 1–2 (e.g., the cross being the “secret and hidden wisdom of God” in 1 Cor. 2:7). As Mark narrates the crucifixion, he highlights the apocalyptic phenomena that occurred around Jesus’s death (particularly the darkness of 15:33 and the torn curtain of 15:38). His narrative climaxes with a moment of “apocalyptic revelation” when the centurion grasps his identity as the Son of God—precisely at the moment of his death (15:39).23

These parallels between Mark and Paul are significant. As Marcus puts it, “The other Gospels do not concentrate on the cross as single-mindedly as Mark does. Nor do they share to the same extent the Markan emphasis that this apocalyptic demonstration of divine power took place in an arena of stark human weakness.”24 He notes that Mark is the only Gospel that narrates the first human confession of Jesus’s sonship as occurring at the cross.25

There may be a particular connection between Mark’s Gospel and Paul’s letter to the Romans. Scholars (inevitably!) debate the location from which Mark wrote his Gospel, but a good case can be made that he wrote from Rome.26 For example, it has been noted that ten of the eighteen Latinisms in the New Testament (i.e., Greek transliterations of Latin loanwords) are found in Mark’s Gospel (e.g., dēnarion in 6:37; 12:15; 14:5; praitōrion in 15:16). This is “a frequency which is higher than any other Greek literary text of the period.”27 The “most likely place for Latinisms to predominate is in the city of Rome, where the Latin and Greek languages were closely intermingled as nowhere else at the time.”28

If Mark did write from Rome (and I am only raising it as a possibility), it is interesting to note that the two descriptions of the “gospel” at the beginning of Romans (“the gospel of his Son” in Rom. 1:9; “the gospel of God” in Rom. 1:1) match those at the beginning of Mark (“the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” in Mark 1:1; “the gospel of God” in Mark 1:14).

Mark has strong parallels in theological emphases with Paul, particularly his letter to the Romans. That is not to say that there aren’t parallels with other New Testament writers. However, the shared theological emphases between Mark and Paul suggest a closer affinity between the two writers.

Reading Mark with Peter and Paul: Mark as Backstory

Michael Bird has helpfully shown that lining up Mark’s Gospel with either Peter or Paul is reductionistic. In fact, the New Testament associates Mark with both Peter (1 Pet. 5:13) and Paul (e.g., Acts 12:25; Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:11; Philem. 1:24). He suggests that the Gospel of Mark reflects the influence of both and is best thought of as “Petrine testimony shaped into an evangelical narrative conducive to Pauline proclamation.”29

How does this help us read Mark’s Gospel? In the first place it reminds us that Mark is writing both history andtheology. He is writing a historical account of what Jesus said and did. Though not an eyewitness himself,30 Mark writes his account in conversation with one of the main eyewitnesses who was with Jesus for almost the duration of the events that are described. At the same time, Mark is not simply writing “pure history,” if such a thing even exists. Comparing Mark to the other Gospels shows that he has made choices concerning the order of his narrative and what he includes and omits. These choices are made for theological reasons. When, for example, we read of people’s repeated inability to grasp the truth about Jesus, Mark is showing us the theological point that without Jesus opening people’s eyes (as he does so dramatically in 8:22–26), they cannot grasp the truth of who he is.

This book traces some of the main theological themes in Mark’s Gospel. Consequently, the connection with Paul in particular will help us as we read the Gospel. Although the Gospels come first in our New Testament (because they describe the earliest events in the period), it is helpful to remember that Paul’s letters were the first widely circulated Christian writings (with 1 Thessalonians probably the first written).31 And so, while Mark and Paul both write about the gospel, they do so from different perspectives. Paul unfolds the significance of the gospel for the churches that he writes to, while Mark gives the beginning—the backstory—of the gospel as it is found in the life and teaching of Jesus.

Mark is writing in the context of an already known and understood gospel, particularly in the form in which it was preached by Paul. Therefore, although we can and should read Mark on his own terms, by titling his work as “the beginning of the gospel,” he is deliberately inviting people to read it in conversation with the already known and preached gospel. This is not an argument that Mark necessarily writes with a copy of Paul’s letter to the Romans in front of him (although this is not impossible) but that he is writing in conversation with (particularly) the form of Pauline Christianity that we see expressed in Paul’s letters.

There are a number of implications that flow from this relationship between Mark and Paul. First, we should not expect that every concept that Mark introduces will receive the fullest explanation. We see this even with his reference to the gospel. As I noted, it is introduced in the first verse and referenced six other times in the book (1:14, 15; 8:35; 10:29; 13:10; 14:9), but it is nowhere defined. Mark assumes that his readers will have an understanding of the content of the gospel (the preached message about Jesus) and offers a basic commentary on that gospel message. Twice he refers to the widespread proclamation of the gospel (“all nations” in 13:10; “the whole world” in 14:9). Mark writes in a context where this has already begun to happen.

Second, Mark’s Gospel was written for Christians. This does not mean that a non-Christian could not read it and come to understand the gospel. Mark’s Gospel obviously includes enough to bring a non-believer to faith (as no doubt has happened throughout history). However, this does not negate the fact that Mark wrote for Christians with an awareness of the basic gospel message. We see a parallel in Luke’s Gospel, which was written to give a Christian (whether Theophilus is a real or stylized person) “certainty concerning the things” that he had been taught (Luke 1:4).

Third, understanding Mark to be writing in self-conscious conversation with Paul will help us at different points of interpretation. One of the challenges in reading the narrative sections of the Bible is that sometimes it can be hard to know why a writer has included a particular account. What theological point is he making? Reading Mark in conversation with Paul (in particular) gives us a control, in that often the theological point being made will have a parallel in Paul.

Fourth, this reading of Mark helps us in the other direction also—as we read Paul’s letters. We can see the theological points that Paul makes grounded and narrated in the life of Jesus. This does not merely establish their truthfulness (showing that Paul is faithfully discharging his role as an apostle of Christ); it also allows us to see his theological points demonstrated and lived out. For instance, in 1 Corinthians 2:14 Paul writes, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” We see this reality played out across the narrative of Mark’s Gospel as people consistently fail to grasp the truth about Jesus.

Thinking of Mark as the backstory to the gospel finds an imperfect parallel in the writings of C. S. Lewis. I say “imperfect” because analogies like this can easily take on a life of their own! However, it may help to think of the relationship between Mark and Romans as somewhat similar to the relationship between The Magician’s Nephew and the more famous The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.32 This more well-known volume was written first. The Magician’s Nephew was written five years later (with three books in between) but narrates events that occurred before the story contained in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The books each stand alone as wonderful works of fiction, but readers who have read both have a richer, fuller, and more complete understanding of the overall story arc.33

Mark writes to narrate “the beginning of the gospel”—to give the backstory to the proclamation of the message about Jesus. The title also anticipates the end of the book. Famously, the book finishes with the women fleeing from the empty tomb in amazement and not saying anything to anyone “for they were afraid” (16:8).34 The risen Christ does not appear, and the Gospel seems to end in an anticlimactic way. However, the identity of this volume as “the beginning of the gospel” fits with the abruptness of the ending. Mark writes in a context where the gospel is known and where people have communicated the gospel, unlike the women who fled because of fear. He also writes with an implied encouragement that his readers will continue to be involved in the proclamation of the gospel. The abrupt ending reflects the fact that “Mark’s Gospel is just the beginning of the good news, because Jesus’s story has become ours, and we take it up where Mark leaves off.”35

It is right to approach Mark’s Gospel as a coherent and stand-alone account of Jesus’s life. It can be read wholly and meaningfully on its own terms. This present volume will not simply be a study of Mark in conversation with Paul. I will also concentrate on what Mark himself says about the different themes we consider. However, Mark’s Gospel, as the first Gospel to be written, invites us to read it in conversation with the rest of the New Testament (and, as we will see, the Old Testament), as it narrates for us “the beginning of the gospel.”

1  For a detailed defense of this position see M. Eugene Boring, “Mark 1:1–15 and the Beginning of the Gospel,” Semeia 52 (1991): 43–81.

2  I am assuming the traditional argument that the author of this Gospel is John Mark (mentioned in, e.g., Acts 12:12; 15:39). For a good survey of the issues, see Eckhard J. Schnabel, Mark: An Introduction and Commentary, TNTC (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2017), 7–12.

3  Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Books 1–5, trans. Kirsopp Lake, LCL (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1926), 3.39.1.

4  Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39.15.

5  Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.1.1., in The Apostolic Fathers, Justin Marytyr, Irenaeus; vol. 1 in Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature, 1885), http://www.newadvent.org, rev. and ed. Kevin Knight for New Advent.

6  Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2017), 124–25.

7  Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 132–45.

8  Michael Bird, “Mark: Interpreter of Peter and Disciple of Paul,” in Paul and the Gospels: Christologies, Conflicts and Convergences, ed. Michael F. Bird and Joel Willits, LNTS 411 (London: T&T Clark, 2011), 35.

9  Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 126.

10  Finn Damgaard, “Persecution and Denial—Paradigmatic Apostolic Portrayals in Paul and Mark,” in Mark and Paul: Comparative Essays Part II: For and Against Pauline Influence on Mark, ed. Eve-Marie Becker, Troels Engberg-Pedersen, and Mogens Müller, BZNW 199 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014), 297.

11  Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses, 155–82.

12  Gustav Volkmar, Die Religion Jesu (Leipzig: Brockhaus, 1857); Gustav Volkmar, Die Evangelien oder Marcus und die Synopsis der kanonischen und ausserkanonischen Evangelien nach dem ältesten Text mit historisch-exegetischem Commentar (Leipzig: Fuess, 1870).

13  Martin Werner, Der Einfluss paulinischer Theologie im Markusevangelium: eine Studie zur neutestamentlichen Theologie, BZNW 1 (Giessen: Töpelmann, 1923).

14  Joel Marcus, “Mark—Interpreter of Paul,” NTS 46 (2000): 473–87.

15  Luke does frequently use the verb euangelizō.

16  It also appears an eighth time in Mark 16:15, but I have omitted this since 16:9–20 is likely not original.

17  Paul here is referring to the beginning of the Philippians’ association with the gospel. So G. Walter Hansen, The Letter to the Philippians, PNTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2009), 318.

18  Willi Marxsen, Mark the Evangelist: Studies on the Redaction History of the Gospel, trans. James Boyce, Donald Juel, William Poehlmann, and Roy A. Harrisville (Nashville: Abingdon, 1969), 127.

19  Margaret Mitchell, “Mark, the Long-Form Pauline εὐαγγέλιον,” in Modern and Ancient Literary Criticism of the Gospels: Continuing the Debate on Gospel Genre(s), ed. R. M. Calhoun, D. P. Moessner, and T. Nicklas, WUNT 451 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020), 211.

20  Mitchell, “Mark, the Long-Form Pauline εὐαγγέλιον,” 211.

21  For more see Mar Pérez i Díaz, Mark, A Pauline Theologian, WUNT 2.521 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020), 45–190.

22  Marcus, “Mark—Interpreter of Paul,” 479.

23  Marcus, “Mark—Interpreter of Paul,” 480.

24  Marcus, “Mark—Interpreter of Paul,” 482.

25  Marcus, “Mark—Interpreter of Paul,” 483. Cf. Matt. 16:16; Luke 1:32, 35; John 1:49.

26  See Brian J. Incigneri, The Gospel to the Romans: The Setting and Rhetoric of Mark’s Gospel, BIS (Leiden: Brill, 2003), for a more comprehensive defense of this position.

27  Michael P. Theophilus, “The Roman Connection: Paul and Mark,” in Paul and Mark: Comparative Essays Part I: Two Authors at the Beginnings of Christianity, ed. Oda Wischmeyer, David C. Sim, and Ian J. Elmer, BZNW 198 (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2014), 50.

28  Incigneri, The Gospel to the Romans, 102.

29  Bird, “Mark: Interpreter of Peter and Disciple of Paul,” 32.

30  The suggestion that the young man in 14:51–52 who flees naked is a reference to Mark is intriguing but unlikely.

31  The Gospel writings themselves may draw on early written sources, but these do not seem to have been widely circulated (such that they only survive in the form in which they are found in the Gospels).

32  C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1950); C. S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew (London: Bodley Head, 1955).

33  I refuse to enter into the highly charged debate about the proper reading order of the Narnia series!

34  The Greek is even more abrupt, with the last word being the word “for” (gar). Because of this abruptness, a number of longer endings can be found in some manuscripts, but it seems unlikely that any of these are original.

35  Joel Marcus, Mark 8–16: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, AB (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2009), 1096.