When we meet someone for the first time, we all have a fairly standard bag of questions that we ask in order to get to know the person a bit better. What is your name? Are you married? Do you have any kids? Have you lived here long and if not, where did you move from? What brought you to this area? What do you do for a living? Most of us have had so many of these conversations that the questions come to us naturally.

In a similar way, there are standard questions we ask when we come to a new study of a book of the Bible. Who wrote it? Where did they write from? Who were they writing to? When did they write it? What’s the purpose of the book? What are the major themes of the book? Answers to these questions can often be found in the introductory notes of many study Bibles (such as the ESV Study Bible or the Reformation Study Bible) or in books that give overviews of Bible books like An Introduction to the New Testament by Carson, Moo, and Morris. These, incidentally, are the sources I used in writing this post.

This Sunday, September 5th, we will begin our Fall series in the opening chapters of the Gospel of Mark. So, I thought it might be helpful to introduce (or reintroduce) you to Mark so you’ll know a bit about this gospel before we begin

Who wrote this gospel? All four gospels are anonymous in their original manuscripts. However, there is abundant external evidence that point to the author being John Mark, the cousin of Barnabas and ministry partner of Paul and Peter. All the ancient lists of the books of the Bible and many of the ancient manuscripts identify Mark as the author. Also, a number of early church fathers attribute the work to Mark. There is some reason to think that a major source for Mark was the Apostle Peter, which would explain its acceptance by the early church.

When was this gospel written? There are many considerations that go into deducing the date of the writing of a book of the Bible. A significant factor in determining the date for Mark’s composition is based on its connection with the gospels written by Matthew and by Luke. Many think that those two writers used Mark as a source, which would mean Mark was written earlier.

Carson, Moo, and Morris hold that Mark was written in the late 50s to mid-60s AD. While there is still debate about the exact dating of Mark, most hold that it is one of the earliest New Testament documents.

To whom was it written? It was the view of the church fathers that the original recipients were the churches in Rome. Mark had connections with these churches and there appear to be some references to members of the Roman churches. The gospel seems intended primarily for a Gentile audience given Mark’s care to translate Jewish terms and give explanation of Jewish customs.

What are the major themes of this gospel? Like all the gospels, the major theme is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. In Mark, there is special emphasis on the following:

- Jesus as the True Israelite

- Jesus as the Son of God

- The Gospel as the Power of God

- The Mission to the Gentiles

(You can see The Reformation Study Bible, pp 1412-1413 for more details)

Hopefully, this helps you to know Mark a little better in preparation for a deeper exploration on Sunday mornings. I encourage you to read the passage for each Sunday prior to coming to worship (the preaching schedule is in the bulletin). Perhaps make it part of your Saturday evening family worship time. I pray that as we study this gospel together, that more than meeting Mark and getting to know it better, that you will get to know Jesus in new and deeper ways.