Mark 1:12-22

12 And immediately the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness.

13 And He was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto Him.

14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God

15 and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the Gospel."

16 Now as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers.

17 And Jesus said unto them, "Come ye after Me, and I will make you to become fishers of men."

18 And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed Him.

19 And when He had gone a little farther thence, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets.

20 And straightway He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.

21 And they went into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath day He entered into the synagogue and taught.

22 And they were astonished at His doctrine, for He taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.

Mark 1:12-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO MARK

This is the title of the book, the subject of which is the Gospel; a joyful account of the ministry, miracles, actions, and sufferings of Christ: the writer of it was not one of the twelve apostles, but an evangelist; the same with John Mark, or John, whose surname was Mark: John was his Hebrew name, and Mark his Gentile name, Ac 12:12,25, and was Barnabas's sister's son, Col 4:10, his mother's name was Mary, Ac 12:12. The Apostle Peter calls him his son, 1Pe 5:13, if he is the same; and he is thought to have wrote his Gospel from him {a}, and by his order, and which was afterwards examined and approved by him {b} it is said to have been wrote originally in Latin, or in the Roman tongue: so say the Arabic and Persic versions at the beginning of it, and the Syriac version says the same at the end: but of this there is no evidence, any more, nor so much, as of Matthew's writing his Gospel in Hebrew. The old Latin copy of this, is a version from the Greek; it is most likely that it was originally written in Greek, as the rest of the New Testament.

{a} Papias apud Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 39. Tertull. adv. Marcion. l. 4. c. 5. {b} Hieron. Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 91. sect. 18.