Mark 1:7-9

7 And he preached, saying, ¹"After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

8 ²I have baptized you with water, but ³he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

The Baptism of Jesus

9 ⁴In those days Jesus ⁵came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

Mark 1:7-9 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.

Cross References

• 1. John 1:15, 27; John 3:30, 31; Acts 13:25
• 2. John 1:26; Acts 1:5; Acts 11:16
• 3. See John 1:33
• 4. For ver. 9-11, see Matthew 3:13-17; Luke 3:21, 22; [John 1:32-34]
• 5. Matthew 2:23