Mark 1:1-3

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,[a] the Son of God,[b]
2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”[c]
3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ”[d]

Mark 1:1-3 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 3

  • 1. S Matthew 4:3
  • 2. Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10; Luke 7:27
  • 3. Isaiah 40:3; John 1:23

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Or "Jesus Christ." "Messiah" (Hebrew) and "Christ" (Greek) both mean "Anointed One."
  • [b]. Some manuscripts do not have "the Son of God."
  • [c]. Mal. 3:1
  • [d]. Isaiah 40:3
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