Mark 1:1-11

1 This is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

2 as the prophet Isaiah wrote: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way."

3 "This is a voice of one who calls out in the desert: 'Prepare the way for the Lord. Make the road straight for him.'"

4 John was baptizing people in the desert and preaching a baptism of changed hearts and lives for the forgiveness of sins.

5 All the people from Judea and Jerusalem were going out to him. They confessed their sins and were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

6 John wore clothes made from camel's hair, had a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.

7 This is what John preached to the people: "There is one coming after me who is greater than I; I am not good enough even to kneel down and untie his sandals.

8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

9 At that time Jesus came from the town of Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan River.

10 Immediately, as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven open. The Holy Spirit came down on him like a dove,

11 and a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love, and I am very pleased with you."

Mark 1:1-11 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.