Mark 1:1-5

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Mark 1:3

The voice of one crying - See on Matthew 3:1-3 ; (note). read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Mark 1:4

John - The original name is nearly lost in the Greek Ιωαννης , and in the Latin Johannes , and almost totally so in the English John. The original name is יהוחנן Yehochanan , compounded of חנן יהוה Yehovah chanan , the grace or mercy of Jehovah: a most proper and significant name for the forerunner of the God of All Grace. It was John's business to proclaim the Gospel of the grace of God, and to point out that Lamb or sacrifice of God which takes away the sin of the world. For... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Mark 1:5

All the land - See on Matthew 3:4-6 ; (note). Confessing their sins - It was an invariable custom among the Jews to admit no proselyte to baptism, till he had, in the most solemn manner, declared that he forever had renounced all idolatrous worship, all heathenish superstitions, and promised an entire and unreserved submission to the law of Moses. This was necessary for a proselyte adult - a child dedicated to God by baptism must be brought up in this faith. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Mark 1:1

Verse 1 Mark 1:1.The beginning of the Gospel. Though what we have hitherto taken out of Matthew and Luke is a part of the Gospel, yet it is not without reason that Mark makes the beginning of the Gospel to be the preaching of John the Baptist. For the Law and the Prophets then came to an end, (John 1:17.) “The Law and the Prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, ” (Luke 16:16 .)And with this agrees most fully the quotation which he makes from the Prophet... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 1:1

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ . These words mean, not the title of the book, but the commencement of the narrative; and so they depend upon what follows, namely, "as it is written" ( καθῶς for ὠς ), "even as it is written." The words "the gospel of Jesus Christ" do not signify the book which St. Mark wrote, but the evangelical teaching of Jesus Christ. St. Mark means that the gospel announcement by Jesus Christ had such a beginning as had been predicted by Isaiah and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 1:1

The beginning of the gospel. "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God." The writers of the first four books of the New Testament are called evangelists, because they gathered up, put into writing, and published to the world the accounts of the Lord Jesus which were current among the first Christians, and which were constantly repeated by the first preachers of our religion. They did this under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and their treatises come to us with Divine... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 1:1

"The beginning of the gospel." Very simple and natural. There is hardly any preface . The narrator seems impatient to get into the very heart of his subject. This should ever be the instinct of the preacher. Ingenuously, yet with perfect inductive force, he shows that Christianity claims respect and acceptance as being connected with the highest aspirations and purest sentiments of morality. I. THE SUBJECT STATED . "The gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." This title,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 1:1-8

Glad tidings. I. THEY ARE THE FULFILMENT OF LONG HOPES . Human nature is ideal; it is a creature of wishes and of hopes, and made for enjoyment. The love of the living God is at the root of all our instincts. Faith is our expression of the sense of this. It begets hope amidst suffering and sorrow, sustains the soul in patience. God seeking man, man in turn seeking God,—this is the secret life of Scripture and of history. History is sacred because it is the reflection of the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. "The gospel" is a revelation of the Divine love; the "beginning" of it is therefore hidden in the depths of the eternal love of God. The whole gospel was buried, the end from the beginning, in the Divine purpose; and it was contained seminally in the first promise. Every Divine promise is equal to the event. But the manifestation of the gospel in time, or the historic "beginning of the gospel," is the theme of this prologue. Thought of within... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Mark 1:1-8

Parallel passages: Matthew 3:1-12 ; Luke 3:1-18 . The ministry of John the Baptist. I. THE BEGINNING OF ST . MARK 'S MEMOIR . 1 . The commencement. It is a remarkable circumstance and a curious coincidence that the first words of this Gospel are an echo of Peter's confession, in that confession, as recorded by St. Matthew, Peter expresses his belief in the very remarkable words, "Thou art the Christ , the Son of the living God. " In nearly the same words St.... read more

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