The Gospels as Historical Documents; The Synoptic Gospels. 1909 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 Excerpt: ...you receive him," suit well with what is related in regard to John Mark in the Acts." Whether it is the same man who is referred to in I Peter as "Mark my son," and described as "Peter's disciple and interpreter" in 1 Col. iv. 10; Philemon 24; 2 Tim. iv. 11. 8 Acts xii. 12, 25; xv. 37--39. 3 1 Pet. v. 13. the tradition preserved by Papias, may seem more open to question. If he is the same, it is somewhat curious that in the notices in the Acts and Pauline Epistles there should be no indication--beyond the statement that Peter, when he was delivered from prison, went to the house of Mark's mother--that he was ever associated with Peter, and on the other hand none in the notices of I Peter and of Papias, that he was ever associated with Barnabas and Paul. It is not, however, impossible to harmonise the various statements and allusions, and early tradition seems to encourage our doing so. For when Papias, or Irenaeus, and later writers of the second and third centuries, mention Mark the follower of Peter and evangelist, it does not occur to them to distinguish him from another Mark who was more prominent in the New Testament1. On the whole, then, I believe we shall be justified in regarding the Mark of the Acts and of St Paul's Epistles as the Mark who, according to tradition, was the author of our Gospel according to St Mark, and who is commonly allowed to have had in all probability some share in the work. But we must take care not to find in the references to him in the Acts more than they actually contain. They afford no ground for the suggestion of some modern expositors that Mark was the young man who came out to see the arrest of Jesus in the night and fled, leaving behind him the linen cloth in which he had wrapped himself...