Bible Study series: Mark 16:8b-20. Many Bibles have it, so let’s cover it.
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together how to apply these truths to our lives.
I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click here:
If you would like to see the original Greek, please click here:
At that link, I also offer more commentary and a Summary and Conclusion, geared towards discipleship. Scroll down to the bottom and check it out!
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Mark 16:8b-20
8b Then they quickly reported all the instructions to Peter and those with him. Afterwards, even Jesus himself sent out, through them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable message of eternal salvation. Amen.
9 After he was resurrected early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom seven demons had been expelled. 10 She went and announced to those who had been with him, as they were grieving and weeping. 11 And on hearing that he was alive and was seen by her, they did not believe.
12 After these things, two of them were traveling, and he appeared to them in a different form, as they were going to the country. They departed and announced to the rest. 13 They did not believe them, either. 14 Later, he appeared to the eleven, as they were reclining at table, and reproached their unbelief and hard heart because they did not believe the ones who saw him resurrected.
15 And he said to them, “Going into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature. 16 The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, and the one who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany them who believe: in my name they will expel demons and speak in new tongues. 18 With their hands they will pick up snakes and may drink anything deadly, and it will in no way harm them. They will place their hands on the sick, and they will be well.”
19 Then the Lord Jesus, after he spoke to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 They went out and preached everywhere, as the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message through accompanying signs. (Mark 16:8b-20)
Comments:
8b:
In no way was this one-verse ending genuinely written by Mark, so my comments will be minimal. I’ll say only that the verse does show the confidence of the early church. Jesus himself sent out the sacred and imperishable message of eternal salvation through the disciples, from east to west–from the rising to the setting (of the sun). Jesus himself was going to accomplish the mission through the message, by means of the disciples, all over their known world.
“even Jesus himself” could be translated “Jesus himself also.”
And I wonder whether “sent out” could not also be translated as “sent forth.”
But I won’t debate the translation of a verse that is not genuine.
Introduction to 16:9-20
I’m not getting into a dispute about the manuscripts. Strauss lays out the manuscripts that have the longer ending, and they are numerous and come from different families (p. 728). They strongly support the longer ending.
I will say, however, that after translating the entire Gospel of Mark, it is clear to me that the Greek grammar and vocabulary in the longer ending has a different “feel” to it. I can see why, just based on the Greek text, the vast majority of scholars reject the longer ending. They too have worked with the Greek, and it is different– very different. (Decker provides lots of evidence for the grammatical and vocabulary differences in his grammar commentary on pp. 285-91.)
If Mark wrote it, then (1) he added it much later after learning more advanced (or at least different) Greek, or (2) he came out from under Peter’s preaching and wrote the summary on his own, and his more advanced (or at least a different) Greek was revealed, or (3) he had help of some kind from a better (or at least a different) writer of Greek.
Simpler option: Another Greek writer added it later, and he knew the beliefs and practices of the early church.
Moving on, I would like to mention that (nearly) every idea in (nearly) every verse in this longer ending is supported by other Scripture, revealing what the editor who later wrote the longer ending believed about the power of the Spirit and the basics of the gospel and praxis (practice).
Here is a list, verse by verse.
9:
He appeared to Mary Magdalene first (John 20:11-18).
Seven demons had been expelled from her (Luke 8:2).
10-11:
Mary did announce his appearance to the disciples (John 20:18)
They did not believe, for it seemed like nonsense (Luke 24:11). Some did not believe (Matt. 28:17; John 20:26-29).
Peter was weeping after denying Jesus a third time (14:72).
12:
Two disciples, one named Cleopas and the other unnamed, were traveling on the Road to Emmaus, and he was seen by them. At first they did not recognize him (Luke 24:13). They were leaving Jerusalem (= going into the country). Mark 16:12 does not say explicitly that the two were of the twelve, though they probably were, and the two on the road to Emmaus were not of the twelve, but at least the passage in Luke shows that it is probable that two of the eleven could walk down a road and Jesus appear to them in a way that they did not recognize at first. In any case, back in Luke, when they did recognize him, they returned to the city (Luke 24:33), as the two disciples did in v. 12 here (“departed” can be translated as “returned”).
They responded with disbelief, as they did in Luke 24:41.
13-14:
He did appear to them while they were behind a closed door, and it is possible that they were eating or had eaten (John 20:19).
He rebuked Thomas for not believing (John 20:26-29). In Luke 24:25, in speaking to foolish people, he rebuked them for being slow of heart. He sat down at table with the two men who had been traveling on the road to Emmaus and broke bread and blessed it, and then their eyes were opened, but he disappeared out of their sight.
He could have easily rebuked the eleven for their unbelief (see Luke 24:46-42)
15:
Jesus issued the Great Commission to go into all the world (Matt. 28:18-20).
16:
Believing and being baptized went together in the minds of the early church, because very often, as soon as one repented and believed, one was baptized (Acts 2:38, 41; 8:12-13; 36-37; 9:18; 10:47-48; 16:1, 33; 18:8; 19:5; 22:16). Salvation and baptism went hand in hand for them (We don’t need to get into a debate about the water being a saving sacrament or not.)
Not believing leads to condemnation (John 3:17-18, 36).
17:
Signs and wonders accompanied them who believed (Acts 2:43; 4:30; 5:12; 6:8; 8:6, 13; 14:3; 15:12; 19:11; Rom. 15:19; 2 Cor. 12:12).
They expelled demons (Matt. 10:8; Mark 6:13; 9:38; Luke 10:17; Acts 5:16; 8:7; 19:11-12).
They spoke in new prayer languages or Spirit-inspired languages (Acts 2:4; 38; 10:46; 19:6; 1 Cor. 12:10; 13:1; 14:1-40).
18:
Luke 10:19 says that Jesus gave the seventy-two authority to trample on snakes and scorpions (probably referring to demons). He did not say, however, that they will pick up snakes with their hands.
Paul was bitten by a poisonous viper on his hand, on the island of Malta, and was not harmed (Acts 28:3-6). (There is no Scripture about the deadly drink).
They did heal by laying on of hands (Acts 9:12, 17; 28:8)
19:
He was lifted up into heaven (Luke 24:51; Acts 1:9).
Jesus himself referenced Ps. 110:1, which says of him, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool” (Matt. 22:43-44 // Mark 12:36; // Luke 20:42). He also promised the high priest that Jesus was about to be exalted and sit at the right hand of God (Mark 14:62; Luke 22:69).
See these verses also, which teach that he is seated (or he sat down) at the right hand of God: Acts 2:33-34; 5:31; 7:55 (standing); Rom. 8:34; Eph. 1:20; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3; 8:1; 10:12; 12:2; 1 Pet. 3:22.
20:
They went out and proclaimed the gospel beyond Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria (Acts 1:8) and to the whole world (Acts 1:8; 8:39; Rom. 1:5). The adverb “everywhere” refers to Luke 9:6, when the disciples went out from village to village and healed people everywhere.
The only way the disciples could work signs and wonders was by the Lord working with them (see v. 17, above).
Bottom line:
The longer ending reflects the beliefs and practices of the early church. They actually did all the things enumerated in those verses, except picking up snakes with their hands and drinking poison for show. Those two acts may speak of promises that if any disciples were bitten by poisonous reptiles or had drunk the wrong liquid, they would survive. The verses must not prompt people to force God’s hand and protect them. Satan tempted Jesus to jump off a high point, but Jesus said no because it is wrong to test God and force him to rescue foolish behavior (cf. Matt. 4:5-7 // Luke 4:9-12).
In any case, this Scriptural attestation for the longer ending is good enough for me. I can learn Scriptural truths from it and what the early church believed and did.
RELATED
10. Eyewitness Testimony in Mark’s Gospel
2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
For bibliographical data, please click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 