Mark 13:6

6. [2884][2885][2886][2887] omit γάρ here and in Mark 13:7. See on Mark 3:35.

[2884] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2885] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2886] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[2887] Codex Athous Laurae. 8th cent. Like N and Σ, it is written in silver letters on purple vellum. Contains Mark 9:5 to Mark 16:20, and, as in L, the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9. As in Δ, the text of Mark is specially good.

6. ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματί μου λέγοντες ὅτι Ἐγώ εἰμι. It is obvious that ἐπὶ τῷ ὀν. μου cannot here mean “for My sake” or “with My authority” (Mark 9:37-39); it means “usurping My title.” Impostors will claim to be the Messiah, as Mt. turns it. And here at once we have some indication that Christ’s predictions about the future have become somewhat confused in tradition, words respecting the end of the world becoming mixed with words respecting the destruction of the Temple. None of the seducing leaders who arose between A.D. 30 and 70, e.g. Theudas and the Egyptian (Acts 5:36; Acts 21:38), seem to have professed to be the Messiah. Simon Magus (Acts 8:9) may be regarded as an ἀντίχριστος (1 John 2:18) but not as a ψευδόχριστος (Mark 13:22). Thus far Mk has told us nothing of Christ’s prediction of His return; yet here He speaks of it as an event with which the disciples were familiar. The idea that the end of the world will be preceded by a great intensification of evil occurs in various places of the N.T.; 2 Thessalonians 2:3; 2 Timothy 3:1; 1 John 2:18; 2 Peter 3:3; Jude 1:18.