Mark 16:9-20

THE GENUINENESS of Mark 16:9-20. This has been greatly doubted for the following reasons: (1.) They are not found in the two oldest and best manuscripts of the New Testament (the Sinaitic and the Vatican); but in one of them (the Vatican) there is a column left blank after Mark 16:8, and the words: ‘According to Mark,' while in every other instance the next book begins on the next column. In some other manuscripts it is indicated that the passage is doubtful. (2.) In the times of Jerome (d. 419), according to the testimony of some Church Fathers, the passage was wanting in most copies. (3.) The section contains no less than twenty words and expressions not found elsewhere in Mark's Gospel, and has a compendious and supplementary character.

But on the other hand some of the earliest Fathers recognized it as part of Mark's Gospel. Especially Irenæus (A.D. 202), who lived more than two hundred years before Jerome and was a pupil of Polycarp (the pupil of John), quotes Mark 16:20, word for word, as the conclusion of the Gospel. The close of Mark 16:8 is very abrupt in the Greek, and cannot be the proper conclusion of the Gospel. Even those who reject this section think that some other conclusion must have existed, which has been lost. The omissions in the early manuscripts (fourth century) can be accounted for. The Fathers state, that the Roman Christians were very anxious to obtain Mark's Gospel. An incomplete copy (as Lange suggests) might have got into circulation, which would find favor in the fourth century, because it omitted the unbelief of the Apostles. It is possible that it was written by Mark, but later than the Gospel itself. There are other conjectures, namely, that the last leaf of the original Gospel was early lost, that the section was erased because it was supposed to be inconsistent with the other Gospels. The best writers admit the great antiquity of the section, even if written by another hand than that of Mark. Its statements are undoubtedly authentic.

Three appearances of our Lord are here mentioned: (1.) To Mary Magdalene; (2.) To the two on the way to Emmaus; (3.) To the eleven (on the same day or a week later). The date of the discourse which is added (Mark 16:15-18) cannot be determined. The whole chapter emphasizes the slowness of the disciples to believe in the Resurrection, gives the steps by which their disbelief was overcome, tells of the great commission (Mark 16:15-18), and closes with a brief statement of the Ascension (Mark 16:19) and the subsequent activity (Mark 16:20).