Mark is a Greco-Roman biography of Jesus. For a defense of date and authorship, see this general article with a link inside. For matters relating to Marcan priority and Q, go here. On Mark's "Messianic Secret" motif see here.
- Mark 1:2
- Is this an attribution error?
- Mark 1:4
- Does Mark contradict Josephus on the purpose of John's baptism? -- part of a larger article on the faith/works question.
- Mark 1:13
- Could Jesus have sinned?
- Mark 1:23-4
- An unclean spirit? Confessing Jesus?!?
- Mark 2:1-12
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- Does Jesus forgive sins, or the Father?
- Mark 2:15
- "And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house..." One Skeptic clams that this verse indicates "prevarication" in that Jesus has his own house, while later telling others to give up their possessions. He is aware that the answer is that the house is Levi's, but only says that "one need only read the comment in context to see that this defense won't stand the light of scrutiny." What this context is, we are not told, but the parallel stories in Matthew and Luke indicate that the house is Levi's.
- Mark 2:18-20
- Did Jesus actually break the OT law?
- Mark 3:29
- Is all sin forgivable, or not?
- Mark 4:11-12
- Is this passage "anti-reason"? See here as well.
- Mark 4:31
- Is Jesus wrong about the mustard seed?
- Mark 5:22-23
- Mark 5:39
- Jairus' daughter: dead or sleeping?
- Mark 6:5-6
- "Jesus is just like a modern faith healer!"
- Mark 6:8
- Could they have a staff, or not? [Off Site]
- Mark 6:10
- "Wheresoever ye enter into a house, there abide till ye depart hence." One Skeptic misuses the archaic language of the ASV, saying "What else could you do except remain in a house until you depart from it?" The Greek word (meno) indicates residence (cf. Luke 1:56), not merely going in and out.
- Mark 6:14
- Does Mark call Herod a "king" wrongly?
- Mark 7:15
- Did Jesus actually break the OT law?
- Mark 7:26
- The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. Is this true, or was the woman of Canaan (Matt. 15:22)? The latter is the term used for someone who was a native of Gentile Palestine. "Syrophenician" is a more specific referent distinguishing her from other Canaanite locales, such as the Cathaginian Phoenicians [Keener, 414]. "Greek" refers to the woman's membership in the Hellenized citizen class of Tyre or Sidon. The classifications vary in specifity (as in, "American", "Floridian", "Miamian") but are not contradictory. Bauckham (Gospel Women, 42-3) suggests that Matthew uses the "Canaanite" designation so to make her connnected to the two Canaanite women in his geneaology (Tamar and Rahab). See also Why was Jesus harsh with the Syro-Phoenician woman?
- Mark 8:10
- Does this verse contain a geographical error? For more comments see here.
- Mark 8:11-12
- Is there contradiction about the giving of signs?
- Mark 8:27-8
- Do these verses support reincarnation?
- Mark 8:34
- Is reference to the cross anachronistic? -- part of a reply to C. Dennis McKinsey
- Mark 8:35
- "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it." One Skeptic declares this anachronistic in that there was "no gospel during (Jesus') lifetime." The word here, however, is euangelion, and it refers to any good message and thus applies to what Jesus proclaimed in the coming of the Kingdom of God. This is confusing the use of the word "gospel" as it applies to the later message of salvation with the more general usage of the word (used throughout the Greek language to connote any sort of good news or message).
- Mark 9:1
- Is this a false prophecy?
- Mark 9:2
- Did the Transfiguration involve a wait of six days, or eight, per Luke? An interesting note is that Matthew and Mark use says "after six days" only whereas Luke specifies "about an eight days after these sayings..." Not only is Luke estimating where Mark and Matt are not -- but in light of Peter's words about building shacks for Elijah and Moses, the "six days" referred to means "after the six days between the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles". Luke the Gentile writer does not use this method of reckoning time; it would have no meaning for his readers.
- Mark 9:13
- Was John the Baptist Elijah, or not?
- Mark 9:25-6
- "You deaf and mute spirit," he said, "I command you, come out of him and never enter him again." A Skeptic asks how the spirit can be deaf and dumb if it made the
boy speak and it heard Jesus talk. The boy actually did not speak; the word used, krazo, refers to a scream, or a cry or "croak" like that of a raven, or a shreik. Even the mute can make such sounds. The word for "deaf" is kophos, and it refers also to an inability to speak, not lack of hearing (Matt. 9:34 "And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake..."; the word "dumb", alolos, is used only by Mark and is a synonym.) See video version:
- Mark 10:2-12
- On divorce and adultery in the NT
- Mark 10:11
- Does Matthew contradict Mark on divorce?
- Mark 10:17-18
- Did Jesus deny being good -- and therefore divine?
- Mark 10:29-30
- ...There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands...
A Skeptic asks where Jesus' followers got all of this wealth they were promised, but did not get. The answer is that it is obtained by common property of the community of believers. (This is also also how one may "receive retrospective motherhood in wholesale quantities" - by adoption into the community of believers.) Also, the Skeptic claims that this is a form of bribery and an appeal to greed, but anyone who approaches out of greed rather than for the sake of the gospel (which is the whole point behind the passage) hardly qualifies.
- Mark 11:1ff
- Mark 11:13-14
- Was Jesus being unreasonable when he "zapped" the fig tree? Also looks at the matter of chronology.
- Mark 11:17
- Isn't the Temple cleansing incident an example of violence? [Off Site]
- Mark 12:30-2
- Did Jesus misquote the Shema?
- Mark 13:2
- Is this a fase prediction because of the Wailing Wall? No. The Western Wall is part of the foundation structure of the courts, not the Temple itself.
- Mark 13:32
- If this is true, what about the Holy Spirit?
- Mark 14:7
- Will Jesus always be with us, or not?
- Mark 14:12-16
- Mark 14:21
- Judas: Better off not born?
- Mark 14:22
- Did Jesus eat leavened bread?
- Mark 14:30, 68, 72
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- Do the Gospels disagree on how many times the cock crowed?
- Were roosters not permitted in Jerusalem? {off Site]
- Mark 14:36
- Mark 14:61
- Did Jesus really commit blasphemy?
- Mark 15:17
- Was Jesus' robe scarlet as here, or purple as in Mark and John? "Purple" actually refers generically to a type of dye (cf. Acts 16:14) used to make cloth that ranged in color from scarlet to what we call purple.
- Mark 15:23
- What was Jesus given to drink on the cross?
- Mark 15:34
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- Articles
- Does Jesus' cry from the cross show he cannot be a savior?
- Do the Gospels disagree about Jesus' last words on the cross?
- Does Jesus actually say, "Why hast thou sacrificed me?"
- If Jesus and the Father are one, who is Jesus talking to?" -- part of a secondary article on the relation of Jesus and the Father, with foundations laid here.
- Did Jesus cry out to a pagan deity? [Off Site]
- Articles
- Mark 16:9-20
- Have a question about something in these verses? As I show here, they don't belong in the text.