What is the Gospel?
[1Co 15:1-8] 1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you–unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. 6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. 7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. 8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
IF
If the end of Mark (chapter 16:9-20) is not original as James White, Bill Mounce, Mark Ward, John MacArthur and many others in the critical text camp have claimed then the Gospel of Mark is not a “gospel”. “The gospel message, as conveyed by the Holy Spirit through Paul and destined for the world, encompasses the resurrection of Jesus and the testimony of the apostles regarding their eye witness status.”
[Mar 16:9-20] 9 Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. 11 And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. 12 After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. 13 And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. 14 Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. 15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 “And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 “they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
Keep in mind that 99% of all the manuscripts we have do have the long ending of Mark. All but two actually. Want to guess which two? The infamous Sinaticus and Vaticanus. The source of all the humanistic modern textual criticism.
Flawed Philosophy
So the arguement goes that there is internal evidence that the last 12 verses were not original. Because there are 17 words and phrases in those verses that Mark did not use anywhere else in his letter. They are deemed non-Markian words. BUT in 1869, John A. Broadus put this argument to the test and when he completed his evaluation he found that in the 12 verses that precede Mark 16:9-20 the same number of words and phrases that are not used previously by Mark. (Miller, Apologetics Press) So there are 17 “non-markian” words and phrases in Mark 15:44 – 16:8 should we through that chunk of God’s preserved word out too?
Earlier is Better?
The arguement by the critics is that the two earliest manuscipts do not contain this passage. And that because they are older they are more trust worthy? What does the bible say about this? Does the bible address this idea?
[Job 32:6-9] 6 So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said: “I am young in years, and you are very old; Therefore I was afraid, And dared not declare my opinion to you. 7 I said, ‘Age should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ 8 But there is a spirit in man, And the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. 9 Great men are not always wise, Nor do the aged always understand justice.
God is the source of what is right, not man. God preserves his word, not man. Older is just older.
But to the point, can we know if the ending of Mark was added or not? I am glad you asked. Iraneus, who died in 202 A.D., wrote these words in “Against Heresies”: “Also, towards the conclusion of his Gospel, Mark says: ‘So then, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God” (Roberts, Alexander and James Donaldson). Other witnesses who authenticated the verses include Jerome (420 A.D.), Leo (461 A.D.), Severian (408 A.D.), and Tertullian (220 A.D.). It should be noted that these writers counted Mark 16:9-20 as genuine before the existence of the two earliest Greek manuscripts.
I know it seems base and may sound unintelligent, backward, and even oversimplified but all my research points me back to trusting God and His preserved word. The Bible we have today in the Authorized tradition (KJV, NKJV, WEB, etc) is the Bible the church has always had and trusted. These modern attempts to cast doubt on the word of God are not scholarly but a mere sophistication of a very old idea: “Has God indeed said…”
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