Chapter 1 – One God Translation

Mark

   1 The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Messiah,[232] the Son of God. [233] 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “Look, I am sending My messenger before you who will prepare your way; 3 a voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.’” 4 John the Baptist[234] appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins. 5 Everybody from the country of Judea and from Jerusalem was going out to him to be baptized in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. 6 John wore clothes made of camel hair, with a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He was preaching, “After me will come someone more powerful than I am, whose sandals I am not fit to bend down and undo. 8 I baptized you with water, but he will be baptizing you in holy spirit.”[235]
    9 Then Jesus arrived from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John. 10 Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens split apart and the spirit like a dove which came down on him. 11 A voice came from the heavens, “You are My beloved Son. I am delighted with you.”     12 Immediately the spirit sent him out into the desert 13 where he was tempted[236] by Satan for forty days. He was there with the wild animals, with angels taking care of him.
    14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went to Galilee, preaching God’s Gospel. [237] 15 “The time is fulfilled,” he said. “The Kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in that Gospel.”[238]
    16 As Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were fishermen, and were busy in the sea casting a net. 17 “Come, follow me,” he said to them, “and I will make you fishers of people.”[239] 18 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 Walking further, Jesus saw James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat repairing their nets. 20 Immediately he called them. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired hands, and followed Jesus.[240]
    21 They went to Capernaum, and on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and taught there. 22 The people were astonished at his teaching, because he taught with authority, unlike the religious teachers. [241] 23 There in the synagogue was a man with an evil spirit.[242] 24 “Jesus of Nazareth, what have we got to do with you?” he shouted out. “Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one of God!”[243] 25 Jesus reprimanded the evil spirit, “Be quiet, and come out of him.” 26 The evil spirit screamed and came out of him, forcing the man into convulsions. 27 Everybody was amazed. They discussed among themselves, “What is this new teaching with authority? He gives orders even to evil spirits and they obey him!” 28 Immediately news about him spread all through Galilee.
    29 They left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon and Andrew, along with James and John. 30 Simon’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a fever, so immediately they told Jesus about her. 31 He went to her and helped her up with his hand. The fever left her, and she served them a meal.
    32 After sundown, people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-oppressed. 33 All the people of the town gathered outside the door. 34 He healed many people who had various diseases, and drove out many demons. He would not permit the demons[244] to speak, because they knew who he was.
    35 Early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went by himself to a secluded place to pray. 36 Simon and the other disciples went in search of him, 37 and when they found him they said, “Everybody is looking for you.” 38 Jesus said to them, “We need to go to the surrounding towns so that I can preach the Gospel[245] there also, because that is why I came.” 39 So he went into their synagogues throughout Galilee, preaching the Gospel[246] and casting out the demons.
    40 A leper approached him, asking for help. He kneeled down before him and said, “If you are willing, you can heal me.” 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out to touch the man, and said, “I am willing; be healed.” 42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was healed. 43 Jesus gave him clear orders and sent him away. 44 “Do not tell anyone about this,” he said. “Just go to a priest and show yourself to him. Take the offering which Moses required for cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45 But the leper who had been healed went away and announced it to many people, spreading the news around. As a result Jesus could not travel openly into the cities, but had to stay out in the country where people came to him from all around.

Mark

[232]

Firstly the Gospel of the Kingdom which Jesus preached for salvation (Heb. 2:3), as well as the Gospel about him. Many Bible readers do not think, as they should, of Jesus as the original preacher of the Gospel of salvation (Heb. 2:3; 5:9; Lk. 4:43; 8:12; Jn. 12:44ff; Acts 8:12; 28:23, 31, etc). Without Mark 1:1, 14-15 in place as a rock foundation for defining the Gospel, the bottom falls out of the NT. The Kingdom of God must also be defined from its Hebrew OT background (esp. Dan. 2 and 7). The Gospel must never be divorced from its descriptive phrase “about the Kingdom.” Otherwise how can one repent and accept the Gospel? If the Gospel is unclear, repentance becomes unclear. Luke 19:11-27 is an excellent parable for defining the Kingdom, its place in the salvation program, and the absolute need for believers to develop their talents in support of the proclamation of the Kingdom Gospel.

[233]

It is essential for intelligent Bible study to define and explain the title “Son of God” for Jesus, according to the explicit and simple definition given to Mary by the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:35 and confirmed in Matt. 1:1, 18, 20 (“begotten, fathered in her”). Jesus is the Son of God “precisely because of” (dio kai) the biological miracle worked in Mary by God (Lk. 1:35). Jesus is unique as having no human father, and he was thus directly the Son of God, the second Adam (Lk. 3:38) and the head of the new creation of human persons. Matt. 1:18 speaks of the origin, beginning of the Son of God and provides the right understanding of who Jesus is. The concept of a “God the Son,” coequal with the Father, is a post-biblical development of “church fathers” and church councils and is not found in Scripture.

[234]

The immerser in water. Water baptism is commanded throughout the NT and is a non-negotiable, essential part of the Great Commission (Mt. 28:19-20). To deny water baptism is to put oneself in a position of clear disobedience to the command of Jesus and the Apostles. Baptism was performed when candidates had a clear idea of the Gospel of the Kingdom and who Jesus is (Acts 8:12).

[235]

Not only from Pentecost onwards! Everything which Jesus did as ministry imparted holy spirit. See especially his words which were “spirit and life” (Jn. 6:63), and of course still are! The holy spirit was given in a special public demonstration for the first time from the risen Messiah in Acts. But that does not mean that the holy spirit was not very active before that. Special people were filled with spirit (Lk. 1:41, 67), and John the baptizer had the spirit even in the womb of his mother Elizabeth. The spirit is the creative operational presence and power of God working in various ways. The spirit is identified also with the “comforter” and in 1 John 2:1 Jesus is that Comforter, returning to his people in spirit power and presence to assist them after he went to heaven at the Ascension.

[236]

God cannot be tempted (James 1:13) and so the whole episode here would be a farce if Jesus were God!

[237]

God’s Gospel — the Gospel of salvation which originates in God. God’s saving Gospel about the Kingdom preached and announced by all the NT writers and evangelists and of course by God’s unique Son (Lk. 1:35), Jesus himself (Lk. 4:43; Heb. 2:3). God issues the ultimate statement and challenge to belief in the Kingdom, and His great immortality program is modeled in the man Jesus and taught by him as saving Gospel, in addition of course to his substitutionary death and his resurrection to immortality. The Gospel of the Kingdom is the Good News that man, by obeying Jesus in faith, can attain to immortality. Jesus was the pioneer preacher of this saving Gospel of the Kingdom now directed to the whole world (Mt. 24:14). “God’s Gospel” is found 7 other times in the NT: Rom. 1:1; 15:16 (framing the book of Romans); 2 Cor. 11:7; 1 Thess. 2:2, 8, 9; 1 Pet. 4:17. This label for the Gospel beautifully unites the whole NT in one saving Kingdom of God Gospel, originating with Jesus. (E.W. Bullinger with his five differing gospel messages [App. to Companion Bible] did untold damage to good Bible study. The NT is torn in shreds by that system.) Paul (Rom. 1:1) and Jesus (Mk. 1:14-15) preached God’s Gospel. The Gospel of the grace of God is identical to the proclaiming of the Kingdom (Acts 20:24-25). Only Matthew uses the term “Kingdom of Heaven,” which is the exact synonym of “Kingdom of God.”

[238]

Repentance means a complete reorientation in thinking and understanding, and in lifestyle. The first command of Jesus is thus first to believe the Gospel about the Kingdom of God (Acts 8:12), which is the empire of the Messiah, certainly not a figurative kingdom “in the heart.” Some translations such as Ferrar Fenton’s correctly render Dan. 2:44, “In the days of those kings the God of heaven will establish an everlasting empire, which is indestructible, whose sovereignty will not be transferred to another people.” Thus also in Dan. 7:17-27, “Those four great beasts which you have seen are four great empires which will be established on the earth. The saints of the Most High will afterwards take the Empire and possess it for ever, and for ever and ever…The time came for the saints to possess the empire…The empire and dominion and grandeur of the empire under the whole heavens will be given to the Holy People of the Most High.” Hence the reward of the faithful in the NT is nowhere described as “going to heaven,” but “You shall have the governorship of ten towns” (Lk. 19:17; cp. Mt. 5:5: “inherit the earth”). Jesus echoed this same Gospel promise when he said to the Apostles, “You who followed me, when the world is reborn, when the Son of Man will sit on his throne of glory [Mt. 25:31], you will sit on 12 thrones governing the 12 tribes of Israel” (Mt. 19:28). Paul was surprised that his converts had forgotten the elementary truth that the saints “are going to govern the world” (1 Cor. 6:2). See Rev. 5:9-10; 3:21; 2:26; 20:1-6. If the word “empire” has the wrong connotations, we should understand that this is a benign empire, with Jesus as its emperor-king. We may know of “politics” as “dirty politics,” but the Kingdom of God will be the first system, as a theocracy, which will be completely benevolent politics. The point is that Kingdom in the NT is a real world government, whose spirit can be tasted in advance of its real beginning in Rev. 11:15-18, where, at the last trumpet, God and His Messiah “begin to reign.” Luke 19:11-27 is a key passage to define the “Kingdom” as the coming Messianic rule on a renewed earth, with its capital in Jerusalem. Without this fact established, the NT becomes an empty shell. (See my The Coming Kingdom of the Messiah and Our Fathers Who Aren’t in Heaven.)

[239]

NT Christian evangelism is an enterprise of persuasion, persuading others to believe Jesus, i.e. what he taught, and believe in him. The two involve each other. Acts 19:8 is a good text for showing Paul at work in evangelism. To be persuaded is to believe.

[240]

Becoming his disciples or students and learning the true faith from the master-rabbi.

[241]

The professional scholars and teachers of the people (scribes).

[242]

A demon. Demons are supernatural non-human personalities, certainly not human beings nor mental sicknesses. They are the cause of mental and other damage. Jesus speaks to them and they speak to him (Lk. 4:41). It is a very dangerous assault on the integrity of the historical narrative to say they do not exist! The reality of supernatural evil, under the charge of Satan, is a fundamentally important dimension of truth as revealed in Scripture. Our struggle is, as Paul said in Eph. 6:12, not essentially against human beings but against “kosmocrats” = Satanic forces in the invisible world. Satan is governor of sublunar space (Eph. 2:2) and god of this age (2 Cor. 4:4). His deceptive influence will be totally removed during the millennium. Jesus, after his resurrection, announced his triumph and supremacy over the fallen angels of Gen. 6 (1 Pet. 3:19).

[243]

The Messiah predicted to come from the family of David (Ps. 132:11), and the prophet announced by Moses in Deut. 18:15-18. Certainly not “God the Son,” a concept completely alien to Jesus and the NT community of believers.

[244]

Demons (daimonia) is a clear word and an important part of the historical narrative. It is a serious attack on the text of Scripture to try to explain them away. They knew that Jesus was the Messiah (Lk. 4:41) and James says that “the demons believe in the One God and tremble” (2:19).

[245]

All Gospel preaching in the NT is “preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom.” Jesus stated that this preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom was the basis of his entire mission (Lk. 4:43). Lk. 4:43 is Jesus’ mission statement. It remains then the task of his body which is the Church. Otherwise the Church does not sound like Jesus and is in danger of promoting another Jesus.

[246]

Gospel about the Kingdom of God, the one saving Gospel preached throughout the NT. The right definition of the Gospel provided by Mark 1:14-15 must be retained throughout one’s reading of the NT.