The Background to Mark’s Gospel

Why is it important?

Why was it written?

Who was Mark?

When and where was Mark written?

What were Mark's sourcesI

Why is the Gospel of Mark important for Christians?

Christians have always considered it important to study the Bible. The Gospels are especially studied as they describe what Jesus said and did - Gospel means Good News. However different Christians disagree about how the Gospel should be interpreted:

• Many Christians believe it is the literal word of God and what ever is written actually happened. The gospel tells the historical facts about Jesus and it was inspired by God.
• Other Christians believe that it is inspired by God but they do not believe that every story, miracle etc. is necessarily literally true. Instead they believe that a Christian can question the Bible and in doing so search for the meanings behind the stories.
• Many Christians would agree that God speaks through the Bible but it was written by human beings who could sometimes get things wrong - certain minor facts, details etc. Never-the-less the Gospels are central to the beliefs and worship of Christians.

5 main reasons:

1. Jesus’ disciples, the original witnesses were dying off. A permanent record was needed.
2. Gentiles (non-Jews) came into the community of the Church. They came in great numbers, from different backgrounds. There was a danger they might bring wrong ideas to Christianity. The Gospel writers wanted to put the record straight about Jesus.
3. The Roman authorities needed to be shown that Christianity was not politically dangerous.
4. Christians needed to be encouraged in their faith.
5. Authentic records needed to be kept, corrupt versions were appearing

He may well have been the ‘John Mark’ who appears in Acts and in the Letters of Paul and Peter. John Mark’s home was in Jerusalem, and he was a travelling companion of Paul.

Christian tradition also links Mark with Peter, the leader of the disciples - Papias, writing 100 years after Jesus’ crucifixion, makes this claim. He said this information came from a still earlier writer, who said that Mark was Peters helper, and that he wrote down the stories that Peter told when he was preaching. We need to be slightly careful here. ‘Mark’ was a very common name in the Roman Empire. But if Mark was not John Mark, we know nothing about him.

The answer is probably AD 64-65 in Rome. This would fit in with the fact that the emperor Nero was killing Christians in Rome in AD 64. Paul and Peter died in this persecution. Mark emphasised that his readers should stand firm in the face of trouble. This would fit in with the Roman situation. He uses Latin words instead of Greek ones.(The Gospel itself was written in Greek.) Again we cannot be certain. Some scholars believe there is not enough evidence. Others suggest even earlier. Few believe it to be later.

It is difficult to be certain about written sources, since we do not have them, if they ever existed. Mark would certainly have used stories about Jesus that were circulated by word of mouth (orally) He may have consulted Peter. He also seems to have used another source of information (Also used by Matthew and Luke in their gospels) - this information is called ‘Q’.

Set Texts

Mark 1:1

Other resources

Exam Questions