A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

Bengel, Johann Albrecht, 1687-1752 • SECTION 480

St Mark 1. 2. 497

← Gnomon of the New Testament — Volume 1

principles of action, course, and consummation of the Gospel, concerning Jesus Christ the Son of God (ver. 11, God's declaration at His baptism, " Thou art my beloved Son" etc.):1 ch. i. 1, 14, etc., viii. 35, x. 29, xiii. 10, xiv. 9, xvi. 15. Hence it is that he so often employs the term, the Gos pel : hence too it is evident that the last portion of Mark2 is genuine : ch. xvi. 15, 20.3 Hence he is wont to make such particular mention of Peter, a pre-eminent preacher of the Gospel.

2. 'rig, as) Mark shows, from the prophets, that the beginning of the Gospel ought to have been such as it actually was ; and having proved that point, all the rest is proved. The Apodosis is at verse 4.4 — sv 'Haatq rf> vpopqrri, in Isaiah the Prophet) Mark brings forward a testimony first [ver. 2] from Malachi, next [ver. 3] from Isaiah. Therefore some have written thus, sv roT; vpotpriraig, in the prophets. But yet, in the same way as Matthew in ch. xxi. 4, 5, quotes Zechariah under the title of one prophet [That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Behold thy King cometh unto thee, meek, etc.], and at the same time blends with Zechariah's words something out of Isaiah Ixii. 11 \_Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold thy salvation cometh, etc.] ; and as Paul also, in Romans ix. 27, quotes Isaiah by name, and yet has interwoven with Isaiah's words something out of Hosea ii. 1 : so Mark quotes two prophets, and yet mentions by name only the one,

1 And lie so constructs the order of this description, as that, moving for ward in a twofold division (dichotomies), he relates, in an accumulated series, — I. Those acts of the Saviour, which happened, it is true, at different times, yet in one place (that is, at Capernaum), and from these facts, which none impugned, gathers the inference, that Jesus is the true Messiah, the Holy One of GOD, ch. i. 16-45. II. He at the same time likewise sets forth those questions and objections stated by his adversaries, which similarly were brought forward at different times, though for the most part in the same places, until their actual plotting against Him followed, ch. ii. 1 — iii. 6. — Harm., p. 203, 204.

2 From ver. 9 to end of ch. xvi. Not found in many of the oldest au thorities. — ED.

3 It is quite in accordance with Mark's style of frequent and emphatic re ference to the preaching of the Gospel. — ED.

* As it is written, etc., Behold I send my mcssengtr, so "John did baptize," being that messenger. — ED.

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