both—to disciples, to Pharisees, or perhaps to neither, but to publi- cans, yet conveying in some form and to some audience the great thought that there was a passion in His heart and in the heart of God for saving lost men? It is greatly to be desired that devout readers of the Gospels should be emancipated from legal bondage to the theological figment of inerrancy. Till this is done, it is impos- sible to enjoy in full the Gospel story, or feel its essential truth and reality.
1. The second Gospel has no account of the birth and infancy of Jesus. The narrative opens with the prelude to the public ministry, the preaching and baptism of the prophet John; and the sequel consists of a rapid sketch of that ministry in a series of graphic tab- leaux from its commencement in Galilee to its tragic close in Jerusa- lem. This fact alone raises a presumption in favour of Mark’s claim to be the earliest of the three synoptical Gospels. Other considera- tions pointing in the same direction are its comparative brevity and the meagreness of its account of Christ’s teaching. This Gospel wears the aspect of a first sketch of the memorable career of one who had become an object of religious faith and love to the circle of readers for whose benefit it was written. As such it is entitled to precedence in an introduction to the three synoptists, though, in our detailed comments, we follow the order in which they are arranged in the New Testament. It is convenient to take Mark first for this further reason, that from its pages we can form the clearest idea of the general course of our Lord’s history after He entered on His Messianic calling. In none of the three Gospels can we find a definite chronological plan, but it is possible from any one of them to form a general idea of the leading stages of the ministry, and most easily and clearly from the second.
2. The first stage was the synagogue ministry. After His bap- tism in the Jordan and His temptation in the wilderness, Jesus returned to Galilee and began to preach the “Gospel of the King- dom of God”.! The synagogue was the scene of this preaching. The first appearance of Jesus in a synagogue was in Capernaum, where He at once made a great impression both by His discourse and by the cure of a demoniac.?, This was simply the commence:
1 Mark i. 14. 2 Mark i. 27.