1. The Gospel itself contains no indication as to who wrote it. That the writer was one bearing the name of Mark rests solely on an ecclesiastical tradition whose reliableness there has been no disposition to question. The Mark referred to has been from the
1 So Pfleiderer in his Urchristenthum. 2 So Baur and other members of the Tibingen school. 5 So Bernhard Weiss, vide Das Marcusevangelium, Einleitung, p. 23.
earliest times till now identified with the Mark named in Acts xii. 12, as the son of a Mary; in xiii. 5, 13, as the attendant of Paul and Barnabas on their mission journey; and in xv. 39, as the travelling companion of Barnabas alone after he had separated from Paul ; also, in Colossians iv. 10, as the cousin (ἀνεψιός) of Barnabas ; and, finally, in 2 Timothy iv. 11, and Philemon 24, as rendering useful services to Paul.
2. The explanations of Jewish customs, 6.5., ceremonial washings (chap. vii. 3-4), and words such as Talitha cumi and Ephphatha, and the technical term “common” or “unclean” (v. 41, vii. 34, vii. 2), point to non-Jewish readers; and the use of Latinisms is most naturally accounted for by the supposition that the book was written among and for Roman Christians.
3. The dates of the Gospels generally have been a subject of much controversy, and the endless diversity of opinion means that the whole matter belongs largely to the region of conjecture. The very late dates assigned to these writings by the Tibingen school are now generally abandoned. By many competent critics the Synopti- cal Gospels are placed well within the first century, say, between the years 60 and 80. Tocondescend upona precise year is im- possible. One cannot even determine with absolute confidence whether the earliest of them, z.e., Mark, was written before or after the destruction of Jerusalem. The point of practical importance
“is not the date at which a Gospel was composed, but the historical value of its materials. In this respect the claims of Mark, as we have seen, stand high.!
’ On the Appendix of Mark, chap. xvi. 9-20, vide Notes ad loc.
CHAPTER III. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW.