The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 34

descrlptlone are very general, and look as if they had been foreshortened in order to give due prominence to the gospel na1rative that had to follow. Yet a fairly complete impression may be received of his main doctrines and rules of discipline. Generally in his ministry there are four elements discoverable. 1. Exhartation. A direct appeal to the moral sense, the chief note of which was "Repent." It is a sharp word often repeated, refinement upon it being likely only to dull its edge. It meant, primarily, "to think after another," then "to change one's mind or opinion,'' the faculty addressed bein"' that of moral reflection (nous). Accordingly we read of repentance" unto acknowledg~ ment of the truth" (2 'l'im. ii. 25), "toward God "(Acts xx. 21), "from dead works,,. (Heh. vi. 1), and "unto life" (Acts xi. 18), or "unto salvation" (2 Cor. vii. 10). The two last expressions correspond with that of Mark, "unto remission of sins." The idea involved is intellectual as well as moral, thought being exercised as well as feeling. 'l'he mind is to be twisted back upon itself; spiritual resolution is demanded according to new principles. "Take a right view of sin-your sin-and quit it." John thus prepared men for Christ by making them prepare themselves, casting down every imagination and every high thing that stood in the way the coming King was to use for his glorioUB "progress." 2. Ceremony. '!'here was but one rite-baptism ; not created for the occasion, but simply adopted out of the multiform ceremonial of Judaism. Its use is explained by its symbolic suggestiveness of the spiritual change John sought to produce. The physical purifying set forth the spiritual, and was ineffectual without it. 3. Example. He himself was what he desired others to be. His habitat-the wilderness-was a protest against the corruption of the cities, and indeed of the whole social fabric. He dwelt apart, as being thUB better able to seek God and serve him. His personality, too, was eloquent of the same truth. With clothing the coarsest and least comfortable, and food the simplest and cheapest, he maintained a strong, free, independent life, consecrated in Nazarite-like vows to God. 4. Propl1ecy. Not only a backward but also a forward look was implied in his teaching. It was by virtue of tht1 coming of Another that all these moral acts were to be rendered valid and effectual. '!'he atonement of Christ, as a prospective thing, is therefore the key-stone of all John's preaching. Not the baptism, the ascetic life, not even the "repentance," was in itself a saving principle. 'l'hese only availed as they brought men to him who baptized not with water but with the Holy Spirit. His whole ministry did not confer, but simply prepared for, "the remission of sins." IL 1TB RELA'l'IVE SIGNIFICANCE. It was, therefore, not of absolute or independent value, but only auxiliary to the advent of Christ. He stood midway between the Law and the Gospel. In this light, his recognition of the" Lamb of God, which taketh away the ein of the world" is at once the linking on of his ministry to Christ's, and its consummation and disappearance in it. III. lTs RESULTS. Not substantive or permanent. A deep effect was produced upon Jewish life, but it did not last. Yet, in many instances, notably within the circle of the apostles, it was the preliminary stage, the "strait gate and narrow way," into the Divine life which JesUB brought. John's message exerted a far-reaching influence, thrilled the nation in all its classes and tribes, and then died away in ever fainter echoes, amidst the returning indifference or spiritual opposition to the Truth. It was not, therefore, useless ; rather in the highest sense was it effectual only as it succeeded in making itself unnecessary for the further progress of those who received it. "He must increase, but I must decrease."-M. Ver. 8.-John's baptism and Christ's. I. THE GRAND RELIGIOUS NEED OF MAN 1B PURI- FICATION. The existence of so many ceremonial religions is a presumption in favour of this. '!'hey all speak of offences in man which require expiation. Ilut the knowledge of the true character of sin is revealed by the Law (Hom.iii. 19). Sin itself, of course, exists anterior to the knowledge of the Law of Moses, because of the "law of God written upon the heart." In Ps. xiv. the universal depravity of the Jews of the age in which the psalmist wrote is very absolutely declared; and St. Paul, in Rom. iii. 10, etc., quotes it freely, in proof that Jews as well as Gentiles are under the power of sin. "As his argument is at this point addressed particularly to the Jew, he reasons, not from the sense of sin or the voir.e of conscience, but from the Scriptures, whose authority the Jew ackoow'.edged. The Jew would, of c<1urse, admit t-1:P. inference as to the state of 80 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. [oil'. I, 1-45.