Dear Cornerstone Family,
Today we reach the end of the gospel of Mark…or do we? If you have your Bible with you (and I hope you do), take a quick look at Mark 16. Are you there? Good. Now, depending on your Bible, you likely see a bracketed comment after v. 8 that says something to the effect, “Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9-20.” Then, if you look at vs. 9-20, you’ll probably see a double bracket around them or maybe the whole section will be italicized to indicate it may not be (probably isn’t) a part of the original gospel.
If you were to do a survey of scholarship–conservative or liberal–in the last hundred and fifty years or so, you’d be hard pressed to find one commentator argue that Mark 16:9-20 is original. I actually tried to find one this week and struck out. Clearly, it’s become almost universally accepted that the longer ending was a later addition and not present in Mark’s manuscript.
Even a quick read of Mark 16:9-20 will raise eyebrows. There is an unusual focus on supernatural signs including handling snakes and drinking poison that simply do not ring true with the aim and theological emphases of Mark’s gospel. Further, when you read some of the roiling theological debates in the early church around signs and the supernatural, it’s possible that one side’s emphases were written in at the end of Mark as a means of adding authority to a certain position. But we can’t say for sure.
One of the more plausible theories suggests that the abrupt ending to the gospel in v. 8 leaves the reader in tension. The tomb is empty, and the angel shares the good news that Jesus is risen, but the person of Jesus is nowhere to be found. We’re told he’s going to meet the disciples in v. 7, but we’re not given a report about that meeting. Could it be that the longer ending was added to relieve this tension? Again, we can’t say for sure.
Now, this raises a host of important questions—questions like how the Bible came to be, how were the books of the Bible determined to be Scripture, and can we trust that everything in the Bible is God’s Word. As you might imagine, I do not have space or time to address all these big questions, but I’m grateful to say there are strong, solid answers to every one of them. In due time, I look forward to tackling them with you. For now, I’d encourage you to gain comfort from the conclusion Dr. Elijah Hixson draws about this matter.
“Uncertainty here makes us uncomfortable, but we lose nothing of our faith if Mark ends at 16:8, and God often calls us to trust him in the face of uncertainty. Without faith it’s impossible to please him, after all. Since faith is the assurance of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1) and seen hope is not real hope (Romans 8:24), it wouldn’t be walking by faith if God answered all of our questions. That would be walking by sight. With or without Mark 16:9-20, the tomb is empty, Jesus has purchased our pardon, and we can be certain of that.”
Your servant,
