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Mark 16
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Mark 16 is the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It begins with the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome — there they encounter a man dressed in white who announces Jesus' resurrection.
Verse 8 ends with the women fleeing from the empty tomb, and saying "nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." Most scholars take 16:8 as the original ending and believe the ending was written later and by another hand as a summary of Jesus' resurrection appearances and several miracles performed by Christians.
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Mark 16 is the final chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It begins with the discovery of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome — there they encounter a man dressed in white who announces Jesus' resurrection.
Verse 8 ends with the women fleeing from the empty tomb, and saying "nothing to anyone, because they were afraid." Most scholars take 16:8 as the original ending and believe the ending was written later and by another hand as a summary of Jesus' resurrection appearances and several miracles performed by Christians. In this summary of other gospel sources, the author refers to Mary Magdalene, two disciples, and then the Eleven (the Twelve Apostles minus Judas). The text concludes with the Great Commission, declares eternal life for believers and condemnation for nonbelievers, and pictures Jesus sitting at God's right hand.
Contemporary scholars conclude that Mark's traditional ending was not part of the original text. Textual critics have traced various versions of Mark's ending back to the earliest extant manuscripts. An alternative, shorter ending appears on some ancient manuscripts, sometimes combined with the traditional ending, and an additional exchange between Jesus and the eleven had appeared in some manuscripts by the 4th century. The most likely origin for the Longer Ending is that it was written early in the second century, summarizing evidence for Jesus' resurrection. It was appended to the gospel in the middle of the second century. It doesn't fit verses 1-8 well, suggesting it wasn't written to be Mark's ending. No one knows how the text originally ended, though the story hints that it would end with resurrection appearances and possibly reconciliation between Peter and Jesus.
The Council of Trent, reacting to Protestant criticism, defined the Roman Catholic biblical canon, the Longer Ending along with it. It is part of the King James Bible and other influential translations.
Other Gospels display evidence of having appendages not original to the text, such as Luke's infancy narrative and John's ending.
The empty tomb
Mark says the Sabbath is now over and Mary Magdalene, another Mary, the mother of James (who earlier Mark referred to more fully as "Mary the mother of James the little and Joses", ) who might or might not be Mary the mother of Jesus, and Salome, mentioned in Mark , come to anoint Jesus' body, which Luke 24:1 agrees with. John seems to say that Nicodemus had already anointed his body. John 20:1 and Matthew simply say Mary went to the tomb, not why.
The women wonder how they will remove the stone over the tomb. Upon their arrival, they find the stone already gone and go into the tomb. This shows that, according to Mark, they did not expect to find a resurrected but a dead Jesus. They find a young man dressed in a white robe who tells them:
- "Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you' " ().
The white robe might be a sign that the young man is a messenger from God. Matthew describes him as an angel. According to Luke there were two men. John says there were two angels, but that Mary saw them after finding the empty tomb and showing it to the other disciples. She comes back to the tomb, talks to the angels, and then Jesus appears to her.
Mark uses the word neaniskos for young, a word he used to describe the man who fled at Jesus' arrest in Mark . Jesus had predicted his resurrection and returning to Galilee during the Last Supper in Mark . Mark uses the passive verb form egerthe — translated "he was raised," indicating God raised him from the dead, rather than "he is risen" translated in the NIV.
The women, who are afraid, then flee and keep quiet about what they saw. Fear is the most common human reaction to the divine presence in the Bible.
This is where the undisputed part of Mark's Gospel ends. Jesus is thus announced to have been resurrected from the dead and to have gone into Galilee. Some interpreters have concluded that Mark's intended readers already knew the traditions of Jesus' appearances, and that Mark brings the story to a close here to highlight the resurrection and leave anticipation of the parousia. Some have argued that this announcement of the resurrection and Jesus going to Galilee is the parousia (see also Preterism), but Raymond E. Brown argues that a parousia confined only to Galilee is improbable. Gospel writer Mark gives no description of the resurrected Jesus, perhaps because Mark did not want to try to describe the nature of the divine resurrected Jesus. Brown argues this ending is consistent with Mark's theology, where even miracles, such as the resurrection, do not produce the proper understanding or faith among Jesus' followers. Having the women run away afraid is contrasted in the reader's mind with Jesus' appearances and statements which help confirm the expectation, built up in , , , and Jesus' prediction during the Last Supper of his rising after his death.
Jesus' appearances and his ascension into Heaven
The book then describes Jesus appearing to Mary Magdalene who is now described as someone whom Jesus healed from possession by seven demons. She then tells the other disciples (cf. ) what she saw but no one believes her. Jesus' appearances to Mary are also found in and .
Then Jesus appears "in a different form" to two unnamed disciples. They, too, are disbelieved when they tell what they saw. Jesus' appearance to two disciples is also described in .
Jesus then appears at dinner to all the remaining eleven Apostles. He rebukes them for not believing the earlier reports of his resurrection and then gives them instructions to go and preach his message to all creation (see also the Great Commission). Those who believe and are baptised will be saved, but unbelievers will be condemned.
In verses 17-18, Jesus states that believers will "speak in new tongues." This is likely a reference to glossolalia. They will also be able to handle snakes (see also ), be immune from any poison they might happen to drink, and will be able to heal the sick. Some interpreters, picturing an author putting words in Jesus' mouth, have suggested that these verses were a means by which early Christians asserted that their new faith was accompanied by special powers. By showing examples of unjustified unbelief in verses 10-13, and stating that unbelievers will be condemned, and that believers will be validated by signs, the author may have been attempting to convince the reader to rely on what the disciples preached about Jesus.
Jesus appearing and talking to the disciples is also recorded in , , and . Jesus' fighting against unbelief and the negative portrait of the disciples is in keeping with the themes of Mark.
According to verse 19, Jesus then is taken up into Heaven where, Mark claims, he sits at the right hand of God. The right hand is seen as the position of power. Jesus quoted Psalm in Mark about the Lord sitting at the right hand of God.
After the ascension, his Eleven then went out and preached "everywhere." Several signs from God accompanied their preaching. His ascension is also recorded in and in the Acts of the Apostles . Where these things happened is not stated, but one could presume, from , that they took place in Galilee. Luke-Acts, however, has this happening in Jerusalem.
Mark 16:9-20 in the Manuscript Tradition
The last twelve verses, 16:9-20, are not present in the fourth century manuscripts Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, the earliest complete manuscripts of Mark. (Papyrus 45 is the oldest but has no text from Mark 16 due to extensive damage).
Codex Vaticanus has a blank column after ending at 16:8 and placing kata Markon, “according to Mark.” There are three other blank columns in Vaticanus, in the Old Testament. It has been suggested that Codex Vaticanus may be reflecting a Western order of the gospels with Mark as the last book (Matthew, John, Luke, and Mark).
Sinaiticus too ends with 16:8 and euangelion kata Markon, “the gospel according to Mark.”
Another manuscript, minuscule 304 (twelfth century) omits the last twelve verses.
Codex Washingtonianus (late fourth early fifth century) includes verses 9-20 and features an addition between 16:14-15 known as the “Freer Logion”: “And they excused themselves, saying, ‘This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who does not allow the truth and power of God to prevail over the unclean things of the spirits [or, does not allow what lies under the unclean spirits to understand the truth and power of God]. Therefore reveal your righteousness now’ – thus they spoke to Christ. And Christ replied to them, ‘The term of years of Satan’s power has been fulfilled, but other terrible things draw near. And for those who have sinned I was handed over to death, that they may return to the truth and sin no more, in order that they may inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness that is in heaven.’”
Another ending (indirectly witnessing to the shorter reading of Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) is that of the Latin manuscript, Codex Bobbiensis (k), from the early fifth century. It reads, “But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation” (English Standard Version [2001] margin). This manuscript also contains an interpolation between Mark 16:3 and 16:4 which seems to picture Jesus' ascension as if it occurred at the time of the resurrection.
The group of manuscripts known as “Family 1” and others add a note to Mark 16:9-20, stating that some copies do not contain the verses. Codex L adds the “shorter ending” after 16:8 and follows it with vv. 9-20.
Mark 16:9-20 is preserved in its traditional form in about a dozen uncials (the earliest being Codex Alexandrinus) and in all undamaged minuscules.
Versions
Hypotheses About the Ending
Hypotheses on how to explain the textual variations include:
- Mark intentionally ended his Gospel at 16:8, and someone else (at an early date) wrote the concluding lines.
- Mark did not intend to end at 16:8, but was somehow prevented from finishing (perhaps by his own death), whereupon another person finished the work before it was released for church-use.
- The Gospel originally contained a different (perhaps similar) ending that was lost, for one reason or another, whereafter the current ending was added.
- Verses 16:9-20 are authentic, and were omitted or lost from the Sinaiticus and Vaticanus for one reason or another, perhaps accidental, perhaps intentional.
- Verses 16:9-20 were added later to conform with the endings from the other Gospels.
James H. Charlesworth pointed out that Codex Syriacus (a 5th-century translation), Codex Vaticanus (mid-4th century), and Codex Bobiensis (4th- or 5th-century Latin) are all early manuscripts that exclude the Marcan appendix. In addition to these, approximately 100 Armenian manuscripts, as well as the two oldest Georgian manuscripts, also omit the appendix. The Armenian Version was made in 411-450, and the Old Georgian Version was based mainly on the Armenian Version. One Armenian manuscript, made in 989, features a note, written between 16:8 and 16:9, Ariston eritzou, that is, "By Ariston the Elder/Priest." Ariston, or Aristion, is known from early traditions (preserved by Papias and others) as a colleague of Peter and as a bishop of Smyrna in the first century.
Internal Evidence
Critical questions concerning the authenticity of verses 9-20 (the "longer ending") often centre around stylistic and linguistic issues. On linguistics, E. P. Gould identified 19 of the 163 words in the passage as distinctive and not occurring elsewhere in the Gospel. Dr. Bruce Terry argues that a vocabulary-based case against Mark 16:9-20 is indecisive, inasmuch as other 12-verse sections of Mark contain comparable amounts of once-used words.
The final sentence in verse 8 is regarded as strange by some scholars. In the Greek text it finishes with the conjunction ?a? (gar, "for"). It is contended by some who see 16:9–20 as originally Markan that ?a? literally means because, and this ending to verse 8 is therefore not grammatically coherent (literally, it would read they were afraid because). However, ?a? may end a sentence, and does so in various Greek compositions, including some sentences in the Septuagint, a popular Greek translation of the Old Testament used by early Christians. Protagoras, a contemporary of Socrates, even ended a speech with ?a?. Although ?a? is never the first word of a sentence, there is no rule against it being the last word, even though it is not a common construction.
Robert Gundry mentions that only 10% of Mark's ?a? clauses — 6 out of 66 — conclude pericopes (Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross, Chapters 9–16). As such, this statistic favours the view that, rather than concluding 16:1–8, verse 8 begins a new pericope, the rest of which is now lost to us. Gundry therefore does not see verse 8 as the intended ending; a resurrection narrative was either written, then lost, or planned but never actually written.
Concerning style, the degree to which verses 9-20 aptly fit as an ending for the Gospel remains in question. The turn from verse 8 to 9 has also been seen as abrupt and interrupted: the narrative flows from "they were afraid" to "now after he rose", and seems to reintroduce Mary Magdalene. Secondly, Mark regularly identifies instances where Jesus' prophecies are fulfilled, yet Mark does not explicitly state the twice predicted reconciliation of Jesus with his disciples in Galilee (Mark 14:28, 16:7). Lastly, the active tense "he rose" is different from the earlier passive construction "[he] has been risen" of verse 6, seen as significant by some.
Sinaiticus and Vaticanus
According to T. C. Skeat, Sinaiticus and Vaticanus were both produced at the same scriptorium, which would mean that they represent only one textual tradition, rather than serving as two independent witnesses of an earlier text type that ends at 16:8. Skeat argued that they were produced as part of Eusebius' response to the request of Constantine for copies of the scriptures for churches in Constantinople.
However, this view is unlikely, since (a) there are about 3,036 differences in the gospels of Sinaiticus and Vaticanus (b) the text of Sinaiticus is of the Western textform in John 1:1-8:38 - Vaticanus is not, and (c) neither Vaticanus or Sinaiticus contains Mark 15:28, which Eusebius accepted and included in his Canon-tables.
Scholarly Opinions
The current consensus among scholars is that verses 9-20 were not part of the original text of Mark but represent a very early addition.
Explaining the reason for adding the verses, Bart D. Ehrman says:
Jesus does rise from the dead in Mark’s Gospel. The women go to the tomb, the tomb is empty and there is a man there who tells them that Jesus has been raised from the dead and that they are to go tell the disciples that this has happened. But then the Gospel ends in Codex Sinaiticus and other manuscripts by saying the women fled from the tomb and didn’t say anything to anyone because they were afraid, period. That where the Gospel ends. So nobody finds out about it, the disciples don’t learn about it, the disciples never see Jesus after the resurrection, that’s the end of the story. But later scribes couldn’t handle this abrupt ending and they added the 12 verses people find in the King James Bible or other Bibles in which Jesus does appear to his disciples.
Among the scholars who reject Mark 16:9-20, a debate continues about whether the ending at 16:8 is intentional or accidental. Some scholars consider the original ending to have been verse 8. Others argue that Mark never intended to end so abruptly: either he planned another ending that was never written, or the original ending has been lost. C. H. Turner argued that the original version of the Gospel could have been a codex, with the last page being especially vulnerable to damage. Whatever the case, many scholars, including Rudolf Bultmann, have concluded that the Gospel most likely ended with a Galilean resurrection appearance and the reconciliation of Jesus with the Eleven, even if verses 9-20 are unautographic.
Verses 9-20 share the subject of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, and other points, with other passages in the New Testament. This has led some scholars to believe that Mark 16:9-20 is based on the other Gospels and Acts. Some of the elements that Mark 16:9-20 has in common with other passages of Scripture are listed here:
Jesus' reference to drinking poison (16:18) does not correspond to a New Testament source, but that miraculous power did appear in Christian literature from the second century on.
Scholarly conclusions
The vast majority of contemporary New Testament textual critics (see also Textual criticism) have concluded that neither the longer nor shorter endings were originally part of Mark's Gospel. The longer ending had become accepted tradition by some in the second century. The Complete Gospels states: "The ending of the Gospel of Mark is a classic problem in New Testament textual criticism. The scholarly consensus is that Mark originally ended with the abrupt stop at 16:8. The earliest Patristic evidence (Clement of Rome, Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome) give no indication of any text beyond 16:8."
The United Bible Societies' 4th edition of the Greek New Testament (1993) rates the omission of verses 9–20 from the original Markan manuscript as "certain". Bruce M. Metzger's Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament states: "Thus, on the basis of good external evidence and strong internal considerations it appears that the earliest ascertainable form of the Gospel of Mark ended with 16:8. Three possibilities are open: (a) the evangelist intended to close his Gospel at this place; or (b) the Gospel was never finished; or, as seems most probable, (c) the Gospel accidentally lost its last leaf before it was multiplied by transcription."
The NIV translation notes: "The most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20." The TNIV, a revision of the NIV, however, changes this to read "The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20."
Theological implications
Few doctrines of the mainline Christian denominations stand or fall on the support of the longer ending of Mark. The longer ending does identify Mary Magdalene as the woman out of whom Jesus had exorcised seven demons (but so does ), but Mary Magdalene's significance, and the practice of exorcism, are both supported by New Testament texts outside the debated passage.
The longer ending of Mark 16 is of considerable significance in Pentecostalism and other denominations:
- Mark 16:16 is cited as evidence for the requirement of believer's baptism among churches of the Restoration Movement.
- Mark 16:17 is specifically cited as Biblical support for some of these denominations' teachings concerning exorcism and spiritual warfare, and also in support of speaking in tongues.
- The practice of snake handling and of drinking strychnine and other poisons, found in a few offshoots of Pentecostalism, find their Biblical support in Mark 16:18. These churches typically justify these practices as "confirming the word with signs following" (KJV), which references Mark 16:20. Other denominations believe that these texts indicate the power of the Holy Spirit given to the apostles, but do not believe that they are recommendations for worship.
The longer ending was declared canonical scripture by the Council of Trent. Today, however, Roman Catholics are not required to believe that Mark wrote this ending. The Catholic NAB translation includes the footnote: "[9-20] This passage, termed the Longer Ending to the Marcan gospel by comparison with a much briefer conclusion found in some less important manuscripts, has traditionally been accepted as a canonical part of the gospel and was defined as such by the Council of Trent. Early citations of it by the Fathers indicate that it was composed by the second century, although vocabulary and style indicate that it was written by someone other than Mark. It is a general resume of the material concerning the appearances of the risen Jesus, reflecting, in particular, traditions found in Luke 24 and John 20."
Arguments in support of Mark 16
See external links.
A summary of the manuscripts and versions that contain Mark 16:9-20 can be found in the apparatuses of the Nestle-Aland 27th edition and the fourth edition of United Bible Societies' Greek New Testament.
Summary of manuscript evidence
(Information taken from apparatus of Nestle-Aland 27th edition).
Omit Mark 16:9-20: Codex Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, 20, 304, Syriac Sinaiticus, a Sahidic manuscript, Armenian manuscripts; Eusebius, manuscripts according to Eusebius, manuscripts according to Jerome.
Add but marked with asterisks, obeli or other critical note in manuscripts: f1, 22, 138, 205, 1110, 1210, 1221, 1582.
Add 16:9-20 in its form seen in the Textus Receptus: A, C, D, W, Codex Koridethi, f13, 33, 565, 700, 892, 2427, 2674, the majority text; the Vulgate and part of the Old Latin, Syriac Curetonian, Peshitta, Bohairic; the Latin text of Irenaeus, manuscripts according to Eusebius, manuscripts according to Jerome (add with obeli f1 al).
Add shorter ending only: Codex Bobbiensis (Latin)
Add shorter and longer ending: L (019), ? (044), 0112, 099, 274 (margin) 579 lectionary 1602, Syriac Harclean margin, Sahidic manuscripts, Bohairic manuscripts, Ethiopic manuscripts.
Add 16:9-20 with "Freer Logion": Codex Washingtonianus (fourth/fifth century); manuscripts according to Jerome.
See also
External links
- — allows two or more New Testament manuscript editions' readings of the passage to be compared in side-by-side and unified views (similar to diff output)
- Detailed text-critical description of the evidence, the manuscripts, and the variants of the Greek text (PDF, 17 pages)
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- A literary-critical affirmation of Mark's Gospel ending at 16:8.
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- A Book written by Burgon, John William
- A detailed defense of Mk. 16:9-20, featuring replicas of portions of Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus and a list of early patristic evidence.
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