The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Mark

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Mark

 

1.    Challenge(s):

 

a.    The Gospel of Mark does not teach the deity of Christ.

 

·     One author has written: “Mark makes no attempt to suggest, imply, or hint that Jesus is anyone other than the human Messiah…”[1]

 

b.    Only later does the Gospel of John explicitly teach the deity of Christ (John 1.1; 20.28; etc.)

 

·     Sometimes this is claimed to be a result of an evolutionary or legendary development.

 

c.     Therefore we have different versions of Christology in the early church.

 

d.    Liberal theologians and even Islamic teachers will point to this to confirm their views.

 

2.    Answering the challenge

 

a.    Different Gospels have different emphases and they articulate their view of Christ in different ways.

 

b.    We can agree that the Gospel of John more clearly and explicitly teaches the deity of Christ.

 

c.     There is no need to assume evolutionary development.

 

·     High Christology (i.e., the deity of Christ) is found in the earliest literature of the New Testament—Paul’s epistles… 

 

·     And Mark knew and traveled with Paul: Acts 13.5, 13; 15.37, 39; Philemon 24; Colossians 4.10; 2 Timothy 4.11

 

d.    There are a number of significant texts in Mark where it can said that Mark suggests and implies that Jesus is God.

 

3.    Mark 1.2-3[2]--Old Testament quotations (Malachi 3.1 and Isaiah 40.3) applied to Jesus

 

a.    Malachi 3.1

 

·     Original context: God (Yahweh) himself is the one who is coming

 

·     “In order to make this point even more clearly, Mark offers a messianic interpretation of the verse.  Mal 3:1 originally read ‘prepare the way before me,’ but Mark changes the phrase to ‘who will prepare yourway.’  But doing this, Mark introduces a thirdperson into the OT citation.  Originally the verse spoke of God (who is coming) and the messenger (who is preparing the way).  Now, with Mark’s adjustment, the text speaks of God, the messenger, and the one who is coming in God’s place.  And that one who is coming [in] God’s place is none other than Jesus.”[3]

 

b.    Isaiah 40.3

 

·     “Notice again that in the original context of Is 40:3, it is the LORD who is coming. And Mark applies this verse to Jesus.  Moreover, notice that Mark offers another Christological change to his citation. Originally, Is 40:3 read ‘make straight…a highway for our God’ but Mark changes it to ‘make his paths straight.’  Once again, Mark uses this little textual change to show that the coming of Yahweh, promised in Is 40:3, will be fulfilled by another coming in God’s place.  And that person is Jesus.  In the end, Mark’s use of these OT passages is rather stunning. Rather than seeing Jesus as merely human, Mark wastes no time presenting Jesus as the fulfillment of Yahweh’s promise to come visit his people.  Thus, for Mark, Jesus is God.”[4]

 

c.     Commentators

 

·     “Christologically speaking, the striking identification of Jesus (1:1) with Yahweh’s coming (1:2-3) can hardly be missed (see Horbury 1998: 78-83).  Key here, especially given present debates concerning the influence of exalted mediatorial angelic or patriarchal figures on NT Christology, is that two of Mark’s texts, Mal. 3:1 and Exodus 23:20, explicitly contrast such figures with the very presence of Yahweh himself. Whatever else, for Mark Israel’s Lord is, in some mysterious and unparalleled sense, present in Jesus.”[5]

 

4.    Mark 2.1-2—Jesus forgives sins

 

a.    Jesus forgives sins of the paralytic man (2.5)

 

b.    Scribes—“He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?” (2.7)

 

c.     Jesus doesn’t correct their reasoning by saying, “No, you misunderstood.  I’mnot forgiving his sins; I’m just saying that God has forgiven him.”

 

d.    Commentators:

 

·     “Jesus, on the other hand, forgave sins in his own name, and this was understood by the scribes as blasphemous.  In a context in which God alone was seen as being able to forgive sins (Mark 2:7; cf. Luke 7:49), Jesus does so.  When accused of blasphemy, he does not state that he was misunderstood and that what he said was a divine passive.  On the contrary, in the clearest of terms Jesus states, ‘I shall prove to you that I, the Son of Man, have authority to do this,’ and proceeds to do so by healing the paralytic.”[6]

 

·     “Up to this point, all Jesus’ activities in Mark are commensurate with his being a charismatic healer: gathering followers, teaching, casting out demons and healing. But in forgiving sins Jesus’ action is without parallel and is outside the scope of the law.  Besides, there is nothing known in any Jewish literature of any person, including the Messiah, who can or would be able to forgive sin, except God.  Therefore, although Jesus is being portrayed as a healer, he is more than that: in his healing (and forgiving) he is acting for God or, perhaps, even as God.”[7]

 

5.    Mark 5.1-23—Jesus’ exorcism of Legion

 

a.    The demon(s) recognize Jesus as the “Son of the Most High God” (v. 7)

 

·     Takes us back to the beginning of the Gospel (1.1)

 

b.    Subtle connection of “Lord” and “Jesus” in verses 19-20

 

·     Readers of Mark’s Gospel would catch this phraseology 

 

c.     Commentators:

 

·     “As discussed previously, consonant with the identification of Jesus as ‘Lord’ in 1.3, now in 5.19-20 the former demoniac identifies ‘the Lord’ with ‘Jesus’.  Mark’s Jesus’ statement in 5.19 seems to imply that Jesus acts as God’s agent, or, to put it another way, God himself is the underlying ‘power source’ in Jesus’ exorcistic activity. On the other hand, the emphasis on Jesus in 5.20 (in connection with ‘the Lord’ in 5.19) subtly confirms the point which the evangelist has been making in 4.35-41/5.1-20, i.e. Jesus’ powerful speech and actions identify him closely with Yahweh (‘the Lord’) the D[ivine] W[arrior] himself.”[8]

 

·     “Although one should not read into 5:19-20 a fully developed Nicene Christology, Mark’s understanding of Jesus in this account goes far beyond such descriptions as ‘prophet’ or even ‘Messiah.’  There exists between God and Jesus a unique relationship and unity. Jesus in his actions and deeds is the Lord (5:19), and what Jesus has done (5:20) is what God the Lord has done (5:19).”[9]

 

6.    Mark 6.45-52—Jesus walks on sea and calms the wind (cf. 4.35-41)

 

a.    Jesus’ “I am” saying in 6.50 and the name of Yahweh in Exodus 3.13-14[10]

 

b.    Jesus wanted “to pass by them”—language used in OT theophanies

 

·     Exodus 33.19, 22; 34.6

 

·     1 Kings 19.11

 

·     Same Greek word used in Mark 6.48 as in Septuagint (LXX)—Greek translation of OT—in Exodus and 1 Kings passage

 

c.     Jesus’ “I am” and his walking on the sea

 

·     In Job 9 Yahweh is described as the One “who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea” (v. 8).  Also see v. 11 about Yahweh “passing by.”

 

d.    Commentators:

 

·     “Jesus is being portrayed here [in walking on the sea] as divine…”[11]

 

·     “But he is also showing that in this epiphany Jesus has been revealed not only as directly empowered by God but also as God uniquely present.  The conclusion is corroborated by the Old Testament assertion that God can control the wind (Ps 104:4; 107:25-30) and that only God is able to walk on the waves (Job 9:8).”[12]

---

     [1]Brant Pitre, “Is Jesus Merely a ‘Human Messiah’ in Mark?” The Jesus Blog(February 3, 2016).  Pitre is quoting Dustin Smith.  Online: http://historicaljesusresearch.blogspot.com/2016/02/is-jesus-merely-human-messiah-in-mark.html. 

     [2]See Michael Kruger, “Does the Gospel of Mark Present Jesus as God?” Canon Fodder(October 14, 2013).  Online: http://michaeljkruger.com/does-the-gospel-of-mark-present-jesus-as-god/. 

     [3]Michael Kruger, “Does the Gospel of Mark Present Jesus as God?” Canon Fodder(October 14, 2013). 

     [4]Michael Kruger, “Does the Gospel of Mark Present Jesus as God?” Canon Fodder(October 14, 2013). 

     [5]Rikk E. Watts, “Mark” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament, edited by G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2007), 120.

     [6]Robert H. Stein, Mark—Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2008), 119.

     [7]Graham H. Twelftree, Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical and Theological Study(Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1999), 65.

     [8]Marcus Throup, “Mark's Jesus, Divine?: A Study of Aspects of Mark's Christology with Special Reference to Hebrew Divine Warrior Traditions in Mark, and in Relation to Contemporary Debates on Primitive Christology”. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham (2014), 182.

     [9]Robert H. Stein, Mark—Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2008), 261.

     [10]I am indebted for this point and the next two to Brant Pitre, “Is Jesus Merely a ‘Human Messiah’ in Mark?” The Jesus Blog(February 3, 2016).

     [11]Adela Yarbro Collins, Mark—Hermeneia (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007), 335 as quoted in Brant Pitre, “Is Jesus Merely a ‘Human Messiah’ in Mark?” The Jesus Blog(February 3, 2016).  Pitre also quotes John Meier, M. Eugune Boring, and Richard Hays as also endorsing this reading.

     [12]Graham H. Twelftree, Jesus the Miracle Worker: A Historical and Theological Study(Downers Grove, Ill.: Intervarsity Press, 1999), 78. Twelftree also adds, “The disciples should have understood Jesus’ statement ‘It is I’ (ego eimi) as a clear disclosure of his divine nature, but they did not.”

Mark Meditations: Mark 4.21-25

Mark 4.21-25

And he was saying to them, 

"A lamp is not brought tobe put under a basket,

 is it, or under a bed?  Is it not

brought to be put on the lampstand?

For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; 

nor has anything been secret, but that it would

come to light.  If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

And he was saying to them, 

"Take care what you listen to.  By your standard

of measure it will be measured to you;

and more will be given you besides.

For whoever has, to him more shall be given; 

and whoever does not have, even what he has

shall be taken away from him."

Mark 4.21-25

* Question: Two separate parables or are they connected?

* Jesus is speaking of hidden things being revealed.

-Perhaps, the parables and their truths being more fully understood

* Jesus is urging: "Take care what you listen to."

* Seems to connect with Mark 4.13-20--each of the four soils has "heard" the word (vv. 15, 16, 18, 20).

* Whereas Mark 4.13-20 the focus is on the results--these kinds of soils and conditions produce this result.  The focus in Mark 4.24-25 is a challenge to the hearers of the word to respond rightly.

-With the soils there is almost a passivity--these conditions produce these effects.

-The charge to "Take care what you listen to" focuses on the person's active response that will determine what kind of soil they will be. 

* v. 24: "more" 

-Correspond to v. 20 "bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold"

* v. 24 "By your standard of measure it will be measured to you..."

-How do you measure or consider the word of the Kingdom that Jesus brings?  Is it the word of life from the Son of God?  If so, and you respond to it as such you will experience the measured more in your life.

* v. 25 "... and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him."

-cf. Mark 4.15 "... and when they hear immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them." 

* Challenge: Will you accept the word of Jesus as that which is worth enduring affliction for (v. 17) and worth forsaking all other things for (v. 19)?  If so, then you will bear fruit in abundance and even more will be given to you.

Mark Meditations: Mark 4.1-20

Mark 4.1-20

* Jesus speaks in parables for a purpose.

-Parables both hide and reveal

-Disciples need Jesus to interprete the parable

* Jesus teaches the crowd from a boat.

-Was this for amphlification?

-Was this for crowd control--if the crowds are mobbing him he cannot teach?

* Jesus teaches about and assumes the reality of Satan and his opposition to the word.

* Enemies of the Word:

 1. Satan

 2.  Persecution

 3.  Lustful/worldly desires

* Think of how Paul's epistles continually address these kinds of realities:

1.  Satan: Eph. 6.10-18; 2 Cor. 2.11; 11.3, 11-15

2.  Persecution: 2 Cor. 1.8-11; 4.7-12; 6.4-10; Phil. 1.29-30

3.  Worldly desires: 2 Cor. 12.20; Gal. 5.16-21; Eph. 4.17-24  

Mark Meditations: Mark 3.31-35

Mark 3.31-35

Then his mother and brothers arrived, and standing

outside they sent word to him and called him.

A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him,

"Behold, our mother and your brothers are outside

looking for you."  Answering them, he said,

"Who are my mother and my brothers?"  

Looking around at those who were sitting around him

he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!

For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother

and sister and mother.

Mark 3.31-35

* Question: What if Jesus had gotten up and gone outside to his mother and brothers?  What would that have communicated?

* Jesus is both relativizing family and re-drawing the boundaries of family obligation.

* Jesus seems to be defining the "doing the will of God" around himself.  Sitting and listening to Jesus was doing the will of God.

* Four times: "mother and brothers"

-Then Jesus mentions "sisters"

-Jesus had men and women sitting around him

For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified

are all from one Father, for which reason he is not

ashamed to call them brethren.

Hebrews 2.11

* Jesus is my brother and he is not ashamed to call me "brother."

-This seems to intimate and yet it is the Word of God!  The roles are not reversible.  He is the sanctifier and I am the recipient of this grace--the sanctified.  Jesus is the author of salvation.  He tastes death for me (Hebrews 2.9)

* Also, it is not just about me--there are others gathered around Jesus whom he calls brothers and sisters.  Jesus redraws the family lines and he is much more inclusive than I am.

Mark Meditations: Mark 3.20-30

Mark 3.20-30

* Jesus gathers extensive crowds due to his ministry
* Jesus is opposed by

-hometown: "He has lost his senses." (v. 21)

-scribes from Jerusalem: "He has an unclean spirit" (vv. 22, 30)

* Jesus responds in parables

-Why? Forces them to think and respond to the truth

* Jesus is recognized by his opponents as having power to cast out demons (v. 22)

-They didn't dispute his power--they challenged its source

* Jesus is plundering the "strong man's house"--people are being set free from demonic control.

Mark Meditations: Mark 3.13-19

Mark 3.13-19

* Jesus goes up on a mountain (symbolic of Moses?)
* Jesus appoints 12 to be with him yet one will betray him (v. 19)
* Jesus wants them to be with him and to send them out to preach and cast out demons
* Jesus gives (his) authority to cast out demons

-Jesus empowers for ministry

And he went up on the mountain and summoned those

whom he himself wanted, and they came to him.

And he appointed twelve, so that they would be with him

and that he could send them out to preach,

and to have authority to cast out demons.

Mark 3.13-15

-Be with Jesus

-Jesus sends them out: (1) to preach and (2) to have authority to cast out demons

* Our job is to be with Jesus.  He will send us out as he sees fit.  He will empower us for ministry in the Word and Power.

 

Mark Meditations: Mark 3.7-12

Mark 3.7-12

* Jesus is followed by great multitudes from all over Israel

-"a great multitude" (v. 7)

-"a great number of people" (v. 8)

-"the crowd" (v. 9)

-"he had healed many" (v. 10)

-"all those who had afflictions pressed around him" (v. 10)

* Jesus is recognized as the Son of God by the unclean spirits
* Jesus has power to heal and to heal many
* Jesus' presence is powerful: the unclean spirits fall down before him
* Jesus will not let the unclean spirits tell who he is

-There is a distinction between his disciples and the crowd (vv. 7, 9) 

Mark Meditations: Mark 3.1-6

Mark 3.1-6

* Jesus is the center of attention--"They were watching him..."
* Jesus takes command of the situation
* Jesus asks challenging questions
* Jesus is angry--grieved at their hardness of heart
* Jesus is the object of their hatred and opposition

* The hardness of heart displayed by the Pharisees is amazing.  They do not care about the hurting in their midst.  The man with a withered hand is a mere prop--at tool to catch Jesus.  The Pharisees don't doubt Jesus' power.  They know he can heal.  They don't rejoice in the healing and restoration of people.  They are seeking to trap Jesus because of his alleged Sabbath violations.

And he said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm

on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?"  

But they kept silent.  

After looking around at them with anger,

grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man,

"Stretch out you hand."  And he stretched it out,

and his hand was restored.

Mark 3.4-5

* The Pharisees were content with the status quo--leave the man unhealed or heal on a different day.  They wanted to subordinate Jesus and his healing power to the Sabbath, to their interpretation of it.

* Jesus' options: to do good or to do harm; to save a life or to kill.

* Of course, the Pharisees would not sanction active violations of the law in doing harm or in killing.  But Jesus goes further with the law.  The prohibition against killing is not merely negative in nature.  The prohibition should move us to love--to positive action that promotes life.

* For Jesus, to leave the man unhealed is tantamount to harming him--to killing him.

* Jesus asks them a question, "But they kept silent."  Their silence was born of hardness of heart.  They knew that the answer would show an inconsistency in their thinking.  They refuse to be led by the logic of Jesus.

Mark Meditations: Mark 2.23-28

Mark 2.23-28

* Jesus is the Son of Man
* Jesus is Lord even of the Sabbath 
* Jesus appeals to Scripture

And he said to them, "Have you never read what David

did when he was in need and he and his companions

became hungry; how he entered the house of God in the 

time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated

bread, which is not lawful for anyone to eat except

the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?

Mark 2.25-26

* Jesus is placing himself in the place of David and his disciples in the place of David's companions.  I can imagine as Jesus makes the statement in Mark 2.2-26--"Have you not read...?--that the Pharisees were thinking, "Of course we know that story!  But that was David--are you comparing yourself to God's anointed one, David?!"

* The Pharisees misunderstand the actions of Jesus because they misunderstand Jesus' identity.

* It's like Jesus is saying, "If you understood who I am and what I am all about, you would understand: (1) Why I eat with tax-collectors and sinners, (2) Why my disciples don't fast right now, and (3) Why I approach the Sabbath the way I do."

Mark Meditations: Mark 2.18-22

Mark 2.18-22

* Jesus is the bridegroom.

-He brings the kingdom and it is time to celebrate!

* Jesus will be taken away from them.
* Jesus brings something new that reorients everything else.
* Jesus does the unexpected.
* Jesus challenges our expectations.

	Mark 2.15-17	Mark 2.18-22
Challenge from…	Scribes & Pharisees	Disciples of John & Pharisees
About…	“Why is he eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?”	“Why… your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus is the…	Physician	Bridegroom

* The presence of Jesus challenges and changes everything!  Everything gets reoriented around Jesus.

* The religious exercise of fasting is contextualized by Jesus.  How it is done and when and its meaning is defined by Jesus!

* Jesus is not concerned about fitting into expected patterns of behavior.  He is establishing new patterns.  His power brings newness.  To recognize this newness in Jesus is to take up his pattern of life.

Mark Meditations: Mark 2.13-17

Mark 2.13-17

* Jesus calls Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him.
* Jesus is eating and drinking at Matthew's house with many tax collectors and sinners.

-"for there were many of them, and they were following him" (v. 15)

"Why is he eating and drinking with tax collectors

and sinners?"  And hearing this, Jesus said to them,

"It is not those who are healthy who need a physician,

but those who are sick; I did not come to call the

righteous, but sinners."

Mark 2.16b-17 

* The challenge to Jesus is that he is doing something wrong by eating with tax collectors and sinners.  His reputation is being sullied and he is being made unclean.  But Jesus' answer presupposes something about his identity--that he is a physician.  His actions are for the sake of healing.  Jesus' presence is healing.

* The Scribes and Pharisees want repentance from people but their vision is to stand afar off.  Jesus also wants repentance but he draws near to pursue it.

* "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

-Call to what?  Jesus called Matthew to follow him!

* I am a sinner.  I need Jesus.  Jesus communes with his people in the Lord's Supper.  I sometimes think, when taking the Lord's Supper, that Jesus is saying, "I still choose to eat with you.  I would choose you again to be in my presence."

* The Scribes do not understand what Jesus is doing or why he is doing it.  They don't understand who he is!

* Think of all the people in the narrative: Scribes, disciples, tax collectors & sinners, and Jesus.  In what ways am I like each person/group?

-Am I standing aloof in judgment like the Scribes?

-Am I entering into Jesus' missional mindset?

-Am I eating and drinking with Jesus as a sinner accepted in his presence?

 -Am I like the disciples, caught up in all this while seeing and learning from Jesus?

Mark Meditations: Mark 2.1-12

Mark 2.1-12

* Jesus heals a paralytic man and forgives his sin.
* Jesus is worthy of audacious actions.

-Four men removing parts of the roof to bring the paralyzed man to Jesus

-They must have been his friends.

-I need friends like this to "bring me to Jesus!"

* Jesus sees faith.
* Jesus forgives sin.
* Jesus is aware of the reasoning of their hearts.
* Jesus is the Son of Man.
* Jesus asks challenging questions.
* Jesus makes authoritative declarations.
* Jesus' words are effective and powerful.
* Jesus speaks and things happen.
* Jesus' words and power produce amazement and people glorifying God.

* The people (and we) are amazed at the healing but I tend to overlook the forgiveness of sins.  I need forgiveness of sins.  If I'm in the story I want to shout out, "Forgive me, too!"

Which is easier to say to the paralytic:

"Your sins are forgiven"; or to say, "Get up,

and pick up your pallet and walk"?

But so that you may know that the Son of Man

has authority on earth to forgive sins--

he said to the paralytic, "I say to you, 

get up, pick up your pallet and go home." 

Mark 2.9-11

* "Easier to say"

a) Both statements are "easy to say" if mouthing mere words is the issue.

b) If it means "easy to say" without seeing visible effects then saying "your sins are forgiven" has no discernable outward manifestation.

c)  If it means "easy to say" and to bring about the effect--why should I think it is easy to forgive sins?  Jesus is rendering the forgivenss of God in light of the coming cross.  He is "writing checks" against the future payment of his blood and life.

d)  There is nothing easy about Jesus procurring my release--my forgivenss of sins.  He must suffer and die for my sins.  He must give his life a ransom for many--Mark 10.45.