The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on ActsMark 16

Mr 16:1 CXXXIV. ANGELS ANNOUNCE THE RESURRECTION TO CERTAIN WOMEN. PETER AND JOHN ENTER THE EMPTY TOMB. (Joseph's Garden. Sunday, very early.) Mt 28:1-8 Mr 16:1-8 Lu 24:1-8,12 Joh 20:1-10

Mr 16:6 Behold, the place where they laid him. Here is a double wonder, that men should put the Son of God in a grave, and that he should consent to be put there. (TFG 740)

Mr 16:7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you. The women were told to hasten, for the disciples were not to endure their sorrow a moment longer than was needful. Peter was mentioned by name that he might know that he was not cast off for his denial. The Lord appeared to some chosen few in Judaea, but the large body of his disciples were to see him in Galilee. See Section CXLI (Topic 9009). Jesus had appointed a place of meeting; but we are not told where it was nor when he appointed it. (TFG 740)

Mr 16:8 And they went out, and fled from the tomb. The women, having received the message of the angels, and remembering that the message accorded with the words of Jesus himself (Lu 24:8), made haste. And they said nothing to any one. They told none whom they met, but reserved the message for the apostles. For they were afraid. See TFG "Mt 28:8". (TFG 741, 742-743)

Mr 16:9 CXXXV. FIRST AND SECOND APPEARANCES OF THE RISEN CHRIST. THE RESURRECTION REPORTED TO THE APOSTLES. (Jerusalem. Sunday morning.) Mt 28:9,10 Mr 16:9-11 Lu 24:9-11 Joh 20:11-18 He appeared first to Mary Magdalene. Mark here agrees with John that Mary separated from the other women (Joh 20:2). As to Mary Magdalene, see TFG "Lu 7:37" and see TFG "Lu 8:2". After telling Peter and John about the empty tomb, Mary followed them back to it, and evidently reached it after they had left it. She found no one at the tomb. (TFG 743)

Mr 16:10 As they mourned and wept. The poignancy of the disciples' grief, even after the intervention of the Sabbath day, explains why the Lord and his angels were so eager to bring them word of the resurrection. (TFG 745)

Mr 16:11 They . . . disbelieved. Lamar well says that this very incredulity on the part of the apostles "enhances the value of their testimony to the fact of the resurrection. They were not expecting it; they were no visionary enthusiasts, prepared to welcome and credit any story that might be told them; nor would they be satisfied with any proof short of palpable and ocular demonstrations." When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her. It is likely that Mary brought the first word, for we shall see below that Luke places her first in the catalogue of witnesses (Lu 24:10). (TFG 745-746)

Mr 16:12 CXXXVII. THIRD AND FOURTH APPEARANCES OF JESUS. (Sunday afternoon.) Mr 16:12,13 Lu 24:13-35 1Co 15:5 He was manifested in another form. That is, another manner. (TFG 748)

Mr 16:13 And they went and told it to the rest. Their news was too precious to keep. They could not sit still till the disciples in Jerusalem knew it. Neither believed they them. They now believed that Jesus had risen, but they did not believe that these two had walked and talked with him without recognizing him {*}. {*} Here again we dissent. So general a statement of unbelief would not be used when there was a mere doubt as to some of the narrated details. We prefer in our original comment to this substitution, and it was this: Mark shows us that little dependence can be placed upon the apparently strong admission which Luke records. Unable to contradict the testimony of Peter, they said, "The Lord is risen indeed" (Lu 24:34); but their hearts were, nevertheless, full of doubt. Luke himself shows this in the next section, for these professedly believing apostles took Jesus for a spirit when they saw him. (TFG 751)

Mr 16:14 CXXXVIII. FIFTH APPEARANCE OF JESUS. (Jerusalem. Sunday evening) Mr 16:14 Lu 24:36-43 Joh 20:19-25 And he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart. Here, as in the previous section, Jesus shows that the heart has much to do with the belief (see TFG "Lu 24:27"). Because they believed not them who had seen him after he was risen. They had had the testimony of three men and perhaps a half dozen women; they had not lacked evidence. (TFG 752)

Mr 16:15 CXLII. THE GREAT COMMISSION GIVEN. (Time and place same as last section.) Mt 28:18-20 Mr 16:15-18 Lu 24:46,47 Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation. The command calls for the Christianizing of all nations. If we realized better that authority with which Christ prefaces his commission (Mt 28:18), the conquest of the nations in his name would seem to us a small matter indeed, and we should set about it expecting to witness its speedy accomplishment. (TFG 763)

Mr 16:16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Baptism brings us into divine relation to God. Being a part of the process of adoption, it is called a birth (Joh 3:5). The baptized Christian bears the name into which he is baptized (Ro 2:24 Jas 2:7). (TFG 763)

Mr 16:17,18 In my name shall they cast out demons. See Ac 5:16 8:7 16:18 Ac 19:12. They shall speak with new tongues. See Ac 2:4 10:46 19:6. (TFG 763)

Mr 16:18 They shall take up serpents. See Ac 28:3-5. And if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them. The Book of Acts gives examples of each one of these except the fourth. Though we have no record of a disciple escaping the effects of drinking poison, there is little doubt that in the many persecutions such cases did occur. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. See Ac 3:6-8 5:15,16 9:17,18,34,40,41 19:12 28:8,9. (TFG 763-764)

Mr 16:19 CXLIV. THE ASCENSION. (Olivet, between Jerusalem and Bethany.) Mr 16:19,20 Lu 24:50-53 Ac 1:9-12