Gospel of Mark Bible Study Resources

by Krisan Marotta | Jun 21, 2018 | 02 Library, Resources by Book

Gospel of Mark Bible Study Resources

Everything you need to kick start your study of the Gospel of Mark: maps, charts, key words, history, background, outlines, and links to help you study.

Jump to: Background; ** Maps; ** Key Words; ** Encyclopedias; ** Commentaries; ** Articles; ** GotQuestions ** Next **

Bible Study: Questions Jesus Asked

Gospel of Mark Basics

Author: Mark (aka, John or John Mark; Acts 12:12; Acts 12:25; Acts 15:37), who was a companion of both Paul and Peter, cousin of Barnabas (Col 4:10).
See: Who was Mark?
Like all the gospels, the author is not identified, but Papias (c. 110-140 AD) quotes an earlier source saying: Mark was a close associate of Peter and learned the material in his gospel from Peter’s preaching.
John was his Hebrew name. Mark, his Greek name. He is referred to as the son of Mary (Acts 12:12) so his father likely died young. Some of the church fathers include John Mark as one of the 70 sent out by Jesus.
Date: 65-68 AD
Most early church fathers said Mark wrote after Peter’s death (64 AD?) except Clement of Alexandria claimed Mark’s gospel was written while Peter was still alive.
Modern scholars believe Mark’s gospel was the first one written. However, the early church fathers unanimously believed Matthew’s gospel was the first written.
Audience: mostly Gentiles in Rome.
Purpose: likely to encourage Christians in Rome who were facing persecution
Almost half of Mark’s gospel is concerned with the last week of the life of Christ.
Mark’s mother had a large house that was used as a meeting place for the church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12).
Barnabas and John Mark were cousins (Col 4:10).
Barnabas & Paul took John Mark with them when they returned from the Jerusalem conference (Acts 12:25).
Mark accompanied Barnabas and Paul on their first missionary journey but turned back in Perga and returned to Jerusalem (Act 13:13).
When Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them on their 2nd journey, Paul refused. The disagreement led to: Barnabas taking Mark and traveling to Cyprus; Paul taking Silas and traveling through Syria and Cilicia (Acts 15:36-41). But also 2 missionary journeys instead of one.
Eventually Paul and Mark worked out their differences as Mark was with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment (Col 4:10) and near the end of Paul’s life Paul wrote that Mark was useful to him in ministry (2 Tim 4:11).
Most scholars think the young man in Mark 14:15-52 is John Mark.

Gospel of Mark Structure

Geographical markers set the two main parts of Mark’s account:
Mark 1:14: Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God,
Mar 10:1 And he left there and went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them.

A Simple Outline

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:45

Chapter 1:1-13—Introductory credentials
Chapter 1:14-8:30 — Ministry of the servant
Chapter 8:31-16:20—Ransoming work of the servant

Style of Mark’s Gospel

Frequent use of sets of three

three seed parables (Mark 4:3-32).
three popular opinions about John (Mark 6:14-15).
three popular opinions about Jesus (Mark 8:27-29).
three predictions of the Passion (Mark 8:31; Mark 9:31; Mark 10:33-34).
three failures of the disciples to stay awake in Gethsemane (Mark 14:32-34).
three denials of Jesus by Peter (Mark 14:66-72).

Use of doublets between Mark 4:41 (Who is this?) and Mark 8:29 (Who do you say I am?)

Two water miracles: Jesus calms the storm (Mark 4:35-41) and walks on water (Mark 6:45-52).
Two healings: dead girl and sick woman ( 5:21-41) and deaf and mute man (Mark 7:31-37).
Two multiplications of bread: feed 5000 (Mark 6:34-44) and feed 4000 (Mark 8:1-10).
Two sayings on the meaning of bread and hardened hearts (Mark 6:52; Mark 8:14-31).

Themes

“The Messianic Secret”: Jesus silences the demons (Mark 1:25; Mark 1:34; Mark 3:12); Jesus silences the disciples (Mark 8:30; Mark 9:9); fullest confession of Jesus’ identity happens at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:39).
The failures of the disciples: failures of understanding that that Messiah will suffer; failure of loyalty and commitment culminating with them fleeing at Jesus’ arrest.

Genre: Understanding the Gospels

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Section 1: Background

Background & Outlines

Rick Aschmann’s Chronology of the Four Gospels (PDF)

Bible Atlas: Galilee

Bible Atlas: Nazareth

Bible Atlas: Jerusalem

Bible Atlas: Jordan River

Bible Atlas: Bethlehem

Introduction to New Testament Jewish Groups

Chronology of Acts/Epistles from Blue Letter Bible

Biblehub: Timeline of Mark

List of the miracles of Jesus

Overview of the Book by Ray C Stedman

Author, Date, Background by John MacArthur

Mark Overview from Blue Letter Bible

NIV: Introduction to Mark

ESV: Introduction to Mark

ESV: The Global Message of Mark

Ligonier: Introduction to the Gospels

Ligonier: Introduction to Mark

David Malick (Bible.org): An Introduction to the Gospel Of Mark

David Malick: An Argument Of The Gospel Of Mark

James Van Dine: Analysis of Mark

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Section 2: Maps

Maps from Holman Bible Atlas

Rome’s Emergence as a World Power

Early Rome

Roman Expansion in the 3rd & 2nd centuries BCE

Civil Wars amidst Roman Expansion in 1st century BCE

Roman Empire in the Age of Augustus

Romans, Palestine, and Herod the Great

Roman Rule in Palestine 63-40 BCE

The K ingdom of Herod the Great

Herod’s Building Program

The World of Jesus

The Division of Herod’s Kingdom

Palestine under the Herods

Palestine in the Time of Jesus (1)

Palestine in the Time of Jesus (2)

Qumran and the Dead Sea Scrolls

The Life and Ministry of Jesus

Jesus’ Birth and Early Childhood

The Birth, Childhood, and Baptism of Jesus

John the Baptist

Galilee in the Time of Jesus

Jesus’ Ministry in Galilee and Journey to Jerusalem

The Ministry of Jesus around the Sea of Galilee

The Ministry of Jesus beyond Galilee

Jesus’ M i nistry according to John

Jesus’ Journeys from Galilee to Judea

Jesus in Judea and Jerusalem

Jerusale m in the New Testament Period

The Pas si on Week in Jerusalem

Maps from Bible-History.com

New Testament World

Israel in New Testament Times

Herod the Great’s Kingdom

Herod’s Kingdom Divided

Herod’s Temple

Je rusalem at the time of Jesus

Jesus’ Early Ministry

Jesus in Galilee

Nazareth-Galilee

New Testament Jerusalem

Apostles’ Journeys

World of the New Testament

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Section 3: Key Words

Key Words in Mark

Occurrences are based on New American Standard Text. “4x/3v” means the word appears 4 times in 3 verses. “3x” means the word appears 3 times in 3 verses.

God (44x) – Strong’s G2316; “Son of God” (4x)

disciples (42x) – Strong’s G3101 in Mar 2:15; Mar 2:16; Mar 2:18; Mar 2:23; Mar 3:7; Mar 3:9; Mar 4:34; Mar 5:31; Mar 6:1; Mar 6:29; Mar 6:35; Mar 6:41; Mar 6:45; Mar 7:2; Mar 7:5; Mar 7:17; Mar 8:1; Mar 8:4; Mar 8:6; Mar 8:10; Mar 8:27; Mar 8:33; Mar 8:34; Mar 9:14; Mar 9:18; Mar 9:28; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:10; Mar 10:13; Mar 10:23; Mar 10:24; Mar 10:46; Mar 11:1; Mar 11:14; Mar 12:43; Mar 13:1; Mar 14:12; Mar 14:13; Mar 14:14; Mar 14:16; Mar 14:32; Mar 16:7.

immediately (39x) – Strong’s G2117 in Mar 1:10; Mar 1:12; Mar 1:18; Mar 1:20; Mar 1:21; Mar 1:28; Mar 1:29; Mar 1:30; Mar 1:42; Mar 1:43; Mar 2:8; Mar 2:12; Mar 3:6; Mar 4:5; Mar 4:15; Mar 4:16; Mar 4:17; Mar 4:29; Mar 5:2; Mar 5:29; Mar 5:30; Mar 5:42; Mar 6:25; Mar 6:27; Mar 6:45; Mar 6:50; Mar 6:54; Mar 7:25; Mar 8:10; Mar 9:15; Mar 9:20; Mar 9:24; Mar 10:52; Mar 11:2; Mar 11:3; Mar 14:43; Mar 14:45; Mar 14:72; Mar 15:1.

kingdom (18v) / kingdom of God (14x) – Strong’s G932 in Mar 1:15; Mar 3:24; Mar 4:11; Mar 4:26; Mar 4:30; Mar 6:23; Mar 9:1; Mar 9:47; Mar 10:14; Mar 10:15; Mar 10:23; Mar 10:24; Mar 10:25; Mar 11:10; Mar 12:34; Mar 13:8; Mar 14:25; Mar 15:43.

father/Father (18x) – Strong’s G3962 in Mar 1:20; Mar 5:40; Mar 7:10; Mar 7:11; Mar 7:12; Mar 8:38; Mar 9:21; Mar 9:24; Mar 10:7; Mar 10:19; Mar 10:29; Mar 11:10; Mar 11:25; Mar 11:26; Mar 13:12; Mar 13:32; Mar 14:36; Mar 15:21.

Lord (15x) – Strongs G2962 in Mar 1:3; Mar 2:28; Mar 5:19; Mar 7:28; Mar 11:3; Mar 11:9; Mar 12:11; Mar 12:29; Mar 12:30; Mar 12:36; Mar 12:37; Mar 13:20; Mar 16:19; Mar 16:20; Strong’s G2634b in 10:42

“Son of man” (14x) in Mar 2:10; Mar 2:28; Mar 8:31; Mar 8:38; Mar 9:9; Mar 9:12; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:33; Mar 10:45; Mar 13:26; Mar 14:21; Mar 14:41; Mar 14:62; Mar 15:39.

teacher/Teacher (12x) – Strong’s G1320 in Mar 4:38; Mar 5:35; Mar 9:17; Mar 9:38; Mar 10:17; Mar 10:20; Mar 10:35; Mar 12:14; Mar 12:19; Mar 12:32; Mar 13:1; Mar 14:14.

temple (11x) – Strong’s G2413 in Mar 11:11; Mar 11:15; Mar 11:16; Mar 11:27; Mar 12:35; Mar 13:1; Mar 13:3; Mar 14:49; Mar 14:58; Mar 15:29; Mar 15:38.

authority (9x) – Strong’s G1849 in Mar 1:22; Mar 1:27; Mar 2:10; Mar 3:15; Mar 6:7; Mar 11:28; Mar 11:29; Mar 11:33; Strong’s G2715 in Mar 10:42.

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Section 5: Commentaries