Monday, May 24, 2010

"The Gospel" in Mark 1:15


Dispensationalists teach that "the gospel" in Mark 1:15 is a different gospel than "the gospel" in Mark 16:15. They say "the gospel" in Mark 16:15 refers to "the gospel" found in John 3:14-15, but that "the gospel" in Mark 1:15 is another gospel.

But when you harmonize Mark and John's accounts of Jesus' life, it appears that Jesus said John 3:14-15...

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

BEFORE He said Mark 1:15...

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

John 3:14-15 records something Jesus said before John was put in prison while Mark 1:15 records something Jesus said after John was put in prison. So it would seem that "the gospel" in Mark 1:15 is the one and only gospel, "that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures".

John 3:14-24
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. ... After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison.

Mark 1:14-15
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel.

...

3 comments:

BibleGreg said...

I believe that not everything Jesus said in the Gospels applies doctrinally to his Church, some things are meant only for Israel when Christ returns to reign over them. We can apply this spiritually to our lives though.

Therefore, Dispensationalists try to make sense of this problem by dividing too many things and therefore miss the mark.

The Charismatics apply the literal blessings of riches etc. for Israel to themselves before Christ comes and the J.W's apply it to them latter when He comes. Both are wrong.

A christian today is to: "Col 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."
Paul said, " 2Co 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."

So it would be better to say that it is the same Gospel in each reference as Philip proved. But rather that it was not made known to the Gentiles until Israel rejected it. First Israel then the Gentiles as seen in the following verses:

Joh 1:11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Acts 3: 26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.


Matt. 10: 5 ¶ These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:

Matt. 15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Ro 1:16 ¶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Ro 2:10 But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

Great find Philip.

Greg

Cheek said...

To be more precise, I think you should use John 3:14-15 rather than John 3:16. I don't think it can be proven that the entirety of John 3 was spoken by Jesus (even though the words are in red in your KJV--John, of course, did not write this section in red ink on his papyrus). I think it could be argued that the words of Jesus stop after verse 15. Verse 16, then, would be the beginning of John's commentary on Jesus' words in verses 1-15. John inserts commentary many times throughout his gospel, and I believe this may be an example of it. Verses 16ff do not seem (to me) to be a part of Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus. His words in 3:1-15 seem to be more of a personal conversation than 3:16-24. Verse 16essentially restates 3:14-15, and John inserts a commentary explaining the gospel ramifications of Jesus' discussion with Nicodemus.

I am not dogmatic that this is correct, but it is at least a possibility.

Cheek said...

Greg,

You said, "So it would be better to say that it is the same Gospel in each reference as Philip proved. But rather that it was not made known to the Gentiles until Israel rejected it. First Israel then the Gentiles as seen in the following verses"

At what point do you think the gospel was made known to the Gentiles? You said it was after the Jews rejected it. When did they reject it? During Christ's ministry? At the crucifixion? During the early church period?

In John 1:11-12, John is not saying that the gospel was not made known to the Gentiles. Rather, Jesus spent most of his time among the Israelites. This is also the situation in Acts 3:26. There is no reference to the gospel being exclusively for the Jews until a certain point.

In Matthew 10:5, the fact that Jesus sends his disciples to the Jews only does not imply by any means that the gospel was not open to the Gentiles.

I don't believe Matthew 15:24 proves your point. If you look at the context, it seems that Jesus is testing the woman's faith, and the point of the passage is to show that Jesus offered the gospel to foreigners who exercised true faith.

The references in Romans which say that the gospel was "to the Jew first" do not state that the gospel was not available to the Gentiles as well.

The verses you showed do demonstrate that Jesus had an important mission to the Jews, but I do not believe that Jesus believed that his mission was only to the Jews during His earthly ministry:

Matthew 12:17-18,21 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: "BEHOLD, MY SERVANT WHOM I HAVE CHOSEN;
MY BELOVED IN WHOM MY SOUL is WELL -PLEASED; I WILL PUT MY SPIRIT UPON HIM, AND HE SHALL PROCLAIM JUSTICE TO THE GENTILES. . . . "AND IN HIS NAME THE GENTILES WILL HOPE."

Jesus probably said this before he said Matthew 15:24.

Conclusion: There is no biblical basis to state that the gospel "was not made known to the Gentiles until Israel rejected it." Jesus ministry was primarily focused in Israel, but the gospel was available for Gentiles throughout His whole ministry. There was not a specific point at which the gospel was available to Gentiles.