Sunday, August 19, 2012 Mark Dispensationally Considered Mark 16:9-20: An Overview of The Last Twelve Verses of Mark

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1 1 Sunday, August 19, 2012 Mark Dispensatinally Cnsidered Mark 16:9-20: An Overview f The Last Twelve Verses f Mark The Last Twelve Verses f Mark Nw that we have reached Mark 16:9, befre we can prceed with ur cnsideratin f the text we need t discuss the mdern belief that these twelve verses shuld nt be in the Bible. Virtually all mdern Evangelical schlarship and textual thery maintains that Mark 16:9-20 shuld nt be in the Bible. Bud Chrysler and Jsh Dakan encuntered this idea in their class at Bible Cllege as recently as last mnth. Verse 8 ends with the wmen fleeing frm the empty tmb, and saying "nthing t anyne, because they were afraid." Many schlars take 16:8 as the riginal ending and believe the lnger ending (16:9-20) was written later by smene else as a summary f Jesus' resurrectin appearances and several miracles perfrmed by Christians. Mst schlars, fllwing the apprach f the textual critic Bruce Metzger, hld the view that verses 9-20 were nt part f the riginal text. Mark 16:9-20 was included in the Rheims New Testament, and in the King James Bible and ther influential translatins. In mst mdern-day translatins based primarily n the Alexandrian Text, it is included but is accmpanied by brackets r by special ntes, r bth. The NIV separates Mark 16:9-20 frm the rest f the text and includes the fllwing nte abve verse 9, The mst reliable early manuscripts and ther ancient witnesses d nt have Mark 16: The NASV attached the fllwing ftnte t verse 9, Sme f the ldest mss. mit verse 9 thrugh 20. A few later mss. and versins cntain this paragraph, usually after verse 8; a few have it at the end f the chapter. Textual critics view verse 8 as the undisputed ending f Mark s gspel. As the NASV ftnte indicates sme textual critics advcate fr what is called the shrter ending which adds the fllwing 9 th verse: And they reprted all the instructins briefly t Peter's cmpanins. Afterwards Jesus himself, thrugh them, sent frth frm east t west the sacred and imperishable prclamatin f eternal salvatin. Amen. The inclusin f verses 9-20 as it stands befre us in the King James Bible is knwn as the lnger ending. Others have advcated fr an even lnger ending, knwn as the Freer Lgin which includes the insertin f additinal text between verses 14 and 15. And they excused themselves, saying, This age f lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, wh des nt permit Gd s truth and pwer t cnquer the evil [unclean] spirits. Therefre, reveal yur justice nw. This is what they said t Christ. And Christ replied t them, The perid f years f Satan s pwer has been fulfilled, but ther dreadful Pastr Bryan Rss

2 2 things will happen sn. And I was handed ver t death fr thse wh have sinned, s that they may return t the truth and sin n mre, and s they may inherit the spiritual, incrruptible, and righteus glry in heaven. The New Living Translatin summarizes these pints in their ftnte which reads, The mst reliable early manuscripts cnclude the Gspel f Mark at verse 8. Other manuscripts include varius ending t the Gspel. Tw f the mre ntewrthy are printed here. In rder t get t the bttm f what is ging here I wuld like fr yu t cnsider the fllwing ftnte frm the Scfield Reference Bible. The passage frm verse 9 t the end is nt fund in the mst ancient manuscripts, the Sinatic and Vatican, and ther have it with partial missins and variatins. As we have cnsidered ftntes frm the NIV, NASV, NLT, and the Scfield Refernce Bible what keeps cming up as the main argument fr leaving verses 9-20 ut f the Bible? These verses are nt fund in the earliest and mst reliable manuscripts. Frm Scfield we learn that we are really nly talking abut tw manuscripts Cdex Sinaiticus and Cdex Vaticanus. Cdex Sinaiticus ( ) 4 th century uncial manuscript that did nt cme t the schlars attentin until it was fund at St. Catherine s Mnastery and Greek Orthdx mnastery in the 19 th century. Cdex Vaticanus ( ) is ne f the ldest extant manuscripts f the Greek Bible (Old and New Testament), ne f the fur great uncial cdices. The Cdex is named fr the residence in the Vatican Library, where it has been stred since at least the 15th century. It is written n 759 leaves f vellum in uncial letters and has been dated t the 4th century. Schlars initially were unaware f the Cdex's value, which changed in the 19th century when transcriptins f the full cdex were cmpleted. It was extensively used by Westctt and Hrt in their editin f The New Testament in the Original Greek in The mst widely sld editins f the Greek New Testament are largely based n the text f the Cdex Vaticanus. Please nte, that the existence f ne these manuscripts (Cdex Sinaiticus) was nt even knwn t schlars until the 19 th century. Meanwhile the schlastic value f the ther (Cdex Vaticanus) was nt realized by Prtestant schlars until the Vatican released transcriptins f the full cdex in the 19 th century. S the 1881 editin f the Greek New Testament released in 1881 by Westctt and Hrt was based primarily n a Rman Cathlic manuscript and Greek Orthdx manuscript that were either unknwn r unstudied until the 19 th century. S d we really want t thrw Mark 16:9-20 as well as scres f ther passages ut f the Bible simply because tw ld Greek manuscripts dn t include these verses? Be careful hw yu answer. If yu say yes, what yu are saying is that frm the 1 st century until the 19 th when these Pastr Bryan Rss

3 3 mss. were either discvered r studied Bible believing Christians did nt pssess the cmplete and accurate wrd f Gd. In Appendix 168 f his Cmpanin Bible, E.W. Bullinger lays bare the truth regarding the last twelve verses f Mark. As t the manuscripts, there are nne lder than the furth century, and the ldest tw uncial MSS (Cdex Sinaiticus and Cdex Vaticanus) are withut thse twelve verses. Of all the thers (cnsisting f sme eighteen uncials and sme six hundred cursive MSS, which cntain the Gspel f Mark) there is nt ne which leaves ut these twelve verses. Bullinger ges n t cite the testimny f early translatins that either predate r are cntempraries with Cdex Sinaiticus and Cdex Vaticanus (4 th Century). The SYRIAC. The ldest is the Syriac in it varius frms: the "Peshitt" (2 nd Century) and the "Curetnian Syriac" (3 rd Century). Bth are lder than any Greek Manuscript in existence, and bth cntain these twelve verses. The LATIN Versin. JEROME (A.D. 382), wh had access t Greek Manuscripts lder than any nw extant, includes these twelve verses; but this Versin (knwn as the Vulgate) was nly a revisin f the VETUS ITALA, which is believed t belng t the 2 nd century, and cntains these verses. The GOTHIC Versin (A.D. 350) cntains them. The EGYPTIAN Versins: the Memphitic (r Lwer Egyptian, less prperly called "COPTIC"), belnging t cent. 4 r 5, cntains them; as des the "THEBAIC" (r Upper Egyptian, less prperly called the "SAHIDIC"), belnging t cent. 3. The ARMENIAN (cent. 5), the ETHIOPIC (cent. 4-7), and the GEORGIAN (cent. 6) als bear witness t the genuineness f these verses. As if this testimny were nt enugh t prve that Mark 16:9-20 shuld be in the Bible, Bullinger destrys the theries f the mdern textual critics by citing the writings f the church fathers regarding these verses. The FATHERS. Whatever may be their value (r therwise) as t dctrine and interpretatin yet, in determining actual wrds, r their frm r sequence, their evidence, even by an allusin, as t whether a verse r verses existed r nt in their day, is mre valuable than even manuscripts r Versins. There are nearly a hundred ecclesiastical writers lder than the ldest f ur Greek cdices; while between A.D. 300 and A.D. 600 there are abut tw hundred mre, and they all refer t these twelve verses. PAPIAS (abut A.D. 100) refers t verse 18 (as stated by Eusebius, Hist. Ecc iii. 39). Pastr Bryan Rss

4 4 JUSTIN MARTYR (A.D. 151) qutes verse 20 ( Apl. I. c. 45). IRENAEUS (A.D. 180) qutes and remarks n verse 19 (Adv. Her. lib. iii. c. x.). HIPPOLYTUS (A.D ) qutes verses (Lagarde's ed., 1858, page 74). VINCENTIUS (A.D. 256) quted tw verses at the seventh Cuncil f Carthage, held under CYPRIAN. The ACTA PILATI (cent. 2) qutes verses 15, 16, 17, 18 (Tischendrf's ed., pages 243, 351). The APOSTOLICAL CONSTITUTIONS (cent. 3 r 4) qutes verses 16, 17, 18. EUSEBIUS (A.D. 325) discusses these verses, as quted by MARINUS frm a lst part f his Histry. APHRAARTES (A.D. 337), a Syrian bishp, quted verses in his first Hmily (Dr. Wright's ed., 1869, i., page 21). AMBROSE (A.D ), Archbishp f Milan, freely qutes verses 15 (fur times), 16, 17, 18 (three times), and verse 20 (nce). CHRYSOSTOM (A.D. 400) refers t verse 9; and states that verses 19, 20 are "the end f the Gspel". JEROME (b. 331, d. 420) includes these twelve verses in his Latin translatin, besides quting verses 9 and 14 in his ther writings. AUGUSTINE (fl. A.D ) mre than qutes them. He discusses them as being the wrk f the Evangelist MARK, and says that they were publicly read in the churches. Based upn the evidence, there is n legitimate reasn that any reasnable persn wuld think that Mark 16:9-20 shuld nt be in the Bible. There is a reasn why we use and stand fr the King James Bible here at Grace Life Bible Church. Yu need t be skeptical f any s called schlarship that tries t change r crrect the Bible. Either we have a final authrity r we d nt. S What is the Real Prblem with the Last Twelve Verses f Mark? The real prblem is the dctrine that is cntained within these verses, especially in 15 thrugh 18. Mark 16:15-16 all the mainline denminatins cnsider this t be their cmmissin and marking rder fr tday even thugh they dn t accurately teach verse 16. Mark 16:17 the Baptist want verses 15 and 16 but drp ut at verse 17 while the Pentecstal/charismatic crwd claims that tngues and exrcism is fr tday. Mark 16:18 the Baptists want n part f this verse. Pentecstals pick and chse what is wrking tday and what is nt. Meanwhile, the Kentucky snake handlers and full gspel crwd tempt fate rutinely by claiming the entire passage is fr us tday. Dctrinally it wuld be a lt easier t just say based upn the authrity f the tw mst ancient manuscripts this passage shuld nt be in the Bible. By ding that cntrversy is avid and n ne is frced t actually study their Bible. Pastr Bryan Rss

5 5 The real prblem peple have in Mark 16 has nthing t d with manuscripts, texts, and translatins it has t d with a failure t rightly divide the wrd f truth. E.W. Bullinger tuched n this pint as well in Appendix 168 when he stated: When later transcribers f the Greek manuscripts came t the last twelve verses f Mark, and saw n trace f such spiritual gifts in existence, they cncluded that there must be smething dubtful abut the genuineness f these verses. Hence, sme may have marked them as dubtful, sme as spurius, while thers mitted them altgether. A phenmenn f quite an ppsite kind is witnessed in the present day. Sme (believers in these twelve verses), earnest in their desire t serve the Lrd, but nt "rightly dividing the Wrd f truth" as t the dispensatins, lk arund, and, nt seeing these spiritual gifts in peratin, determine t have them (!) and are led int all srts f mre than dubtful means in their desire t btain them. The resulting "cnfusin" shws that Gd is "nt the authr" f such a mvement (see1 Crinthians 14:31-33). I accept these verses as they stand in the King James Bible. Over the next cuple weeks we are ging t study verse by verse thrugh the passage as we have thrughut ur series f studies in Mark. I lk frward t demnstrating t yu frm the wrd f Gd that the answer t the dctrinal prblems raised in these verses is nt the cast them ut f the Bible but t rightly divide the wrd f truth. Pastr Bryan Rss