Home \ Contents \ Site Search \ Contact

 

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARK

by Greg Williamson (c) 2002, 2008

COPYRIGHT RELATED INFO

UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED, ALL SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS

ARE FROM THE New Living Translation.

 

Special thanks to Tyndale House Publishers for their permission

to use the entire book of Mark (NLT) in this Bible study.

 

 

SECTION

  

KEY VERSE

[SOURCE INFO]

  

OUTLINE / OVERVIEW

[SOURCE INFO]
Introduction   “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)  

  • Author

  • Reason for writing

  • Historical setting

  • Original audience

  • Type of literature

  • Key themes

  • Structure

[4,125 words]

I. INTRODUCTION (1:1-13) [SOURCE INFO]

Jesus the Servant is presented (1:1 - 2:12) [SOURCE INFO]
Mark, Chapter 1   This is the Good News about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1)  

  • The office of John the Baptist (v. 1)

  • Jesus is baptized (v. 9)

  • tempted (v. 12)

  • he preaches (v. 14)

  • calls Peter, Andrew, James, and John (v. 16)

  • heals one that had a devil (v. 23)

  • Peter’s mother in law (v. 29)

  • many diseased persons  (v. 32)

  • and cleanses the leper  (v. 40)

[5,600 words]

II. THE GALILEAN PERIOD: MINISTRY AROUND THE SEA OF GALILEE (1:14-5:43)

Jesus the Servant is opposed (2:13 - 8:26)
Mark, Chapter 2    “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” (Mark 2:22)  

  • Christ followed by multitudes (v. 1)

  • heals one sick of the palsy (v. 3)

  • calls Matthew from the receipt of custom (v. 13)

  • eats with Publicans and sinners (v. 15)

  • excuses his disciples for not fasting (v. 18)

  • and for plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath day (v. 23)

[2,935 words]
Mark, Chapter 3  

“Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mark 3:35)

  

  • Christ heals the withered hand (v. 1)

  • and many other infirmities (v. 10)

  • rebukes the unclean spirit (v. 11)

  • chooses his twelve apostle  (v. 13)

  • convinces the blasphemy of casting out devils by Beelzebub (v. 22)

  • and shows who are his brother, sister, and mother (v. 31)

[3,435 words]
Mark, Chapter 4   He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secret of the Kingdom of God. But I use parables for everything I say to outsiders” (Mark 4:11)  

  • The parable of the sower (v. 1)

  • and the meaning thereof (v. 14)

  • We must communicate the light of our knowledge to others (v. 21)

  • The parable of the seed growing secretly (v. 26)

  • and of the mustard seed (v. 30)

  • Christ stilleth the tempest on the sea (v. 35)

[3,580 words]
Mark, Chapter 5   And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” (Mark 5:34)  

  • Christ delivering the possessed of the legion of devils (v. 1)

  • they enter into the swine (v. 13)

  • He is entreated by Jairus to go and heal his daughter (v. 22)

  • He heals the woman of the bloody issue (v. 25)

  • and raises from death Jairus’ daughter. (v. 35)

[3,625 words]
III. THE GALILEAN PERIOD: FURTHER JOURNEYS IN GALILEE (6:1-9:50)
Mark, Chapter 6   Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things. (Mark 6:34)  

  • Christ is contemned of his countrymen (v. 1)

  • He gives the twelve power over unclean spirits (v. 7)

  • Divers opinions of Christ (v. 14)

  • John the Baptist is imprisoned, beheaded, and buried (v. 16)

  • The apostles return from preaching (v. 30)

  • The miracle of five loaves and two fishes (v. 34)

  • Christ walks on the sea (v. 45)

  • and heals all that touch him (v. 53)

[5,305 words]
Mark, Chapter 7   “And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.” (Mark 7:13)  

  • The Pharisees find fault with the disciples for eating with unwashed hands (v. 1)

  • They break the commandment of God by the traditions of men (v. 8)

  • Meat defiles not the man (v. 14)

  • He heals the Syrophenician woman’s daughter of an unclean spirit (v. 24)

  • and one that was deaf, and stammered in his speech (v. 31)

[4,180 words]

Jesus the Servant instructs (8:27 - 10:52)
Mark, Chapter 8   “Don’t you understand yet?” he asked them. (Mark 8:21)  

  • Christ feeds the people miraculously (v. 1)

  • refuses to give a sign to the Pharisees (v. 10)

  • admonishes his disciples to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod (v. 14)

  • gives a blind man his sight (v. 22)

  • acknowledges that he is the Christ who should suffer and rise again (v. 27)

  • and exhorts to patience in persecution for the profession of the gospel (v. 34)

[5,325 words]
Mark, Chapter 9   Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed. (Mark 9:2)  

  • Jesus is transfigured (v. 1)

  • He instructs his disciples concerning the coming of Elias (v. 11)

  • casts forth a deaf and dumb spirit (v. 14)

  • foretells his death and resurrection (v. 30)

  • exhorts his disciples to humility (v. 33)

  • bidding them not to prohibit such as are not against them, nor to give offence to any of the faithful (v. 38)

[8,580 words]
IV. THE JUDEAN PERIOD (10:1-13:37)
Mark, Chapter 10   “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)  

  • Christ disputes with the Pharisees touching divorcement (v. 1)

  • blesses the children that are brought unto him (v. 13)

  • resolves a rich man how he may inherit life everlasting (v. 17)

  • ;tells his disciples of the danger of riches (v. 23)

  • promises rewards to them that forsake anything for the gospel (v. 28)

  • foretells his death and resurrection (v. 32)

  • ;bids the two ambitious suitors to think rather of suffering with him (v. 35)

  • and restores to Bartimaeus his sight (v. 16)

[6,630 words]

Jesus the Servant is rejected (11:1 - 15:47)
Mark, Chapter 11  

Jesus was in the center of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Mark 11:9)

  

  • Christ rides with triumph into Jerusalem (v. 1)

  • curses the fruitless fig-tree (v. 12)

  • purges the temple (v. 15)

  • exhorts his disciples to stedfastness of faith, and to forgive their enemies (v. 20)

  • and defends the lawfulness of his actions by the witness of John, who was a man sent of God (v. 27)

[4,450 words]
Mark, Chapter 12   “At the time of the grape harvest, he sent one of his servants to collect his share of the crop.” (Mark 12:2)  

  • In a parable of the vineyard let out to wicked husbandmen Christ foretells the reprobation of the Jews, and the calling of the Gentiles (v. 1)

  • He avoids the snare of the Pharisees and Herodians about paying tribute to Caesar (v. 13)

  • convicts the Sadducees of error, who denied the resurrection (v. 18)

  • resolves the scribe, who questioned of the first commandment (v. 28)

  • refutes the opinion that the scribes held of Christ (v. )

  • bidding the people to beware of their ambition and hypocrisy (v. 38)

  • and commends the poor widow for her two mites, above all (v. 41)

[5,715 words]
Mark, Chapter 13   “And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert!”  (Mark 13:33)  

  • Christ foretells the destruction of the temple (v. 1)

  • the persecutions for the gospel (v. 9)

  • that the gospel must be preached to all nations (v. 10)

  • that great calamities shall happen to the Jews (v. 14)

  • and the manner of his coming to judgment (v. 24)

  • the hour whereof being known to none, every man is to watch and pray, that we be not found unprovided, when he comes to each one particularly by death (v. 32)

[4,835 words]

V. THE PASSION AND RESURRECTION NARRATIVES (14:1-16:20)

Mark, Chapter 14   And he said to them, “This is my blood, which confirms the covenant between God and his people. It is poured out as a sacrifice for many.” (Mark 14:24)  

  • A conspiracy against Christ (v. 1)

  • Precious ointment is poured on his head by a woman (v. 3)

  • Judas sells his Master for money (v. 10)

  • Christ himself foretells how he shall be betrayed by one of his disciples (v. 12)

  • after the passover prepared, and eaten, institutes his last supper (v. 22)

  • declares aforehand the flight of all his disciples, and Peter’s denial (v. 26)

  • Judas betrays him with a kiss (v. 43)

  • He is apprehended in the garden (v. 46)

  • falsely accused and impiously condemned of the Jews’ council (v. 53)

  • shamefully abused by them (v. 65)

  • and thrice denied of Peter (v. 66)

[10,205 words]
Mark, Chapter 15   Then at three o’clock Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”  (Mark 15:34)  

  • Jesus brought bound, and accused before Pilate (v. 1)

  • Upon the clamour of the common people, the murderer Barabbas is loosed, and Jesus delivered up to be crucified (v. 6)

  • He is crowned with thorns, spit on, and mocked (v. 16)

  • faints in bearing his cross (v. 21)

  • hangs between two thieves (v. 27)

  • suffers the triumphing reproaches of the Jews (v. 29)

  • but is confessed by the centurion to be the Son of God (v. 39)

  • and is honourably buried by Joseph (v. 42)

[8,250 words]

Jesus the Servant is resurrected (16:1-20)
Mark, Chapter 16   but the angel said, “Don’t be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead! Look, this is where they laid his body.” (Mark 16:6)  

  • An Angel declares the resurrection of Christ to three women (v. 1)

  • Christ himself appears to Mary Magdalene (v. 9)

  • to two going into the country (v. 12)

  • then to the apostles (v. 14)

  • whom he sends forth to preach the gospel (v. 15)

  • and ascends into heaven (v. 19)

[6,775 words]

SOURCES

Home \ Contents \ Site Search \ Contact