Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

• Conditions and events before the Flood 6:9-7:10
  6:9-12 "The same explanation for Enoch's rescue from death (he walked with God') is made the basis for Noah's rescue from death in the Flood: he walked with God' (6:9). Thus in the story of Noah and the Flood, the author is a...
• The law of the peace (fellowship) offering 7:11-36
  This is the only offering that ordinary Israelites could eat, but the priests also ate a part. This pericope clarifies who could eat what and when. For many Israelites eating the peace offering was probably the main, and perh...
• 1. Uncleanness due to contact with certain animals ch. 11
  "This chapter contains a selected list of creatures that divides each type of creature into various classes of purity. According to the final verse in the chapter, the decisive question was whether a class of animals was uncl...
• Conclusion
  Genesis reveals how people can have a relationship with God. This comes through trust in God and obedience to Him. Faith is the key word in Genesis. God proves Himself faithful in this book.Exodus reveals that God is also sov...
• 3. Laws arising from the third commandment 14:1-21
  The third commandment is, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain"(5:11). This section of laws deals with the exclusiveness of the Lord and His worship as this pertains to Israel's separation from all other ...
• The importance of persistence 4:20-27
  The last pericope of this chapter emphasizes the importance of persisting in the good practices that will lead to life. Success usually comes to those who keep concentrating on and perfecting the basics in their work. Our tem...
• Jesus' view of the Old Testament 5:17-20
  It was natural for Jesus to explain His view of the Old Testament since He would shortly proceed to interpret it to His hearers.5:17 Some of the Jews may have already concluded that Jesus was a radical who was discarding the ...
• The healing of a centurion's servant 8:5-13 (cf. Luke 7:1-10)
  8:5 Centurions were Roman military officers each of whom controlled 100 men, therefore the name "centurion."They were the military backbone of the Roman Empire. Interestingly every reference to a centurion in the New Testamen...
• Jesus' preaching and teaching about man's heart 15:10-20
  15:10-11 Jesus had been responding to the question of His critics so far. Now He taught the assembled crowds the same lesson and at the same time gave a direct answer to the Pharisees and scribes. He responded with a parable ...
• Characteristics
  Notice first some linguistic characteristics. Mark used a relatively limited vocabulary when he wrote this Gospel. For example, he used only about 80 words that occur nowhere else in the Greek New Testament compared with Luke...
• Mark's position among the Gospels
  It is common today for scholars to hold Markan priority. This is the view that Mark wrote his Gospel first and the other Gospel evangelists wrote after he did. This view has become popular since the nineteenth century. Before...
• Outline
  I. Introduction 1:1-13A. The title of the book 1:1B. Jesus' preparation for ministry 1:2-131. The ministry of John the Baptist 1:2-82. The baptism of Jesus 1:9-113. The temptation of Jesus 1:12-13II. The Servant's early Galil...
• II. The Servant's early Galilean ministry 1:14--3:6
  Mark omitted Jesus' year of early Judean ministry (John 1:15-4:42), as did the other Synoptic evangelists. He began his account of Jesus' ministry of service in Galilee, northern Israel (1:14-6:6a). Because of increasing oppo...
• Healing on the Sabbath 3:1-6 (cf. Matt. 12:9-14; Luke 6:6-11)
  The following incident demonstrated Jesus' sovereign authority over the Sabbath. This is the last in this series of conflict accounts. It provides the climax in this section of Mark's narrative.3:1-2 This event happened on a ...
• 1. Jesus' ministry to the multitudes 3:7-12 (cf. Matt. 12:15-21)
  This pericope introduces Jesus' continuing ministry in Galilee following the religious leaders' decision to kill Him (cf. 1:14-15; 2:13). It provides much more detail than the parallel account in Matthew.3:7-8 The sea to whic...
• 2. Jesus' teaching in parables 4:1-34
  This is the first of three extended teaching sessions that Mark recorded (cf. 7:1-23; 13:3-37). The three parables in this section describe the character of the messianic kingdom.Parables are illustrations that teach truth by...
• 2. Jesus' rejection by the Nazarenes 6:1-6a (cf. Matt. 13:54-58)
  Even though Jesus gave ample evidence that He was more than a mere man (4:35-5:43) those who knew Him best on the physical plane still refused to believe in Him (6:1-6a). This refusal led Jesus to turn increasingly from the m...
• IV. The Servant's self-revelation to the disciples 6:6b--8:30
  The increasing hostility of Israel's religious leaders and the rejection of the multitudes (3:7-6:6a) led Jesus to concentrate on training His disciples increasingly. This section of Mark's Gospel shows how Jesus did that. Wh...
• A. The mission of the Twelve 6:6b-30
  This is another of Mark's "sandwich"or chiastic sections. The main event is Jesus' sending the Twelve on a preaching and healing mission that extended His own ministry. Within this story, between their departing and their ret...
• Jesus' teaching about the source of authority 7:6-13
  In replying Jesus did not explain or justify His disciples' conduct. Instead He addressed the issue of the source of religious authority (vv. 6-13) and the issue of the nature of defilement (vv. 14-23).7:6-7 Jesus boldly call...
• Jesus' teaching about the nature of defilement 7:14-23
  Jesus continued His response to the critics by focusing on the particular practice that they had objected to (v. 5). The question of what constituted defilement was very important. The Jews had wandered far from God's will in...
• 4. Jesus' teaching about bread and the exorcism of a Phoenician girl 7:24-30 (cf. Matt. 15:21-28)
  Jesus increased His ministry to Gentiles as He experienced increasing rejection from the Jews. This third withdrawal from Galilee took Jesus outside Palestine for the first time. Mark also recorded Jesus doing more things out...
• C. The second cycle of self-revelation to the disciples 8:1-30
  The disciples had not yet understood the lessons that Jesus sought to teach them. Mark constructed his Gospel to show that in His discipleship training Jesus repeated lessons to train them. One writer noticed the following re...
• 3. Conflict with the Pharisees over signs 8:11-13 (cf. Matt. 16:1-4)
  Matthew's account of this incident is fuller than Mark's. Probably Mark just summarized it here to parallel 7:1-23 and so advance his theme of discipleship training.8:11 Matthew noted that the Sadducees accompanied the Pharis...
• 1. The first major prophecy of Jesus' passion 8:31-33 (cf. Matt. 16:21-23; Luke 9:22)
  8:31 Jesus' clear revelation of His coming suffering, death, and resurrection resulted from Peter's confession of faith. The disciples were now ready to receive what would have been completely incomprehensible if they still v...
• C. Jesus' teaching on Mt. Olivet ch. 13
  The Olivet Discourse is the longest section of Jesus' teaching that Mark recorded (cf. 4:1-34; 7:1-23). Mark used this discourse as a bridge between Jesus' controversies with Israel's leaders (11:27-12:44) and the account of ...
• 1. The setting 13:1-4 (cf. Matt. 24:1-3; Luke 21:5-7)
  13:1 This discourse evidently followed Jesus' departure from the temple on Wednesday with His disciples. The stones that caught the disciple's eye were probably those above the floor of the temple courtyard. Herod the Great h...
• Bibliography
  Adams, J. McKee. Biblical Backgrounds. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1965.Alexander, Joseph Addison. The Gospel According to Mark. 1881. Reprint ed. London: Banner of Truth, 1960.Alexander, William M. Demonic Possession in the N...
• Jesus' question and Peter's reply 9:18-20 (cf. Matt. 16:13-16; Mark 8:27-29)
  Luke omitted several incidents here that the other evangelists included (Matt. 14:22-16:12; Mark 6:45-8:26; John 6:16-66). By doing so, he tied the questions of Herod and the multitude about Jesus' identity with Peter's answe...
• 3. The importance of participation 10:1-16
  The theme of discipleship training continues in this section of verses. The 70 disciples that Jesus sent out contrast with the three men Luke just finished presenting (9:57-62). This was a second mission on which Jesus sent a...
• The question of true cleanliness 11:37-41
  11:37-38 Many of Jesus' teaching opportunities arose during meals (cf. 14:1-24; Matt. 15:1-20; 23:1-36; Mark 7:1-22). This was one such situation. Jesus offended His host by not washing ritually before eating. Luke omitted an...
• Peter's vision 10:9-16
  "Though Peter was not by training or inclination an overly scrupulous Jew, and though as a Christian his inherited prejudices were gradually wearing thin, he was not prepared to go so far as to minister directly to Gentiles. ...
• 1. The law's authority 7:1-6
  7:1 "Those who know law"--the article "the"before "law"is absent in the Greek text--were Paul's Roman readers. They lived in the capital of the empire where officials debated, enacted, and enforced laws. They of all people we...
• 1. The reason God has set Israel aside 10:1-7
  The reason for Israel's failure mentioned in 9:32-33, namely her rejection of Christ, led Paul to amplify that subject further in this section.10:1 This pericope opens with Paul returning to his feelings of compassionate conc...
• 2. The evil of offending another 14:13-23
  In the previous section Paul addressed both the "weak"and the "strong"Christians, but he spoke mainly about the weaker brother's temptation to condemn the stronger believer. In this section he dealt more with the temptation t...
• Refutation of the Corinthians' false premises 6:12-14
  Paul began by arguing against his recipients' distortion of Christian freedom and their misunderstanding of the nature of the body.6:12 Paul was and is famous as the apostle of Christian liberty. He saw early in his Christian...
• 4. The issue of marketplace food 10:23-11:1
  As with the issue of marriage, however, Paul granted that there are some matters connected with idolatry that are not wrong. He next gave his readers some help in making the tough choices needed in view of the amoral nature o...
• C. Correction of another apostle 2:11-21
  Paul mentioned the incident in which he reproved Peter, the Judaizers' favorite apostle, to further establish his own apostolic authority and to emphasize the truth of his gospel.2:11 Peter had shaken hands with Paul in Jerus...
• C. The false doctrines of men 2:16-23
  Having revealed what believers have in Christ, Paul next pointed out the errors of the false teachers more specifically to help his readers identify and reject their instruction."Sad to say, there are many Christians who actu...
• E. The problem of apostasy in the church 4:1-5
  In this pericope Paul reminded Timothy of the apostasy that Jesus Christ had foretold to equip him to identify and to deal with it.143"The change that occurs at 4:1 following the hymn of victory, then, is not unexpected. Oppo...

Expositions Of Holy Scripture (Maclaren)

• St. Mark 1-9
  Mark 1-9