Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Mark 16:15

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Mark 16:15. Go ye into all the world — Matthew 28:19.

And preach the Gospel to every creature. — Proclaim the glad tidings - of Christ crucified; and raised from the dead - to all the creation, πασῃ τῃ κτισει - to the Gentile worid; for in this sense בריות berioth, is often understood among the rabbins; because HE, through the grace of God, hath tasted death for EVERY man, Hebrews 2:9. And on the rejection of the Gospel by the Jews, it was sent to the whole Gentile world.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

166. On a mountain in Galilee (Matthew 28:16-20; Mark 16:15-18)

The apostles had an indication why Jesus had told them to go to Galilee when he took them up one of the mountains. From there they could look out to the next stage of the kingdom’s mission, the Gentile nations beyond. The three and a half years public ministry of Jesus had been limited to Israel (cf. Matthew 10:5-6; Matthew 15:24; Romans 15:8), but the ministry that the risen Jesus now passed on to his disciples extended to all nations without distinction. His power would be in his disciples, preserving them through dangers and enabling them to perform remarkable works (Matthew 28:16-17; Mark 16:15-18).

Jesus’ purpose in this activity was to establish his church (cf. Matthew 16:18), as his followers preached the gospel, baptized those who believed, and taught the converts to understand and follow his teachings. As the converts, in turn, passed the message on to others, the church would continue its worldwide expansion, assured always that the victorious Jesus was working with his people (Matthew 28:18-20).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and reach the gospel to the whole creation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned.

Notice the dramatic shift to singular pronouns in these verses; although addressed to THEM and YE, that is the eleven, there is not a plural word afterward in these verses, this no doubt being designed by the Holy Spirit in order to thwart any application of Mark 16:17-20 to any persons whomsoever except the eleven. Matthew’s account of the great commission is loaded with plurals, but there is not one in Mark’s account.

Go ye into all the world … Christ’s assignment to the apostles was that of the universal proclamation of the saving gospel. There is not even one obscure village on earth which Christ intended to be left out.

Preach the gospel to the whole creation … The use of the word CREATION here is significant, this being the same word Paul used in Roman 8:19-21, where it is sometimes rendered "creature." The meaning does not include lower orders of life, but only humankind. Many speculative theories are built on a misunderstanding with regard to this. The KJV has "every creature" in this place; but the meaning is "every person on earth."

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved … In linking faith and baptism as binding preconditions to salvation, Christ made it clear enough that salvation is the result, not of merely believing but of believing and being baptized. The reasons underlying this are as profound as the New Testament itself. Salvation depends upon the absolute and perfect righteousness of the individual saved, there being nothing that a sinner can either believe or do that could endow him with any degree of righteousness approaching what is required for salvation. The Medieval theory of God’s imputing righteousness to a sinner is ridiculous. There is nothing that God could put into a sinner that would make him righteous. And if it is suggested that God’s Spirit could do so, let it be recalled that God’s Spirit is not given to sinners, but to sons (that is, persons in Christ), as stated in Galatians 4:6.

However, there is a way that God makes people righteous. What is that? He transfers the sinner into Christ WHO IS RIGHTEOUS; and thus the sinner is saved in Christ and as Christ. (See Galatians 2:16; Galatians 2:20). Thus, God’s plan of salvation is not that of imputing righteousness into sinners, but the transference of sinners INTO Christ. The preconditions upon which Christ promised to transfer sinners into himself are here stated as faith and baptism. For extended discussions of the theological questions involved in such considerations, see my Commentary on Romans, Romans 3. Since Christian baptism is the initiatory rite by which the sons of Adam are inducted into Christ, it was absolutely correct for the Lord to have linked it with faith in this passage as a prerequisite of salvation. There is no way that people can remove this teaching from the doctrine of Christ; but that they are able to get it out of THEIR doctrine is evident everywhere. What this passage does to the theory of salvation by "faith only" is the inherent reason for the "reservations" that some have as regards the authenticity of this passage.

He that believeth not shall be condemned … Ah, but this does not say, "He that believeth NOT and is NOT baptized shall be condemned." True enough, but that is exactly what it means. The quibble raised by such a question is unworthy of intelligence and faith alike, it being implicit in the nature of baptism that, unless one believed, he COULD NOT be baptized.

The close resemblance between the words of the Great Commission, as stated here and as recorded in Matthew, makes it clear that Mark is here relating events of the great Galilean appearance referred to in Mark 16:7, the same being further strong evidence of the unity of the entire chapter.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Into all the world - To the Gentiles as well as the Jews. It was contrary to the opinions of the Jews that the Gentiles should be admitted to the privileges of the Messiah’s kingdom, or that the partition wall between them should be broken down. See Acts 22:21-22. It was long before the disciples could be trained to the belief that the gospel was to be preached to all men; and it was only by special revelation, even after this command, that Peter preached to the Gentile centurion, Acts 10:0; Jesus has graciously ordered that the preaching of the gospel shall be stopped by no barriers. Wherever there is man, there it is to be proclaimed. To every sinner he offers life, and all the world is included in the message of mercy, and every child of Adam is offered eternal salvation.

Preach - Proclaim; make known; offer. To do this to every creature is to offer pardon and eternal life to him on the terms of the plan of mercy - through repentance, and faith in the Lord Jesus.

The gospel - The good news. The tidings of salvation. The assurance that the Messiah has come, and that sin may be forgiven and the soul saved.

To every creature - That is, to every human being. Man has no right to limit this offer to any class of men. God commands his servants to offer the salvation to “all men.” If they reject, it is at their peril. God is not to blame if they do not choose to be saved. His mercy is manifest; his grace is boundless in offering life to a creature so guilty as man.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 16

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome [so we get these two Marys, who was, of course, standing afar off watching the crucifixion with them] had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. And very early in the morning, the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun. And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, [and he was] clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted [frightened]. And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted [Don't be frightened]: ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold [this is] the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see him, as he said unto you ( Mark 16:1-7 ).

So, here we find that first Easter morning the women coming to the sepulchre. As we go back to the previous chapter and they rolled the stone unto the door of the sepulchre, we realize that behind that sepulchre there did lie a dead concept of God. For Jesus came to reveal the Father unto man. Man had lost sight of God. Man had so many false concepts of God. Even those who studied the scriptures had developed false concepts of God, and Jesus came to reveal the truth of God to man. "No man has seen the Father at any time but the only begotten Son that is in the bosom of the Father, He hath demonstrated, or declared Him, made Him known." To Philip, He said, "Have I been so long a time with you, Philip? Haven't you seen Me? If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." He came to reveal the Father and He revealed a God of love, a God of compassion, a God who is sensitive and cared about the needs of man. For you see, Jesus said, "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." And if you think of Jesus, you see how He went about doing good, how He went about helping those that were oppressed, opening the eyes of the blind, giving strength to those that were lame, giving life to those who were dead. "If you've seen Me, you've seen the Father." You've seen the desires of the God for man. But man had rejected that concept of God. They rejected that concept of a God of love, and with cruel hatred, they crucified Jesus and placed His body in the sepulchre and rolled the stone over the door of the sepulchre. And behind the stone, that dead concept of God.

Also behind that stone there lay a dead religion. For Jesus had brought to man a new religion that was different from all other religions. For man's religions all had man reaching out to God. But Jesus declared that God was actually reaching out to man. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." All of the religions had the specified works whereby man might become worthy of God. Jesus said, "The work that God is interested in is that you just believe on Him who He has sent." And rather than specifying the works whereby you might be approved of God, He told of the work that God had done for man. And that man's salvation rested not on his works, but upon God's work and man's faith in God's work. But they rejected that religion, a religion that taught of redemption. The Greek said redemption was impossible; once a man went bad, there was no hope of redeeming him. It is interesting that our penal system is beginning to recognize this fact. A tremendous volume . . . two volumes have been written by psychologists who have been in a study for fifteen years on the rehabilitation program of our correctional institutions. They used to be called penal institutions; now they're correctional institutions after the sociologists got into the game. And you know, "man's problem is only his environment, and all you have to do is give him the right environment and he'll do right." And so, these two sociologists or psychologists studied for fifteen years the case history of over 1,000 inmates back in Illinois, and made detailed studies of the whole process of their incarceration and all. And of those over 1,000 men that were studied in this particular study that was made, only one man was rehabilitated through the modern correctional institutions. Only one man! And when he was released, he was very sick and died shortly afterwards. The only successful case. This book is shaking up the whole judicial, police and penal institutions. I mean, it's damning evidence against the philosophies and the concepts. In fact, it almost agrees with the Greek philosophy that redemption is impossible: "Once a man has gone bad, there's no hope."

But Jesus said there was hope. He said, "I've come to redeem. I've come to seek and to save that which was lost." And He brought really a hope to man, but they rejected that and they crucified Him. And behind the stone there was a dead hope of redemption. But they came early the first day of the week. And what did they find? The stone was rolled away. Why? To let Jesus out? Nope! They didn't have to roll the stone away to let Him out; He could have passed right through. He was in His new body. Later on He passed right through the walls into the house where they were visiting. So obviously, the stone wasn't rolled away to let Him out. It was rolled away to let them in, so they could see what God had done.

Interesting to me, that as they were on their way, they were worried among themselves as to who would roll away the stone. So typical of worry, because in reality, they were worried about something that they never needed to worry about. And so much of your worry is about things you don't need to worry about. Because by the time you arrive at that scene, God has already preceded you there and taken care of it. And that's what they discovered. Who's going to roll away the stone? They were worried about how they were going to get the stone away. But by the time they got there, God had preceded them and had already rolled it away. Those stones that you're worried about this week, how you're going to roll them away, don't worry about them. God's going to precede you there and by the time you get there, He's going to have the whole thing all covered, taken care of. Worry is a needless expenditure of time and energy. The Lord surely doesn't want us to worry.

So, the good news!

And they went out quickly, and fled from the sepulchre; for they trembled and were amazed: neither said they any thing to any man; for they were afraid ( Mark 16:8 ).

Now the angel that was there said, "Go tell the disciples and Peter." Where was Peter the last time we saw him? In the depths of despair because of his failure. The last time Jesus looked at Peter was when the rooster had crowed and Peter had fulfilled the prophecy of Jesus and had denied Him three times. "And when the cock crowed, Jesus looked at Peter and Peter went out and he just wept bitterly." He had so miserably failed. Jesus said, "All of you are going to be offended tonight because of Me." Peter said, "Lord, if they are all offended, I'll never be offended." Jesus said, "Oh, Peter, before the cock crows you will have denied Me three times." "I'll never deny You! Though they kill me, I wouldn't deny You." And the little girl came up and said, "Aren't you with Him?" "No, I don't know Him, don't know what you're talking about." "Surely you're one of them. I've seen you." "Oh, no, not me." And those that were around began to say, "Why, you must be! You're a Galilean. You've got the accent of a Galilean." He began to curse and swear and say, "I don't know the Man." And the rooster crowed, and Jesus looked at Peter. "Failure! Failure! I've failed You, Lord! I've failed You, God! Oh, Lord, I'm a failure!" "And he went out and was weeping bitterly." That's the last time we saw him.

Now as the first message of the resurrected Lord, there was a special little addendum, "Tell Peter." "You know, I'm not through with you, Peter. Sure, you failed, but hey! I'm risen, Peter. It's going to be a new game, a new life...Go tell the disciples and Peter." The Lord's special interest in Peter, and following it, it's interesting, the special way by which was restored by Jesus.

And it might be noted that there are those certain scholars that say that this part of the gospel of Mark should not be in the record, from verse nine to the end. That this was added by some other writer later on and was not a part of the original, but was added by someone who was copying the scriptures at a later date. Their authority for this is that this particular portion of Mark's gospel is not found in two of the ancient manuscripts: the Siniaticus and the Vatican, which are two of the oldest manuscripts that are in existence today. And because from verse nine to the end of the sixteenth chapter of Mark are not in these particular two manuscripts, it's declared to be spurious. The Kodus Siniaticus dates back to about the year 400 and it is one of the oldest manuscripts that we do have, full type of manuscripts. Now there are little koduses and all which predate this, but it's one of the oldest fuller type manuscripts that we have. It was found on Mount Sinai there in the St. Catherine's monastery by Tichendorf. And it is true that this is not in that particular manuscript. However, in the vast of majority of manuscripts it does exist. Manuscripts that, admittedly, are written later. However, two church fathers, Iraneous and Hipolatus, both quote from this particular part of Mark's gospel. The interesting thing is, both Iraneous and Hipolatus lived between the years 200 and 300. So they were quoting from older manuscripts, no doubt than the Siniaticus. Because they died before the Siniaticus was ever copied or made. So the strong evidence is that this does belong in the gospel of Mark, that it was deleted for whatever reason from the Siniaticus and from those manuscripts, the Vaticanus, that originated in Alexandria Egypt. But all of the manuscripts that come out of the area of Antioch, the Syriac, the Eastern and all...all have this last portion of the gospel of Mark. So, there are hundreds of manuscripts with the last portion of the gospel of Mark, omitted from two, but yet quoted by church fathers who predate the manuscript of the Siniaticus. So, they've got to be quoting from something that they had as a record prior to the Kodus Siniaticus. So I accept it as genuine.

Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils ( Mark 16:9 ).

John will give us a more full account of His appearance to Mary.

And she went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept ( Mark 16:10 ).

Now, this is the third day after and they're still mourning and weeping. I mean, it was a wipeout. You can be sure. All of their hopes were pinned in Jesus. They were hoping for the kingdom to be established by Him. And they're devastated that He was crucified, and they're still weeping and mourning three days later. And Mary came and she said, "I've seen Jesus. He was there. He appeared to me in the garden." And they said, "Ah, go on! Hysterical women!"

And after that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country ( Mark 16:12 ).

In Luke's gospel he'll tell us more fully about the two men on the road to Emmaus to whom Jesus appeared, and we'll study that in Luke.

And they went [came back] and told it unto the residue [rest of the disciples]: neither believed they them [but they wouldn't believe them]. Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them [He read them the riot act] with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen ( Mark 16:13-14 ).

You know, in a sense it's sort of comfortable that these guys were such skeptics. It's all the more proof of the risen Christ. Of course, tremendous proof in just their changed lives. Look at them before the resurrection and after the resurrection, and the changed lives testify of the resurrection.

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature ( Mark 16:15 ).

Now the commission is to all the world; originally Jesus sent them out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now the commission is to the whole world.

He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned ( Mark 16:16 ).

That's what I told you before; you can either believe or not believe. He that believes and is baptized will be saved. He that believes not will be damned. I mean, the Bible doesn't really mince much words. In John we read, "He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son of Life shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." You're in one of two boats. You either believe or don't. You're either saved or damned.

And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover ( Mark 16:17-18 ).

Now, these signs are given in context of going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature. As they're preaching the gospel to every creature, yes, they will be speaking in new tongues, new languages. I think of the tremendous translation work of the Wycliffe Society today, casting out devils. That's a task that the missionaries find quite common. It isn't as common here in the United States because of the powerful Christian influence. But you get into some of the foreign lands, and demonology becomes a very heavy issue.

Taking up serpents ( Mark 16:18 );

You remember when they were building a fire on the island after the shipwreck, and a poisonous asp fastened on Paul? And the natives said, "Wow! He must really be a wicked man. Because even though he escaped the judgment of the storm and the shipwreck, yet the gods aren't going to let him live." And they waited for Paul to roll over in convulsions and die. And after awhile Paul just shook the thing off into the fire. And after awhile when nothing happened to Paul and he didn't go into convulsions and die, they said, "He must be a god." And they were ready to worship him as a god. There are those cults today who foolishly gather rattle snakes and they get into some kind of a spiritual frenzy, speaking in tongues and all, and then they take the rattlesnakes and they begin to pass them around the circle. Down in the hills of Kentucky, there are quite a few of these snake handlers. And actually, they are not all in Kentucky; there were some people over in Long Beach who were involved in this cult. So it's close to home.

Another radical pastor took poison around and had each one of his board members drink the poison to prove their faith, whether or not they had enough faith to serve on the board of the church. Some of the board members did not have enough faith, and the pastor was charged with second-degree murder. When Satan took Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple, he said unto Him, "Jump! For it is written, 'He will give His angels charge over you to keep you in all your ways, lest at any time you dash your foot against the stone.'" And Jesus said, "It is written again, 'Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.'" The Lord never intended anybody to deliberately put themselves into jeopardy to prove anything. He doesn't expect you to go out and take up rattlesnakes to prove that you have faith, or to drink poison to prove that you have faith. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." You are not to do any foolish rash act to make a proof of your faith.

So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God ( Mark 16:19 ).

Henceforth you will not see the Son of Man until you see Him sitting at the right hand of the throne in glory.

And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following ( Mark 16:20 ).

Now, there is an order in the scripture, and the signs are never to be used as gimmicks, as extravaganzas, as a spectacular display to draw attention of people. The signs in the scripture were used to confirm the truth of what they were declaring. And those today who are going around advertising miracle services, "Come and see a miracle! Come get your healing!" and who are going around advertising and are using signs, miracles and wonders as a tool to draw people's attention or to draw the crowd, are not following the scriptural pattern. That was not the purpose. The purpose of the signs and the wonders were to confirm the truth of the message that they were declaring that Jesus was risen from the dead. The signs followed, not preceded. And any time you put the signs up front and make the big thing over signs, you are reversing God's order. The big thing was the proclaiming of God's truth. That was foremost, that was first. The signs only confirmed that what they were proclaiming was indeed truth.

Next week, we start the gospel of Luke.

Father, we thank You for the power of Jesus Christ. And we thank You, Lord, that through Him we have life and that more abundantly. Lord, help us as we go forth this week to share that life in Jesus. That His light might shine forth through us, that those who are in darkness may see the light, might come to the light and be saved. Thank You, Lord, for Your Word, a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. May we walk in its light. In Jesus' name. Amen.

What shall I do with this man Jesus who is called the King of the Jews? You've got to determine that yourself. You're the judge. But you're also the plaintiff, you're judging yourself. If you haven't received Him, you have rejected Him. If you haven't confessed Him, you have denied Him. If you don't believe in Him, you're lost. I would encourage you tonight to confess Jesus as your Savior, to believe in Him, to submit your life to the King. Bow before His throne, kiss His scepter. You'll find that to serve Him is to reign in righteousness and in love and peace. Maybe tonight you'd like to make your commitment to Jesus Christ. I would encourage you to go back to the prayer room. And there, just get on your knees before the Lord and just ask God to take over your life. Give Him the loose ends, the broken pieces. You'll be amazed how He can put it together and make something worthwhile out of you. For Jesus declared that redemption was possible. That's why He came, to seek and to save those who are lost.

God bless you, fill you with His love, with the power of His Spirit. And may you be obedient to His commission as you go into your world and declare His gospel to those around you. By your life that you live and by the opportunities He gives for you to speak. May the Lord make it a very profitable week to you spiritually as you grow in grace and in knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. "

Contending for the Faith

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

And he said unto them: Just as Jesus has heralded the gospel in Galilee (1:14), the Eleven are to be the heralds of the gospel to the world. Jesus gives this commission to His apostles while they are on the mountain in Galilee, a little over a week after His resurrection--an interval of time completely ignored by Mark. It is probable this charge is the same one recorded by Matthew (28:19) and repeated immediately before Jesus’ ascension from Bethany (Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:3-8).

Go ye into all the world: The apostles’ preaching is not to be confined to Judea, but it is to extend to all the world--to Gentiles as well as Jews. It is not until after Peter’s vision (Acts 10) sends him to preach to the household of Cornelius that the Jewish Christians understand the universal nature of the gospel.

and preach the gospel: The word "preach" is from keruxate and means "to publish; to proclaim openly" (Thayer 346). The verb is in the second person, plural number, and imperative mood, meaning Jesus is commanding "You preach," speaking directly to the apostles. The word "gospel" is euaggelion and means the "good news" (Analytical Greek Lexicon 172). The gospel is the wonderful news that we can have the forgiveness of sins through the atoning death of Jesus. Paul gives this explanation of "the gospel":

Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:1-4).

Paul adds the gospel is God’s power unto salvation (Romans 1:16).

to every creature: This phrase is pasei tei ktisei and is better translated "to all the creation" (Marshall 216). The gospel is to be offered to every human being. Contrast this commission with the first one Jesus gives His apostles during His early Galilean ministry:

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: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 10:5-6).

Now Jesus commands His apostles to offer salvation to all men. If they choose to reject salvation, it is their own fault. God is not to blame if men do not choose to be saved.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

1. Three post-resurrection appearances 16:9-18

These three accounts stress the importance of disciples believing what Jesus had taught, specifically that He would rise from the dead, with increasing urgency.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

B. the appearances and ascension of Jesus 16:9-20

Many modern interpreters believe Mark ended his Gospel with Mark 16:8. [Note: E.g., Carson and Moo, pp. 187-90.] This seems unlikely to some others since if he did he ended it with an example of disciples too fearful and amazed to bear witness to the resurrected Jesus. Throughout this Gospel we have noted many unique features that appeal to disciples to serve God by bearing bold witness to Jesus, even in spite of persecution and suffering. They believe the women’s example would hardly be a good example for Mark to close his Gospel with.

The ending of Mark’s Gospel is one of the major textual problems in the New Testament. The main reason some interpreters regard Mark 16:9-20 as spurious is this. The two oldest Greek uncial manuscripts of the New Testament (fourth century), Codex Sinaiticus (Aleph) and Codex Vaticanus (B), plus many other old manuscripts, do not contain them. Moreover the writings of some church fathers reflect no knowledge of these verses. On the other hand, Mark 16:9-20 do appear in the majority of the old manuscripts, and other church fathers do refer to them. [Note: For more details, see Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, pp. 122-26.] Some interpreters believe the vocabulary, style, and content of these verses argue against Mark’s authorship of them. [Note: E.g., Wessel, p. 792; Bratcher and Nida, pp. 517-22; et al.] This has led many modern scholars to conclude that Mark 16:9-20 were not part of Mark’s original Gospel. [Note: E.g., Swete, p. cxiii; A. F. Hort, The Gospel According to St. Mark, p. 199; B. B. Warfield, An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament, p. 203; Joel F. Williams, "Literary Approaches to the End of Mark’s Gospel," Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 42:1 (March 1999):21-35; The NET Bible note on 16:9; Lane, pp. 591, 601-5; et al.]

If they were not part of Mark’s original Gospel, where did they come from, and are they part of the inspired Word of God or not inspired?

It may be that Mark 16:9-20 were part of Mark’s original Gospel and, for reasons unknown to us today, they were not included in some ancient copies of it. Thus these verses are as fully authoritative as the rest of the Gospel. [Note: John W. Burgon, The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark; Morison, pp. 446-49, 463-70; Lenski, pp. 750-55; et al.]

Another view is that someone added Mark 16:9-20 to give this Gospel a more positive ending. He could have done so without divine inspiration, in which case these verses lack the divine authority that marks the rest of Scripture.

Alternatively someone could have added Mark 16:9-20 under the superintending influence of the Holy Spirit, in which case these verses have equal authority with the rest of the Gospel. [Note: Grassmick, p. 194.] There are other passages of Scripture that seem to have been written somewhat later than the body of the book in which they appear but which the Jews and later the Christians regarded as inspired. For example, the record of Moses’ death appears at the end of Deuteronomy, which most conservatives believe Moses wrote (cf. Deuteronomy 34:5-12). Another example is the references to the town of Dan in the Book of Genesis, which town did not go by that name until after Moses’ time. Evidently someone after Moses’ day updated the name of that town. Several other examples of this nature could be cited.

The view of many evangelicals, including myself, is that even though we may not be able to prove that Mark 16:9-20 were originally part of Mark’s Gospel, though they could have been, they appear to have been regarded as inspired and therefore authoritative early in the history of the church.

There are two other short endings to Mark’s Gospel that follow Mark 16:8 in some ancient copies, but almost all textual scholars reject these as being spurious.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Jesus’ appearance to the Eleven 16:14-18 (cf. Luke 24:36-43; John 20:19-23)

The writer said that Jesus appeared to the Eleven on this occasion. However, John qualified that statement by explaining that Thomas was absent (John 20:24). The writer was speaking of the Eleven as a group.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The giving of the Great Commission on this occasion seems to have preceded the giving of it that Matthew recorded (Matthew 28:19-20). The account in the second Gospel stresses the universal scope of the disciples’ responsibility (cf. Mark 14:9). "All" in "all the world" is an especially strong form of the Greek word for "all," namely, hapanta. Every part of the world needs the gospel.

Barclay's Daily Study Bible

Chapter 16

TELL PETER ( Mark 16:1-8 )

16:1-8 When the Sabbath had passed, Mary of Magdala and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices to go and anoint his body. Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, when the sun was rising, they went to the tomb. They kept saying to each other, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" They looked up and they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large. And they went into the tomb, and they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long, white robe. They were utterly amazed. He said to them, "Do not be amazed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is risen. He is not here. See! There is the place where they laid him. But go! Tell his disciples and Peter, 'He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him as he told you'." And they went out and fled from the tomb, for fear and astonishment gripped them. And they told no one anything for they were afraid.

There had not been time to render the last services to the body of Jesus. The Sabbath had intervened and the women who wished to anoint the body had not been able to do so. As early as possible after the Sabbath had passed, they set out to perform this sad task.

They were worried about one thing. Tombs had no doors. When the word door is mentioned it really means opening. In front of the opening was a groove, and in the groove ran a circular stone as big as a cart-wheel; and the women knew that it was quite beyond their strength to move a stone like that. But when they reached the tomb, the stone was rolled away, and inside was a messenger who gave them the unbelievable news that Jesus had risen from the dead.

One thing is certain--if Jesus had not risen from the dead, we would never have heard of him. The attitude of the women was that they had come to pay the last tribute to a dead body. The attitude of the disciples was that everything had finished in tragedy. By far the best proof of the Resurrection is the existence of the Christian church. Nothing else could have changed sad and despairing men and women into people radiant with joy and flaming with courage. The Resurrection is the central fact of the whole Christian faith. Because we believe in the Resurrection certain things follow.

(i) Jesus is not a figure in a book but a living presence. It is not enough to study the story of Jesus like the life of any other great historical figure. We may begin that way but we must end by meeting him.

(ii) Jesus is not a memory but a presence. The dearest memory fades. The Greeks had a word to describe time meaning time which wipes all things out. Long since, time would have wiped out the memory of Jesus unless he had been a living presence forever with us.

"And warm, sweet, tender, even yet

A present help is he;

And faith has still its Olivet,

And love its Galilee."

Jesus is not someone to discuss so much as someone to meet.

(iii) The Christian life is not the life of a man who knows about Jesus, but the life of a man who knows Jesus. There is all the difference in the world between knowing about a person and knowing a person. Most people know about Queen Elizabeth or the President of the United States but not so many know them. The greatest scholar in the world who knows everything about Jesus is less than the humblest Christian who knows him.

(iv) There is an endless quality about the Christian faith. It should never stand still. Because our Lord is a living Lord there are new wonders and new truths waiting to be discovered all the time.

But the most precious thing in this passage is in two words which are in no other gospel. "Go," said the messenger. "Tell his disciples and Peter." How that message must have cheered Peter's heart when he received it! He must have been tortured with the memory of his disloyalty, and suddenly there came a special message for him. It was characteristic of Jesus that he thought, not of the wrong Peter had done him but of the remorse he was undergoing. Jesus was far more eager to comfort the penitent sinner than to punish the sin. Someone has said, "The most precious thing about Jesus is the way in which he trusts us on the field of our defeat."

THE COMMISSION OF THE CHURCH ( Mark 16:9-20 )

16:9-20 When he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary of Magdala, out of whom he had cast seven devils. She went and told the news to those who had been with him, who were mourning and weeping. When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.

As we saw in the introduction, Mark's gospel really stops at Mark 16:8. We have only to read this passage to see how different it is from the rest of the gospel and it appears in none of the great manuscripts of the gospel. It is a later summary which replaces the ending which either Mark did not live to write or which at some time went astray.

Its great interest is the picture of the duty of the church that it gives to us. The man who wrote this concluding section obviously believed that the church had certain tasks committed to it by Jesus.

(i) The church has a preaching task. It is the duty of the church, and that means that it is the duty of every Christian, to tell the story of the good news of Jesus to those who have never heard it. The Christian duty is to be the herald of Jesus.

(ii) The church has a healing task. Here is a fact we have seen again and again. Christianity is concerned with men's bodies as well as men's minds. Jesus wished to bring health to the body and health to the soul.

(iii) The church has a source of power. We need not take everything literally. We need not think that the Christian is literally to have the power to lift venomous snakes and drink poisonous liquids and take no harm. But at the back of this picturesque language is the conviction that the Christian is filled with a power to cope with life that others do not possess.

(iv) The church is never left alone to do its work. Always Christ works with it and in it and through it. The Lord of the church is still in the church and is still the Lord of power.

And so the gospel finishes with the message that the Christian life is lived in the presence and the power of him who was crucified and rose again.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

FURTHER READING

Mark

P. Carrington, According to Mark (E)

R. A. Cole, The Gospel According to St Mark (TC; E)

C. E. B. Cranfield, The Gospel According to St. Mark (CGT; G)

F. C. Grant, The Earliest Gospel (E)

A. M. Hunter, St Mark (Tch; E)

Sherman E. Johnson, The Gospel According to St Mark (ACB; E)

R. H. Lightfoot, The Gospel Message of St Mark (E)

A. Menzies, The Earliest Gospel (G)

D. E. Nineham, The Gospel of St Mark (PC; E)

A. E. J. Rawlinson, The Gospel According to St Mark (WC; E)

H. B. Swete, The Gospel According to St Mark (MmC; G)

V. Taylor, The Gospel According to St Mark (MmC; G)

C. H. Turner, St Mark (E)

Abbreviations

ACB: A. and C. Black New Testament Commentary

CGT: Cambridge Greek Text

MmC: Macmillan Commentary

PC: Pelican New Testament Commentary

TC: Tyndale Commentary

Tch: Torch Commentary

WC: Westminster Commentary

E: English Text

G: Greek Text

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And he said unto them,.... Not at the same time, and place, as before; not on the first day of the week, on which he rose from the dead, but forty days after, just upon his ascension to heaven; see Mark 16:19; nor at Jerusalem, but in Galilee, where be appointed to meet his disciples, and did, when he gave them the following commission; see Matthew 28:16.

go ye into all the world: not only into Judea, and through all the cities of it, where they had been before confined; nor only into the Roman empire, which is sometimes so called, because great part of the world was under that government; but into every known and habitable part of the whole universe, to all the nations of the world under heaven: and it is to be observed, that this command is not enjoined on every apostle separately, as if each of them was to go into all the world, and travel over every part; but that one was to go one way, and another another way; every one had his line, or that part of the world marked out for him, whither he was to steer his course, and where he was to fulfil and finish his ministry: and besides, this commission not only included the Apostles, but reaches to all the ministers of the Gospel in succeeding ages, to the end of the world; and since this, one part of the world, which was not known, is now discovered; and the order includes that, as well as the then known parts of the world, and the Gospel accordingly has been sent into it.

And preach the Gospel to every creature; not to inanimate and irrational creatures, as stocks and stones, the beasts of the field, c. nor to all rational creatures, as angels, good or bad the former need not the preaching of the Gospel, and the latter are denied the blessing; but men, the offspring of fallen Adam, the objects of God's good will: these are styled "the creatures", because the chief of God's creation on earth; and are often in the Jewish writings so called; take an instance or two:

"R. Chuninn ben Dousa r used to say, all in whom, הבריות, "the creatures" (i.e. men) have delight, God has delight; and in whomsoever "the creatures" (or men) have no, delight, God has no delight.''

One of the seven qualifications of a member of the sanhedrim is,

אהבת הבריות, "love of the creatures" s, or love of men: so it is said t, that

"the holy blessed God, sits in the height of the world, and gives a portion of food, לכל בריה, "to every creature",''

that is, to every man: and particularly the Gentiles, as distinguished from the Jews, are often intended by this phrase: thus

"says u R. Judah, perhaps, הבריות, "the creatures", (i.e. the Gentiles,) knew the love with which the holy blessed God Ioved Israel, and roared like lions to pursue after them.''

It is elsewhere w said,

"all the prayers, של בריות, "of the creatures" (the Heathens) are only concerning the earth; Lord, let the earth bring forth! Lord, let the earth be fruitful! All the prayers of the Israelites, are only for the house of the Lord; Lord, let the house of the sanctuary be built, c.''

And in this sense is the phrase used, in Romans 8:22 2 Peter 3:4. Now to these, Christ would have the Gospel preached, as well as to the Jews even to all, without any distinction of people, Jews and Gentiles, Barbarians, Scythians, bond and free, male and female, rich and poor, greater or lesser sinners, even to all mankind; than which, nothing was more provoking to the Jews; who would, if they could, have revoked and made null this commission of Christ; see 1 Thessalonians 2:16. It was the Gospel he would have preached to them, the word of peace and reconciliation, by his atoning sacrifice; the doctrine of free and full pardon by his blood; and of justification by his righteousness; and of complete salvation by him: even every doctrine relating to his person, as God and man; to every office of his, as prophet, priest, and king; to his incarnation, sufferings, and death, his resurrection, ascension, session at the right hand of God, and intercession for his people, and second coming to judgment; with every doctrine relating to the grace of God, of the Father in election, and the covenant of peace, of the Son in redemption, and of the Spirit in regeneration and sanctification: all which he would have published and declared in the most free, plain, and open manner, with all boldness, faithfulness, and constancy. A compendium and summary of which, is given in the next words.

r Pirke Abot, c. 3. sect. 10. s Maimon. Hilch. Sandedfin, c. 2. sect. 7. t T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 118. 1. Vid. T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 86. 1. u Zohar in Exod. fol. 2, 3. w Bereshit Rabba, sect. 13. fol. 11. 3. Vid. T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 12. 2.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.   15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.   16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.   17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;   18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

      Here is, I. The conviction which Christ gave his apostles of the truth of his resurrection (Mark 16:14; Mark 16:14); He appeared to them himself, when they were all together, as they sat at meat, which gave him an opportunity to eat and drink with them, for their full satisfaction; see Acts 10:41. And still, when he appeared to them, he upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, for even at the general meeting in Galilee, some doubted, as we find Matthew 28:17. Note, The evidences of the truth of the gospel are so full, that those who receive it not, may justly be upbraided with their unbelief; and it is owing not to any weakness or deficiency in the proofs, but to the hardness of their heart, its senselessness and stupidity. Though they had not till now seen him themselves, they are justly blamed because they believed not them who had seen him after he was risen; and perhaps it was owing in part to the pride of their hearts, that they did not; for they thought, "If indeed he be risen, to whom should he delight to do the honour of showing himself but to us?" And if he pass them by, and show himself to others first, they cannot believe it is he. Thus many disbelieve the doctrine of Christ, because they think it below them to give credit to such as he had chosen to be the witnesses and publishers of it. Observe, It will not suffice for an excuse of our infidelity in the great day, to say, "We did not see him after he was risen," for we ought to have believed the testimony of those who did see him.

      II. The commission which he gave them to set up his kingdom among men by the preaching of his gospel, the glad tidings of reconciliation to God through a Mediator. Now observe,

      1. To whom they were to preach the gospel. Hitherto they had been sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and were forbidden to go into the way of the Gentiles, or into any city of the Samaritans; but now their commission is enlarged, and they are authorized to go into all the world, into all parts of the world, the habitable world, and to preach the gospel of Christ to every creature, to the Gentiles as well as to the Jews; to every human creature that is capable of receiving it. "Inform them concerning Christ, the history of his life, and death, and resurrection; instruct them in the meaning and intention of these, and of the advantages which the children of men have, or may have, hereby; and invite them, without exception, to come and share in them. This is gospel. Let this be preached in all places, to all persons." These eleven men could not themselves preach it to all the world, much less to every creature in it; but they and the other disciples, seventy in number, with those who should afterward to be added to them, must disperse themselves several ways, and, wherever they went, carry the gospel along with them. They must send others to those places whither they could not go themselves, and, in short, make it the business of their lives to send those glad tidings up and down the world with all possible fidelity and care, not as an amusement or entertainment, but as a solemn message from God to men, and an appointed means of making men happy. "Tell as many as you can, and bid them tell others; it is a message of universal concern, and therefore, ought to have a universal welcome, because it gives a universal welcome."

      2. What is the summary of the gospel they are to preach (Mark 16:16; Mark 16:16); "Set before the world life and death, good and evil. Tell the children of men that they are all in a state of misery and danger, condemned by their prince, and conquered and enslaved by their enemies." This is supposed in their being saved, which they would not need to be if they were not lost. "Now go and tell them," (1.) "That if they believe the gospel, and give up themselves to be Christ's disciples; if they renounce the devil, the world, and the flesh, and be devoted to Christ as their prophet, priest, and king, and to God in Christ a their God in covenant, and evidence by their constant adherence to this covenant their sincerity herein, they shall be saved from the guilt and power of sin, it shall not rule them, it shall not ruin them. He that is a true Christian, shall be saved through Christ." Baptism was appointed to be the inaugurating rite, by which those that embraced Christ owned him; but it is here put rather for the thing signified than for the sign, for Simon Magus believed and was baptized, yet was not saved,Acts 8:13. Believing with the heart, and confessing with the mouth the Lord Jesus (Romans 10:9), seems to be much the same with this here. Or thus, We must assent to gospel-truths, and consent to gospel-terms. (2.) "If they believe not, if they receive not the record God gives concerning his Son, they cannot expect any other way of salvation, but must inevitably perish; they shall be damned, by the sentence of a despised gospel, added to that of a broken law." And even this is gospel, it is good news, that nothing else but unbelief shall damn men, which is a sin against the remedy. Dr. Whitby here observes, that they who hence infer "that the infant seed of believers are not capable of baptism, because they cannot believe, must hence also infer that they cannot be saved; faith being here more expressly required to salvation than to baptism. And that in the latter clause baptism is omitted, because it is not simply the want of baptism, but the contemptuous neglect of it, which makes men guilty of damnation, otherwise infants might be damned for the mistakes or profaneness of their parents."

      3. What power they should be endowed with, for the confirmation of the doctrine they were to preach (Mark 16:17; Mark 16:17); These signs shall follow them that believe. Not that all who believe, shall be able to produce these signs, but some, even as many as were employed in propagating the faith, and bringing others to it; for signs are intended for them that believe not; see 1 Corinthians 14:22. It added much to the glory and evidence of the gospel, that the preachers not only wrought miracles themselves, but conferred upon others a power to work miracles, which power followed some of them that believed, wherever they went to preach. They shall do wonders in Christ's name, the same name into which they were baptized, in the virtue of power derived from him, and fetched in by prayer. Some particular signs are mentioned; (1.) They shall cast out devils; this power was more common among Christians than any other, and lasted longer, as appears by the testimonies of Justin Martyr, Origen, Irenæus, Tertullian Minutius Felix, and others, cited by Grotius on this place. (2.) They shall speak with new tongues, which they had never learned, or been acquainted with; and this was both a miracle (a miracle upon the mind), for the confirming of the truth of the gospel, and a means of spreading the gospel among those nations that had not heard it. It saved the preachers a vast labour in learning the languages; and, no doubt, they who by miracle were made masters of languages, were complete masters of them and of all their native elegancies, which were proper both to instruct and affect, which would very much recommend them and their preaching. (3.) They shall take up serpents. This was fulfilled in Paul, who was not hurt by the viper that fastened on his hand, which was acknowledged a great miracle by the barbarous people, Acts 28:5; Acts 28:6. They shall be kept unhurt by that generation of vipers among whom they live, and by the malice of the old serpent. (4.) If they be compelled by their persecutors to drink any deadly poisonous thing, it shall not hurt them: of which very thing some instances are found in ecclesiastical history. (5.) They shall not only be preserved from hurt themselves, but they shall be enabled to do good to others; They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover, as multitudes had done by their master's healing touch. Many of the elders of the church had this power, as appears by James 5:14, where, as an instituted sign of this miraculous healing, they are said to anoint the sick with oil in the name of the Lord. With what assurance of success might they go about executing their commission, when they had such credentials as these to produce!

Spurgeon's Verse Expositions of the Bible

For more than a century, Spurgeon's sermons have been consistently recognized, and their usefulness and impact have continued to the present day, even in the outdated English of the author's own time.

You may ask, "Why then should expositions already so successful and of such stature and proven usefulness require adaptation, revision, rewrite or even editing? The answer is obvious. To increase its usefulness to today's reader, the language in which it was originally written needs updating.

Though his sermons have served other generations well, just as they came from the pen of the author in the nineteenth century, they still could be lost to present and future generations, simply because, to them, the language is neither readily nor fully understandable.

My goal, however, has not been to reduce the original writing to the vernacular of our day. It is designed primarily for you who desire to listen and study comfortably and at ease in the language of our time. Only obviously archaic terminology and passages obscured by expressions not totally familiar in our day have been revised. However, neither Spurgeon's meaning nor intent have been tampered with.

Tony Capoccia

Baptismal Regeneration

June 5th, 1864 by C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892)

This updated and revised manuscript is copyrighted ã 1998 by Tony Capoccia. All rights reserved.

"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." Mark 16:15-16

In the preceding verse to the one I just read, we find our Lord Jesus Christ giving us some insight into the natural character, of the apostles whom he selected to be the first ministers of the Word. They were apparently men of like passions with us, and needed to be rebuked even as we do. When our Lord sent out the Eleven Apostles to preach the gospel to every creature, he "appeared to them as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen" (Mark 16:14 ). From this rebuke we can certainly conclude that to preach the Word, the Lord was contented to choose imperfect men; men, who in themselves, were very weak in the grace of faith, that very important quality which they should have excelled in.

Faith is the conquering grace, and is of all things the main prerequisite in the preacher of the Word; and yet the honored men who were chosen to be the leaders of the divine crusade needed a rebuke concerning their unbelief. Why was this? Why, my brethren? because the Lord has ordained evermore that we should have this treasure in jars of clay, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. If you should find a perfect minister, then the praise and honor of his usefulness might accrue to man; but God is often pleased to select for eminent usefulness men who are obviously honest and sincere, but who have some evident weakness by which all the glory is taken away from them and laid upon God, and upon God alone.

Let it never be assumed that we who are God's ministers either excuse our faults or pretend to perfection. We labor to walk in holiness, but we cannot claim to be all that we wish to be. We do not base the claims of God's truth upon the spotlessness of our characters, but upon the fact that it comes from him. You have believed in spite of our weaknesses, and not because of our virtues; if, indeed, you had believed our word because of our supposed perfection, your faith would stand in the excellency of man and not in the power of God. We often come to you with much trembling, grieving over our foolishness and weaknesses, but we deliver to you God's Word as God's Word, and we implore you to receive it, not as coming from us poor, sinful mortals, but as proceeding from the Eternal, Holy and Triune God; and if you receive it this way, and by its own vital force are moved and stirred up towards God and his ways, then the work of the Word has been accomplished, which it could not and would not be if it rested in any way upon man. Our Lord, after he had given us an insight into the character of the persons, whom he had chosen to proclaim his truth, then goes on to deliver to the chosen champions, their commission for the Holy War. I ask that you note the words with solemn care. He sums up in a few words the totality of their work, and at the same time foretells the result of it, telling them that some would doubtless believe and so be saved, and some on the other hand would not believe and would most certainly, therefore, be damned, that is, condemned forever to the punishment of God's wrath.

The lines containing the commission of our ascended Lord are certainly of the utmost importance, and demand devout attention and implicit obedience, not only from all who aspire to the work of the ministry, but also from all who hear the message of mercy. A clear understanding of these words is absolutely necessary to our success in our Master's work, for if we do not understand the commission, then it is not at all likely that we will carry it out properly. To alter these words would be more than impertinence, it would involve the crime of treason against the authority of Christ and the best interests of the souls of men. O for grace to be very watchful here. Wherever the apostles went they met with obstacles to the preaching of the gospel, and the more open and effectual was the door of utterance the more numerous were the adversaries. These brave men wielded the sword of the Spirit and put to flight all their foes; and this they did not by skill and deception, but by making a direct cut at the error which confronted them. Never did they dream for a moment of adapting the gospel to the impure tastes or prejudices of the people, but at once directly and boldly they brought down with both their hands the mighty sword of the Spirit into the center of the opposing error.

Now, this morning, in the name of the Lord of Hosts, my Helper and Defense, I will attempt to do the same; and if I should provoke some hostility if I should, through speaking what I believe to be the truth, lose the friendship of some and stir up the hatred of others, I cannot help it. The burden of the Lord is upon me, and I must deliver my soul. I have been reluctant to undertake the work, but I am forced to it by an awful and overwhelming sense of solemn duty. As I am soon to appear before my Master's court, I will this day, if ever in my life, bear my testimony for truth, and run all risks. I am content to be thrown out as evil if it must be so, but I cannot, I dare not, hold my peace. The Lord knows I have nothing in my heart but the purest love for the souls of those whom I feel urgently called to rebuke sternly in the Lord's name.

Among those who hear this sermon, a considerable number will criticize if not condemn me, but I cannot help it. If I forfeit your love for the sake of truth, then I am grieved for you, but I cannot, I dare not, do otherwise. My soul will not allow me to hold my peace any longer, and whether you approve or not I must speak out. Did I ever seek your approval? It is sweet to everyone to be applauded; but if for the sake of the comforts of respectability and the smiles of men any Christian minister will keep back a part of his testimony, his Master in the end will require an accounting. This day, standing in the immediate presence of God, I will speak honestly what I feel, as the Holy Spirit will enable me; and I will leave the matter with you to judge concerning it, as you will answer for that judgment at the last great day. I find that the great error which we have to contend with throughout our country (and it is growing more and more), is one in direct opposition to my text, well known to you as the doctrine of baptismal regeneration. We will confront this doctrine with the assertion, that BAPTISM WITHOUT FAITH SAVES NO ONE. The text says, "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved;" but whether a man is baptized or not, it asserts that "whoever does not believe will be condemned," so that baptism does not save the unbeliever, no, it does not in any degree exempt him from the common doom of all the ungodly. He may be baptized, or he may not be baptized, but if he does not believe, then he will most certainly be damned. Let him be baptized by immersion or sprinkling, in his infancy, or in his adult life, regardless, if he has not put his trust in Jesus Christ if he remains an unbeliever, then this terrible doom is pronounced upon him "Whoever does not believe will be condemned."

I am not aware that any Protestant Church in England teaches the doctrine of baptismal regeneration except one, and that happens to be the denomination, which without much humility calls itself the Church of England. This very powerful denomination does not teach this doctrine merely through a small portion of its ministers, who might be considered as evil branches of the vine, but it openly, boldly, and plainly declares this doctrine in her own appointed standard, the Book of Common Prayer, and with words so clear, that no one could ever doubt the plain meaning of those words nor make them say anything else. Here are the words: we quote them from the Catechism which is intended for the instruction of young people, and is naturally very plain and simple, since it would be foolish to trouble the young with abstract statements. The child is asked its name, and then questioned, "Who gave you this name?" "My godfathers and godmothers in my baptism; wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Isn’t this definite and plain enough? I value the words for their candor; they could not speak more clearly. Three times it is said, lest there should be any doubt about it. The word regeneration may, by some sort of juggling, be made to mean something else, but here there can be no misunderstanding. The child is not only made "a member of Christ" but he is made in baptism "the child of God" also; and, since the rule is, "if children then heirs," he is also made "an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." Nothing can be more plain. I venture to say that while honesty remains on earth the meaning of these words will never be disputed.

It is as clear as the noonday sun, that, the rule of the Church of England states, "Fathers, mothers, and masters, are to cause their children, servants, and helpers," no matter how idle, giddy, or wicked they may be, to cause them to learn the Catechism, and to say that in baptism they were made members of Christ and children of God.

The formal prayer required to be recited with the administration of this baptism is just as plain and outspoken, seeing that thanks are expressly given to Almighty God, because the person baptized is regenerate. "Then the priest will say, 'Seeing now, dearly beloved brethren, that this child is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christ's Church, let us give thanks unto Almighty God for these benefits; and with one accord make our prayers unto him, that this child may lead the rest of his life according to this beginning.'" Nor is this all, for there is no mistake as to what is meant here, we have the words of the thanksgiving prescribed, "Then the priest will say, 'We yield thee hearty thanks, most merciful Father, that it has pleased thee to regenerate this infant with thy Holy Spirit, to receive him for thine own child by adoption, and to incorporate him into thy holy Church.'" This, then, is the clear and unmistakable teaching of the Church of England. I am not dealing at all with the question of infant baptism: I will have nothing to do with that this morning. I am now considering the question of baptismal regeneration, that is, can a person be saved by baptism, whether they adults or infants, or have been baptized by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion. Here we have a Church which teaches every Lord's day in the Sunday-school, and should, according to their own rules, teach openly in the Church, that all children were made members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven when they were baptized! Here is a allegedly Protestant Church, which, every time its minister goes to the baptismal font, declares that every person receiving baptism is then and there "regenerated and grafted into the body of Christ's Church." "But," then I hear many good people assert, that "there are many good ministers in the Church of England who do not believe in baptismal regeneration." To this my answer is prompt. Why then do they belong to a Church which clearly teaches that doctrine? I am told that many in the Church of England preach against her own teaching. I know they do, and I rejoice in their wisdom, but I question, gravely question their ethics. To take an oath which requires me to honestly agree and consent to a doctrine which I do not believe, would to my conscience appear to be much like perjury, if not downright lying; but those who do so must be judged by their own Lord. For me to take money for defending what I do not believe for me to take the money from a Church, and then to clearly preach against its doctrines I say for me to do this, or for any other honest man to do so, would be a great atrocity. In fact, I would consider myself a man who lacked truthfulness, honesty, and common decency.

I say to the Elders of this Church, that when I accepted the office of minister of this congregation, I reviewed your articles of faith; if I had not believed them I would not have accepted your call, and if I ever change my opinions, you can be assured, that as an honest man I will resign the office, for how could I profess one thing in your declaration of faith, and quite another in my own preaching? Would I accept your pay, and then stand up every Sunday and talk against your doctrines? For ministers to swear or say that they give their solemn agreement and consent to what they do not believe is one of the grossest pieces of evil perpetrated in England, and is most deadly in its influence, since it directly teaches men to lie whenever it seems necessary to do so, in order to make a living or increase their supposed usefulness: it is in fact an open testimony from priestly lips that at least in ecclesiastical matters: lies may express truth, and truth itself is simply unimportant.

I know of nothing that can cause the loss of public trust more than a lack of truthfulness in ministers. When worldly men hear ministers denouncing the very things which their own Church doctrine teaches, then they assume that words have no meaning among ministers, and that vital differences in religion are merely a matter of tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum, and that it does not really matter what a man believes as long as he is charitable towards other people.

If baptism does, in fact, regenerate and save people, then let the fact be preached with a loud voice, and let no man be ashamed of his belief in it. If this is really their belief, then by all means let them have full liberty in its propagation. My brethren, those are honest ministers, who in this matter, uphold the doctrines of the Church, believing in baptismal regeneration, and plainly preach it. God forbid that we should condemn those who believe that baptism saves the soul, because they adhere to a Church which teaches the same doctrine.

Let us oppose their teaching by all Scriptural and intelligent means, but let us respect their courage in plainly giving us their views. I hate their doctrine, but I love their honesty; and because they speak what they believe to be true, then let them speak out, and the more clearly the better. Out with it, sirs, be it what it may, please let us know what you mean. For I love to stand foot to foot with an honest opponent. In open warfare, bold and honest hearts never object to being in disagreement. But it is the dishonest enemy which we must fear the most, and have the best reason to detest. That crafty kindness which lures me to sacrifice my principle is the snake in the grass deadly to the unwary traveler. It is time that we should put an end to the association of honest men with those who believe one way and swear another. If men believe baptism saves people, then let them say so; but if they do not so believe it in their hearts, but continue to receive pay because they declare that they believe in all the Church’s doctrine, then let them find associates among men who can lie and mislead, for honest men will neither ask for, nor accept their friendship. We ourselves are not unsure on this point, we declare that persons are not saved by being baptized. In such an audience as this, I am almost ashamed to go into the matter, because you surely know better than to be misled. Nevertheless, for the good of others we will discuss it.

We firmly believe that persons are not saved by baptism, for we understand, first of all, that it appears completely out of character with the spiritual religion, which Christ came to teach, that he should make salvation depend upon mere ceremony.

Judaism might possibly accept the ceremony as being essential to eternal life; for it was a religion of rituals and ceremony. The false religions of the heathen might teach salvation by a physical process, but Jesus Christ claims for his faith that it is purely spiritual, and how could he connect regeneration with a particular application of water to the body? I cannot see how it would be a spiritual gospel, but I can see how it would be mechanical: if I were sent out to teach that the mere dropping of so many drops of water upon the forehead, or the plunging of a person in water could save the soul. This seems to me to be the most mechanical religion now existing, and to be on a par with the praying windmills of Tibet, or the climbing up and down of Pilate's staircase to which Luther subjected himself in the days of his darkness.

The operation of water-baptism does not appear even to my faith to touch the point involved in the regeneration of the soul. What is the necessary connection between water and the overcoming of sin? I cannot see any connection which can exist between sprinkling, or immersion, and regeneration, so that the one will necessarily be tied to the other in the absence of faith. Without faith or even consciousness, as in the case of babies, how can spiritual benefits be connected necessarily with the sprinkling of water? If this is your teaching, that regeneration is a result of baptism, I say it looks like the teaching of a false Church, which has cleverly invented a mechanical salvation to deceive ignorant, and carnal minds, rather than the teaching of the most profoundly spiritual of all teachers, who rebuked Scribes and Pharisees for regarding outward rites as more important than inward grace. But it strikes me that a more forcible argument is that the doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration is not supported by facts.

Is every person who is baptized a child of God?

Well, let us look at the divine family. Let us note their resemblance to their glorious Parent! Am I untruthful if I say that thousands of those who were baptized as infants are now in our jails and prisons? You can verify the fact if you please, by asking prison authorities. Do you believe that these men, many of whom have been living lives of felony, burglary, or forgery, are regenerate? If so, the Lord deliver us from such regeneration. Are these criminals members of Christ? If so, Christ has been sadly altered since the day when he was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Has he really taken baptized drunkards and prostitutes to be members of his body? Don’t you revolt at the idea? It is a well-known fact that baptized persons have been hanged. Surely it can hardly be right to hang the inheritors of the kingdom of heaven! Our sheriffs have much to answer for when they officiate at the execution of the children of God, and suspend the members of Christ on the gallows!

What a detestable farce it is, when at the graveside, "a dear brother" who has died drunk is buried with a "sure and certain hope of the resurrection of eternal life," and the prayer is read, that "when we will depart this life we may rest in Christ, just as our dear departed brother does." Here is a regenerate brother, who having defiled the society by constant wickedness and savage drunkenness, died without a sign of repentance, and yet the professed minister of God solemnly accords him funeral rites which are denied to unbaptized babies, and puts the reprobate into the earth with the "sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life."

Do we find we who baptize on profession of faith, and baptize by immersion in a way which is confessed to be correct do we who baptize in the name of the sacred Trinity as others do, do we find that baptism regenerates? We do not. Neither in the righteous nor the wicked do we find regeneration brought about by baptism. We have never met one believer, however instructed in divine things, who could trace his salvation to his baptism; and on the other hand, we confess it with sorrow, but still with no surprise, that we have seen those whom we have baptized ourselves, according to apostolic precedent, go back into the world and wander into the foulest sin, and their baptism has scarcely been a restraint to them, because they have not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Facts all show that whatever good there may be in baptism, it certainly does not make a man "a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven," or else many thieves, prostitutes, drunkards, fornicators, and murderers, are members of Christ, the children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven. Facts, brethren, are against this Roman Catholic doctrine; and facts are stubborn things. Yet I am further persuaded that the actual act of baptism prescribed by the Church is not at all likely to regenerate and save.

How is the baptism done? One is very curious to know when one hears of an procedure which makes men members of Christ, children of God, and inheritors of the kingdom of heaven, exactly how it is done. It must in itself be a holy thing truthful in all its details, and edifying in every portion. Now, we will assume we have a group gathered around the water, and the process of regeneration is about to be performed. We would assume all of them to be godly people. The minister officiating is a profound believer in the Lord Jesus, and the father and mother are model Christians, and the godfathers and godmothers are all gracious persons. We will, in love, assume this and it may even be a correct assumption. What are these godly people supposed to say? Let us look to the Church’s Prayer Book.

The minister is suppose to tell these people, "You have heard that our Lord Jesus Christ has promised in his gospel to grant all these things that you have prayed for: which he promised, and will most surely keep and perform. Wherefore, after this promise made by Christ, this infant must also faithfully, on his part, promise, by you, his representatives (until he comes of age to take it upon himself) that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and constantly believe God's holy Word, and obediently keep his commandments."

This small child is to promise to do this, or more truly others are to take upon themselves to promise, and even vow that he will do so. But we must not break the quotation, and therefore let us return to the Church’s Prayer Book, it continues, "I demand therefore, that you, in the name of this child, renounce the devil and all his works, the vain pomp and glory of the world, with all covetous desires of the same, and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that you will not follow, nor be led by them?" The godparents answer "I renounce them all." That is to say, on the name and behalf of this tender infant about to be baptized, these godly people, these enlightened Christian people, these who know better, who are not fools, who know all the while that they are promising impossibilities renouncing on behalf of this child what they find very difficult to renounce in themselves "all covetous desires of the world and the carnal desires of the flesh, so that they will not follow nor be led by them."

How can they harden their faces to utter such a false promise, such a mockery before the presence of the Almighty Father? Most likely angels weep as they hear the awful promise uttered! Then in the presence of heaven they profess on behalf of this child that he faithfully believes the creed, when they know, or might intelligently judge that the little creature is not yet a faithful believer in anything, much less in Christ. Note, they do not merely say that the baby will believe the creed, but they affirm that he does, for they answer in the child's name, "All this I faithfully believe.” They don’t say, “we faithfully believe," but I, the little baby there, unconscious of all their professions and confessions of faith.

In answer to the question, "Will you be baptized in this faith?" they reply for the infant, "That is my desire." Surely the infant has no desire in the matter, and no one has been authorized to declare any desires on his behalf. But this is not all, for then these godly, intelligent people next promise on the behalf of the infant, that "he will obediently keep all God's holy will and commandments, and walk in the same all the days of his life." Now, I ask you, dear friends, you who know what true religion means, can you walk in all God's holy commandments yourselves? Do you dare make this vow on your own part, that you would renounce the devil and all his works, the attractions and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh? Dare you, before God, make such a promise as that? You desire such holiness, you earnestly strive after it, but you look for it from God's promise, not from your own. If you dare make such vows I doubt your knowledge of your own hearts and of the spirituality of God’s law. But even if you could do this for yourself, would you venture to make such a promise for any other person? For the best-born infant on earth? Come, brethren, what do you say?

I can understand a simple, ignorant farmer, who has never learned to read, doing all of this at the command of a priest. I can even understand persons doing this when the Reformation was in its beginning, and men had barely crept out of the darkness of Roman Catholicism; but I cannot understand gracious, godly people, standing at the baptismal font, insulting the all-gracious Father with vows and promises based on fiction and lies. How can intelligent believers in Christ, dare to utter words, which they know in their conscience to be wicked and opposed to truth? I have a confirmed belief that the God of truth never did and never will confirm a spiritual blessing of the highest order in connection with the utterance of such false promises and untruthful vows. My brethren, does it not strike you that declarations so fictitious are not likely to be connected with a new birth brought about by the Spirit of truth? I have not finished with this point yet, I want us to look at another example. Suppose the sponsors and others are ungodly, and that is not a difficult assumption, for in many cases we know that godfathers and parents have no more thought of religion than that idolatrous baptismal font which they gather around. When these sinners have taken their places, what are they about to say? Why, they are about to make the solemn vows I have already recounted to you! They are totally irreligious, but yet they promise for the baby what they never did, and never thought of doing for themselves they promise on behalf of this child, "that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and constantly believe God's holy Word, and obediently keep his commandments."

My brethren, do not think I that I am speaking too harshly. I really think there is something here to cause devils to mock Christianity. Let every honest man grieve, that God's Church should tolerate such a thing as this, and that there should be found gracious people who will feel grieved because I, in all kindness of heart, rebuke the atrocity. Unregenerate sinners promising for a poor baby that he will keep all of God's holy commandments, which they themselves flagrantly break every day! How can anything but the patience of God endure this? What! Do you expect me not to speak against it? The very stones in the street would cry out against the disgrace of wicked men and women, promising that another should renounce the devil and all his works, while they themselves serve the devil and do his works with greediness! As a climax to all of this, I am asked to believe that God accepts that wicked promise, and as the result of it, regenerates that child. You cannot believe in regeneration by this procedure, regardless of whether saints or sinners are the performers. If they are godly, then they are wrong for doing what their conscience must condemn. If they are ungodly, then they are wrong for promising what they know they cannot perform; and in either case, God cannot accept such worship, much less provide spiritual regeneration through such a baptism as this. But you will say "Why do you preach out against it?" I preach out against it because I believe that baptism does not save the soul, and that the preaching of such a doctrine has a wrong and evil influence upon men and women. We meet with persons who, when we tell them that they must be born again, assure us that they were born again when they were baptized. The number of these persons is increasing, fearfully increasing, until all levels of society are misled by this belief. How can any man stand up in his pulpit and say “You must be born again” to his congregation, when he has already assured them, by his own "genuine approval and consent" to it, that they are themselves, every one of them, born again in baptism. What is he to do with them? Why, my dear friends, the gospel then has no voice; they have rammed this ceremony down its throat and it cannot any longer speak to rebuke sin. The man who has been baptized or sprinkled says, "I am saved, I am a member of Christ, a child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. Who are you, that you should rebuke me? Who are you that you would call me to repentance? And call me to a new life? What better life can I have? for I am a member of Christ a part of Christ's body. What! rebuke me? I am a child of God. Can’t you see it in my face? No matter what my walk and conversation is, I am a child of God. Moreover, I am an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. It is true, that I drink and swear, and all of that, but you know I am an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, for when I die, though I live in constant sin, you will put me in the grave, and tell everybody that I died with a sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life." Now, I ask you, what can be the result of such preaching as this upon our beloved England? Upon my dear and blessed country? The result would be the worst of evils? If I did not love her, but loved myself more, then I might be silent here, but, loving England, I cannot and dare not; and having soon to render an account before my God, whose servant I hope I am, I must free myself from this evil as well as from every other, or else on my head may be the doom of souls. Now, let me bring in another point. It is a most fearful fact, that in no age since the Reformation has the Roman Catholic Church made such fearful strides in England as during the last few years.

I had comfortably believed that Roman Catholicism was only feeding itself upon foreign converts, upon a few christened perverts, and imported monks and nuns. I dreamed that its progress was not real. In fact, I have often smiled at the alarm of many of my brethren at the progress of Roman Catholicism. But, my dear friends, we have been mistaken, grievously mistaken. If you will read a valuable article in the magazine called "Christian Work," those of you who are not acquainted with it will be perfectly startled at its revelations. This great city is now covered with a network of monks, and priests, and sisters of mercy, and the conversions made are not by ones or twos, but by scores, till England is being regarded as the most hopeful spot for Roman Catholic missionary enterprise in the whole world; and at the present moment there is not a mission which is succeeding anything like the extent to which the English mission is. I do not covet their money, I despise their tricky reasoning, but I marvel at the way in which they gain their funds for the erection of their ecclesiastical buildings.

It really is an alarming matter to see so many of our countrymen going off to that superstition which as a nation we once rejected, and which it was supposed we would never receive it again. Roman Catholicism is making advances such as you would never believe. Close to your very doors, perhaps even in your own houses, you may have evidence of what a progression Catholicism is making. And to what can it be ascribed to? I say, with every ground of probability, that it is no marvel that Roman Catholicism should increase when you have two things to make it grow: first of all, the lie of those who profess a faith which they do not believe, which is quite contrary to the honesty of the Roman Catholic, who does, no matter what, hold to his faith; and then you have, secondly, this form of error known as baptismal regeneration. You have this baptismal regeneration preparing stepping-stones to make it easy for men and women to step into Roman Catholicism. I only have to open my eyes a little to predict that Roman Catholicism will become rampant everywhere in the future, since its germs are spreading everywhere in the present. Last Tuesday, in one of our courts of legislature, the Lord Chief Justice showed his superstition, by speaking of "the risk of the calamity of children dying unbaptized!" Among the Protestants, you see a veneration for structures, a modified belief in the sacredness of places, which is idolatry; for to believe in the sacredness of anything but of God and of his own Word, is to idolize, whether it is to believe in the sacredness of the men, the priests, or in the sacredness of the bricks and mortar, or of the fine linen, or what not, which you may use in the worship of God. I see this everywhere a belief in ceremony, a resting in ceremony, a veneration for altars, baptismal fonts, and Churches a veneration so profound that if we even attempt to speak out against it, then we are quickly regarded as the chief of sinners.

Here is the essence and soul of Roman Catholicism, being dressed up in the clothing of decent respect for sacred things. It is impossible to stop the spread of the Roman Catholic Church, when we who are the watchdogs of the fold are silent, and others are gently and smoothly preparing the road, and making it as soft and smooth as possible, that converts may travel down to the lowest hell of Catholicism. We need John Knox back again. Do not talk to me of mild and gentle men, of soft manners and modest words, we want the fiery Knox, and even though his passion would turn our pulpits into swords, it would be good if he stimulated our hearts to action. We want Luther to tell men the unmistakable truth, in simple language. Lately, our ministers mouths have become lined with velvet, but we must remove the soft fabric, and truth must be spoken, and nothing but truth. Of all the lies which have dragged millions down to hell, I look upon this as being one of the most atrocious that in a Protestant Church there should be found those who swear that baptism saves the soul. Call a man a Baptist, or a Presbyterian, or a Dissenter from the Church of England, or a Minister, that is nothing to me if he says that baptism saves the soul, then out with him, out with him, he states what God never taught, what the Bible never laid down, and what ought never to be perpetuated by men who profess that the Bible, and the whole Bible, is the religion of Protestants. I have spoken a lot on this subject, and there will be some who will say, that I have spoken with bitterness. Very well, let it be so. Medicine is often bitter, but it will work the healing, and the physician is not bitter because his medicine is; or if he is considered bitter, it will not matter, so long as the patient is cured. No matter what the situation is, it is no business of the patient whether the physician is bitter or not, his business is with the heath of his own soul. There is the truth, and I have told it to you; and if there is one among you, who is resting on baptism, or resting upon ceremonies of any sort, I beg you, shake off this venomous faith into the fire as Paul did the viper which fastened on his hand. I pray that you do not rest on baptism.

"No outward forms can make you clean, The leprosy lies deep within."

I do plead with you to remember that you must have a new heart and a right spirit, and that baptism cannot give you these. You must turn from your sins and follow after Christ; you must have a faith that will make your life holy and your speech devout, or else you do not have the faith of God's elect, and therefore you will never come into God's kingdom. I pray that you never rest upon this wretched and rotten foundation, this deceitful invention of antichrist. O, may God save you from it, and bring you to seek the true rock of refuge for weary souls. In the second place, I come with much brevity, and I hope with much earnestness, to say that FAITH IS THE INDISPENSABLE REQUIREMENT FOR SALVATION. "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned."

Faith is the one indispensable requirement for salvation. This faith is the gift of God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. Some men do not believe in Jesus; they do not believe because they are not Christ's sheep, as he himself said to them; but his sheep will listen to his voice: he knows them and they will follow him: he gives to them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one can snatch them out of his hand.

What is this believing? Believing consists in two things; first there is an acceptance of the testimony of God concerning his Son.

God tells you that his Son came into the world and was made flesh, that he lived upon earth for men's sake, that after having spent his life in holiness he was offered up as a propitiation for sin, that on the cross he then and there made atonement made atonement for the sins of the world that "Whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life." If you want to be saved, you must accept this testimony which God gives concerning his own Son.

Having received this testimony, the next thing to do is to trust in it.

Indeed here lies, I think, the essence of saving faith, to base your eternal salvation upon the atonement and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, to forever forsake all reliance upon feelings or upon works, and to trust in Jesus Christ and in what he did for your salvation. This is faith, receiving the truth of Christ: first, knowing it to be true, and then acting upon that belief. Such a faith as this such real faith as this makes the man from this time on, hate sin. How can he love the thing which made the Savior bleed? It makes him live in holiness. How can he but seek to honor that God who has loved him so much, as to give his Son to die for him. This faith is spiritual in its nature and effects; it operates upon the entire man; it changes his heart, enlightens his judgment, and subdues his will; it subjects him to God's supremacy, and makes him receive God's Word as a little child, willing to receive the truth as spoken by the divine One; it sanctifies his intellect, and makes him willing to be taught God's Word; it cleanses within; it makes clean the inside of the cup and platter, and it beautifies the outside; it cleanses the exterior conduct and the inner motive, so that the man, if his faith is true and genuine, becomes forever more, a different man then he ever was before. I believe it is reasonable that such a faith as this can save a soul; yes, in fact, I am absolutely certain, for we have seen men and women saved by it in this church. We have seen the harlot lifted out of the hellish ditch of her sin, and made an honest woman; we have seen the thief reclaimed; we have known drunkards in hundreds of cases, to be made sober; we have observed faith working such changes, that all the neighbors who have seen it have gazed and admired, even though they hated it; we have seen faith deliver men in the hour of temptation, and help them to consecrate themselves and their body to God; we have seen, and still hope to yet see more widely, deeds of heroic consecration to God and public witnessing against the common current of the times, which have proved to us that faith does affect the man, does save the soul.

My friends, if you want to be saved, you must believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me urge you with all my heart to look nowhere but to the crucified Christ for your salvation. Oh! if you rest on any ceremony, even though it is not baptism if you rest on any other than Jesus Christ, you must perish, as surely as this Bible is true. I pray that you do not believe every spirit, and even if I, or an angel from heaven, would preach any other doctrine than this, let him be accursed, for this, and this alone, is the soul-saving truth which will regenerate the world "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved." Away with all the relics, wax candles, and vestments of Catholicism! away with all the splendid ceremony of the Roman Catholic Church! away with all the baptismal fonts! We invite you to turn your eyes to that naked cross, where hangs, as a bleeding man, the Son of God.

"None but Jesus, none but Jesus Can do helpless sinners any good."

There is life to be found when we look at the crucified; there is life at this moment for you. In any among you can believe in the great love of God towards man in Christ Jesus, then you will be saved. If you can believe that our great Father in heaven desires us to come to him that he pants for us that he calls us every day with the loud voice of his Son's wounds; if you can believe now that in Christ there is pardon for past sins, and cleansing for years to come; if you can trust him to save you, then you already have the marks of regeneration. The work of salvation is begun in you, so far as the Spirit's work is concerned: it is finished in you so far as Christ's work is concerned.

O, I plead with you embrace Jesus Christ. This is the foundation: build on it. This is the rock of refuge: fly to it. I pray that you fly to it now. Life is short: time speeds with eagle's-wing. Swift as the dove pursued by the hawk, fly, fly poor sinner, to God's dear Son; now touch the hem of his garment; now look into that dear face, once marred with sorrows for you; look into those eyes, once shedding tears for you. Trust him, and if you find him false, then you must perish; but false you never will find him while this word stands true, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned." God give us this vital, essential faith, without which there is no salvation. It makes no difference if you were baptized, re-baptized, circumcised, confirmed, received all the sacraments, and buried in consecrated ground yet, you will all perish unless you believe in him. The word is explicit and plain he that believes not may plead that his baptism saved him, he may plead anything he likes, "But whoever does not believe will be condemned;" for there is nothing for him but the wrath of God, the flames of hell, eternal damnation. So Christ declares, and so it must be. But now to close, there are some who say, "Ah! but baptism is in the text; where do you put that?" That will be our last point, and then we will be done. THE BAPTISM IN THE TEXT IS CLEARLY CONNECTED WITH FAITH. "Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved."

It strikes me, that there is no presumption here, that it is not presumed that anybody would be baptized who did not believe; or, if there is such a assumption, it is very clearly laid down that his baptism will be of no use to him, for he will be damned, baptized or not, unless he believes. The baptism of the text seems to me my brethren, if you differ from me I am sorry for it, but I must hold my opinion and express it it seems to me that baptism is connected with, no, directly follows belief. I would not insist too much upon the order of the words, but for other reasons, I think that baptism should follow believing. At any rate it effectually avoids the error we have been combating. A man who knows that he is saved by believing in Christ does not, when he is baptized, lift his baptism into a saving ordinance. In fact, he is the very best protester against that mistake, because he holds that he has no right to be baptized until he is saved. He bears a testimony against baptismal regeneration in his being baptized as an already regenerate person. Brethren, the baptism here meant is a baptism connected with faith, and to this baptism I will admit there is very much ascribed in Scripture. Into that question I am not going; but I do find some very remarkable passages in which baptism is spoken of very strongly. I find this “Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.” I find as much as this elsewhere; I know that believer's baptism itself does not wash away sin, yet it is the outward sign and emblem of it to the believer, that the thing visible may be described as the thing signified. Just as our Savior said "This is my body," when it was not his body, but bread; yet, inasmuch as it represented his body, it was fair and right, according to the usage of language to say, "Take, eat, this is my body." And so, inasmuch as baptism to the believer represents the washing away of sin it may be called the washing away of sin not that it is so, but that it is to saved souls the outward symbol and representation of what is done by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the man or woman who believes in Christ. What connection does this baptism have with faith? I think it has just this, baptism is the confession of faith.

The man was Christ's soldier, but now in baptism he puts on his uniform and insignia. The man believed in Christ, but his faith remained between God and his own soul. In baptism he says to the baptizer, "I believe in Jesus Christ;" he says to the Church, "I unite with you as a believer in the common truths of Christianity;" he says to the onlooker, "Whatever you may do, as for me, I will serve the Lord." It is the confession of his faith. Next, we think baptism is also to the believer a testimony of his faith.

In baptism, he tells the world what he believes. "I am about," he says, "to be buried in water. I believe that the Son of God was symbolically baptized in suffering: I believe he was literally dead and buried." In baptism, the rising of the person out of the water, declares to all men that he believes in the resurrection of Christ. There is a picture in the Lord's Supper of Christ's death, and there is a picture in baptism of Christ's burial and resurrection. It is a type, a sign, a symbol, a mirror to the world: a mirror in which religion is reflected. We say to the onlooker, when he asks what is the meaning of this ordinance, "It is meant to show you that we believe that Christ was buried, and that he rose again from the dead, and we earnestly declare this death and resurrection to be the basis of our trust." Again, baptism is also Faith taking her proper place.

It is, or should be one of the first acts of obedience. Reason looks at baptism, and says, "Perhaps there is nothing in it; it cannot do me any good." "True," says Faith, "and therefore I will observe it. If it did me some good my selfishness would make me do it, but inasmuch as to my sense there is no good in it, since I am commanded by my Lord to fulfil all righteousness, it is my first public declaration that a thing which looks to be unreasonable and seems to be unprofitable, being commanded by God, is law, is law to me. If my Master had told me to pick up six stones and lay them in a row I would do it, without asking him, “What good will it do?” Why? (Cui bono?) is not a fit question for soldiers of Jesus. The very simplicity and apparent uselessness of the ordinance should make the believer say, “Therefore I will do it because it becomes a better test to me, a test of my obedience to my Master.” When you tell your servant to do something, and he cannot understand why, if he turns around and says, "Please, sir, what for?" you are quite clear that he hardly understands the relationship between master and servant. So when God tells me to do something, if I say, "What for?" I cannot have taken the place which Faith ought to occupy, which is that of simple obedience to whatever the Lord has said. Baptism is commanded, and Faith obeys because it is commanded, and thus takes her proper place. Once more, baptism is a refreshment to Faith.

While we are made up of body and soul as we are, we will need some means by which the body will sometimes be stirred up to co-work with the soul. In the Lord's Supper my faith is assisted by the outward and visible sign. In the bread and in the wine I see no superstitious mystery, I see nothing but bread and wine, but in that bread and wine I do see my faith an as assistant. Through the sign, my faith sees the thing signified. So in baptism there is no mysterious efficacy [or saving grace] in the baptistry or in the water. We attach no reverence to the one or to the other, but we do see in the water and in the baptism such an assistance as brings home to our faith most manifestly our being buried with Christ, and our rising again in newness of life with him. Explain baptism this way, dear friends, and there is no fear of Roman Catholicism rising out of it. Explain it this way, and we cannot suppose any soul will be led to trust in it for salvation; but it takes its proper place among the ordinances of God's church.

To lift up baptism in the other way, and say men are saved by it ah! my friends, how much damage that one fabrication has done and may do, eternity alone will disclose. I pray to God that another George Fox would spring up with all his quaint simplicity and rude honesty to rebuke the idol-worship of this age; to harshly criticize their holy bricks and mortar, holy lecterns, holy alters, holy vestments and robes, and their use of the term "the right reverend fathers," and I know not what else. These things are not holy. God is holy; his truth is holy; holiness belongs not to the carnal and the material, but to the spiritual. O that a clear bold voice would cry out against the superstition of the age. I cannot, as George Fox did, give up baptism and the Lord's Supper, but I would infinitely sooner do it, counting it the smaller mistake of the two than perpetrate and assist in perpetrating the uplifting of baptism and the Lord's Supper out of their proper place.

O my beloved friends, those in partnership with my struggles and witnessings, cling to the salvation of faith, and abhor the salvation of priests. If I am not mistaken, the day will come when we will have to fight for a simple spiritual religion far more than we do now. We have been cultivating friendship with those who are either unscriptural in creed or else dishonest, who either believe baptismal regeneration, or profess that they do, and swear before God that they do when they do not. The time has come when there will be no more truce or negotiation between God's servants and those who are wasting time. The time has come when those who follow God must follow God, and those who try to trim and dress themselves and find out a way which is pleasing to the flesh and gentle to carnal desires, must go their way.

A great time of separation is coming to God's saints, and we will be more distinct, one of these days than we are now, from union with those who are upholding Roman Catholicism, under the pretence of teaching Protestantism. We will be distinct, I say, of those who teach salvation by baptism, instead of salvation by the blood of our blessed Master, Jesus Christ. O may the Lord prepare you for the battle. Believe me, it is no small thing. It may be that on this ground Armageddon will be fought. Here will come the great battle between Christ and his saints on the one hand, and the world, and forms, and ceremonies, on the other. If we are overcome here, there may be years of blood and persecution, and tossing back and forth between darkness and light; but if we are brave and bold, and do not flinch here, but stand on God's truth, the future of England may be bright and glorious. O for a truly reformed Church in England, and a godly race to maintain it! The world's future depends on it under God, for in proportion as truth is marred at home, truth is maimed abroad.

Out of any system which teaches salvation by baptism must spring infidelity, an infidelity which the false Church already seems willing to nourish and foster beneath her wing. God save this favored land from the offspring of her own established religion. Brethren, stand firm in the liberty with which Christ has made you free, and do not be afraid of any sudden fear or calamity when it comes, for he who trusts in the Lord, mercy will surround him, and he who is faithful to God and Christ will hear it said in the end, "Well done, good and faithful servant! Come and share your master's happiness!" May the Lord bless this word for Christ's sake. Amen.

Kelly Commentary on Books of the Bible

The transfiguration, as a matter of fact witnessed by the eyes of chosen witnesses, introduces naturally the great change that was about to be effected by the mighty power of God; for that wondrous scene was the passing vision of a glory that shall never pass away. Therein certain disciples were admitted to a sight of the kingdom of God coming with power, founded upon the rejection of Christ by man, and the maintenance and manifestation by-and-by of the power of that Jesus rejected of man, but glorified by God. Of course, our Lord's ministry had this double character. It was, as is everything in Scripture, presented to human responsibility before its result is established on God's part. There was every evidence and proof that man could ask; there was every moral manifestation of God; but man had no heart for it. Hence the only effect of such a witness was the rejection of Christ and of God Himself as thus morally represented here below. What, then, will God do? Surely He will make good His counsel by His own power; for nothing fails that is of Him, and every testimony of His must accomplish its aim. But then God waits; and, even before He lays the foundation for that great work of establishing His own kingdom and power, He gives a sight of it to those whom He is pleased to elect. Hence it is that the transfiguration was a kind of bridge, so to speak, between the present and the future, confronting men even now with God's plans! It is really the introduction, as far as a testimony and even a sample could go with believers, of that kingdom which should be set up and displayed in due time. Not that the rejection of Christ ceases after this, but, on the contrary, goes on up to the cross itself. But in the cross, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see, by faith, the issue complete; man's rejection on the one side, and God's foundation actually laid on the other. Notwithstanding a testimony to it was on this holy mount brought before the sight of the disciples according to the sovereign choice of our Lord, He takes even out of the chosen twelve a chosen few to be the witnesses of His glory. But this gives it a very important and emphatic place in the synoptic gospels, which bring before us the Galilean progress of Christ; more particularly in the point of view of ministry we have this in our gospel.

The Lord having then taken up James and John, as well as Peter, was transfigured before these disciples. The glorified men, Elias with Moses, are seen talking with Him. Peter lets out his lack of appreciation of the glory of Christ, and the more remarkably, because only in the scene immediately before Peter had in striking terms testified to Jesus. But God must show that there is but One faithful witness; and the very soul that stood out brightly, we may say, for a little moment in the scene that preceded the transfiguration, is the same that manifests the earthen vessel more than any other in the transfiguration. "It is good," says Peter, "for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." It is evident, that although he might put the Saviour at the head of the three, he counted the others to be in a measure on a level with Him. At once we see the cloud overshadowing, and hear the voice out of it which maintains supreme undivided glory for the Son of God. "This" (says the Father; for He it was who spoke) "this is my beloved Son: hear him."

You will observe that in Mark there is an omission. We have not here the expression of complacency. In Matthew this was made prominent, as we know. InMatthew 17:1-27; Matthew 17:1-27 it is, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him," I apprehend the reason was to set this in the most absolute contrast with His rejection by the Jewish people. So again, in the gospel of Luke, we have the testimony of Christ being God's Son on the ground of hearing Him rather than Moses or Elias. "This is my beloved Son," he says: "hear him," omitting the expression of the Father's complacency in Him. Assuredly He was always the object of the Father's delight; but still there is not always the same reason for asserting it. Whereas, on comparing the testimony in 2 Peter 1:1-21, there is an omission of "hear him" found in the three gospels. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." It is evident that the superiority of the Lord Jesus Christ over the law and the prophets is not the point in Peter. The reason, I think, is obvious. That question had been already decided: Christianity had come in. It was not the point here to claim for Christ a place above the law and the prophets, but to show simply the glory of the Son in the eyes of the Father, and His delight or loving satisfaction in Him; just as afterwards he makes it plain that in all the word of God the one object of the Holy Ghost is Christ's glory; for holy men of old spake as they were moved of Him. Scripture was not written by man's will; rather, God had a great purpose in His word, which was not met by the transient application of certain parts of it to isolated facts, to this person or to that. There was one grand uniting bond throughout all prophecy of Scripture. The object of it all was this the glory of Christ. Separate prophecy from Christ, and you divert the stream of the testimony from the person of Him to whom that testimony is most due. It contains not mere warnings about peoples, nations, tongues, or lands; about facts providential, or otherwise; about kings, empires, or systems in the world: Christ is the Spirit's object. So on the mount we hear the Father there witnessing to Christ, who supremely was the object of His delight. The kingdom was ensampled there; Moses also, and Elias; but there was One object pre-eminently before the Father, and that object was Jesus. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." The point was not exactly hearing Christ, but hearing the Father about Him, so to speak. Such was the emphatic object here; and therefore, as I believe, are the words "hear him" omitted. In Matthew we have the fullest form of all, which the more enforces the call to hear Him. Luke gives the "hear him," but the expression, both in Mark and Luke, of personal complacency was not so much the ruling aim. Of course, there were common points in all, but I just notice this for a little passing moment to illustrate their differences.

Then we find, without dwelling upon all the particulars, that our Lord tells the disciples that the vision was to be kept hid till the rising from the dead. His own resurrection would introduce an entirely new character of testimony. Then it was that the disciples could make manifest, without hindrance, this great truth. The Lord was thus teaching them their total incapacity, until that great event brought in a new work of God, the basis of a new and unrestricted testimony, old things being passed away, and all things made new to the believer.

This, I think, was very important, if we look at the disciples here as called to service. It is not in man's power to take up the service or the testimony of Christ as he will. From this is evident the weighty place that the rising from the dead holds in Scripture. Outside Christ sin reigned in death. In Him was no sin; but, until the resurrection, there could not be a full testimony rendered to His glory or His work. And so in point of fact it was. After this follow, passingly, a notice of the difficulties, which shows how truly our Lord had measured their incapacity; for the disciples were really under the influence of the scribes themselves at this time.

At the foot of the mountain another scene opens. At the top we have seen, not the kingdom of God only, but the glory of Christ; and, above all, Christ as the Son, whom the Father proclaimed now as the One to be heard beyond the law or the prophets. This the disciples never did understand till the resurrection; and very manifest is the reason, because the law had naturally its place till then, and the prophets came in as corroborating the law and maintaining its just authority. The raising from the dead does not in any wise weaken either the law or the prophets, but it gives occasion to the display of a superior glory. However, at the foot of the mountain there is an awful evidence to present facts, just after the sample of what is to come. Meanwhile, before the kingdom of God is established in power, who is the potentate that influences men and that reigns in this world? It is Satan. In the case before us most manifest was his power a power that the disciples themselves could not eject from the world because of their unbelief. Here, again, we see how manifestly service is the great thought all through this gospel. The father is in distress, for it was an old story; it was no new thing for Satan to exercise this power over man in the world. From his childhood such was the case; even as from the earliest day it was the history of man. In vain had the father appealed to those that bore the name of the Lord in the world; for they had wholly failed. This drew out from our Lord Jesus a severe reproof of their unbelief, and especially for the reason that they were His servants. There was no straitness in Him; no stint of power on His part. It was really unbelief in them. Hence He could only say, when this manifestation of the weakness of the disciples was brought before Him, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me. And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming." For the Lord would not hide the full extent of the power of Satan, but allows the child to be torn by his power before their eyes. There could be no question that the spell was unbroken up to this. The disciples had in no way subdued, suppressed, or crushed the power of Satan over the child. "And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child." It was really the history of this world in contrast with the new creation. Of the world, or rather kingdom, of God, a vision at least had just been seen in the transfiguration.

Thus the chapter is first of all founded upon the announced death of Christ in utter rejection, and the certainty of God's introducing His kingdom of glory for the Christ rejected of men. In the next place, the uselessness or impossibility of testifying the transfiguration till the rising from the dead is affirmed: then it would be most timely. Lastly follows the evidence of what the power of Satan really is before the kingdom of God finally comes in power, where the testimony of it even was unknown. The fact is, that under the surface of this world viewed by the disciples, and brought to light by the presence of our Lord Jesus, there is this complete subjection of man from his earliest days, as it is said. The power of Satan over man is too plain, and the servants of the Lord only proved how powerless they were, not from any defect of power in Christ, but because of their own lack of faith to draw it out. The Saviour at once proceeds to act, letting the man see that all turns on faith. In the meantime, what Christ brings into evidence is the power that deals with Satan before the kingdom is established. Such is the testimony at the foot of the mountain. The kingdom will surely in due time be established, but meanwhile faith in Christ defeats the enemy's power. It is beyond doubt that this was the true want and only remedy. Faith in Him alone could secure a blessing; and so, accordingly, the father tremblingly appeals to the Lord in his distress. "Lord," he says, "I believe; help thou mine unbelief." "When Jesus then saw the people running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee come out of him, and enter no more into him." The work was done. Apparently the child was no more; but the Lord "took him by the hand, lifted him up, and he arose." In the house He gave the disciples another profitable lesson in the way of ministry.

Such, then, it is easy to see, is the point that comes out here. The Lord shows that, along with the unbelief, is the lack of the sense and confession of dependence on God. This alone also judges the energy of nature, "This kind," he says, "goes not forth, but by prayer and fasting." While the power is in Jesus, faith alone draws it out; but that faith is accompanied by the sentence of death upon nature, as well as the looking up to God, the only source of power.

Next, we have another lesson, still connected with the service of the Lord, while the power of Satan is at work in the world, before the kingdom of God is established. We must learn the state of these servants' own hearts. They desire to be something. This falsifies their judgments. They departed thence, and passed into Galilee; and He would not that any man should know it. For He taught His disciples, and said unto them, "The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying." At first sight how singular, yet how frequent, is this lack of ability to enter into the words of Jesus! To what is it owing? To self unjudged. They were ashamed to let the Lord know what the true reason was; but the Lord brings it out. He came to Capernaum, and being in the house He asked them, "What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?" "But they held their peace; for by the way they bad disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest." No wonder there was little power in the presence of Satan; no wonder there was little understanding in presence of Jesus. There was a dead weight behind this spirit of thinking of themselves, of desiring some distinction to be seen and known of men now. It was evident unbelief of what God feels, and is going to display, in His kingdom. For there is but one thought before God He means to exalt Jesus. They were thus quite out of communion with God about the matter. Not only had those failed who were not on the mount, but just as plainly James, Peter, and John, all had failed. How little has special privilege or position to do with the humility of faith! This, then, is the true secret of powerlessness, either as against Satan, or for Jesus. Further, the connection of all this with the service of the Lord must, I think, be manifest.

But there is another incident, too, peculiar to Mark, of which we hear directly after this. The Lord rebukes them by taking a child, and thence reading them humility. What a withering censure of their self-exaltation! Even John proves how little the glory of Christ, which makes one content to be nothing, had entered into his heart now. The day is coming when it would all take deep root there when they would really gather everlasting profit from it; but for the present it was the painful demonstration that there is something more needed than the word even of Jesus. So it is, then, that John immediately after this turns to our Lord, complaining of some one that was casting out demons in His name the very thing they had failed to do. "Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name." Was not this, then, a matter for thankfulness of heart to God? Not a bit of it! Self in John took fire at it, and became the mouthpiece of the strong feeling which animated them all. "Master, we saw" not "I" merely; he spake for all the rest. "We saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followed not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us." It is evident, then, that no previous reproof had in any way purged out the self-exalting spirit, for here it was again in full force; but Jesus said, "Forbid him not." Another most weighty lesson in the service of Christ is this. The question here is not one of dishonour done to Christ. None in this case contemplates or allows any act whatever contrary to His name. On the contrary, it was a servant going forward against the enemy, believing in the efficacy of the Lord's name. Had it been a question of enemies or false friends of Christ, overthrowing or undermining His glory, he that "is not for him is against him; and he that gathereth not with him scattereth abroad." Wherever it is a question of a true or a false Christ, there cannot be a compromise of one jot of His glory. But where, on the contrary, it was one who may have been unintelligent, perhaps, and who certainly had not been so favoured in point of circumstances as the disciples, yet who knew the value and efficacy of His name, Jesus graciously shields him. "Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part." He certainly had faith in the Lord's name; and by faith in that name he was mighty to do what, alas! disciples were feeble to do. It was evident that there was a spirit of jealousy, and that the power which manifestly wrought in one who had never been so privileged outwardly as they, instead of humbling the disciples to think of their own shortcoming and lack of faith, led even John to cast about for some fault to find, some plea for restraining him whom God had honoured.

Hence, our Lord here brings out an instruction, not of course at variance with, but totally different from what we had in Matthew 12:30. Their distinctive use in the right time and circumstances, I cannot but hold to be by no means unimportant. Mark's, you will remember, is the gospel of service; and it is the question of ministry here. Now the power of God in this does not depend upon position. No matter how right (that is, according to God's will) the position may be, that will not give ministerial power to the individuals who are in the truest position. The disciples, of course, were in an unimpeachable place as following Christ there could be nothing more certainly right than theirs; for it was Jesus that had called them, gathered them round Himself, and sent them out clothed with a measure of His own power and authority. For all that, it was evident that there was weakness in practical manifestation. There was a decided want of faith in drawing upon the resources of Christ, as against Satan. They were, then, quite right in cleaving to Christ, and in following none other; they were right in abandoning John for Jesus; but they were not right in letting any reason hinder their acknowledgment of God's power, which "ought in another who was not in that blessed position which was their privilege. Accordingly our Lord rebukes this narrow spirit sternly, and lays down a principle seemingly counter, but really harmonious. For there is no contradiction in the word of God here, or anywhere else. Faith may rest assured that nothing in Matthew 12:1-50 opposes Mark 11:1-33. No doubt at first sight there might appear to be such a difference; but look, read again, and the difficulty vanishes.

In Matthew 12:30 the question was totally different. "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." There it was a question of Christ Himself of the glory and the power of God in Jesus here below. The moment it comes to be a question of His person, assailed by adversaries, then he that is not with Christ is against Christ. Do persons allow anything to lower His person now? All questions are secondary in comparison with this, and any one who is indifferent to it would deliberately take the part of the enemy against Christ. He who would sanction the dishonour of Jesus proves, no matter what his pretensions may be, that he is no friend of the Lord, and that his work of gathering can but scatter.

But in the mind of the Lord given in Mark, wholly different matter was before them. Here it was a question of a wan who was exalting Christ according to the measure of his faith, and certainly with no inconsiderable power. The disciples, therefore, in this case ought to have acknowledged and delighted in the testimony to Christ's name. Granted that the man was not so favoured as they; but surely the name of Christ was exalted in desire and in fact. Had their eye been single, they would have owned that, and thanked God for it. And here, therefore, the Lord impresses on them a lesson of another kind altogether: "He that is not against me is for me." Thus, wherever it is a question of the Spirit's power put forth in Christ's name, it is evident that he who is thus used of God is not against Christ; and if God answers that power, and uses it for the blessing of man and the defeat of the devil, we ought to rejoice.

Need I say how applicable both these lessons are? We know, on the one hand, that in this world Christ is rejected and despised. Such is the main groundwork of Matthew. Accordingly, in Matthew 12:1-50, we have Him not merely the object of loathing, but this even to those who had the outward testimony of God at that time. Hence, no matter what way be the reputation, the traditional respect or reverence of men; if Christ be dishonoured, they that prize and love Him can have no fellowship for an instant. On the other hand, take the service of Christ, and in the midst of all that bears the name of Christ around, there may be those whom God employs for this or that important work. Am I to deny that God makes use of them in His service? Not for an instant. I acknowledge the power of God in them, and thank Him; but this is no reason why one should abandon the blessed place of following Jesus. I say not, "following us," but "following Him." It is evident that the disciples were occupied with themselves, and forgot Him. They were wishing ministry to be their monopoly, instead of a witness to Christ's name. But the Lord puts everything in its place; and the same Lord who in Matthew 12:1-50 insists on decision for Himself, where His enemies had manifested their hatred or contempt of His glory, is no less prompt in the gospel of Mark to indicate the power that had wrought in the ministry of His unnamed servant. "Forbid him not," says He. "for he that is not against me is for me." Was he against Christ who used, on John's own showing, His name against the devil? The Lord thus honours, in any quarter or measure, the faith that knows how to make use of His name, and gain victories over Satan. Hence, therefore, if God employs any man say, in winning sinners to Christ, or delivering saints out of the bondage of wrong doctrine, or whatever else the snare may be Christ owns him, and so should we. It is a work of God, and homage to Christ's name, though not a around, I repeat, for making light of following Christ, if He have graciously accorded such a privilege. It is a most legitimate ground, no doubt, for humbling ourselves, to think how little we do as entrusted with the power of God. Thus we have to maintain Christ's own personal glory, on the one hand, always holding that fast; we have, on the other hand, to acknowledge whatever ministerial power God is pleased in His own sovereignty to employ, and by whomsoever. The one truth does not in the slightest degree interfere with the other.

Further: let me draw your attention now to the appropriateness of the place of, the incident in this gospel. You could not transpose either it or the solemn word in Matthew. It would altogether mar the beauty of the truth in both. On the one hand, the day of despising and rejecting Christ is the day for faith to assert His glory; on the other hand, where there is the power of God, I must acknowledge it. I may have been myself rebuked for my own lack of power just before; but, at least, let me own God's hand wherever it is manifest.

Our Lord follows this up with a remarkably solemn instruction, and in His discourse shows that it was no question merely of "following us," or of anything else, for a time. Now, no doubt, the disciple follows Him through a world where stumbling-blocks abound, and dangers on every side. But more than that, it is a world into the midst of whose snares and pitfalls He deigns to cast the light of eternity. Hence it was not a mere question of the moment; it was far beyond the objects of party strife. Our Lord, therefore, strikes at the root of what was at work in the mistaken disciples. He declares that whosoever gives a cup of water in His name the smallest real service rendered to need "because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward." Yet more, it was not merely a question of rewards on the one side, but of eternal ruin on the other. They had better look to themselves while they yet may. Flesh is a bad and ruinous thing. No matter who or what the person may be, man is not safe in himself, especially, let me add, when in the service of Christ. There is no ground where souls are more apt to get astray. It is not merely in questions of moral evil. There are men that pass us, and. that, so to speak, run the gauntlet of such seductions unscathed; but it is quite another and a very much more dangerous thing, where, in the professed service of the Lord, there is the nursing of that which is offensive to Christ, and grieves the Holy Ghost. This lesson comes out, not merely for saints, but also for those that are still under sin. "If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out." Deal unsparingly with every hindrance, and this on the simplest moral ground; most urgent, personally, and imminent is the peril they entail. These things would test a man, and sift whether there be anything in him Godward.

The end ofMark 9:1-50; Mark 9:1-50 reminds one of the end of1 Corinthians 9:1-27; 1 Corinthians 9:1-27, where the apostle Paul, no doubt also speaking about service, deepens in his tone of warning, and intimates that service may often become a means of detecting not state only, but unreality. There may not be open immorality in the first instance, but where the Lord is not before the soul in constant self-judgment, evil grows apace out of nothing more than ministry, as, indeed, the fact proved among the Corinthians; for they had been thinking much more about gift and power than about Christ; and with what moral results? The apostle begins by putting the case in the strongest way to himself; he supposes the case of his own preaching ever so well to others, but abandoning all care about holiness. Occupied with his gift and others, such an one yields without conscience to that which the body craves after, and the consequence is total ruin. Were it Paul, he must become a castaway, or reprobate ( i.e., disapproved of God). The word is never used for a mere loss of reward, but for absolute rejection of the man himself. Then, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-33, he applies the ruin of the Israelites to the danger of the Corinthians themselves.

Our Lord in this very passage of Mark similarly warns. He deals with the slight which John put upon one that was manifestly using the name of Christ to serve souls, and defeat Satan. But John had unwittingly ignored, if not denied, the true secret of power altogether. It was really John that needed to take care holy and blessed man as he was. There was an evident mistake of no ordinary gravity, and the Lord proceeds from this to the most solemn warning that He ever gave in any discourse that is recorded of Him. No other sets eternal destruction more manifestly before us in any part of the gospels. Here, above all, we are admitted to hear continually ringing in our ears the awful dirge, if I may so call it, over lost souls: "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." On the other hand, our Lord turns the occasion also to the profit of His own, though this too be a solemn warning. Hence observe, before the subject closes, how He lays down grand principles that involve the whole of this question. Thus we are told, "Every one shall be salted with fire." It is well to remember that grace does not hinder this universal test of every soul here below. "Every one," says He, "shall be salted with fire;" but besides that, "Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt." These are two distinct things.

No child of man, as such, can escape judgment. "It is appointed unto man once to die, but after that the judgment." The judgment, in one form or another, must be the portion of the race. Whenever you look at what is universal, man, being a sinner, is an object for divine judgment. But this is far from the whole truth. There are those here below who are delivered from God's judgment even in this world who have even now access into His favour, and rejoice in hope of His glory. What then of them? They that hear Christ's word, and believe Him who sent the Saviour, have eternal life, and enter not into judgment. But are they not put to the proof? Assuredly they are; but it is upon another principle altogether. "Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt" It is clearly not a question there of a mere sinful man, but of that which is acceptable to God; and, therefore, not salted with fire, but salted with salt. Not that there is not that Which tests and proves the ground of the heart in those that belong to God; but even so their special nearness to Him is borne in mind.

Thus, whether it be the general dealing in a judicial manner with man, with every soul as such; whether it be the special case of such as belong to God (i.e., every sacrifice acceptable to God, as brought in by Christ on the foundation of His own great sacrifice), the principle is as clear as it is comprehensive and sure for every one; not only for every sinner, but for every believer, however truly acceptable to God by Jesus Christ our Lord. With the glorified saints, although it be not, of course, the judgment of God, certainly there is no concealment of the truth, though there is that also which God in His grace makes to be mighty to preserve; not pleasant, it may be, but the preservative energy of divine grace with its sanctifying effects. This, I think, is what is meant by being "salted with salt." The figure of that well known antiseptic does not leave room for the pleasant things of nature with all their evanescence. "Salt," says our Lord, "is good." It is not an element which excites for a moment, and passes away; it has the savour of God's covenant. "Salt is good; but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith will ye season it?" How fatal is the loss! How dangerous to go back! Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another; "that is, have purity first, then peace mutually, as the apostle James, too, exhorts in his epistle. Purity deals with nature, and resists all corruption it preserves by the mighty power of God's grace. Following this, but of no worth without it, is "peace one with another." May we possess this peace also, but not at the cost of intrinsic purity, if we value God's glory!

This closes, then, our Lord's ministry the connection of ministry, as it appears to me, with the transfiguration. That manifestation of the power of God could not but impress a new and suited character upon those concerned.

In the next chapter our Lord introduces other topics, and very strikingly, because it might be hastily gathered, that if all is founded upon death and resurrection, and is in view of the coining glory, such a ministry as this must take no account of relationships which have to do with nature. The very reverse is the case. It is precisely when you have the highest principles of God brought in, that everything God has ever owned on the earth finds its right place. It was not when God gave the law, for instance, that the sanctity of marriage was vindicated, most. Every one ought to know there is no relationship so fundamental for man on earth there is nothing that so truly forms the social bond as the institution of marriage. What is there naturally in this world so essential for domestic happiness and personal purity, not to speak of the various other considerations, on which all human relationships so much depend? And yet it is remarkable that, during the legal economy, there was the continual allowance of that which enfeebled marriage. Thus, the permission of divorce for trivial reasons, I need not say, was anything but a maintenance of its honour. Here, on the contrary, when in Christ the fulness of grace came, and, more than that, when it was rejected, when the Lord Jesus Christ was announcing that which was to be founded upon His approaching humiliation unto death, and when He was expressly teaching that this new system could not be, and was not to be, proclaimed until His own rising from the dead, He also insists on the value of the various relations in nature. I admit the connection with the resurrection is only shown in Mark; but, then, this points out the true import of it, because Mark naturally indicates the importance of that epoch and glorious fact, for the service of Christ in testimony, for bringing the truth out to others.

Here, however, the Lord having disposed of that which was eternally momentous, having traced it up to the end of all this passing scene, having shown the results for those that have no part nor lot in the matter, as well as for such as enjoy the grace of God in its preservative force, namely, those that belong to Christ, now takes up the relation of these new principles to nature, to what God Himself acknowledged in what you may call the outside world.

The Lord here, then, stands up as the vindicator, first of all, of the relationship of marriage. He teaches that in the law, important as it was, Moses did not assert the vital place of marriage for the world. On the contrary, Moses permitted certain infractions of it because of Israel's state. "For the hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother." That is, even the nearest other relationship, so to speak, disappears before this relationship. "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall cleave unto his wife; and they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh. What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." To this it came; but for this most simple yet thorough. exposition of God's mind, we are indebted to the Lord Jesus, the great witness of grace, and of eternal things, now connected with His own rejection and the kingdom of God coming with power, and the setting aside of the long spell of the devil. It is the same Jesus who now clears from the dust of ruin God's institutions even for the earth.

A similar principle runs through the incidents that follow here. "They brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them." Had His followers drank deeply into that grace of which He was full, they would, on the contrary, have estimated very differently the feeling that presented the infants to their Master. The truth is that the spirit of self was yet strong; and what so petty and narrow? Poor, proud Judaism bad tinctured and spoilt the feelings, and the little ones were despised by them. But God, who is mighty, despiseth not any; and grace, understanding the mind of God, becomes an imitator of His ways. The Lord Jesus rebuked them; yea, it is said, "He was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." In both these particulars, so all-important for the earth, we find the Lord Jesus Christ proving. that grace, far from not giving nature its place, is the only thing that vindicates it, according to God.

Another lesson follows, in a certain sense even more emphatic, because more difficult. It might be thought that God's mercy occupies it specially with a child. But let us suppose an unconverted man, and one, too, living according to the law, and in great measure satisfied with his fulfilment of its obligations, what would the Lord say of him? How does the Lord Jesus Christ feel about such a one? "When he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." The man was totally in the dark; he had no saving knowledge of God; he had no knowledge really of man; he had no sense of the true glory of Christ; he did honour Him, but merely as one differing in degree from himself. He owned Him to be a good Master, and he wanted to glean what he could from Him as a good disciple. He put himself, therefore, so far on a level with Jesus, assuming his competency to carry out the words and ways of Jesus. It is evident, therefore, that sin was unjudged, and that God Himself was unknown in the heart of this young man. The Lord, however, brings out his state fully. "Thou knowest the commandments," He says, putting expressly forward those duties that touch human relations. "He answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth." The Lord does not refuse his statement raises no question how far he had fulfilled the second table. On the contrary, it is added, that "Jesus, beholding him, loved him." Many find a serious difficulty in that assertion of the Spirit of God. To my own mind it is as instructive as it is beautiful. Not that the man was converted, for he was clearly not; not that he knew the truth, for the difficulty arises from the fact that he was a stranger to it; not that the man was following Jesus, for, on the contrary, we are told that he went away from Jesus; not that his heart was made happy in God's grace, for in truth he turned back sorrowing. There was the deepest reason, therefore, to regard him with pain and anxiety, if you judged the man according to what was eternal. Nevertheless, it remains true that Jesus looked upon him, and beholding him, loved him.

Is there nothing in this which traverses ordinary evangelicalism? An important lesson for us, I cannot doubt. The Lord Jesus, from the very fact of His perfect perception of God and His grace, and the infinite value of eternal life before His Spirit, was free enough, and above all that crowds human judgment, to appreciate character and conduct in nature, to weigh what was conscientious, to love what was lovable in man simply as man. So far from grace weakening, I am persuaded it always strengthens such feelings. To many, no doubt, this might seem strange; but they are themselves the proof of the cause that hinders. Let them examine and judge whether the word does not reveal what is here drawn from it. And let it be noted that we have this emphatic statement, too, in the gospel which reveals Christ as the perfect servant; which gives us, therefore, to know how we are to serve wisely as we follow Him. Nowhere do we see our Lord bringing it out so distinctly as here. The same truth substantially is given in Matthew and in Luke; but Mark gives us the fact the He "loved him." Nor do Matthew and Luke say a word about there being the perception of the reason why the Lord thus loved the young man: only Mark tells us that, "beholding him," Christ loved him. Of course, that is the great point of the case. The Lord did admire what there was naturally lovely in a man that had been preserved providentially from the evil of this world, and sedulously trained in the law of God, in which he had hitherto walked blamelessly, even desiring to learn from Jesus, but without divine conviction, of his own sinful lost estate. Certainly the Lord did not deal with either the narrowness or the roughness which we so often betray. Indeed we are, alas! poor servants of His grace. The Lord far better knew, and far more deeply felt than we, the state and danger of the young man. Nevertheless there is much for us to weigh in this, that Jesus, beholding him, loved him.

But, further, "He said unto him, One thing thou lackest." But what a thing it was! "One thing thou lackest." The Lord denies nothing that he could in any way or ground commend; He owns everything that was naturally good. Who could blame, for instance, an obedient child? a benevolent and conscientious life? Am I, therefore, to attribute all this to divine grace? or to deny the need of it? No! these things I own as a boon belonging to man in this world, and to be valued in their place. He that says they have no value whatever slights, to my mind, evidently, the wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time, he who would make this, or any thing of the sort, a means of eternal life, evidently knows nothing as he ought to know. Thus the subject calls, no doubt, for much delicacy, but for what will find a true recognition in Jesus, and in the blessed word of God, and nowhere else. Our Lord therefore says, "One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor." Is not this what Jesus had done, though in an infinitely better way? Certainly He had given up all things, that God might be glorified in the salvation of lost man. But if He had emptied Himself of His glory, how infinite were the results of that humiliation unto death itself?

The young man wanted to learn something of Jesus; but was he prepared to follow even in the earthly path of the Crucified? was he willing only to have the thing he lacked supplied? to be a witness of divine self-renunciation in grace to the wretched? to abandon treasures on earth, content to have treasure in heaven? If he had done this, however, Christ could not but ask more; even as here He adds, "And come, take up the cross, and follow me." The Saviour, as we may thus see, goes not before the light of God; He does not anticipate what would be brought out in a day that was at hand. There is no premature announcement of the astonishing change which the gospel in due time made known; but the heart was fully tested. Man in his best estate is proved to be lighter than vanity, compared with Him who alone is good; and this revealed in Christ, His only adequate image and expression. Yet could He who thus (not to speak of the unfathomable depths of His cross) distanced man look on this young man with love, as He beheld him spite of evident shortcoming. Still, whatever he was, this did not in the smallest degree take the man out of the world. His heart was in the creature, yea, even in the unrighteous mammon: he loved his property, i.e., himself, and the Lord in His test dealt with the root of the evil. And so the result proved. For it is said, "He was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions." Now, it appears to me that our Lord's way of dealing is the perfect pattern; and first in this, that He does not reason from that which was not yet revealed by God. He does not speak of His own bloodshedding, death, or resurrection. They were not yet accomplished, and it would have been quite unintelligible. Not one of the disciples themselves knew anything really, though the Lord had repeatedly spoken of it to the twelve. How was this man to understand? Our Lord did what was of all importance He dealt with the man's own conscience. He spread before him the moral value of what He had done Himself, giving up all that one had. This was the last thing the young man thought of doing. He would have liked to have been a benefactor a generous patron; but to give up everything, and to follow Christ in shame and reproach, he was in no way prepared to do. The consequence was, that on his own ground the man was left perfectly convicted of stopping short of good brought before him in the good Master to whom he had appealed. What the Lord may have done for him afterwards is a matter for the Lord to tell. As it is not revealed in the word, it is not for us to know; and it would be vain and wrong to conjecture. What God has shown us here is, that no matter what the extent of moral following the law, even in a most remarkable case of outward purity and of apparent subjection to the requirements of God, all this does not deliver the soul, does not make a man happy, but leaves him perfectly miserable and far from Christ. Such is the moral of the rich young ruler, and a very weighty one it is.

Next, our Lord applies the same principle to the disciples; for now He has done with the outward question. We have seen nature in its best estate seeking Christ in a sense; and here is the result of it: after all the man is unhappy, and leaves Jesus, who now looks upon His disciples in their utter bewilderment, and enlarges on the hindrance of wealth in divine things. Alas! this they had thought to be an evidence of God's blessing. And if they were only rich, how much good might they not do! "How hardly," says Christ, "shall they that have riches enter the kingdom of God!" He further says to them, already astonished, "Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." The Lord insists only the more solemnly on this lesson, so little understood even by disciples. They, beyond measure surprised, say among themselves, "Who, then, can be saved?" which gives the Lord the opportunity to explain what lies at the bottom of the whole question; that salvation is a question of God, and not of man at all. Law, nature, riches, poverty no matter what, that man loves or fears has nothing in the least to do with the saving of the soul, which rests entirely on the power of God's grace, and nothing else: what is impossible for man is possible with God. All turns, therefore, on His grace. Salvation is of the Lord. Blessed be His name! with God all things are possible: otherwise how could we, how could any, be saved?

Peter then begins to boast a little of what the disciples had given up, whereon the Lord brings in a very beautiful word, peculiar to Mark. "There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake and the gospel's, but he shall receive a hundredfold." Be it noted that only Mark mentions "and the gospel's." It is service that is so prominent here. Others may say, "for His sake;" but here we read, "for my sake, and the gospel's." Thus the value of Christ personally is, as it were, attached to the service of Christ in this world. Whosoever, then, is thus devoted, He says, "shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life." It is a wonderful conjunction, but most true, because it is the word of the Lord and the reckoning of faith.

All things that Christ possesses are ours who believe in Him. No doubt such a tenure does not satisfy the covetous heart; but it is a deep and rich satisfaction to faith, that, instead of wanting something to distinguish self by, one has the comfort of knowing that all the Church of God possesses on the earth belongs to every saint of God on the earth. Faith does not seek its own, but delights in that which is diffused among the faithful. Unbelief counts nothing its own, save what is for selfish use. If, on the contrary, love be the principle that animates me, how different! But then there is an accompaniment "with persecutions." These you must have somehow, if you are faithful. They that will live godly cannot escape it. Am I only to have it in that way because they have it? It is better to have it myself in the direct following of Christ. In His warfare, what eau be so honourable a mark? But it is a mark that is found especially in the service of Christ. Here, again, we see how thoroughly Mark's character is preserved throughout. "But many that are first shall be last, and last first," we find solemnly added here as in Matthew. It is not the beginning of the race that decides the contest; the end of it necessarily is the great point. In that race there are many changes, and withal not a few slips, falls, and reverses.

The Lord then goes on to Jerusalem, that fatal spot for the true prophet. Man was wrong in averring that never a prophet had arisen in Galilee; for, indeed, God left Himself not without witnesses even there. But, assuredly the Lord was right, that no prophet should perish out of Jerusalem. The religious capital is exactly the place where the true witnesses of God's grace must die. Jesus, therefore, in going up to Jerusalem was well understood by the disciples, and so, amazed, they follow Him. Little were they prepared for that course of persecution which was to be their boast in a day that was coming, and for which they would be surely strengthened by the Holy Ghost. But it was not so yet. "Jesus went before them: and they were amazed; and as they followed, they were afraid. And he took again the twelve, and began to tell them what things should happen unto him, saying, Behold, we go up" (how gracious! not only "I," but "we," go up) "to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be delivered unto the chief priests, and unto the scribes; and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles." Then we have the persecution unto death (and what a death 1) fully laid before us. James and John at this critical time show how little flesh, even in the servants of God, ever enters into His thoughts. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh," no matter in whom. Again, it was not in obscure ones, but in those that seemed to be somewhat, that the ugliness of the flesh especially betrayed itself; and therefore it is these who furnish the lesson for us. "Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire." Their mother appears in another gospel in the gospel where we might expect such a relationship after the flesh to appear; but here, alas! it is the servants themselves, who ought to have known better. As yet their eyes were holden. They turned the very fact of their being servants into a means of profiting the flesh even in the kingdom of God itself. They seek to gratify the flesh here by the thought of what they would be there. So the Lord brings out the thought of their heart, and answers them with a dignity peculiar to Himself. "Ye know not," He says, "what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with. the baptism that I am baptized with? And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized: but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine. to give; but [it shall be given] to them for whom it is prepared." He is the servant; and even in view of the time of glory He preserves the same character. A high place in the kingdom is only for those "for whom it is prepared."

But it was not merely that these two disciples betrayed themselves; the ten made the secret of their heart manifest enough. It is not alone by the fault of one or another that the flesh becomes apparent; but how do we behave ourselves in presence of the displayed faults of others? The indignation which broke out in the ten showed the pride of their own hearts, just as much as the two desiring the best place. Had unselfish love been at work, their ambition would assuredly have been a matter for sorrow and shame. I do not say for lack of faithfulness in resisting it; but I do say, that the indignation proved that there was a feeling of self, and not of Christ, strongly at work in their hearts. Our Lord, therefore, reads a rebuke to the whole, and shows them that it was but the spirit of a Gentile that animated them against the sons of Zebedee; the very reverse of all He, could not but look for in them, even as it opposed all that was in Himself. Intelligence of the kingdom leads the believer into. contentedness with being little now. The true greatness of the disciple lies in the power of being a servant of Christ morally, going down to the uttermost in the service of others. It is not energy that ensures this greatness in the Lord's estimate now, but contentedness to be a servant, yea, to be a slave in the lowest or least place. As for Himself, it was not merely that Christ did come to minister, or be a servant; He had that which He alone could have the title, as the love, to give His life a ransom for many.

From Mark 10:48 comes the last scene the Lord presenting Himself to Jerusalem, and that too, as we are all aware, from Jericho. We have His progress to Jerusalem, beginning with the cure of the blind man. I need not dwell on the details, nor on His entrance on the colt of the ass into the city as the King. Neither need I say more about the fig tree (one day cursed, the next day seen to be thoroughly withered up), nor the Lord's call to faith in God, and its effect in and on prayer. Nor need we enter particularly into the question of authority raised by the religious leaders.

The parable of the vineyard, with whichMark 12:1-44; Mark 12:1-44 opens, is very full on that which concerns the servants responsible to God. Then we hear of the rejected stone that was afterwards made the head of the corner. Again, we have the various classes of Jews coming before Him with their questions. Not that there are not important points in every one of these scenes that pass before our eyes; but the hour will not permit me to touch upon any of them at length. I therefore pass by advisedly these particulars. We have the Pharisees and the Herodians rebuked; we have the Sadducees refuted; we have the scribe manifesting what the character of the law is; and, indeed, in answer to his own question, the Lord shed the full light of God upon the law, but at the same time accompanied by a remarkable comment on the lawyer. "When Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." It is a beautiful feature in our Lord's service this readiness to own whatever was according to truth, no matter where He found it. Then our Lord puts His own question, as to His own person, according to the Scripture, gives a brief warning as to the scribes, and marks in contrast the poor blessed widow, His own pattern of true devotedness and of real faith in this most spiritually destitute condition of the people of God on earth. How He passes completely by the wealth that merely gave what it felt not, to single out, and for ever consecrate, the practice of faith where it might be least expected! The widow that had but the two mites had cast in all her living into the treasury of God, and this at a time decrepit and selfish beyond all precedent. Little did that widow think that she had found even upon earth an eye to own, and a tongue to proclaim, what God could form for His own praise in the heart and by the hand of the poorest woman in Israel!

Then our Lord instructs the disciples in a prophecy strictly conformed to the character of Mark. This is the reason why here alone, where you have the service of the Lord, the power by which they could answer in times of difficulty is introduced into this discourse. Hence our Lord passes by all distinctive reference to the end of the age an expression which does not here occur. The fact is that, although it be the prophecy which in Matthew looks to the end of the age,, still the Spirit does not so specify here; and for the simple reason, that a prophecy which was forming them for their service accounts for what is left out and what is put in, as compared with Matthew. Another thing I may notice is, that in this prophecy alone He says, that not only the angels, but even the Son does not know that day (Mark 13:32). The reason of this peculiar, and at first sight perplexing, expression seems to me to be, that Christ so thoroughly takes the place of One who confines himself to what God gave to Him, of One so perfectly a minister not a master, in this point of view that, even in relation to the future, He knows and gives out to others only what God gives Him for the purpose. As God says nothing about the day and the hour, He knows no more. Remark also how characteristically here our Lord describes both Himself, and the workmen, and their work. There is no such dispensational description, as in Matthew's parable of the talents, but simply this: "The Son of man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch." The features of difference in Matthew are plain. There is far greater augustness. He who goes a long way provides as it were for the length of His absence. Here, no doubt, He goes; but He gives "authority to His servants." Who can fail to note the suitability for the purpose of Mark? Again, He gives "to every man his work." Why, may we not ask, are these expressions found here? Surely, because in Mark it is the very subject-matter of the gospel all through; for even in a prophecy the Lord would never abandon the great thought of service. Here it is not so much the question of giving gifts or goods as of work to be done. Authority is given to His servants. They wanted it. They do not take it without a title. It is doing His will, rather than trading with His gifts. We find this last most appropriately in Matthew; because the point in the earlier gospel was the peculiar chance to follow the Lord's leaving the earth, and the Jewish hopes of Messiah, for the new place He was going to take on ascending to heaven. There He is the giver of gifts a thing quite distinct in its character from the ordinary principle of Judaism; and the men trade with them, and the good and faithful enter finally into the joy of their Lord. Here it is simply the service of Christ, the true servant.

In Mark 14:1-72 come the profoundly interesting and instructive scenes of our Lord with the disciples, not now predicting, but vouchsafing the last pledge of His love. The chief priests and scribes plot in corruption and violence for His death; at Simon's house in Bethany a woman anoints His body to the burying, which discerns many hearts among the disciples, and draws out the Master's, who next is seen, not accepting an offering of affection, but giving the great and permanent token of His love the Lord's Supper. The state of Judas's heart appears in both cases conceiving his plan in the presence of the first, and going out to accomplish it from the presence of the last. Thence our Lord goes forth; not yet to suffer the wrath of God, but to enter into it in spirit before God. We have seen all through the gospel that such was His habit, to which I merely call attention now in passing. As the cross was of all the deepest work and suffering, so most assuredly the Lord did not enter upon Calvary without a previous Gethsemane. In its due season comes the trial before the high priest and Pilate.

The crucifixion of our Lord is in Mark 15:1-47, with the effect upon those that followed Him, and the grace that wrought in the woman men betraying their abject fear in the presence of death, but women strengthened, the weak truly made strong.

Finally, in Mark 16:1-20, we have the resurrection; but this, too, strictly in keeping with the character of the gospel. Accordingly, then we have the Lord risen, the angel giving the word to the women "Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. But go your way, tell his disciples and Peter" a word found only in Mark. The reason is manifest. It is a mighty consideration for the soul. Peter, despising the word of the Lord really, though not intentionally; Peter, not receiving that word mixed with faith into his heart, but, on the contrary, trusting himself, was pushed into a difficulty where he could not stand, even before man or woman, because he had never borne the temptation upon his spirit before God. So it was then that Peter broke down shamefully. From the Lord's look he began to feel his conduct acutely; but while the process went on he needed to be confirmed, and our Lord therefore expressly named Peter in His message the only one who was named. It was an encouragement to the faint heart of His fallen servant; it was an acting of that same grace which had prayed for him even before he fell; it was the Lord effecting for him a thorough restoration of his soul, which mainly consists of the application of the word to the conscience, but also to the affections. Peter's was the last name, according to man, that deserved to be then named; but it was the one who needed most, and that was enough for the grace of Christ. Mark's gospel is ever that of the service of love.

On the cross and resurrection, as here presented, I need not speak now. There are peculiarities both of insertion and of omission, which illustrate the difference in scope of what is here given us from that which we find elsewhere. Thus we have the reviling of the very thieves crucified with Him, but not the conversion of one. And as in the seizure of Jesus we hear of a certain young man who fled naked when laid hold of by the lawless crowd that apprehended the Saviour, so before the crucifixion they compel in their wanton violence one Simon a Cyrenian to bear His cross. But God was not forgetful of that day's toil for Jesus, as Alexander and Rufus could testify at a later day. Not a word here of the earth quaking, either at the death of Christ, or when He rose; no graves are seen opened; no saints risen and appearing in the holy city. But of the women we hear who had ministered to Him living, and would have still ministered when dead, but that the resurrection cut it short, and brought in a better and enduring light, the Lord employing angelic ministry to chase away their fright by announcing that the crucified Jesus of Nazareth was risen. How admirably this is in keeping with our gospel need scarcely be enlarged on.

I am aware that men have tampered with the closing verses (Mark 16:9-20) ofMark 16:1-20; Mark 16:1-20, as they have sullied with their unholy doubts the beginning ofJohn 8:1-59; John 8:1-59. In speaking of John, it will be my happy task to defend that passage from the rude insults of men. Assured they are wrong, I care not who they may be nor what their excuses. God has given the amplest array of external vouchers; but there are reasons far weightier, internal grounds of conviction, which will be appreciated just in proportion to a person's understanding of God and His word. Impossible for man to coin a single thought, or even a word fit to pass. So it is in this scene.

I also admit that there are certain differences between this portion and the previous part of chap. 16. But, in my judgment, the Spirit purposely put them in a different light. Here, you will observe, it is a question of forming the servants according to that rising from the dead for which He had prepared them. Had the gospel terminated without this, we must have had a real gap, which ought to have been felt. The Lord had Himself, before His resurrection, indicated its important bearing. When the fact occurred, had there been no use made of it with the servants, and for the service, of Christ, there had been, indeed, a grievous lack, and this wonderful gospel of His ministry would have left off with as impotent a conclusion as we could possibly imagine. Chapter 16 would have closed with the silence of the women and its source, "for they were afraid." What conclusion less worthy of the servant Son of God! What must have been the impression left, if the doubts of some learned men had the slightest substance in them? Can any one, who knows the character of the Lord and of His ministry, conceive for an instant that we should be left with nothing but a message baulked through the alarm of women? Of course, I assume what is indeed the fact, that the outward evidence is enormously preponderant for the concluding verses. But, internally also, it seems to me impossible for one who compares the earlier close with the gospel's aim and character throughout, to accept such an ending after weighing that which is afforded by the verses from 9 to 20. Certainly these seem to me to furnish a most fitting conclusion to that which otherwise would be a picture of total and hopeless weakness in testimony. Again, the very freedom of the style, the use of words not elsewhere used, or so used by Mark, and the difficulties of some of the circumstances narrated, tell to my mind in favour of its genuineness; for a forger would have adhered to the letter, if he could not so easily catch the spirit of Mark.

I admit, of course, that there was a particular object in the earlier verses as they now stand, and that the providence of God wrought therein; but surely the ministry of Jesus has a higher end than such providential ways of God. On the other hand, if we receive the common conclusion of the gospel of Mark, how appropriate all is! Here we have a woman, and no ordinary woman, Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus, who was now dead and risen, had once cast seven devils; and who, therefore, so fit a witness of the resurrection-power of God's Son? The Lord had come to destroy the works of the devil; she knew this, even before His death and resurrection: who then, I ask, so suitable a herald of it as Mary of Magdala? There is a divine reason, and it harmonizes with this gospel. She had experimentally proved the blessed ministry of Jesus before, in delivering herself from Satan's power. She was now about to announce a still more glorious ministry; for Jesus had now by dying destroyed Satan's power in death. "She went and told them that had been with him, as they mourned and wept." This was untimely sorrow on their part: what a thrill of joy that ought to have sent to their hearts. Alas! unbelief left them still sad and unbiassed. Then "he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they walked, and went into the country. And they went and told it unto the residue: neither believed they them." Here was an important practical element to remember in the service of the Lord the dulness of men's hearts, their consequent opposition and resistance to the truth. Where the truth does not concern men much, they slight without fear, hatred, or opposition. Thus, the very resistance to the truth, while it shows in a certain sense, no doubt, man's unbelief, demonstrates at the same time that its importance leads to this resistance. Supposing you tell a man that a certain chief possesses a great estate in Tartary; he may think it all very true, at any rate he does not feel enough about the case to deny the allegation; but tell him that he himself has such an estate there: does he believe you? The moment something affects the person, there is interest enough to resist stoutly. It was of practical moment that the disciples should be instructed in the feelings of the heart, and learn the fact in their own experience. Here we have it so in the case of our Lord. He had told them plainly in His word; He had announced the resurrection over and over and over again; but how slow were these chosen servants of the Lord! what patient waiting upon others should there not be in the ministry of those with whom the Lord had dealt so graciously! There again we find, that if it be of moment, it is most especially so in the point of view of the Lord's ministry.

After this the Lord appears Himself to the eleven as they sat at meat, and "upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them Which had seen him after he was risen." Yet a most gracious Master He proves Himself one that knew well how to make good ministers out of bad ones; and so the Lord says to them, immediately after upbraiding them with their incredulity, "Go ye into all the world, and. preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." There is the importance not only of the truth, but of its being openly and formally confessed before God and man; for clearly baptism does symbolically proclaim the death and resurrection of Christ; that is the value of it. "He that believeth and is baptized." Do not you pretend that you have received Christ, and then shirk all the difficulties and dangers of the confession. Not so: "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." There is not a word about baptism in this last case. A man might be baptized; but without faith, of course it would not save him. "He that believeth not shall be damned." Believing was the point. Nevertheless, if a man professed ever so much to believe, yet shrank from the publicity of owning Him in whom he believed, his profession of faith was good for nothing; it could not be accepted as real. Here was an important principle for the servant of Christ in dealing with cases.

Further, outward manifestations of power were to follow: "These signs shall follow them that believe: in my name shall they cast out devils." By-and-by the power of Satan is to be shaken thoroughly. This was only a testimony, but still how weighty it was! The Lord in this case does not say how long these signs were to last. When He says, "Teach [make disciples of] all nations [or the Gentiles], baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you," He adds, "And, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world [or age]." That is, He does connect His continuance with their discipling, baptizing, and teaching all the Gentiles what He had enjoined. This work was thus to go on till the end of the age; but as for the signs ofMark 16:1-20; Mark 16:1-20, with marvellous wisdom He omits all mention of a period. He does not say how long these signs were to follow them that believe. All He said was, that these signs were to follow; and so they did. He did not promise that they were to be for five, or fifty, for a hundred, or five hundred years. He simply said they were to follow, and so the signs were given; and they followed not merely the apostles, but them that believe. They confirmed the word of believers wherever they were found. It was but a testimony, and I have not the slightest doubt, that as there was perfect wisdom in giving these signs to accompany the word, so also there was not less wisdom in cutting the gift short. I am assured that, in the present fallen state of Christendom, these outward signs, so far from being desirable, would be an injury. No doubt their cessation is a proof of our sin and low estate; but at the same time there was graciousness in His thus withholding these signs towards His people when their continuance threatened no small danger to them, and might have obscured His moral glory.

The grounds of this judgment need not be entered into now; it is enough to say that undoubtedly these signs were given. "They shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover." Thus there was a blow struck at the prolific source of evil in the world; there was the expression of God's rich grace now to the world; there was the active witness of the beneficence of divine mercy in dealing with the miseries everywhere occurrent in the world. These are, I think, the characteristics of the service, but then there remains a striking part of the conclusion, which I venture to think none but Mark could have written. No doubt the Holy Ghost was the true author of all that Mark wrote; and certainly, the conclusion is one that suits this gospel, but no other. If you cut off these words, you have a gospel without a conclusion. Accepting these words as the words of God, you have, I repeat, a termination that harmonizes with a truly divine gospel; but not merely that here you have a divine conclusion for Mark's gospel, and for no other. There is no other gospel that this conclusion would suit but Mark's; for observe here what the Spirit of God finally gives us. He says, "After the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven." You might have thought, surely, that there was rest in heaven now that Christ's work on earth was done, and so perfectly done; more particularly as it is here added, ,and he sat on the light hand of God." If there is such a session of Christ spoken of in this place, the more it might be supposed that there was a present rest, now that all His work was over; but not so. As the gospel of Mark exhibits emphatically Jesus the workman of God, so even in the rest of glory He is the workman still. Therefore, it seems written here that,, while they went forth upon their mission, they were to take up the work which the Lord had left them to do. "They went forth and preached everywhere " for there is this character of largeness about Mark. "They went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." Thus Mark, and no one else, gives us the picture most thoroughly, the whole consistent up to the last. Would a forger have kept up the bold thought of "the Lord working with them," while every other word intimates that He was then at least quiescent?

Thus have we glanced over the gospel of Mark, and have seen that the first thing in it is the Lord ushered into His service by one who was called to an extraordinary work before Him, even John the Baptist. Now, at last, when He is set down at the right hand of God, we find it said that the Lord was working with them. To allow that verses 9 to the end are authentic scripture, but not Mark's own writing, seems to me the lamest supposition possible.

May He bless His own word, and give us here one more proof that, if there be any portion in which we find the divine hand more conspicuous than another, it is precisely where unbelief objects and rejects. I am not aware that in all the second gospel there is a section more characteristic of this evangelist than the very one that man's temerity has not feared to seize upon, endeavouring to root it from the soil where God planted it. But, beloved friends, these words are not of man. Every plant that the heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up. This shall never be rooted up, but abides for ever, let human learning, great or small, say what it will.