The Author.  He was not an apostle and was variously designated as follows; (1) John, whose surname was Mark, Acts 12:12, 25; 15:37; (2) John only, Acts 13:5. 13; (3) Mark only, Acts 15:39; (4) always Mark after this, Col. 4:10, Philemon 24, 2 Tim. 4:11, 1 Pet. 5:13.  He was a son of Mary, a woman of Jerusalem (Acts 12:12).  Her home was the gathering place of the disciples, whither Peter went after he was delivered from prison.  On this or some other visit Mark may have been converted through the preaching of Peter, and this may have been the cause of Peter calling him “his son” (1 Pet. 5:13), which doubtless means son in the ministry.  He returns with Paul and Barnabas from Jerusalem to Antioch (Acts 12:25), and accompanies them, as minister (Acts 13:5) on the first great missionary journey as far as Perga (Acts 13:13).  There he left them and returned home.  On the second missionary tour Paul declined to take him and separated from Barnabas, Mark’s cousin (Col. 4:10), who chose Mark for his companion (Acts 15:37-39).  Ten years later he seems to be with Paul in his imprisonment at Rome and was certainly counted a fellow worker by Paul (Col. 4:10, Philemon 24).  Paul found him useful and asked Timothy to bring him to him in his last imprisonment (2 Tim. 4:11).  He was with Peter when he wrote his first epistle (1 Peter 5:13).

What he knew of the work of Jesus directly we do not know, probably not much.  The early Christian writers universally say that he was the interpreter of Peter and that he based his gospel upon information gained from him.

Characteristics and Purpose.

1.  It Is a Gospel of Vividness and Details.  He shows the effect of awe and wonder produced upon those present by the works and teaching of Jesus.  He tells the details of the actions of Jesus and his disciples and the multitudes.  Jesus “looks around,” “sat down,” “went before”.  He is grieved, hungry, angry, indignant, wonders, sleeps, rests and is moved with pity.  The cock crows twice:  “it is the hour”, “a great while before day,” or “eventide,” “there are two thousand swine”, the disciples and Jesus are on the sea, on Olivet, or in the court yard or in the porch.  Everything is portrayed in detail.

2.  It Is a Gospel of Activity and Energy.  There is no story of his infancy, but he starts with “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ”.  He portrays the active career of Jesus on earth.  He, however, lays emphasis upon the works rather than the words of Jesus.  Few discourses of any length and only four of the fifteen parables of Matthew are given and those in the briefest form, while eighteen of the miracles are given in rapid review.  The rapid succession is indicated by one Greek word, translated by the seven words “immediately”, “anon”, “forthwith”, “by and by”, “as soon as”, “shortly”, and “straightway”, which occur forty-one times in this gospel.  The last meaning, straightway, is truest to the Greek idea and may be called Mark’s characteristic word.  It indicates how with the speed of a racer he rushed along and thereby furnishes us a breathless narrative which Farrar says makes us “feel like the apostles who, among the press of the people coming and going, were twice made to say they ’had no leisure so much as to eat’.”  It moves as the scenes of a moving picture show.