For almost two millennia, the second Gospel has been called the Gospel of Mark. Most Bible students identify John Mark as the author of the book. His association with Paul and Peter helps forge this connection to the book.
But do we really know John Mark wrote Mark?
None of the canonical Gospels directly identify their authors. James Edwards says, “The titles of each of the four Gospels, which were assigned on the basis of church tradition, appear in the first half of the second century” (The Gospel According to Mark, Pillar New Testament Commentary, 3). Joel Marcus may be right in saying, “This absence of self-identification is probably deliberate; unlike most Hellenistic biographers, but like most biblical authors, the evangelist does not consider his own authorial personality to be important” (Mark 1-8: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary, Anchor Yale Bible, 17).
Identifying Titles
Since the author of Mark does not identify himself, why do we believe John Mark penned the book? Each of the four canonical Gospels has specific internal and external evidence to attribute authorship, and some claims have more weight than others. For Mark, the external evidence is early and uniform. The earliest extant copies of the Gospels usually contain an identifying colophon, euangelion kata, meaning “The Gospel According to,” followed by the name Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. Copyists probably added these titles when the Gospels began circulating together in the early second century. There was a need to separate each account from the others, and the colophon titles supplied that need. The earliest surviving witness to Mark’s colophon is the Codex Freerianus/Washingtonius from the late fourth or early fifth century. Older manuscripts of Mark are fragmentary and are missing the pages that would contain the colophon.
Early church leaders that attributed the second Gospel to Mark
Some early church leaders also support Markan authorship. For example, sometime near the end of the first century or early in the second century, Papias, bishop of Hierapolis wrote, “Mark became Peter’s interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered, not, indeed, in order, of the things said or done by the Lord” (Eusebius, History of the Church, 3.39.15). Early in the second century, the church attempted to establish apostolic lineage to church leaders and Christian writings. Papias may have been trying to defend Mark by linking it to Peter to give it apostolic authority. Irenaeus, a second-century church father, also attests to Markan authorship. Around 250, Origen made an allegorical mention of Mark as well (Homilies on Joshua, 7.1; Homilies on Genesis, 13.2). Other early church leaders that attributed the second Gospel to Mark include Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, and Jerome.
The name Mark itself
Another source of external evidence is the name Mark itself. It would be unusual for someone to attribute an anonymously written work to a lesser-known, almost inconsequential character like Mark. It is more likely to be attributed to an apostle since apostolic lineage was so highly prized. If the author was unknown, and someone later tried to gain favor for the second Gospel, attaching the name Peter or Andrew would have gained more clout than one who was not mentioned in the presence of Jesus.
Literary characteristics paint a picture of its author
Internally, literary characteristics paint a picture of its author. Mark contains numerous Aramaic and Hebrew words and phrases, suggesting the author spoke these languages. The author’s frequent use of the Old Testament, along with the language reference, indicates he was likely a Jew. His rudimentary knowledge of Galilean geography suggests he is not from the northern districts, but probably comes from Jerusalem or Judea. The quality of the Greek is rough and suggests it is the author’s second language. Martin Hengel calls the author a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian from Jerusalem (Studies in the Gospel of Mark, 46).
The introduction of John Mark
The first introduction of John Mark is in Acts 12:12, where it states the church met in the home of John Mark’s mother in Jerusalem. John Mark joins Barnabas (his cousin) and Paul on the first missionary journey (Acts 13:5), but he left their missionary team during the trip (Acts 13:13). It is possible they took John Mark on the trip to the Gentiles because he could speak Greek. John Mark was a Greek-speaking Jewish Christian from Jerusalem.
The emphasis on Gentile salvation
The Gospel of Mark shares some similar themes with Paul’s writings, one of which is the emphasis on Gentile salvation. These similarities suggest the author was connected to Paul. John Mark joined the missionary team of Paul and Barnabas. He was also the spark of contention between the two missionaries (Acts 15:36-41). Later in life, Paul found John Mark useful to his ministry and asked Timothy to bring Mark when he came to Rome (2 Tim 4:11). While in Rome, John Mark would have been associated with Peter, along with Paul. Peter even mentions Mark by name (1 Pet 5:13). This led several church fathers to say Mark’s Gospel was the reminiscences of Peter.
The power of the Gospel
The Holy Spirit inspired the second Gospel but did not inspire the author to attach his name to it. This suggests it is valuable to readers even in its anonymous form. In other words, we do not need to know the author to appreciate the power of the Gospel. It is impossible to know with certainty John Mark wrote Mark. However, the evidence seems to point in his direction.
Preaching Minister