Lange Commentary - Mark 3:13 - 3:19

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Lange Commentary - Mark 3:13 - 3:19


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

FIFTH SECTION

CONFLICT OF JESUS WITH THE UNBELIEF OF HIS GALILÆAN COUNTRYMEN, AND WITHDRAWAL INTO THE VILLAGES

Mar_3:13 to Mar_6:6

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Beginning of the Conflict. The Lord providing Himself Helpers, in the Calling of the Apostles. Mar_3:13-19

(Parallels: Mat_10:1-8; Luk_6:12-16)

13And he goeth up into a [the] mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. 14And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach, 15And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast 16 out devils. And Simon he surnamed Peter; 17And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder; 18And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alpheus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite, 19And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into a house.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mar_3:13. See on the parallels.—Into a mountain.—Not “up into the mountain of that locality,” for the locality was the margin of the sea; but it is used in accordance with the relations of the land in Palestine, and the phraseology concerning it: going up into a mountain, in contradistinction to abiding in the narrow vales or low strips of land. And it is to be observed that the expression is used to signify a withdrawal of the Lord, especially for solitary devotion.—And calleth unto Him.—The manner of the call is not defined, whether sending for them, or otherwise. The main point is the free choice of the Twelve out of the rest of the discipleship. Meyer supposes that Jesus made first a larger selection, and then in Mar_3:14 the narrower choice. But there is nothing to hinder our regarding Mar_3:14 as expressing the more specific end of the call, that is, the appointment and mission.

Mar_3:16. And Simon He surnamed Peter.—Some cursive MSS. have ðñῶôïí Óßìùíá . According to De Wette, Mark passed over the statement of Peter’s call, because the change of name was to him of special moment. But we may regard the statement of Peter’s call as included in the ἐðÝèçêå . Thus Christ added, not merely to his name but rather to his general vocation, the distinguishing name of Peter. On account of these distinguishing names, Andrew follows in the fourth rank, after the two sons of Zebedee. The solemn appendage of the name in this place does not contradict the preliminary naming of Simon, which had taken place before, Joh_1:42.

Mar_3:17. Boanerges: áְּëֵé øֶâֶùׁ ; in Aramæan, the sheva being equivalent to oa. The øֶâֶùׁ , in Hebrew meaning a threatening people (Psa_55:15), in Syriac meant thunder.—That the name refers to the event mentioned in Luk_9:54 (according to Calmet, Heumann, etc.), is not contradicted by the supposition that it must have been a surname significant of praise, and not of blame. Comp. on this point the notes on Matthew. According to the ancients, the sons of Zebedee were so termed as ìåãáëïêÞñõêåò êáὶ èåïëïãéêþôáôïé (Theophylact, and others), because thunder is the ordinary symbol of solemn and profound utterances. We understand the expression to refer to the fiery, grand, sublime spirit, which found its utterance in correspondingly high, strong, and pregnant words. That the name was not habitually used, like the name Peter, may be explained by the fact that it was a collective one. It was distributed later, or merged in the several dignities of the first apostolical martyr, and the disciple who lay on the Lord’s bosom, the last great Evangelist.

Mar_3:18. Canaanite.—Though the form of the surname has in it something unusual, yet it is easily explicable by the term æçëùôÞò in Luke, and the accompanying reading êáíáíßôçò .

Mar_3:19. And they went into a house.—For the chronology, Comp. the notes on Matthew. The Evangelist’s arrangement here is not according to time, but regulated by a classification of the facts. For the circumstance described does not, as Meyer thinks, fall into the period after the return from the Sermon on the Mount, but into a later period, when Christ’s work in Galilee was drawing to its close. According to Ewald, an original form of Mark might have introduced, before this return, the Sermon on the Mount, and the narrative of the nobleman in Capernaum. These, and similar suppositions of Hilgenfeld, we have sufficiently dealt with in our introductory account of this Evangelist. Finally, it does not follow from their coming into a house, that the ensuing discourse took place in that house.—[“The true sense is most probably that given in the margin of the English Version, and long before by Wiclif, they came home, i. e., returned to Capernaum again as their headquarters, and the centre of their operations. Comp. åἰò ïἶêïí in Mar_2:1.” Alexander in loc.—Ed.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Comp. on the parallels.—It is characteristic of Mark, that he gives prominence here to the sons of thunder. On the fiery zeal of John, comp. Gerlach, p. 118. “The peculiarity of John was pure simplicity, and also glowing, fiery zeal; this having been at first disturbed by impure passion (Mar_9:38; Luk_9:54), but sanctified afterwards by inward love to Christ. His epistles contain some of the sternest passages in the New Testament. See 1Jn_2:22-23; 1Jn_3:8; 2Jn_1:7-11. Comp. also the Seven Epistles in the Apocalypse. Church history also records many things concerning his sacred zeal.” And then Gerlach introduces the narrative of John’s hastily leaving the bath in which the heretic was found.

2. As it respects the calling of the Twelve, it must be observed that it falls into two separate crises, according to Mark, Mar_3:13-19, and Mar_6:7 seq. Only it is evident that the more precise characterization of the mission in Mar_6:7 is identical with the mission in Mat_10:1 seq., and Luk_6:12 seq. Hence, we assume that Mark here describes a selection of the Apostles preliminary to that mission, one that was a continuation and enlargement of the call of the four most select disciples at the Sea of Galilee, and intended primarily as a vocation to more decided discipleship and engagement in helping the Redeemer’s work. Yet the more express apostolical vocation is kept in view even here, as is manifest from the very solemn account of Mark, in which he anticipates some features of the later vocation. It would appear, indeed, that the point of time to which Mark here carries us, was even later than the proper historical epoch of the more express vocation. The motive for placing it in this connection was the fact of the commencement of the great conflict of our Lord with the unbelief of the world, as it is exhibited in this section.

3. The names of the Apostles, or their call, introduced with respect to Christ by the appointment of the Father: mediate, and yet immediate.

4. Judas possessed a certain species of endowment; yet observe the doubtfulness of such kind of endowments in the affairs of Church and State, inasmuch as the superficial ability may easily outweigh the central character.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

See on the parallels.—The call of Christ’s servants a call from the mountain: 1. Christ stands on the mountain; 2. those called go up the mountain to Him; 3. they come down from the mountain into the world of men. See Isa_52:7.—The place of Jesus’ prayer the birthplace of apostolical and evangelical vocation.—Fellowships and collegiate bodies in the kingdom of God: 1. In their meaning: union of the divine and the human, even here. 2. Their design: mutual supplementing and strengthening, lessening of human one-sidedness, and increase of divine power.—Casting out of devils a main branch of ecclesiastical vocation.—The variety and differences of the disciples of Jesus are an unfolding of the riches of Christ and of His kingdom.—Judas Iscariot among the Twelve an eternal sign, 1. Of the all-endeavoring love of Christ, 2. of the greatness of human depravity, 3. of the dangers of the spiritual office (or of a mere external connection with the Lord) without perfect fidelity in the spiritual life (an internal union with Him), 4. of the aim and end of the Church (not a community of perfect saints, but of redeemed men).—Degrees in the apostolical circle, notwithstanding their unity and equality.—Even the dark power which was displayed by the last of the Twelve testified of the spiritual abilities of this company, over which Jesus reigned in kindly majesty.—“Who betrayed Him:” the called Apostle a denounced traitor.

Starke:—The choice of a pastor should be entered upon with prayer, Act_1:24.—He who would be fit for the work of the Lord must first be much with the Lord.—Quesnel:—Spiritual pastors make up, with Christ the chief Pastor, only one Priest His priesthood in the preaching of the Gospel being continued, diffused, and perfected, 1Pe_2:9.—The Lord gives the word along with the great host of the Evangelists. They who take their ease when they are placed in office, often become brethren of Judas.—It is a miserable delusion to repose in a legitimate call, while negligent of fidelity and diligence in discharging its functions.—Not all the names of Christians are written in heaven, though they may stand recorded in the books of the Church below.

Gossner:—He who would be a witness for Christ and His Gospel, must be much with Him, and by constant communion have learned to know Him.—How will they stand before Him, who learn what they have to say by heart, stand up, and only declaim, or read it off!—Bauer:—The death-roll of the Twelve Apostles itself a sermon.

Footnotes:

Mar_3:5.—“Whole as the other” wanting in the most important Codd. Probably brought over from Mat_12:13.

Mar_3:7.—E ἰò , after D., P., Lachmann, Tischendorf; stronger than the ðñüò .

Perhaps there is an allusion here to the “nave” of the church edifice, which is derived from the Latin navis, from a supposed resemblance to the hull of a vessel.—Ed.

Mar_3:15 .—“To heal sicknesses, and” wanting in B., L., Ä ., Copt., and others. It is omitted by Tischendorf, and seems a supplement from Mat_10:1 . The omission of this makes all the more prominent the casting out of the demons, in Mark the main point.

Mar_3:18.—The reading êáíáíáῖïò here, as in Mat_10:4, is best supported.