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Mar_16:20. With the ascension the evangelic history was at its end. The writer was only now concerned to add a conclusion in keeping with the commission given by Jesus in Mar_16:15. He does this by means of a brief summary of the apostolic ministry, by which the injunction of Jesus, Mar_16:15, had been fulfilled, whereas all unfolding of its special details lay beyond the limits of the evangelic, and belonged to the region of the apostolic, history; hence even the effusion of the Spirit is not narrated here.
ἐκεῖνοι ] the ἕνδεκα , Mar_16:14.
δέ ] prepared for by μέν , Mar_16:19.
ἐξελθόντες ] namely, forth from the place, in which at the time of the ascension they sojourned. Comp. πορευθέντες , Mar_16:15; Jerusalem is meant.
πανταχοῦ ] By way of popular hyperbole; hence not to be used as a proof in favour of the composition not having taken place till after the death of the apostles (in opposition to Fritzsche), comp. Rom_10:18; Col_1:6.
τοῦ κυρίου ] nor God (Grotius, and also Fritzsche, comparing 1Co_3:9; Heb_2:4), but Christ, as in Mar_16:19. The σημεῖα are wrought by the exalted One. Comp. Mat_28:20. That the writer has made use of Heb_2:3-4 (Schulthess, Fritzsche), is, considering the prevalence of the thought and the dissimilarity of the words, arbitrarily assumed.
διὰ τῶν ἐπακολουθ . σημείων ] by the signs that followed (the λόγος ). The article denotes the signs spoken of, which are promised at Mar_16:17-18, and indeed promised as accompanying those who had become believers; hence it is erroneous to think, as the expositors do, of the miracles performed by the apostles. The confirmation of the apostolic preaching was found in the fact that in the case of those who had become believers by means of that preaching the σημεῖα promised at Mar_16:17-18 occurred.
ἐπακολουθ . is foreign to all the Gospels; it occurs elsewhere in the N. T. in 1Ti_5:10; 1Ti_5:24; 1Pe_2:21; in classical Greek it is very frequently used.
REMARK.
The fragment before us, Mar_16:9-18, compared with the parallel passages of the other Gospels and with Act_1:3, presents a remarkable proof how uncertain and varied was the tradition on the subject of the appearances of the Risen Lord (see on Mat_28:10). Similarly Mar_16:19, comp. with Luk_24:50 f., Act_1:9 ff., shows us in what an uncertain and varied manner tradition had possessed itself of the fact of the ascension, indubitable as in itself it is, and based on the unanimous teaching of the apostles.