Gann's Commentary on the Bible

The Genuiness of Mark 16:9-20

In sharp contrast with this judgment of Metzger one could easily cite the evidence summarized by such writers as Scrivener ,⁴ Salmon, Burgon, McGarvey, and others as to the genuineness of these verses. This evidence may briefly be stated as follows: Iranaeus (C. 130­C. 200) attested to these verses in the second century (Adv. Haer. iii. 10, 6), they are upheld by nearly all of the ancient versions, they are found in most of the uncial manuscripts and in all of the cursive manuscripts, they are also found in most if not all of the Greek and Syriac lectionaries.

One is also impressed with the argument, well expressed by Salmon, that a careful study of codices Vaticanus and Aleph, which omit the verses, seems to indicate that the closing verses of Mark 16 were, in these two manuscripts, tran­scribed by the same hand. Indeed, the case seems most convincing that there was an awareness by the scribe that the manuscript (s) from which he was copying, usually called the archetype(s), had that which he, the scribe, did not agree to comply with. The result was that various expedients were apparently employed to not dis­close a significant omission in the material copied and preserved.’

When one adds the great unlikelihood that the chapter would have ended with "they were afraid", the case seems to be very strong that, in spite of the negative evidence, the positive evidence is much stronger and to the mind of this writer it is decisive. One cannot conclude the matter better than by the words of J. W. McGarvey:

Our final conclusion is, that the passage in question is au­thentic in all its details, and that there is no reason to doubt that it was written by the same hand which indited the proced­ing parts of this narrative. The objections which have been raised against it are better calculated to shake our confidence in Biblical Criticism than in the genuineness of this inestimable portion of the word of God.

- William Woodson, pg. 42-43, Difficult Texts of the New Testament Explained, edited by Wendell Winkler, (The Fourth Annual "Fort Worth" Lectures, the Brown Trail Church of Christ, Bedfort, TX) 1981.

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Mark 16:12

// Luke 24:13-24

another form ... Luke words it that their eyes were "restrained." Luke 24:16

Mark 16:16

He that believeth -- See James 2:24 note "Being Saved" Justified by faith.

Mark 16:17

signs ... Five kinds of signs indicated

1. cast out devils

2. speak with new tongues

3. take up serpents / not hurt

4. drink deadly things / not harmed

5. lay hands on the sick / recover

Mark 16:19

right hand ... [Humorous story: A man and boy were traveling on a train; the man kept pointing out the cows, sheep, trees, mountains. And each time the boy would say, "Amazing, and to think God did it with His left hand!" Finally the man asked him, why he kept saying this, how did he know that? The boy replied, "Because, Jesus is sitting on his right hand!"]

Mark 16:20

Confirming the word -- Notice here the Holy Spirit is a "witness" to the things the apostles were preaching, thus the reference is to the evidencial value of the miracles and sigsn worked by the Spirit through the messengers of God, (Acts 5:32; Hebrews 2:3-4. )

Confirming ... The reason for the signs. 1 Corinthians 1:8; Hebrews 2:3-4; John 3:2; John 5:36; John 14:10-11; Exodus 4:1-9;

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Notes from this book are often from:

Bernard, J. H. (1929). A critical and exegetical commentary on the Gospel according to St. John. (A. H. McNeile, Ed.). New York: C. Scribner’ Sons.

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Jn 15:16). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

King James Version study Bible . (1997). (electronic ed., Jn 15:26). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

MacArthur, J., Jr. (Ed.). (1997). The MacArthur Study Bible (electronic ed., p. 1616). Nashville, TN: Word Pub.

New Living Translation Study Bible. (2008). (Jn 15:18–27). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

NIV Zondervan Study Bible: Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.