The gospel according to Mark explained

480 Pages·2010·32.07 MB·English

Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
THE ESTATE OF THE LATE
MARY SINCUIR
c
.

THE GOSPEL
ACCORDING TO MARK
EXPLAINED.
BY
JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER.
\ NEW YORK: _
V ANSON RANDOLPH^
D. F. COMPANY.
900 BROADWAY, COR, 20th STREET.
1)1 (i^^V?a
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1097432
PREFACE.
It has so long been the habit, both of readers and
interpreters, to treat the Second Gospel as a mere abridg-
ment, supplement, or compilation, without any indepen-
dent character or value of its own, that some may be
surprised to find it here expounded independently of Luke
and Matthew, as a history complete in itself, designed to
answer a specific purpose and to make a definite impres-
sion. This is not the result of caprice or accident, but of
a strong conviction, dating from an early stage of exeget-
ical study, that Augustin's notion as to Mark's dependence
upon Matthew, although acquiesced in foi a course of
ages, is a hurtful error, and that this description applies
still more strongly to some later speculations of the Ger-
man critics. This conviction has been strengthened and
confirmed by the whole course of late investigation and
discussion on the subject of the Gospels, notwithstanding
the tendency of some writers to the opposite extreme
of making Mark the oldest of the Gospels, and the basis
upon wliich the rest were afterwards constructed. With-
out attempting to determine its precise chronological rela-
tions, tliere is something in its structure, as described
below,which makes it eminently fit to give the first impres-
Bion of the Gospel History, and prepare the reader for the
Btudy of the other books. This, which has long been the
PREFACE.
IV
writer's practice in academical instruction, he is happy to
see sanctioned in one of the latest and best English works
upon the Gospels, of which he was not able to av^ail him-
self until, his own was completed. " The notes on the
Gospel of St. Mark will be found to be more full than
is tlie case in works with a similar design. These anno-
tations were written first, with the object of calling atten-
tion to an independent record which has been treated in
Bome quarters with unmerited neglect, and with the view
of relieving the first Gospel as much as possible from a
redundancy of notes. "We would suggest to those who
may put this work into the hands of their pupils at school,
that there are reasons why the Second Gospel should be
read before any other, as the best introduction to the reg-
ular and systematic study of the J^ew Testament." (Web-
ster and Wilkinson's Greek Testament, with notes Gram-
matical and Exegetical. Vol. I. p. 9. London : 1855.)
Closely connected with these views is another feature
of tlie plan adopted in the present volume, that of making
it complete in itself, and leaving nothing to be eked out
or supplied by reference, even to the writer's other publi-
cations. This will account for the occasional repetition
of what he has said elsewhere, as a lesser evil than the
irksome necessity of seeking it in places which, to many
readers of the present work, may be unknown or inac-
cessible. The absence of all reference to other and espe-
cially contemporary writers, some of whom he highly
values and has diligentljrstudied, is partly owing to the
want of room, but also to the fact that his design is not to
supersede or rival other works upon the subject, but to
supplement them by preserving the specific fruits of his
own labours in the same great field.
Princeton, September 1, 1858.