Class Notes: 5/1/2013

Mark 1:14-22; Jesus begins to call his disciples while preaching the Gospel with authority in the synagogues

In our verse by verse study of Mark we are now in Mark 1:14-15; where after his evidence testing Jesus is launched into his ministry and He came "preaching the gospel of God" saying "repent and believe the in the gospel.

So we are now in a short study of the "doctrine of the gospel" where last time we saw that no works can be added to the gospel because the only issue is what do you think of Jesus Christ, not what you do. Jesus Christ alone on the cross was judged for sins so He alone is the issue. John 14:6; Acts 4:10-12; Eph 2:8-9;

In spite of this some add repentance from sin to salvation. Repentance means a change of mind and indicates what happens when you understand the Gospel through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Repentance is the result of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in common and efficacious grace.

Some add water baptism but no one is saved by water baptism, or by renouncing sin, or by joining a church, or by psychological gimmicks like raising your hands or walking an aisle.

None of these can save because they are things you do and salvation is faith plus NOTHING. When you add anything to faith in Christ for salvation, that is salvation by works that is 'another gospel" that is not the gospel and is not salvation at all. Gal 1:6-9;NET

The Bible emphasizes believing with nothing else added or "faith alone in Christ alone.

Paul tells about the enemy of the gospel in 2Cor 4:3-4; "But even if our Gospel has been veiled, it is veiled from those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world (Satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the exact image of God."

We see from this that it is the mind or thinking that is blinded because it is in the mind or thinking that one believes. Satan therefore opposes the gospel by veiling or clouding one's thinking regarding the ONLY true issue of salvation.

Jesus Christ is the ONLY issue in salvation.

The issue is not one's sins because He was judged for our sins. The issue is not something you do because Christ finished ALL the work on the cross, as indicated when He said, "tetelestai," the perfect tense of the Greek word that means finished in the past with the result that it stands finished forever. John 19:30;

Satan blinds the thinking of the unbeliever so this means that unbelievers are hurt when false issues are brought into view when the gospel is presented.

Satan uses the public lie and public opinion and is aided by believers who do not properly convey the gospel to confuse unbelievers regarding salvation. This is a large problem in the world today. Rather than simply presenting the gospel believers are too focused on sin or other non-issues.

In various passages the Greek word "euaggelion" is connected with words that describe it. Some of these passages include:

Rom 1:16-17; where it is called the "gospel of Christ" in the King James Version. "Of Christ" is not in the original manuscript, the fact that someone added it however indicates that they understood that the Gospel refers to one Person only, our Lord Jesus Christ, and His work on the cross.

Eph 6:15; describes it as the "gospel of peace." This emphasizes the doctrine of Reconciliation, whereby Jesus Christ removed the barrier between God and man. We step through that barrier by personal faith in Jesus Christ.

Rev 14:6; states the "eternal or everlasting Gospel," emphasizing the Gospel as the only information that leads to eternal life.

Matt 24:14; calls it "the Gospel of the kingdom," emphasizing the fact that the unconditional covenants to Israel can only be fulfilled to Abraham's descendants who personally believe in Jesus Christ and receive eternal life.

2Tim 2:8; has the phrase "my Gospel;" 2Cor 4:3-4; says "our Gospel," these emphasize the fact that every believer possesses the Gospel and has a personal responsibility to not only understand it but to present it to others in testimony for Jesus Christ.

1Tim 1:11; calls it the "glorious Gospel," emphasizing the fact that only the Gospel can save the unbeliever.

1Cor 1:17; the apostle Paul makes a very dogmatic statement, when he says, "For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the Gospel, not in cleverness of speech, in order that the cross of Christ should not be made void."

In the early church prior to the completion of the Canon of Scripture, water baptism was use to illustrate and teach the baptism of the Holy Spirit. As we have seen baptism means "to be identified with" and in the New Testament water baptism was used to illustrate this principle.

When John the Baptizer practiced it, the water represented the kingdom in the Person of the Messiah, Savior, King Jesus Christ. When they believed in Christ as Messiah, they were put under the water, being identified with Christ, and they were lifted up out of the water into the air, representing eternal life.

When Jesus was baptized, the water represented his identification with God's unique plan for His unglorified humanity in Hypostatic Union. So under the water, Jesus was identified with the purpose of His mission die a substitutionary spiritual death for the sins of the world.

Coming up out of the water was an illustration of His resurrection, meaning that the He would fulfill his mission as Savior of the world.

In order to illustrate and teach the baptism of the Holy Spirit to believers in the first century of the Church Age, water represented retroactive positional truth that means that when anyone believes in Christ he is identified with Christ in His deaths.

This symbolically represents rejection of human good. Coming up out of the water was a picture of the current positional truth of being identified with Christ now in His session at the right hand of the Father.

This means that water baptism was a simply a ritual. All ritual is designed for teaching and illustration. The only ritual that remains for us today is the communion service, designed for us to remember Christ, as an illustration of our Lord's ministry.

Water baptism was divisive among believers even during the pre-Canon period of the Church Age because even then people used water baptism as a basis for arrogance. 1Cor 1:12;

Since the cannon is completed it is now completely unnecessary to illustrate the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the ritual of water baptism. In spite of this today, water baptism is often misused for salvation, spirituality, and arrogant superiority.

Paul made it very clear that his ministry was not a ministry of baptism. Too many evangelists obscure the cross by making issues of things that are irrelevant. The issue of the Gospel is the cross of Christ, not sin or jumping through psychological hoops.


The emphasis of the Gospel is not baptism, it not sin, it is not doing good it is Christ being judged for our sins. The issue in salvation is "what do you think of Christ?" not how many sins will you give up or what commitment will you make or how you will change your life from now on or what good deeds you will perform.

The Gospel is simply "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Acts 16:31; Believing is non-meritorious perception. The merit is always found in the object of faith. Jesus Christ is the object of faith for salvation.

This was the gospel that Jesus was presenting in Mark 1:14-15;

Mark 1:16-20; briefly describes Jesus selection of his disciples. We see here that Andrew, Simon (who Jesus named Peter), James and John were fishermen who worked with James and John and their father Zebedee who apparently owned enough boats and equipment to have employees.

The book of Mark does not give us any context regarding their relationship with Jesus but John does.

We saw in Mark 1:4-5; that John the Baptizer was preaching in the desert and that many people were going out to hear his message. We see in John 1:35-40; that Andrew Simon Peter's brother was there when Jesus was baptized by John.

When Andrew hears this, he goes and finds Peter and brings him to Jesus. (John 1:41-42;)

Jesus was from Nazareth, a small village not far from Capernaum so after they met they traveled back to Galilee with Jesus. On the way they stopped at a wedding in Cana, and there they saw the first of Jesus' miracles (John 2;).

They then went on together to Capernaum, where Jesus visited with them for some time, possibly staying as a guest in Peter's house.

We see from this that Peter and the others knew Jesus, believed that he was the Messiah, and that He had been living among them long enough to identify with his ministry so when he called them to follow Him they were ready and they immediately left their work and followed Him without hesitation.

Mark 1:21; The synagogue was an assembly of Jews formally gathered together to offer prayers and listen to the reading and expositions of the scriptures. These assemblies were held every Sabbath and feast day.

The Jewish synagogues had developed after the temple had been destroyed during the nation's exile in Babylon. Wherever there were ten Jewish men above the age of twelve, a synagogue could be organized.

The synagogue was for the reading the Scriptures, praying and worshiping God. Laymen led the services; and a board of elders that was presided over by a ruler supervised the ministry.

It was customary to ask visiting teachers to read the scriptures and teach. This is why Jesus and later Paul had the freedom to teach in the various synagogues.

Mark 1:22; The words translated "was teaching" is an imperfect active of "en" plus the present active of "didaskon" the means that he "kept on teaching." as one who had authority. Net note 44

The Greek word translated authority is "exousia" that means "the inherent or legitimate right to exercise authority."

For he kept on teaching them or He repeatedly taught them as one who always had authority. He taught with authority. He taught dogmatically from Divine viewpoint.

This was in contrast to the politically correct human viewpoint and uncertainty that marked teaching of the scribes. Net note 45 Political correctness hates dogmatism. They were not always sure so they quoted other "authorities"

Human opinion is meaningless but the doctrine of the Word of God is authoritative, it is exact, specific, categorical and dogmatic. It comes from God and God is not ambiguous. His Word is absolute immutable truth. John 17:17; Mark 13:31;

This brings us to a study of the doctrine of authority.

The primary Greek word for authority is "exousia" that means the inherent right to exercise authority; that must be contrasted with the Greek word "dunamis" that means power.

Authority is defined as the power to command, to judge, or to act by those in whom the authority is vested. Authority or authorities applies to those who have legal power to make and enforce the law, to make policy, or to make decisions.

Authority can also be an accepted source of information, as in the case of the authority of the pastor-teacher to provide doctrinal or theological information from the Scripture. Authority can also be a reference to an expert on any particular subject.

Under the laws of divine establishment, authority is defined as that legal power, delegated by God, whereby certain individuals have jurisdiction and responsibility for others.

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