Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, Rembrandt, 1633, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Public domain.

Markchapter 16

20 verses · Mark · AD 55 to 65 · The Gospels

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

Introduction

Mark, The Gospels, Mark Overview.

Mark wrote for believers in Rome who had to decide whether the report of an empty tomb could be believed. This short chapter opens at sunrise on the first day of the week. Its first hearers knew that the witnesses a court trusted were men, and the first witnesses here are women. The oldest manuscripts end the book at verse 8, and later copies carry a longer ending, so a reader meets a question of the text as well as a question of faith. Listen for who is named in the message sent back to the disciples. Notice where they are told to go.

Context

Who: Roman readers who had to decide whether the tomb story could be believed
What: The women's visit to the tomb, the young man's announcement that Jesus has risen, and the longer ending's account of his appearances, commission and ascension.
Where: A tomb cut in rock outside Jerusalem, and in the longer ending Galilee and the places of his appearances.
When: The first day of the week after the Passover, at sunrise, about AD 30 or 33.
Why: To announce that the crucified Jesus is risen, and to send his followers back to Galilee to meet him.

Historical context

The women come to finish a burial that had been done in a hurry. Bodies were washed and wrapped with aromatic spices, but the Sabbath had begun at sunset on Friday and no work could be done until it ended at sunset on Saturday, so the earliest possible moment was first light on Sunday.

Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs

Their worry about the stone is a practical one. Tomb entrances were low openings closed by a heavy stone, sometimes a disc rolled in a channel, far beyond what three women could shift.

The women are named, and they are the witnesses. In that world a woman's testimony carried little weight in court, and Greek and Roman writers say the same. That every Gospel puts women at the tomb first is not the shape a fabricated case would take.

The ending of Mark is a genuine textual question and worth stating plainly. The two oldest complete Greek manuscripts finish at verse 8, with the women fleeing in fear; other ancient manuscripts carry the longer ending, verses 9 to 20, and a few preserve a shorter alternative. Most printed Bibles include the longer ending with a note. What no manuscript disputes is the empty tomb and the message: he has risen, he is not here.

Significance

The angel's instruction includes two words that would have meant everything to Mark's first readers: tell his disciples and Peter. The man who denied him is singled out by name to be told.

Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph

And the meeting place is Galilee, back where it started, in the ordinary working country of fishermen and villages. For a frightened church in Rome, Mark's Gospel ends where their own discipleship had to be lived: not in a shrine, but back at the day job, with the risen Lord going on ahead.

The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.

Spices at Sunrise; the Stone Rolled Back

When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus.

Mark 16:1-4

When the Sabbath was over: The women bought spices so they could go and anoint the body of Jesus, which shows none of them expected a resurrection. Their one worry was practical: Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb.

Mark 16:1

“See this passage explained in the notes at Mat 28:1-8. Mar 16:1 Sweet spices - “Aromatics.” Substances used in embalming. The idea of sweetness is not, however, implied in the original. Many of the substances used for embalming were “bitter” - as, for example, myrrh - and none of them, perhaps, could properly be called “sweet.” The word “spices” expresses all that there is in the original. Anoint him - Embalm him, or apply these spices to his body to keep it from putrefaction.”

Albert Barnes · Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.

Mark 16:1

“Nicodemus had bought a very large quantity of dry spices, myrrh and aloes, which served to dry the wounds, and dry up the blood, John xix. But these good women did not think that enough; they bought spices, perhaps of another kind, some perfumed oils, to anoint him. Note, The respect which others have showed to Christ's name, should not hinder us from showing our respect to it.”

Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan

Mark 16:1

“In the time of the old covenant, the sabbath was highly revered. Now under the gospel the sabbath has been recast, now viewed as the Lord's resurrection day. The sabbath formerly had pertained to the pedagogy and rudiments of the law. When the great master himself came and fulfilled them all for us, all that had prefigured his coming was transformed. The old sabbath was like a candle lit in the night before the rising and appearing of the sun.”

Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · HOMILIESpatristic

Mark 16:1

“We may well believe that it required great courage to do this. To visit the grave in the dim twilight of an eastern day-break, would try most women, under any circumstances. But to visit the grave of one who had been put to death as a common malefactor, and to rise early to show honor to one whom their nation had despised, this was a mighty boldness indeed. Yet these are the kind of acts which show the difference between weak faith and strong faith — between weak feeling and strong feeling towards Christ.”

J.C. Ryle · Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)Reformed Evangelical

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Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they went to the tomb.

Very early on the first day: Mark says they came just after sunrise, and John says it was still dark. Augustine answers that the women set out early in the dark and came to the tomb as the sun was rising. Wesley adds that the sun had risen when Peter came.

Mark 16:2

“Very early in the morning, - This was the time they left their own houses, and by the rising of the sun they got to the tomb. As the preceding day was the Sabbath, they could not, consistently with the observances of that day, approach the tomb. See the concluding notes at the end of John. The following observations from Lightfoot will serve to illustrate this subject. “The distinction of the twilight among the rabbins was this: - “I. איילחא השחרא The hinde of the morning - the first appearance. R. Chaiia Rab, and R.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

1 more voice on this verse

Mark 16:2

“At the rising of the sun - They set out while it was yet dark, and came within sight of the sepulchre, for the first time, just as it grew light enough to discern that the stone was rolled away, Matt. xxviii, 1; But by the time Mary had called Peter and John, and they had viewed the sepulchre, the sun was rising.”

John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical

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They were asking one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance of the tomb?”

The women had seen where Jesus was put and knew the stone was too large for them. They went anyway. Matthew Henry and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown see here that those looking for Jesus find the stone rolled away ahead of them.

Mark 16:3

“They saw that the stone was rolled away, which was the first thing that amazed them. Note, They who are carried by a holy zeal, to seek Christ diligently, will find the difficulties that lie in their way strangely to vanish, and themselves helped over them beyond their expectation.”

Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan

Mark 16:3, The whole record on this verse →

But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, even though it was extremely large.

the stone had been rolled away: Mark leaves unsaid who rolled the stone away, and Bede notes that Matthew names an angel. Theophylact holds that the angel rolled it away while the women were asking one another.

Mark 16:4

“For it was very great - This clause should be read immediately after the third verse, according to D, three copies of the Itala, Syriac, Hier., and Eusebius. “Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre? for it was very great. And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away.” They knew that the stone was too heavy for them to roll away; and, unless they got access to the body, they could not apply the aromatics which they had brought to finish the embalming.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

Mark 16:4, The whole record on this verse →

When they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

Mark 16:5-6

a young man dressed in a white robe: The young man in a white robe announces, You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified, He has risen. The crucified one is named as crucified in the announcement of His rising.

Mark 16:5

“And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man--In Mt 28:2 he is called "the angel of the Lord"; but here he is described as he appeared to the eye, in the bloom of a life that knows no decay.”

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed

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Mark 16:5

“But we must note what it means that the angel is seen sitting on the right side. For what is designated by the left except the present life, and what by the right except eternal life? Hence it is written in the Song of Songs: "His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me." Since therefore our Redeemer had already passed beyond the corruption of the present life, rightly the angel who had come to announce his eternal life was sitting on the right.”

Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 21patristic

Mark 16:5

“And entering into the sepulchre,.... For the sepulchres of the Jews were made so large, that persons might go into them: the rule for making them is this (k); "he that sells ground to his neighbour to make a burying place, or that receives of his neighbour to make a burying place, must make the inside of the cave four cubits by six, and open in it eight graves; three here, and three there, and two over against them: and the graves must be four cubits long, and seven high, and six broad. R.”

John Gill · Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)reformed

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But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here! See the place where they put Him.

Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified: The young man names Jesus by His town and by the cross, the Nazarene who was crucified. Theophylact observes that the angel speaks of the cross openly, as the place of salvation for men. Clarke notes that Nazarene was first a name of reproach.

Mark 16:6

“And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted--a stronger word than "Fear not" in Matthew (Mt 28:5). Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified!--"the Nazarene, the Crucified." he is risen; he is not here--(See on Lu 24:5, 6). behold the place where they laid him--(See on Mt 28:6).”

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed

2 more voices on this verse

Mark 16:6

But now let us hear what the angel adds: "You seek Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus in the Latin tongue means "salutary," that is, it is interpreted as "Savior." But indeed many at that time could be called Jesus, yet not substantially, but only nominatively. Therefore the place is also added, so that it might be made clear which Jesus is meant: "of Nazareth." And he immediately added the reason: "the Crucified One." And he added: "He has risen, He is not here."

Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 21patristic

Mark 16:6

“Jesus of Nazareth - The Jews had given this name to Christ by way of reproach, Mat 2:23; but as it was under this name that he was crucified, Joh 19:19, the angel here, and the apostles after, have given him the same name, Act 4:10, etc. Names which the world, in derision, fixes all the followers of God, often become the general appellatives of religious bodies: thus Quakers, Puritans, Pietists, and Methodists, have in their respective times been the nicknames, given in derision by the world, to those who separated themselves from its corruptions.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

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But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him, just as He told you.’”

Mark 16:7-8

tell His disciples and Peter: The command to tell His disciples and Peter names the man last seen weeping over his threefold denial. He is going ahead of you into Galilee keeps the promise of 14:28.

Mark 16:7

“It is well said of our Redeemer: "He goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you." For Galilee is interpreted as "migration accomplished." Indeed, our Redeemer had already migrated from passion to resurrection, from death to life, from punishment to glory, from corruption to incorruption. And he was first seen by the disciples in Galilee after the resurrection, because we will joyfully see the glory of his resurrection afterward, if we now migrate from vices to the heights of virtues.”

Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 21patristic

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Mark 16:7

“Tell his disciples and Peter - Why is not Peter included among the disciples? For this plain reason, - he had forfeited his discipleship, and all right to the honor and privileges of an apostle, by denying his Lord and Master. However, he is now a penitent: - tell him that Jesus is risen from the dead, and is ready to heal his backsliding, and love him freely; so that, after being converted, he may strengthen his brethren.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

Mark 16:7

“Note, [1.] All the meetings between Christ and his disciples are of his own appointing. [2.] Christ never forgets his appointment, but will be sure to meet his people with the promised blessing in every place where he records his name. [3.] In all meetings between Christ and his disciples, he is the most forward.”

Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan

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ConnectionsMark 1:16

So the women left the tomb and ran away, trembling and bewildered. And in their fear they did not say a word to anyone.

they did not say a word: Matthew 28:8 says the women ran with fear and great joy to tell the disciples, which seems to clash with this silence. Augustine suggests they dared not answer the angels or speak to the guards, and holds that fear and joy were both in their minds.

He Appears to Mary and to the Eleven

Early on the first day of the week, after Jesus had risen, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had driven out seven demons.

Note on the text · Mark 16:9-20

The last twelve verses of Mark are in the great majority of Greek manuscripts and are quoted by Irenaeus around AD 180, and they are missing from the two oldest complete Bibles we have.

The witnesses, and what each reads here

Codex Sinaiticus (א) · c. AD 330-360Ends the Gospel at 16:8, with no long ending of any kind.
Codex Vaticanus (B) · c. AD 300-350Ends the Gospel at 16:8, and the scribe left the rest of the column, and the column after it, blank before starting Luke. Defenders read that blank space as a scribe who knew an ending existed and left room for it; critics read it as a scribe who knew other copies had something more and deliberately declined to write it. The blank is real; what it means is argued both ways.
Codex Alexandrinus (A) · 5th centuryContains the long ending, 16:9-20, without any mark of doubt.
Codex Bezae (D) · 5th centuryContains the long ending, in both its Greek and its Latin columns.
Old Latin Codex Bobiensis (k) · c. AD 400Has neither the familiar long ending nor a bare stop at 16:8, but a different, shorter ending, a brief paragraph about the women reporting to Peter and Jesus sending out the message of salvation. It is the only witness that gives the shorter ending alone.
The Sinaitic Syriac · 4th-5th centuryEnds at 16:8. The passage is absent from this early Syriac translation.
Eusebius of Caesarea, in his letter to Marinus · early 4th centuryReports that the accurate copies of his day ended at 16:8, and that the passage was found in some copies but not in most.
Jerome, in his letter to Hedibia (Epistle 120) · c. AD 407Says nearly all the Greek copies he knew lacked the passage, though Jerome also included it in his Latin Vulgate, which is worth knowing when weighing what he meant.
Later Greek manuscripts that carry the passage but flag it · 9th century onwardA number of copies include 16:9-20 and mark it with asterisks or obeli, the scribal signs for material a copyist knew was questioned. The scribes who wrote it down were not always sure of it.

What the manuscripts read here →

Mark 16:9-11

He appeared first to Mary Magdalene: Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, the two oldest complete manuscripts, end the book at verse 8, while most manuscripts carry verses 9 to 20. Irenaeus quotes verse 19 as Mark's in the second century, earlier than either manuscript. The passage is given as the text the church received.

Mark 16:9

“Let us mark, in these verses, what abundant proof we have that our Lord Jesus Christ really rose again from the dead . In this one passage Mark records no less than three distinct occasions on which He was seen after His resurrection. First, he tells us, our Lord appeared to one witness, Mary Magdalene — then to two witnesses, two disciples walking into the country — and lastly to eleven witnesses, the eleven apostles all assembled together.”

J.C. Ryle · Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)Reformed Evangelical

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Mark 16:9

“If, however, there be any one who, like Plato, supposes that two souls cannot, more than two bodies could, co-exist in the same individual, I, on the contrary, could show him not merely the co-existence of two souls in one person, as also of two bodies in the same womb, but likewise the combination of many other things in natural connection with the soul-for instance, of demoniacal possession; and that not of one only, as in the case of Socrates' own demon; but of seven spirits as in the case of the Magdalene; and of a legion in number, as…”

Tertullian · written before 220 · A Treatise on the Soulpatristic

Mark 16:9

“It was she out of whom he had cast seven devils; much was forgiven her, and much was given her, and done for her, and she loved much; and this honour Christ did her, that she was the first that saw him after his resurrection. The closer we cleave to Christ, the sooner we may expect to see him, and the more to see of him.”

Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan

Mark 16:9

“Now when Jesus was risen, etc. - This, to the conclusion of the Gospel, is wanting in the famous Codex Vaticanus, and has anciently been wanting in many others. See Wetstein and Griesbach. In the margin of the later Syriac version, there is a remarkable addition after this verse; it is as follows: - And they declared briefly all that was commanded, to them that were with Peter. Afterward Jesus himself published by them, from east to west, the holy and incorruptible preaching of eternal salvation. Amen.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

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She went and told those who had been with Him, who were mourning and weeping.

who were mourning and weeping: This verse belongs to the longer ending of Mark. Mary Magdalene brought the news to those who had been with Jesus, and Clarke takes them to be more than the Eleven. Matthew Henry recalls that Jesus had told them they would weep and mourn, and that joy would follow.

Mark 16:10

“Them that had been with him - Not only the eleven disciples, but several others who had been the occasional companions of Christ and the apostles. Mourned and wept - Because they had lost their Lord and Master, and had basely abandoned him in his extremity.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

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Mark 16:10

“Some of you, dear Friends, have seen those small pictures by famous Dutch artists where, with many little touches— very lifelike, very suggestive, very homely—they depict an interior. Now Mark is that kind of painter. He delights to give us interiors. He is best pleased when he can record something which nobody else seems to have described, or when he can take a description by somebody else and fill in the details, the finishing touches that have been omitted.”

Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2518: “A Sad Interior and a Cheery Messenger” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist

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And when they heard that Jesus was alive and she had seen Him, they did not believe it.

they did not believe it: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown count this unbelief as weight for their later word about the risen Jesus, spoken at the risk of their lives. Gregory the Dialogist holds that their slowness to believe gave later believers many proofs that He had risen.

Mark 16:11

“And they, when they had heard that he was alive, and had been seen of her, believed not--This, which is once and again repeated of them all, is most important in its bearing on their subsequent testimony to His resurrection at the risk of life itself.”

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed

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Mark 16:11

“Believed not - This is proof that they did not expect his resurrection; proof that they were not easily deceived, and that nothing but the clearest evidence could undeceive them.”

Albert Barnes · Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

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After this, Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them as they walked along in the country.

Mark 16:12-14

appeared in a different form: Jesus appeared in a different form to two walking in the country, the Emmaus road in brief. Again the report met unbelief, and Jesus rebuked the Eleven for their unbelief and hardness of heart, a hardness Mark has charged since the loaves.

Mark 16:12

“He appeared - unto two of them - These were the two who were going to Emmaus. The whole account is given by Luke, 24:13-34, where see the notes. Dr. Lightfoot’s criticism upon this passage is worthy of notice. “That, in the verses immediately going before, the discourse is of the two disciples going to Emmaus, is without all controversy.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

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Mark 16:12

“Therefore the Lord performed outwardly in the eyes of the body what was happening within them in the eyes of the heart. For they themselves within were both loving and doubting, while the Lord outwardly was both present to them and yet did not reveal who He was. To those speaking about Him He showed His presence, but from those doubting Him He hid the appearance of His recognition.”

Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 23patristic

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And they went back and reported it to the rest, but they did not believe them either.

reported it to the rest: Luke 24:34 seems to differ here. There the Eleven greet these two travellers with the news that the Lord has appeared to Simon. Theophylact takes the rest to mean others beyond the Eleven, and Peter Chrysologus supposes that some present still refused to believe.

Mark 16:13

“And they went and told it unto the residue,.... Upon their return to Jerusalem, which was on the same night, they went to the eleven apostles, and the other disciples that were with them, and related the whole affair to them; how that Jesus had joined them by the way, and discoursed much with them about himself, and expounded the Scriptures on the road; and when they came to the end of their journey, sat down at meat with them, when he was very plainly discerned, and known by them, and then disappeared; see Luk 24:33; neither believed they them.”

John Gill · Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748)reformed

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Mark 16:13

“Neither believed they them. They suspected that their eyes also deceived them. Now there was a wise providence in it, the proofs of Christ's resurrection were given in thus gradually, and admitted thus cautiously, that so the assurance with which the apostles preached this doctrine afterward, when they ventured their all upon it, might be the more satisfying.”

Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan

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Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

rebuked them for their unbelief: Jesus holds them answerable for rejecting the word of eyewitnesses. Matthew Henry draws the application that later believers, who never saw Him risen, are bound to believe the testimony of those who did. Barnes notes that the Eleven was the apostles' title after Judas died, even with Thomas absent.

Mark 16:14

“I SHALL not dwell so much upon this particular instance of the disciples' unbelief as upon the fact that the Lord Jesus upbraided them because of it. This action of His shows us the way in which unbelief is to be treated by us. As our loving Savior felt it right to upbraid rather than to console, He taught us that on some occasions unbelief should be treated with severity rather than with condolence.”

Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2890: “Unbelievers Upbraided” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist

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Mark 16:14

“Observe, It will not suffice for an excuse of our infidelity in the great day, to say, " We did not see him after he was risen," for we ought to have believed the testimony of those who did see him. The commission which he gave them to set up his kingdom among men by the preaching of his gospel, the glad tidings of reconciliation to God through a Mediator.”

Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan

Mark 16:14

“As he showed them real hands and a real side, so he really ate with his disciples;4 really walked with Cleophas; conversed with men with a real tongue;6 really reclined at supper; with real hands took bread, blessed and broke it, and was offering it to them.”

Jerome · written before 420 · To Pammachius Against John of Jerusalem 34patristic

Mark 16:14

“And upbraided them with their unbelief - Never were there a people so difficult to be persuaded of the truth of spiritual things as the disciples. It may be justly asserted, that people of so skeptical a turn of mind would never credit any thing till they had the fullest evidence of its truth. The unbelief of the disciples is a strong proof of the truth of the Gospel of God. See the addition at the end.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

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Go into All the World; Received Up

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Mark 16:15-16

preach the gospel to every creature: Mark's commission, preach the gospel to every creature, is the widest in wording of any. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved joins baptism to belief, but the condemnation clause names unbelief alone. The traditions divide over whether baptism is necessary.

Mark 16:15

“We ought to notice, firstly, in these verses, the parting commission which our Lord gives to His apostles . He is addressing them for the last time. He marks out their work until He comes again, in words of wide and deep significance, "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The Lord Jesus would have us know that all the world needs the Gospel. In every quarter of the globe man is the same, sinful, corrupt, and alienated from God.”

J.C. Ryle · Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)Reformed Evangelical

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Mark 16:15

“Again, in the Pslams, David says: "Bring to God, ye countries of the nations"-undoubtedly because "unto every land" the preaching of the apostles had to "go out" -"bring to God fame and honour; bring to God the sacrifices of His name: take up victims and enter into His courts.”

Tertullian · written before 220 · An Answer to the Jewspatristic

Mark 16:15

“BEFORE our Lord gave His disciples this commission He addressed them in tones of serious rebuke. You will observe that appearing unto the Eleven as they ate meat, "He upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart because they believed not them which had seen Him after He was risen." So honorable an estimation did He set upon testimony—so marked a censure did He pronounce upon those who neglected it! The reprimand they received on such an occasion may well serve as a caution to us for unbelief unfits the Christian for service.”

Charles Spurgeon · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 900: “Preach, Preach, Preach Everywhere!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1869)Particular Baptist

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Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Whoever believes and is baptized: The warning names unbelief alone. Theophylact holds that one who believes and is not yet baptized has not yet been fully saved. Matthew Henry stresses that unbelief alone condemns, and Gregory the Dialogist adds that the faith that saves is seen in works.

Mark 16:16

"He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned." Perhaps each one may say within himself: "I have already believed; I shall be saved." He speaks truly, if he holds faith by works. For true faith is that which does not contradict in conduct what it says in words. Hence it is that Paul says of certain false believers: "They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their deeds." Hence John says: "He who says he knows God and does not keep His commandments is a liar."

Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 29patristic

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Mark 16:16

“He that believeth - He that credits this Gospel as a revelation from God: and is baptized - takes upon him the profession of it, obliging himself to walk according to its precepts: he shall be saved - redeemed from sin here, and brought at last to the enjoyment of my eternal glory. But he that believeth not, shall be damned - because he rejects the only provision that could be effectual to his soul’s salvation.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

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And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

Mark 16:17-18

these signs will accompany those who believe: Of the five signs promised to those who believe, Acts records all but the poison. Demons are driven out at Philippi, tongues come at Pentecost and Ephesus, and the viper is shaken off at Malta.

Mark 16:17

“See, God sent apostles, and sent prophets and teachers, gave the gift of healings, which as we have found are given by the Holy Spirit, and God gave many kinds of tongues. But yet all are not apostles, all are not prophets, all are not teachers. Not all, says he, have the gift of healings, nor do all, says he, speak with tongues. For the whole range of divine gifts cannot exist in each particular individual. Each, according to his capacity, receives that which he either desires or deserves.”

Ambrose of Milan · written before 397 · On the Holy Spirit 2.13.150patristic

2 more voices on this verse

Mark 16:17

“And these signs - These miracles. These evidences that they are sent from God. Them that believe - The apostles, and those in the primitive age who were endowed with like power. This promise was fulfilled if it can be shown that these signs followed in the case of any who believed, and it is not necessary to suppose that they would follow in the case of all. The meaning is, that they would be the result of faith, or of the belief of the gospel. It is true that they were.”

Albert Barnes · Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

Mark 16:17

“And these signs shall follow them that believe . . . They shall take up serpents--These two verses also are peculiar to Mark. The Ascension and Triumphant Proclamation of the Gospel Thereafter (Mr 16:19, 20).”

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed

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they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

they will pick up snakes: In Acts 28 a snake took hold of Paul's hand and did not harm him, as Gill and Barnes note. Theophylact takes the snakes both as snakes in the hand and as the snakes of Luke 10:19. Gregory the Dialogist reads the signs as works of the heart.

Mark 16:18

“Take up serpents - Several MSS. add εν ταις χερσιν, in their hands - shall be enabled to give, when such a proof may be serviceable to the cause of truth, this evidence of their being continually under the power and protection of God, and that all nature is subject to him. This also was literally fulfilled in the case of Paul, Act 28:5. If they drink any deadly thing - Θανασιμον (φαρμακον) being understood - if they should through mistake, or accident, drink any poisonous matter, their constant preserver will take care that it shall not injure them.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

2 more voices on this verse

Mark 16:18

“We have faith for a defence, if we are not smitten with distrust itself also, in immediately making the sign and adjuring, and besmearing the heel with the beast.”

Tertullian · written before 220 · Scorpiacepatristic

Mark 16:18

“Even at this day in every believer faith has a latent miraculous power; (every effect of prayer being really miraculous;) although in many, both because of their own littleness of faith, and because the world is unworthy, that power is not exerted. Miracles, in the beginning, were helps to faith; now also they are the object of it.”

John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical

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After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.

Mark 16:19-20

He was taken up into heaven: Jesus sat down at the right hand of God, the seat of Psalm 110:1 that He pressed at 12:36. The book ends with the church in motion: they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them.

Mark 16:19

“So then after the Lord--an epithet applied to Jesus by this Evangelist only in Mr 16:19, 20, when He comes to His glorious Ascension and its subsequent fruits. It is most frequent in Luke. had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven--See on Lu 24:50, 51. and sat on the right hand of God--This great truth is here only related as a fact in the Gospel history.”

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed

4 more voices on this verse

Mark 16:19

Also, towards the conclusion of his Gospel, Mark says: "So then, after the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God;" confirming what had been spoken by the prophet: "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool."

Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book IIIpatristic

Mark 16:19

“Whatever God does concerning us, gives to us, or accepts from us, it is by his Son. Now he is glorified with the glory he had before the world. Christ welcomed in this lower world; his being believed on in the world, and received up into glory, are put together, 1 Tim. iii.”

Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan

Mark 16:19

“He was received up into heaven - In a cloud from the Mount of Olives. See Act 1:9. The right hand of God - We are not to suppose that God has hands, or that Jesus sits in any particular direction from God. This phrase is taken from the manner of speaking among men, and means that he was exalted to honor and power in the heavens. It was esteemed the place of the highest honor to be seated at the right hand of a prince.”

Albert Barnes · Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

Mark 16:19

“These words form the conclusion of Mark's Gospel. Short as the passage is, it is a singularly suitable conclusion to the history of our Lord Jesus Christ's earthly ministry. It tells us where our Lord went, when He left this world, and ascended up on high. It tells us what His disciples experienced after their Master left them, and what all true Christians may expect until He appears again.”

J.C. Ryle · Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1857)Reformed Evangelical

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And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.

confirming His word by the signs: They did what Jesus told them in verse 15. Gregory the Dialogist observes that they obeyed the word, and the signs followed. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown see a link with Acts, where the risen Jesus is called the Lord who worked through the church.

Mark 16:20

"And they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following." What is to be considered in these things, what is to be committed to memory, except that obedience followed the command, and signs indeed followed obedience?

Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 29patristic

3 more voices on this verse

Mark 16:20

“The Lord working with them - This co-operation was twofold, internal and external. Internal, illuminating their minds, convincing them of the truth, and establishing them in it. External, conveying their word to the souls that heard it, by the demonstration of the Holy Ghost; convincing them of sin, righteousness, and judgment; justifying them by his blood, and sanctifying them by his Spirit.”

Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical

Mark 16:20

“They preached everywhere - At the time St. Mark wrote, the apostles had already gone into all the known world, Rom. x, 18; and each of them was there known where he preached: the name of Christ only was known throughout the world.”

John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical

Mark 16:20

“THE previous verse tells us that "after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into Heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God." It was expedient for His disciples that He should go away and He had gone to the best place for helping them in their work. He could survey the field better from an eminence, so the Captain ascends on high. He could best send to them succor from the Throne, so the Lord ascends to His Glory.”

Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2467: “Christ and His Co-workers” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist

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This site records the readings below for this chapter. Spelling and word-order differences that change no meaning are passed over.

The Ending of Mark Mark 16:9-20, at the verse ↑

Textual evidence — Mark 16:9–20

Verdict: Authentic

The longer ending of Mark is absent from Sinaiticus and Vaticanus but present in Alexandrinus, Ephraemi, Bezae, the Peshitta, the Old Latin, and in the vast Byzantine tradition. It is cited by Irenaeus around AD 180, older than the two great uncials that omit it. A Greek narrative ending on γάρ (16:8) is grammatically unsustainable. The verdict summarized here follows Burgon's 1871 evidence trail.

Manuscript census

The verses are present in the overwhelming majority of Greek manuscripts, in the early versions (Latin, Syriac, Coptic), and in lectionary tradition. Absent from only two major 4th-century uncials (Sinaiticus and Vaticanus) and in a handful of later witnesses.

absent
Codex Sinaiticus (א)(4th century)
Ends at 16:8; blank column before Luke, scribal awareness of a disputed terminus.
absent
Codex Vaticanus (B)(4th century)
Ends at 16:8; blank column before Luke.
present
Codex Alexandrinus (A)(5th century)
present
Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C)(5th century)
present
Codex Bezae (D)(5th century)
present
Codex Washingtonianus (W)(4th/5th century)
Contains the longer ending with a distinctive interpolation after 16:14 ('Freer Logion').
partial
Old Latin (k, Codex Bobbiensis)(4th century)
Has the shorter ending only; one of the few Latin witnesses to diverge.
present
Vulgate / later Latin tradition(late 4th century onward)
present
Peshitta (Syriac)(4th/5th century)
present
Byzantine majority(9th–15th century)
Effectively universal in the tradition that produced the textus receptus.

Heptatic analysis

Greek words in the passage175 = 25 × 7

Letters in the passage553 = 79 × 7

Distinct vocabulary words98 = 14 × 7

Words used elsewhere in Mark84 = 12 × 7

Panin's numeric patterns are not a proof text; they are a literary-statistical footnote. The density of sevens is harder to explain on the hypothesis of a later interpolation than on the hypothesis of a Markan original.

Source: Panin, Numeric Greek New Testament (1934, PD)

Patristic witnesses

Justin Martyrc. 150
First Apology— 45
Language of 'going forth and preaching everywhere' echoes 16:20, predating the 4th-century uncials by nearly two centuries.
Tatianc. 170
Diatessaron
The harmony incorporates the longer ending, implying its presence in the Greek text Tatian harmonized.
Irenaeusc. 180
Against Heresies— III.10.6
“…in fine autem Evangelii ait Marcus: Et quidem Dominus Jesus, postquam locutus est eis, receptus est in cælos, et sedet ad dexteram Dei.”
Direct quotation of 16:19, concrete evidence in the mid-second century, earlier than Sinaiticus and Vaticanus.
Hippolytus of Romec. 215
Apostolic Tradition / On Charismata
Cites 16:17–18 in discussions of spiritual gifts.
Vincentius of Thibaris (at the Seventh Council of Carthage)256
Sententiae Episcoporum
Quotes 16:17 as Scripture in public conciliar deliberation.

Theological integration

A Gospel cannot end on γάρ
If Mark intended to close at 16:8 the narrative would end with the Greek particle γάρ ('for'). No extant Greek composition of any length is known to close this way. The grammatical argument was already forceful in Burgon's day and has only tightened since.
Resurrection witness across the Gospels
Matthew 28 and Luke 24 both narrate post-resurrection appearances, the commissioning of the disciples, and the ascension. A Gospel ending at Mark 16:8 would leave Mark uniquely silent on the events the other three evangelists treat as indispensable, a silence unaccountable on literary and theological grounds alike.
The Great Commission parallel
16:15 (‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature’) tracks Matt 28:19–20 and Luke 24:46–48. Rather than a scribe inventing a commission that already exists in two other Gospels, the natural reading is that Mark preserved the shared apostolic memory in his own voice.
Stylistic consistency
Burgon catalogued the vocabulary and phrasing of 16:9–20 and showed that Markan fingerprints, καί in narrative sequence, πορεύομαι in the missionary sense, run through the pericope. The Freer Logion interpolation, by contrast, is stylistically unlike Mark and is rightly rejected.

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Sources for this chapter

The summary

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

The exposition

Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture, Mark; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bede, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Gregory the Dialogist; Irenaeus, Against Heresies, Book III; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Mark; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; John William Burgon, The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel According to S. Mark; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Peter Chrysologus, Catena Aurea by Aquinas and Theophylact of Ohrid.

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Introduction

Context

Historical context

Significance

Spices at Sunrise; the Stone Rolled Back

He Appears to Mary and to the Eleven

Go into All the World; Received Up

Manuscript census

Heptatic analysis

Patristic witnesses

Theological integration

A Gospel cannot end on γάρ

Resurrection witness across the Gospels

The Great Commission parallel

Stylistic consistency

Keep studying

Sources for this chapter

The summary

The exposition