Markchapter 3
35 verses · Mark · AD 55 to 65 · The Gospels
Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow at their hardness of heart. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored.
Introduction
Mark, The Gospels, Mark Overview.
Mark shows the ministry in Galilee growing and the opposition hardening in the same chapter. He wrote for a church in Rome where believers often lost standing with their own relatives, and this chapter speaks to that loss. Jesus draws crowds from far outside Galilee, chooses a small company to be with Him, and meets three different verdicts on who He is. Listen for how Mark places one story inside another, so that each explains the other. Listen also for the question of who counts as family. Read it as a chapter about the lines people draw around Jesus.
Context
- Who
- Roman readers watching two very different groups conclude that this man is dangerous
- What
- An account of a Sabbath healing, the choosing of the Twelve, and the charges brought against Jesus by His family and by the scribes.
- Where
- A synagogue in Galilee, the shore of the lake, a mountainside and a crowded house.
- When
- The Galilean ministry, about AD 28, as the opposition began to organise.
- Why
- To show that the same works drew some people to Jesus and turned others against Him, and to name those who belong to His family.
Historical context
The alliance formed against him is politically strange. Pharisees were religious purists who resented Herod's family; Herodians were partisans of that family and of the Roman order behind it. That these two joined to plot shows the threat was read as more than a theological quarrel.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The crowd's geography tells its own story. People come from Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea in the far south, across the Jordan, and from the Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, a spread of several hundred miles, crossing several jurisdictions and including Gentile territory. News travelled the trade roads fast.
The nickname Mark records for James and John, Boanerges, is Aramaic, and Mark translates it for readers who did not speak it, one of the habits that shows he was writing for outsiders. He does the same with Beelzebul, the mocking name for the prince of demons.
The scene with his family carries weight in that culture. In an honour-based society, a household protected its reputation, and relatives trying to seize a man because people were saying he was out of his mind were doing what families did. Jesus responds by redrawing the family line around whoever does God's will.
Significance
For a Roman church whose members had often been disowned by their own households for joining an illegal foreign cult, the redrawn family was not an abstraction. Mark records Jesus looking around at those sitting near him and calling them mother and brothers.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The warning about the unforgivable sin is placed exactly where the scribes have said the Spirit's work is the devil's. Read in context, it is not a trap for the anxious believer; it is a verdict on those who watched deliverance happen and called it evil.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The Withered Hand and the Hardened Hearts
Mark 3:1-2
a man with a withered hand was there: The watchers came to build a case, In order to accuse Jesus, they were watching to see if He would heal on the Sabbath. The Sabbath dispute of 2:23-28 continues here, with healing now the ground in question.
Mark 3:1
“And he entered again into the synagogue,.... Perhaps in Capernaum, where he had before cast out the unclean spirit; but not on the same day, nor on that day he had had the debate with the Pharisees, about his disciples plucking the ears of corn on the sabbath day; but on another sabbath, perhaps the next; see Luk 6:6. And there was a man there which had a withered hand; who came there either for a cure, knowing Christ to be in the synagogue, or for the sake of worship; See Gill on Mat 12:10.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Mark 3:1
“These verses show us our Lord again working a miracle. He heals a man in the synagogue, "who had a withered hand." Always about His Father's business — always doing good — doing it in the sight of enemies as well as of friends — such was the daily tenor of our Lord's earthly ministry. And He "left us an example that we should follow His steps." (1 Peter 2:21.) Blessed indeed are those Christians who strive, however feebly, to imitate their Master! Let us observe in these verses, how our Lord Jesus Christ was watched by His enemies .”
they were watching to see if He would heal on the Sabbath: Adam Clarke notes that the Greek verb means they watched Him with ill intent. Luke 14:1 uses it the same way. Ryle observes that Jesus kept doing good in the sight of enemies as well as friends, an example for His followers.
Mark 3:2
“They watched him - Παρετηρουν αυτον, they maliciously watched him. See on Luk 14:1 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 3:3-4
Jesus asks, Which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it. Doing nothing becomes a choice to withhold good, and they were silent.
Mark 3:3
“Or, he has his right hand withered, who does not the works which belong to the right side; for from the time that our hand is employed in forbidden deeds, from that time it is withered to the working of good. But it will be restored whenever it stands firm in virtue; wherefore Christ saith, Arise, that is, from sin, and stand in the midst; that thus it may stretch itself forth neither too little or too much.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
But they were silent: Adam Clarke cites a Jewish maxim that a man who could save a life and failed to do so was counted a murderer. John Wesley notes the sharper edge of the question. They were already seeking a way to kill Him, and their silence showed them confounded yet unconvinced.
Mark 3:4
“And he saith unto them,.... Either to the whole multitude, to all the assembly in the synagogue; and so the Persic version renders it, "again he said to the multitude"; or rather, to the Scribes and Pharisees, who were watching him, and had put a question to him, which he answers by another: is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil, to save life, or to kill?”
3 more voices on this verse
Mark 3:4
“To do good - or - evil? to save life, or to kill? - It was a maxim with the Jews, as it should be with all men, that he who neglected to preserve life when it was in his power, was to be reputed a murderer. Every principle of sound justice requires that he should be considered in this light. But, if this be the case, how many murderers are there against whom there is no law but the law of God! To kill - but instead of αποκτειναι, several MSS. and versions have απολεσαι to destroy.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 3:4
“In the synagogue of the Jews was a man who had a withered hand. If he was withered in his hand, the ones who stood by were withered in their minds. And they were not looking at the crippled man nor were they expecting the miraculous deed of the one who was about to work. But before doing the work, the Savior ploughed up their minds with words.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · HOMILIES 28patristic
Mark 3:4
“Is it lawful to save life or to kill? - Which he knew they were seeking occasion to do. But they held their peace - Being confounded, though not convinced.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Mark 3:5-6
Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow: The Pharisees went out and began plotting with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. The Herodians were a political party the Pharisees would usually avoid, and their common cause shows how far the opposition has hardened.
Mark 3:5
“But Jesus, deeply grieved in heart at the hardness of their hearts, said in effect: "Let the ones who see continue to see. Let the ones who refuse to hear do what they want to do. Let the ones who are hard in heart become stone. But let your right hand become full and tender. Rise, beg no longer." … In effect Jesus was saying: "Do not continue to beg because of having a withered hand, but after you finally have received it healthy and whole and have begun to work, stretch out your hand to the poor.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · HOMILIES 28patristic
4 more voices on this verse
Mark 3:5
“MY TEXT WILL REALLY CONSIST of these words: "He looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." It is the divine Lord, the pitiful Jesus, the meek and lowly in heart, who is here described as being angry. Where else do we meet with such a statement while he was here among men?”
Mark 3:5
“Looking round upon them with anger, being grieved - Angry at the sin, grieved at the sinner; the true standard of Christian anger. But who can separate anger at sin from anger at the sinner?”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Mark 3:5
“With anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts - These words are not found in any of the other evangelists. For πωρωσει hardness, or rather callousness, the Codex Bezae, and four of the Itala, read νεκρωσει, deadness; the Vulgate and some of the Itala, caecitate, blindness. Join all these together, and they will scarcely express the fullness of this people’s wretchedness. By a long resistance to the grace and Spirit of God, their hearts had become callous; they were past feeling.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 3:5
“Note, The sin of sinners is very displeasing to Jesus Christ; and the way to be angry, and not to sin, is it be angry, as Christ was, at nothing but sin.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
plotting with the Herodians: Albert Barnes gives the reasons for their hatred. Jesus reproved them, laid open their hypocrisy, and drew the people's hearts away from them. Charles Spurgeon describes the Herodians as the court party, so religious leaders and political men now joined against Him.
Mark 3:6
“Straightway - Immediately, or as soon as possible. Took counsel - Laid a plan. Consulted with them. Literally, “made a consultation.” The Harridans - See the notes at Mat 22:16. How they might destroy him - They hated him, he was so holy; because he reproved them; because he laid open their hypocrisy; and because he won the hearts of the people and lessened their influence. They therefore determined to remove him, if possible, and thus avoid his reproofs. Sinners would often rather put to death the man that reproves them than forsake their sins.”
Crowds Pressing In From Every Side
Mark 3:7-10
Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea: The crowd comes from a widening circle, Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, the region beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. The press grows so heavy that He asks His disciples to have a boat ready for Him.
Mark 3:7
“To the sea - The Sea of Galilee, or to the lonely regions which surrounded the sea, where he might be in obscurity, and avoid their designs against his life. His time had not yet come, and he prudently took care of his life, thus showing that we are not needlessly to throw ourselves into danger. Galilee - See the notes at Mat 2:22. Judea - The southern division of the land of Palestine. Jerusalem - Jerusalem was “in” Judea.”
when they heard what great things He was doing: John Gill locates Idumea, the old Edom, south of Judea, and notes its people had by then become Jews or converts. Charles Spurgeon observes that the crowd grew largest just when the opposition was fiercest. Matthew Henry says some came to see, others to be helped.
Mark 3:8
“THE opposition of the great ones of the earth did not, after all, hinder the cause of Christ. The Pharisees, who were the leaders of religious thought, combined with the Herodians, who were the court party, to destroy Jesus, but at the very moment when their wrath had reached its highest pitch the crowd about the Savior's Person was greater than ever. Let us not, therefore, dear Friends, be at all dismayed if great men and learned men and nominally religious men, should oppose the simple Gospel of Christ!”
to have a boat ready for Him: Albert Barnes notes that the word means a small boat, likely one belonging to the disciples. From it Jesus could push off from shore and teach without being crushed. Adam Clarke cites an old English rendering, a little boat.
Mark 3:9
“A small ship - Rather a “boat.” There were properly speaking, no “ships” on the Sea of Tiberias. This was probably a small boat that belonged to the disciples, in which he could draw off from the shore, and teach the people without being pressed by them. Lest they should throng him - They pressed upon him in great numbers. He had healed many, and those who were still diseased pressed or crowded on him, so that his labors were interrupted and embarrassed.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:9
“But Jesus in us is our reason, which commands that our vessel, that is, our body, should serve Him, lest the troubles of worldly affairs should press upon our reason.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
pressing forward to touch Him: The word Mark uses for these diseases means scourges, as John Wesley and Matthew Henry note. Henry reads such afflictions as corrections meant to turn people from sin. Augustine adds that believers now touch Christ by faith.
Mark 3:10
“They pressed upon him, to touch him, as many as had plagues. Diseases are here called plagues, mastigas -- corrections, chastisements; so they are designed to be, to make us smart for our sins, that thereby we may be made sorry for them, and may be warned not to return to them.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:10
“They pressed upon him - Rushed upon him, επιπιπτειν - through eagerness to have their spiritual and bodily maladies immediately removed. Plagues - Rather disorders, μαϚιγας; properly such disorders as were inflicted by the Lord. The word plague also tends to mislead.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 3:11-12
when the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him: The unclean spirits cried out the title the whole book is built toward, You are the Son of God. He warned them sternly not to make Him known, refusing a true confession from a hostile source.
Mark 3:11
“Unclean spirits - Persons who were possessed of evil spirits. Thou art the Son of God - The Son of God, by way of eminence. In this place it is equivalent to the Messiah, who was, among the Jews, called the Son of God. Hence, they were charged not to make him known, because he was not desirous that it should be blazoned abroad that he claimed to be the Messiah.”
He warned them sternly: John Gill notes that the Syriac and Arabic versions render this as a vehement rebuke. Matthew Henry observes that the spirits fell before Jesus to avert His wrath, forced by terror to own Him as the Son of God. Their confession came from fear.
Mark 3:12
“And he straitly charged them,.... Or vehemently rebuked them, as the Syriac and Arabic versions render it; or threatened them much and vehemently, as the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic.”
Twelve Appointed to Be With Him
Mark 3:13-15
Jesus went up on the mountain: He appointed twelve of them, first to accompany Him, then to be sent out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. Presence comes before mission, and the number matches the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mark 3:13
“And he goeth up into a mountain,.... Near Capernaum, being solitary, and a place of recess and retirement, "to pray", as Luke says, Luk 6:12, who adds, "and continued all night in prayer to God", notwithstanding the great fatigue of the day past.”
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 3:13
“For an account of the appointment of the apostles, see the notes at Mat 10:1-4. And calleth unto him whom he would - Those whom he chose; whom he was about to appoint to the apostleship. See the notes at Joh 15:16. Mar 3:14 He ordained twelve - The word rendered “ordained” here does not express our notion of ordination to the ministry. It means, literally, “he made” - that is, he “appointed” twelve to be with him.”
Mark 3:13
“The beginning of this passage describes the appointment of the twelve apostles. It is an event in our Lord's earthly ministry, which should always be read with deep interest. What a vast amount of benefit these few men have conferred on the world! The names of a few Jewish fishermen are known and loved by millions all over the globe, while the names of many kings and rich men are lost and forgotten. It is they who do good to souls who are had "in everlasting remembrance." (Psalm 112:6.)”
Mark 3:14
He appointed twelve of them: Adam Clarke notes that the Greek says simply that He made twelve, with none of the later ceremony of ordination. Ryle marks how much good these few men have done. Their names are loved worldwide while many kings are forgotten.
Mark 3:14
“He ordained twelve - Εποιησε, he made twelve. Here is nothing of what we call ordaining. Christ simply appointed them to be with him; and that he might send them occasionally to preach, etc. To preach - The Codex Bezae, Saxon, and all the Itala, except one, add το ευαγγελιον, the Gospel.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 3:15
“And to have power to heal sicknesses,.... All manner of corporeal diseases that attend men and women: and to cast out devils; from such who were possessed with them: that is, he chose and appointed them to be his apostles, with a view of conferring such powers upon them hereafter; for as yet, they were not vested with them, nor sent out to exercise them; no, not till near twelve months after.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:15
“To have power to heal - and to cast out devils - The business of a minister of Christ is, 1st. To preach the Gospel. 2dly. To be the physician of souls. And, 3dly. To wage war with the devil, and destroy his kingdom.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Mark 3:16-19
Simon (whom He named Peter): The list opens with Simon, whom Jesus named Peter, the rock, and ends with Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. Judas stands last as in every Gospel list, the betrayal marked at his appointment.
Mark 3:16
“And Simon he surnamed Peter. Or Cephas, which signifies a rock, or stone, because of his courage and constancy, his strength and fortitude, steadiness and firmness of mind: this name was imposed upon him, not at the time of his mission as an apostle; nor when he made that noble confession of his faith in Christ, as the Son of the living God, at which time this name was taken notice of; but when Christ first called him to be his disciple and apostle; see Joh 1:42.”
Boanerges: John Chrysostom sees the renaming as the act of the God who once renamed Abram, Sarai and Jacob. Adam Clarke reads the name as a Hebrew way of saying thunderers. Eusebius takes thunder as a picture of gospel preaching.
Mark 3:17
“And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James,.... These are mentioned next, as being first called after Peter and Andrew: and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, the sons of thunder: either because of their loud and sonorous voice; or their warm zeal for Christ, and fervency in their ministry: or for their courage in opposing the enemies of Christ, and the power that went along with their words; which either put to confusion and silence, or issued in conviction and conversion. The Syriac version reads, "Benai Regesh", and the Persic, "Beni Reg'sch".”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:17
“Sons of thunder - A Hebraism for thunderers; probably so named because of their zeal and power in preaching the Gospel. The term Boanerges is neither Hebrew nor Syriac. Calmet and others think that there is reason to believe that the Greek transcribers have not copied it exactly. בני רעם beney raam, which the ancient Greeks would pronounce Beneregem, and which means sons of thunder, was probably the appellative used by our Lord: or בני רעש beni reges, sons of tempest, which comes nearest to the Boanerges of the evangelist.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Bartholomew: John Gill notes that Andrew was Peter's brother and Philip came from Bethsaida. He reports the scholar Lightfoot's view that Bartholomew is the Nathanael of John's Gospel. Gill links the name with the Jewish Bar Talmion.
Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus: John Gill notes that the name Iscariot marks him off from the other Judas. Jesus chose him knowing what he would do. Gill reads the choice as part of God's purpose and the prophecies that led to the work of redemption.
Mark 3:19
“But Judas Iscariot is one who does not do away his sins by repentance. For Judas means 'boaster,' or vain-glorious. And Iscariot, 'the memory of death.' But many are the proud and vain-glorious confessors in the Church, as Simon Magus, and Arius, and other heretics, whose deathlike memory is celebrated in the Church, that it may be avoided.”
Pseudo-Jerome · Catena Aurea by Aquinaspatristic
A House Divided; the Sin That Has No Forgiveness
Mark 3:20-22
once again a crowd gathered: His family went out to take custody of Him, saying, He is out of His mind. The scribes from Jerusalem charge that He is possessed by Beelzebul, and both are drawn by the fame of verse 7.
Mark 3:20
“They could not so much as eat bread - Their time and attention were so occupied that they were obliged to forego their regular meals. The affairs of religion may so occupy the attention of ministers and others as to prevent their engaging in their customary pursuits. Religion is all-important - far more important than the ordinary business of this life; and there is nothing unreasonable if our temporal affairs sometimes give way to the higher interests of our own souls and the souls of others.”
Albert Barnes notes that the Greek reads those who were of Him, meaning His relatives and neighbours. Adam Clarke thinks His enemies started the report and His family half believed it. Jerome sets this beside the charge that He had a demon.
Mark 3:21
In the gospel we read that even his kinsfolk desired to bind him as one of weak mind. His opponents also reviled him saying, "You are a Samaritan and have a devil."
Jerome · written before 420 · Letter 108, to Eustochiumpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:21
“When his friends - Greek, “they who were of him.” Not the apostles, but his relatives, his friends, who were in the place of his nativity. Heard of it - Heard of his conduct: his preaching; his appointing the apostles; his drawing such a multitude to his preaching. This shows that by “his friends” were not meant the apostles, but his neighbors and others who “heard” of his conduct.”
the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem: Ryle notes that the scribes could not deny the miracles were real. They could only explain them away. Albert Barnes adds that they had come from Jerusalem to watch Him, and charged Him with a pact with the prince of demons.
Mark 3:22
“And the scribes ... - See the notes at Mat 12:24-32. The occasion of their saying this was, that he had healed a man possessed with a devil. The scribes, who came from Jerusalem to watch his conduct, charged him with having made a compact or agreement with the prince of the devils.”
3 more voices on this verse
Mark 3:22
Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit - Is it not astonishing, that men who have ever read these words, should doubt, what is the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost? Can any words declare more plainly, that it is "the ascribing those miracles to the power of the devil which Christ wrought by the power of the Holy Ghost?"
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Mark 3:22
We all know how painful it is to have our conduct misunderstood and misrepresented, when we are doing right. It is a trial which our Lord Jesus Christ had to endure continually, all through His earthly ministry. We have an instance in the passage before us. The "Scribes who came down from Jerusalem" saw the miracles which He worked. They could not deny their reality. What then did they do? They accused our blessed Savior of being in league and union with the devil. They said, "He has Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casts he out devils."
Mark 3:22
“Satan is not cast out, he only goes out by consent. There was nothing in the manner of Christ's casting out devils, that gave any cause to suspect this; he did it as one having authority; but so they will have it, who resolve not to believe him. The rational answer which Christ gave to this objection, demonstrating the absurdity of it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Mark 3:23-27
So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: In the strong man picture, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Each exorcism shows Satan bound.
Mark 3:23
“Now as for the Lord's saying: "Satan cannot drive out Satan," lest perhaps anyone using the name of some of the lowest powers when driving out a demon should think this opinion of the Lord's to be false, let him understand the point of this saying: Satan does spare the body or the senses of the body, but he tempts the senses for the purpose of dominating the will of the man in question, in a triumph of greater import, through the error of impiety.”
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Eighty-Three Different Questions, Question 79.2patristic
If a kingdom is divided against itself: John Gill applies the saying first to the kingdoms of this world, which fall through their own quarrels, and then to Satan's kingdom. Ryle draws from it a lesson on the great evil of division. Believers are warned as well.
Mark 3:24
“And if a kingdom be divided against itself,.... Any of the kingdoms of this world, and the kingdom of "Satan": that kingdom cannot stand: not long; its internal broils and divisions will, soon bring it to desolation; See Gill on Mat 12:25.”
If a house is divided against itself: John Gill takes the house as any family, great or small, brought low by its own quarrels. Augustine sets the Holy Spirit against the divided unclean spirit. The Spirit makes believers one in heart and soul, as Acts 4:32 describes.
Mark 3:25
“And if a house be divided against itself,.... Any family, small or great, that house cannot stand; its contentions and discords will soon bring it down from a comfortable and flourishing situation, to a very distressed one; See Gill on Mat 12:25.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:25
Mention has been made of the unclean spirit whom the Lord shows to be divided against himself. The Holy Spirit, however, is not divided against himself. Rather he makes those whom he gathers together undivided against themselves, by dwelling within those who have been cleansed, that they may be like those of whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles, "The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul."
Augustine of Hippo · written before 430 · Sermons on the New Testament Lessons 21.35patristic
his end has come: John Gill spells out the charge: one demon would be fighting another, and Satan's rule would soon collapse. Satan's end came another way. Augustine explains that Christ defeated him by righteousness in His death and by power in His resurrection.
Mark 3:26
“And if Satan rise up against himself,.... As he must do in such a case as this, if devils are cast out by Beelzebub, the prince of devils: and be divided; one devil against another, as the above calumny supposes; he cannot stand, but hath an end: his kingdom cannot stand long, but must soon come to an end; his power and authority will soon be destroyed, both over his own species, and among men; See Gill on Mat 12:26.”
first ties up the strong man: Augustine identifies the strong man as the devil, and his possessions as the captives who would later believe. He links the binding with Revelation 20. Irenaeus adds that Satan held mankind by sin.
Mark 3:27
“No man can enter into a strong man's house,.... This is properly a parable; the other seem to be proverbs, or sayings, that were commonly used to show the ill consequences of discords, factions, and divisions, as is explained in the note on See Gill on Mat 12:29.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:27
“For as in the beginning he enticed man to transgress his Maker's law, and thereby got him into his power; yet his power consists in transgression and apostasy, and with these he bound man [to himself]; so again, on the other hand, it was necessary that through man himself he should, when conquered, be bound with the same chains with which he had bound man, in order that man, being set free, might return to his Lord, leaving to him (Satan) those bonds by which he himself had been fettered, that is, sin.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies 5.21.3patristic
Mark 3:28-30
Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins: Jesus names one exception, whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. Mark gives the reason, because they were saying, He has an unclean spirit, so the sin is naming the Spirit's work in Jesus unclean.
Mark 3:28
“Verily I say unto you,.... The Scribes and Pharisees, who had not only blasphemed him, but the Spirit of God also: all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; God; or the Son of God, angels, and men, and that through the blood of Christ, and when brought to a sense of the evil of them; for though pardon is procured before, it is not applied till then; See Gill on Mat 12:31.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:28
“He is the subject, not the object, of hallowing, apportioning, participating, filling, sustaining. We share in him; he shares in nothing. He is our inheritance, he is glorified, counted together with Father and Son. He is a dire warning to us, the "finger of God." The Spirit is, like God, a "fire." This means that the Holy Spirit is of the same essential nature as the Father. The Spirit is the very One who created us and creates us anew through baptism and resurrection.”
Gregory of Nazianzus · written before 390 · Oration 31, on the Holy Spirit 29patristic
Augustine reads the sin as lasting impenitence. It is a heart that shuts out the Spirit who forgives. The Didache applied the saying to anyone who judged a prophet speaking in the Spirit.
Mark 3:29
“But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost,.... Against his person, and the works performed by him, by ascribing them to diabolical power and influence, as the Scribes did, hath never forgiveness: there is no pardon provided in the covenant of grace, nor obtained by the blood of Christ for such persons, or ever applied to them by the Spirit; but is in danger of eternal damnation.”
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:29
“And every prophet that speaketh in the Spirit ye shall neither try nor judge; for every sin shall be forgiven, but this sin shall not be forgiven.”
Didache · written before 100 · The Didache, Chapter 11patristic
Augustine notes that Mark adds this verse to show what provoked the warning. John Gill draws the same line. The sin in view is crediting the Spirit's work in Jesus to the power of the devil, as the scribes did.
Whoever Does God's Will Is My Family
Mark 3:31-35
mother and brothers came and stood outside: Jesus asks, Who are My mother and My brothers, and looks at those seated in a circle around Him. For whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother, a family bound by obedience to God.
Mark 3:31
In the verses which immediately precede this passage, we see our blessed Lord accused by the Scribes of being in league with the devil. They said, "He has Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casts he out devils." In the verses we have now read, we find that this absurd charge of the Scribes was not all that Jesus had to endure at this time. We are told that "Jesus' mother and brothers arrived at the house where he was teaching. They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them."
2 more voices on this verse
Mark 3:31
“Then come his brethren and his mother - Having at length made their way through the crowd, so as to come to the door. His brethren are here named first, as being first and most earnest in the design of taking him: for neither did these of his brethren believe on him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Mark 3:31
“His brethren and his mother - Or rather, his mother and his brethren. This is the arrangement of the best and most ancient MSS.; and this clause, και αἱ αδελφαι σου, and thy sisters, Mar 3:32, should be Added, on the authority of ADEFGMSUV, fifty-five others, some editions, the margin of the later Syriac, Slavonic, Gothic, and all the Itala except four. Griesbach has received this reading into the text. Calling him - This clause is wanting in one copy of the Itala. The Codex Alexandrinus has ζητουντες αυτον, seeking him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John Chrysostom infers that His mother and brothers did not travel with Him, and reads their coming as love and respect. Matthew Henry is less kind. They stayed outside, he says, and sent word to call Him away from His preaching.
John Gill reads the question as an opening Jesus takes to show how highly He values His spiritual family. The interruption becomes a lesson. Gregory the Dialogist sees here a kinship formed by union of spirit.
Mark 3:33
For Jesus, our Creator and Redeemer, pretends not to know His mother, and indicates who is His mother and who are His relatives not through kinship of the flesh, but through union of the spirit, saying: "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother."
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 3patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:33
“And he answered them,.... The multitude that sat about him, and informed him of his mother and brethren being without, and desirous of speaking with him: saying, who is my mother, or my brethren? which is said not through ignorance or contempt, but either, as displeased with the interruption given him; or with a view to take an opportunity from hence of expressing his superior value to his spiritual relations; which looks with no favourable aspect on the superstitious notions, and veneration of the virgin Mary among the papists; See Gill on Mat 12:48.”
Looking at those seated in a circle around Him: John Gill notes that Matthew 12:49 adds a gesture of the hand toward the disciples. He calls them brothers by adoption, since His Father is now their Father. Christ is formed in them, so Gill calls them His mother.
Mark 3:34
“And he looked round about on them which sat about him,.... To find out his disciples among them, and point them out particularly, by stretching forth his hand towards them: and said, behold my mother and my brethren: not in a natural, but in a spiritual sense; his mother, because, in regeneration, he was formed in them; his brethren, because, by adoption, his God was their God, his Father their Father; See Gill on Mat 12:49.”
whoever does the will of God: Augustine counts Mary within this family. She did the Father's will, and he judges her more blessed for receiving faith in Christ than for bearing Him. John Chrysostom adds that a preacher, in a sense, brings Christ to birth in his hearers.
Mark 3:35
“But since he who does the will of the Father is called sister and brother of the Lord, on account of both sexes who are gathered to the faith, this is not surprising; yet it is greatly to be wondered how one is also called mother. For he deigned to call his faithful disciples brothers, saying: Go, announce to my brothers. Therefore, he who could become a brother of the Lord by coming to faith—it must be asked how he can also be a mother?”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 3patristic
1 more voice on this verse
Mark 3:35
“For whosoever shall do the will of God,.... By believing in Christ, receiving him as a Saviour and Redeemer, and submitting to him in all his ordinances, as King of saints: the same is my brother, and my sister, and my mother: such are openly, and manifestly related to Christ in a spiritual sense; and are as dear to him, and more so, than such persons are who stand in such a relation to others, or did to him according to the flesh.”
Keep studying
Studies6
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; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1529: “A Powerful Reason For Coming To Christ” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Didache, The Didache, Chapter 11; Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 23; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 3; Irenaeus, AGAINST HERESIES 5.21.3; J. C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels, Mark; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: Mark (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, LETTER 108, TO EUSTOCHIUM; John Chrysostom; John Gill; John Lightfoot, Horae Hebraicae et Talmudicae; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.