2.28 The Gospels of Mark and Matthew
History in the Bible
Garry Stevens
4.4 • 711 Ratings
🗓️ 7 October 2018
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Mark is the earliest, shortest, and least popular gospel. We don't know if Mark was a Jew or a gentile. Mark's audience is assailed by the powers that be. He has an especial dislike of the Pharisees. His Greek is rough, but punchy. Mark expects the return of Jesus any day now. Mark's Jesus was a man adopted by God at Jesus' baptism. His Jesus is forever telling people shut up about Jesus' true identity. In Mark, Jesus is Clark Kent, not Superman. In Mark, the reader always knows more than the characters in the story. Mark thinks the disciples are nitwits. The gospel of Matthew has long been regarded as the premier gospel. Matthew uses a lot of Mark, but he treats Mark critically. Matthew improves Mark's Greek, reveals Clark Kent as Superman, and is much kinder to the disciples. Matthew really differs from Mark by including five long speeches, including the famous Sermon on the Mount
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Gide. I'm Gary Stevens. |
| 0:07.4 | And welcome to the second series of the History in the Bible podcast. |
| 0:13.1 | More of the history in more of the books in all the Bibles. |
| 0:19.8 | Episode 2.28, the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. |
| 0:25.8 | In the last episode of the history in the Bible, I presented an overview of the sources we have for the life of Jesus, both pagan and Christian. |
| 0:37.1 | In this and the next two episodes, I'll dive deeper into our primary sources, the four Gospels. |
| 0:45.3 | I start with the Evangelist and Gospel of Mark. |
| 0:50.2 | Mark is traditionally symbolised by a winged lion, to show that Christians should be courageous in the face of persecution. |
| 0:59.3 | The Gospel of Mark is the shortest of the Gospels, about half the length of Matthew or Luke. |
| 1:06.9 | The book circulated in at least three versions, differing by the ending to the gospel. |
| 1:14.3 | Our earliest reference to the book is by the Apostolic Father Papius, who lived around the year |
| 1:20.2 | 100. You can hear more about him and the other very earliest church fathers in episode |
| 1:27.4 | 2.21. |
| 1:29.9 | Battle for the New Testament Part 1, earliest times. |
| 1:35.0 | The Gospel of Mark was not highly regarded in early Christianity. |
| 1:39.8 | The very earliest fathers thought its language and structure crude, |
| 1:46.0 | but they accepted that it was the earliest gospel. |
| 1:48.7 | By the time Christianity was made the official religion of the empire, 200 years later, the |
| 1:55.3 | fathers decided that Matthew was the earliest. |
| 1:58.5 | Mark, they held, was an uncreative summary of that gospel. |
| 2:04.2 | Mark only survived because of its supposed connection to the Apostle Peter. |
| 2:09.5 | The Gospels of John, Matthew and Luke are much more widely read than Mark, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Garry Stevens, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Garry Stevens and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.