The claim of Irenaeus that Mark was the interpreter of Peter,
and Luke the author of the third Gospel, considered.--Luke
and Mark both put to death with Paul in Rome.
Irenaeus, after stating that Peter and Paul preached in Rome and laid the
foundation of a church at that place, continues: "After their departure,
Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us
in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of
Paul, recorded in a book the gospel preached by him." (Book iii. sec.
1.) Again no time is given. The last time we know anything of Mark and
Luke that is certain, or at all reliable, they were both with Paul in
Rome. In his second letter to Timothy he says: "Only Luke is with me.
Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the
ministry." (2 Timothy iv. 11.) That Timothy obeyed this request and
took Mark with him, does not admit of doubt. Paul and Timothy were
inseparable, and Mark was Paul's near friend and companion. This must
have been in the fall of A. D. 65, when Paul was in prison, with little
or no hope to escape the second time from the fangs of Nero.
At the time Timothy and Mark entered Rome, the fury of Nero raged with
all its sanguinary cruelty. It was just about the time the conspiracy
of Piso was brought to light. Made mad by his fears, he struck in all
directions. Not content with the destruction of the conspirators, he put
to death all who offended his vanity or moved his jealousy. Seneca, a
man whose many virtues added lustre to the Roman people, and who was
an honor to any age, was not suffered to live. His very virtues gave
offence to the tyrant. Lu-can and others, distinguished for genius and
learning, were put to death. Tacitus says that at this time "the city
presented a scene of blood, and funerals darkened all the streets."
(Annals, book XV. sec. 21.) Speaking of the events of the year 66, when
Paul was put to death, the same writer says: "We have nothing before us
but tame servility, and a deluge of blood spilt by a tyrant in the
hour of peace. The heart recoils from the dismal story. But let it be
remembered by those who may hereafter think these events worthy of
their notice, that I have discharged the duty of an historian, and if in
relating the fate of so many eminent citizens, who resigned their lives
to the will of one man, I mingle tears with indignation, let me be
allowed to feel for the unhappy. The truth is, the wrath of Heaven was
bent against the Roman State. The calamities that followed cannot, like
the slaughter of an army or the sacking of a city, be painted forth
in one general draught. Repeated murders must be given in succession."
(Annals, B. XVI. sec. XVI.) The author then proceeds to give a long
list of victims. At the time Paul was in prison, and Mark and Luke
his companions were with him, the Roman legions, under the command of
Vespasian, were marching to make war upon the Jews, if they had not
done so already. They had rebelled and defied the power of Rome. At this
time, no Jew could be in Rome and live. Not only was the anger of Nero
aroused against them, but that of the entire people of Rome--and
this feeling did not abate until after almost the entire nation was
destroyed. No doubt Timothy, Luke, Linus, Paul, and all others who were
with them, perished in the general calamity. Why put to death Paul,
and not his fellow-laborers? Nero waged war not against Christians, but
against Christianity. We trace all these parties inside the gates of
Rome, and then we lose their trail forever. There is not one single item
of reliable proof that any one of them ever left the doomed city. The
footprints of Christians going into Rome at this time were like the
tracks going into the cave of Polyphemus--many were seen going in, but
none coming out.
We learn from Eusebius and Jerome, that Mark went to Egypt and founded a
church at Alexandria, and the latter states that he died and was buried
there in the eighth year of the reign of Nero. This is impossible. As
Nero commenced his reign A.D. 54, this would made him die in A.D. 62.
Now we find him alive with Paul in A.D. 65. Eusebius, in his loose way,
says: "The same Mark, _they say also_, being the first that was sent
to Egypt, proclaimed the gospel there which he had written, and first
established churches in Alexandria." (Book I. ch. 16.) This father
had special reasons why he wanted to get Mark to Alexandria. The close
resemblance between Christians and Therapeutae, as we have shown, was
a reason with him why he should insist that the latter were in fact
believers in Christ by a different name. Mark is sent to be their
teacher, and was claimed to be the founder of this new sect of
Christians. Nothing is wider from the truth. If ever Mark or Luke left
Rome, there is no reason why we should not hear something of them.
Situated as they were in their relations with the founders of
Christianity, had they survived the slaughter at Rome, one or both would
have left behind them evidence, of some kind, of their escape. What
remained of Paul, Timothy, Mark, Luke, Linus and others after they
entered Rome in the winter of A.D. 65 and A.D. 66, could only be found
after that time among the graves of Nero's victims. Whatever Mark and
Luke wrote, in the nature of Gospels, was written before they entered
the gates for the last time.
As this was in A. D. 65 or A. D. 66, and the gospels ascribed to
them were neither extant nor known before the beginning of the second
century, we are forced to look to some other quarter for those who wrote
them.
But what proof is there that Mark and Peter were on such intimate terms
as is claimed by Irenaeus? None, except that which is afforded in the
first Epistle of Peter (1 Peter v. 13), wherein Mark is spoken of
by Peter as his son. What better evidence can we have of the studied
dishonesty of Irenaeus, than his attempt to have it appear or believed
that the Mark referred to in the first of Peter, was the companion of
Paul and interpreter of Peter? We have just shown he was not--but an
entirely different person, and it sweeps away the whole foundation
upon which rests the claim that the Gospel of Mark was written at the
dictation of Peter. While Mark was with Paul, either in Rome or Asia
Minor, Peter, with his son Mark, is preaching among the Jews of Chaldea.
What Presbyter John says on this subject is here worthy of notice.
Eusebius, speaking of the writings of Papias, says: "He also inserted
into his work other accounts of the above-mentioned Aristion respecting
our Lord, as also the _traditions_ of the Presbyter John, to which
referring those that are desirous of learning them, we shall now subjoin
to the extracts from him already given a _tradition_ which _he_, sets
forth concerning Mark, who wrote the Gospel, in the following words:
'And John the Presbyter also said this: Mark being the interpreter of
Peter, whatsoever he recorded he wrote with great accuracy, but not in
the order in which it was spoken or done by our Lord, for he neither
heard nor followed our Lord, but, as before said, he was in company with
Peter, who gave him such instruction as was necessary, _but not to give
a history of our Lord's discourses._'" (Eusebius, Ecc. Hist., book iii.
chap. 39.) Papias here gives _a tradition_ derived through Presbyter
John. Slender proof that Peter dictated the Gospel of Mark! To rank
among canonical Gospels, and as a corner-stone of Christianity, with the
authority of an inspired book, the proof falls far below what we have a
right to expect and demand. On such a subject it is no proof at all. It
is difficult to tell what Mark did write, according to Papias. What he
did write was not in the order in which the events in the life of Christ
occurred--nor in the order in which he spoke or taught. Peter would not
allow him to give the history of our Lord's discourses. If that is so,
then the Gospel to which Papias refers is not our present Gospel of
Mark. This relates the acts of Christ in the order of time, and gives
his discourses in full. In this respect the second Gospel does not
differ from the first and third. It is quite probable that Mark, in his
intercourse with the Apostles, may have learned many things in relation
to Christ which he wrote out, but which, like the Hebrew Gospel
of Matthew, was condemned or cast one side, as it did not help to
strengthen the new ideas in relation to Christ, which sprang up some
time before the death of Paul. But we can never know what Mark wrote, as
Papias does not claim he ever saw it, nor do we know of any one who did.
What is said by Clement of Alexandria and all other writers on the
origin of the second Gospel is derived from the extract taken from the
works of Papias, and from what is said by Irenaeus: their statements do
not better the case, any more than a superstructure will give strength
to the base on which it rests. If Mark ever wrote anything, it would
contain nothing that did not accord with Paul, for he was not only his
fellow-traveller, but he was his fellow-laborer in the spread of the
doctrines of Christianity; and so near and dear were the relations
between them, that when Paul saw his end approach, he wrote to Timothy
to bring Mark with him, as brother would for brother, for a parting
inter view. What Paul taught, Mark believed--and Paul dead or Paul in
life would have made no difference with Mark.
After reading the Gospel of Mark, who would suppose that he had been the
companion of Paul and the interpreter of Peter? We would expect to find
some thought or expression that had in it the soul of Paul, as his very
spirit penetrated all his followers and made them a reflex of himself.
Paul drew from the depths of his own consciousness, which he took for
revelations, the ideas which formed the basis of his religion and
made Christ what he believed him to be. It was a holy faith with him,
disconnected from all material laws. The second Gospel is founded on
works, and the divinity of Christ proven by his power over the laws
of the universe. All nature bows down before him; even demons and evil
spirits fly before his presence. Mark the interpreter of Peter!! Where
do we see Peter in the Gospel of Mark? What, all at once, has become of
circumcision? Did he, after his quarrel with Paul, shake off his Jewish
prejudice and bigotry and rise to a higher plane? The proof is he did
not.
Paul, Luke, and Mark were as companions inseparable--they were
fellow-laborers, held the same doctrines, died for the same cause and at
the same time.
In another chapter we inquired from what source Luke got his knowledge
of the wonderful statement he makes in relation to the visitation of the
angel to Mary and Zacharias, for he did not get it from Paul, who never
mentions the name of Mary. We now ask, from whom did Mark learn the
story of John the Baptist? Paul knew nothing about him. Who had a better
opportunity than he to know everything which related to him, if he had
been the person described by Mark? What better proof can be offered to
show that neither Luke nor Mark wrote the Gospels ascribed to them,
than that they are made to state matters which lay at the bottom of
Christianity in after-ages, of which Paul, their teacher and co-laborer,
knew nothing? To find the authors of these Gospels we must look to the
second century.