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Scripture Reading: Mark 1:1, 4, 9-10
In this message we shall continue to see from the Gospel of Mark a life that is fully according to and for the New Testament economy of God.
It is not an easy matter to study the Gospel of Mark. Because we may be led astray in understanding this book, it is quite difficult to study it. In the past many of us were misled in our efforts to understand this Gospel. Some regard the Gospel of Mark merely as a biography of the Lord Jesus. Others consider this Gospel simply a book of stories concerning Jesus. Of course, it is not wrong to say that the Gospel of Mark is a biography or a book of stories. This book is a biography of the Lord, and it does contain many stories concerning His life. But if we get into the depths of the Gospel of Mark, we shall see that this Gospel is more than a biography or a book of stories. The Gospel of Mark presents a life that lives fully according to God’s New Testament economy.
In this message we need to pay particular attention to 1:1: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” This verse is not the title of a biography or of a book of stories. Here we have three main terms: the beginning, the gospel, and Jesus Christ.
The word “gospel” is used in 1:1 in a new way, in a way not employed previously. From Adam until Jesus Christ there was nothing in man’s culture or civilization to correspond to what is denoted by the word “gospel” in the New Testament.
Both John 1:1 and Mark 1:1 use the word “beginning.” John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Here “beginning” denotes eternity past. John’s use of this word is very mysterious. Mark, on the contrary, speaks of the beginning of the gospel. The Gospel of Mark is unique among the four Gospels in opening with the clear expression “the beginning of the gospel.”
We need to be deeply impressed with the opening word of the Gospel of Mark. The phrase “the beginning of the gospel” indicates that this book is not merely a biography of a Nazarene named Jesus Christ. Neither is this merely a book of stories. Rather, this book speaks concerning the beginning of the gospel. At least to a certain extent or in a certain sense, we may regard the entire book of Mark as the beginning of the gospel.
If Mark is the beginning of the gospel, where is the continuation of the gospel? The continuation of the gospel is seen on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the chosen and prepared disciples. Peter, James, John, and the other disciples had been chosen by God and personally called by Jesus Christ. After they had been called, they were prepared by the Lord. During the ten days before Pentecost, the one hundred and twenty were praying. Do you know where they were in those days? They were in the heavens, in the Lord’s ascension. They had been brought into the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. On the day of Pentecost they received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, on that day there was the continuation of the gospel. Hence, Mark is the beginning of the gospel, and Acts is the continuation of the gospel. This continuation has not yet ended. This means that we today are still in the continuation of the gospel.
The word “beginning” in Mark 1:1 implies the termination of many things. Consider what was present at the time of 1:1: culture, the Gentile nations, the chosen people of God, the promise, the law, the Old Testament, the temple, the system of priestly service, the proper way to worship God according to His ordinances. By this we see that there were many good, positive things, even a number of things that had been ordained by God. The Old Testament was given by God. All the laws, ordinances, rituals, forms, practices, regulations, and services in the Old Testament had been ordained by God. The temple, the priesthood, and the system of worship certainly were sanctioned by God. Now, in 1:1, among all these good, positive things, we read of the beginning of something else — the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ implies the termination of many things that had been in existence for thousands of years. In fact, this beginning implies the termination of everything other than God Himself. Certain things had been going on for hundreds, even thousands, of years. Now suddenly there was a new beginning, a beginning that terminated all things other than God.
There has been a difference of opinion among Bible expositors concerning the time of the beginning of the gospel. Some say that the time of the beginning of the gospel was when John the Baptist came out to minister. Others say that the time of this beginning was when Jesus began to preach. Still others claim that the time was the day of Pentecost.
It is a difficult matter for readers of the New Testament to understand that the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ involves the absolute termination of the old things. As we consider this matter, we need to remember that the Gospel of Mark reveals Jesus Christ as the entire, universal, all-inclusive replacement.
Consider what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration (9:2-13). The Lord Jesus took Peter, James, and John and brought them up into a high mountain. Then “He was transformed before them; and His garments became brilliant, exceedingly white, such as no fuller on earth could whiten them” (9:2-3). Then Elijah and Moses appeared to them (v. 4). Being very excited, even beside himself, Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. And let us make three tabernacles — one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah” (v. 5). In a way, Peter’s word was somewhat reasonable, for the Lord Jesus and two great persons from the Old Testament were present on the mountain. Actually, what Peter spoke was nonsensical. Suddenly “a cloud came overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, This is My Son, the Beloved. Hear Him!” (v. 7). When the disciples looked around, “they no longer saw anyone with them, except Jesus only” (v. 8).
We may say that both Moses, who represents the law of the Old Testament, and Elijah, who represents the Old Testament prophets, were replaced by Christ. According to Jewish custom, God’s people considered the Old Testament as having two major sections: the Law and the Prophets. Hence, for Moses and Elijah, the representatives of the Old Testament, to be replaced actually means that all Old Testament things have been replaced by Christ.
On the negative side, the beginning of the gospel means a termination, and this termination includes us. This all-inclusive termination includes culture, the nations, Israel, the law, the prophets, the Old Testament practices and way of worship, the temple, the altar, the priesthood, and the system of offerings. Now when we read Mark 1:1 we need to have the understanding that the beginning of the gospel means the termination of the old things.
Chapter one of the Gospel of Mark indicates that culture, religion, ethics, and the human effort to be moral, holy, scriptural, and victorious need to be terminated. However, in the more than nineteen centuries from the time the Lord Jesus was on earth, the situation among Christians has been full of culture, religion, ethics, and the endeavor to be holy, scriptural, and victorious. Actually, in the experience of the saints there has been very little of Christ. But many books have been written on the subjects of holiness, spirituality, and victory.
We cannot deny that the Epistle of James is a good book. This Epistle helps us to be long-suffering and to have endurance. James speaks of the long-suffering of the prophets and of the endurance of Job. In his Epistle he teaches us how to pray as Elijah did. James’ writing contains a wisdom similar to that found in the proverbs of Solomon. All this is very good. Nevertheless, for God’s New Testament economy all such matters need to be terminated and replaced by Christ. As we have emphasized in this message, the beginning in Mark 1:1 implies such a termination.
If brother James were with us today, we should ask him if he realized that the things of the Old Testament should be terminated. As the leading elder in Jerusalem, he addressed his Epistle not to the church or the New Testament saints but to the twelve tribes. We also wonder why in his Epistle James did not teach us to pray in the New Testament way.
James has been a pattern of godliness, devotion, holiness, ethics, spirituality, and victory. Many believers throughout the centuries have taken James as their pattern for these things.
I would ask you to consider whether you still hold the concept that, as a Christian, you need to try in yourself to improve, to love God more, and to behave in a manner that will glorify God. When I mention these things, some may say in their hearts, “What is wrong with trying to improve and seeking to love God more and to live for His glory? Are you opposed to the improvement of character? Do you not care that the believers love God and glorify Him? Are you teaching us not to care for ethics? What kind of teaching are you promoting?” Of course, we are not denying the importance of good character and behavior; neither are we saying that we should not be ethical or moral or that we should not love God and glorify Him. As far as human living in society is concerned, we all must care for morality, ethics, behavior, and character. But the crucial point is that God’s New Testament economy involves something much higher than this. God’s New Testament economy is a matter of the Triune God working Himself into us as life so that we may live Him and thereby become members of the Body of Christ for His expression.
Perhaps I can illustrate the difference between human ethics and a life that is according to God’s New Testament economy by telling you about the teaching of certain missionaries in China years ago. Some missionaries clearly said that the Bible and Confucius teach the same thing. They pointed out that both the Bible and Confucius teach the honoring of parents and the submitting of wives to their husbands. These missionaries also said that both the Bible and Confucius teach humility, honesty, integrity, faithfulness, and other such virtues. I first heard this when I was in elementary school. Later, as a teen-ager, I began to say to myself, “Since the Bible and Confucius teach the same thing, why was it necessary for the missionaries to come to China? If there is no difference between the teaching of the Bible and the teaching of Confucius, then there is no need for the missionaries to teach us the Bible.”
By the Lord’s mercy, I was saved at the age of nineteen. I was still bothered by the question concerning the difference, if any, between the teachings of the Bible and those of Confucius. I still wanted to know the difference between the human virtues taught by Confucius and the virtues of Christians taught in the Bible. For a number of years I did not know the difference. After nearly ten years of studying the Bible, my eyes were opened to see the all-inclusive Christ. I began to see Christ as the center and circumference of God’s New Testament economy. Then I began to differentiate between the human virtues taught by Confucius and the Christian virtues taught by the Bible. I came to realize that the human virtues taught by Confucius are the product of human effort. Those virtues do not have anything of God essentially. But the genuine Christian virtues taught by the Bible are not the result of human effort. On the contrary, Christian virtues are the product of the divine life lived out through the believers. Furthermore, the Christian virtues are related essentially to the divine nature. What a difference there is between human virtues as the product of human effort and Christian virtues as the product of the divine life and nature within us!
We may illustrate the difference between the human virtues taught by Confucius and the Christian virtues taught by the Bible by comparing brick with gold. As we examine brick, we may find nothing wrong with it. But if we compare brick with gold, we shall see that there is a tremendous difference between the two. In a similar way, there is a great difference between human virtues and Christian virtues produced by the divine life and nature.
It is tragic that most Christians, including Christian teachers, have not had a clear view of the difference between mere human virtues and genuine Christian virtues. The virtues taught by Confucius and other philosophers are nothing more than human. Those human virtues do not have anything of the divine essence. They have nothing to do with God’s life and nature, much less with God Himself.
The Christian virtues taught by the Bible are very different from mere human virtues. The difference is that the nature of Christian virtues is the nature of God. Concerning this, Peter says in his second Epistle that we have become partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4). Therefore, Christian virtues are the product not of outward effort but of an inward nature, the divine nature that we have received through regeneration. The Christian virtues are related essentially to the divine life, the divine nature, and God Himself.
Humanly speaking, for the good of society, we all must care for ethics, morality, behavior, and character. For the sake of a proper human living in society we must emphasize these things. Nevertheless, with respect to living God and expressing Him, mere human virtues are of no avail. Rather, they become a frustration to living and expressing the Lord.
If we would live God and express Him, we need to see that it is necessary even for the natural human virtues to be terminated. This termination is necessary for the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The beginning of the gospel implies the termination of all things other than God Himself.
