translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: MRK

label: NET study note

text: See the note on synagogue in 1:21 .


text: Withered means the man’s hand was shrunken and paralyzed.


text: The term translated watched…closely is emotive, since it carries negative connotations. It means they were watching him out of the corner of their eye or spying on him.


text: The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the Mishnah, m. Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; m. Yoma 8.6).


text: The passive was restored points to healing by God. Now the question became: Would God exercise his power through Jesus, if what Jesus was doing were wrong? Note also Jesus’ “labor.” He simply spoke and it was so.


text: See the note on Pharisees in 2:16 .


text: These last two locations, Tyre and Sidon , represented an expansion outside of traditional Jewish territory. Jesus’ reputation continued to expand into new regions. map For location see Map1-A1 ; JP3-F3 ; JP4-F3 .


text: Unclean spirits refers to evil spirits.


text: Jesus did not permit the demons to make him known because the time for such disclosure was not yet at hand, and such a revelation would have certainly been misunderstood by the people. In all likelihood, if the people had understood him early on to be the Son of God, or Messiah, they would have reduced his mission to one of political deliverance from Roman oppression (cf. John 6:15 ). Jesus wanted to avoid, as much as possible, any premature misunderstanding about who he was and what he was doing. However, at the end of his ministry, he did not deny such a title when the high priest asked him ( 14:61-62 ).


text: The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only here and Mark 6:30 , Matt 10:2 , and six more times in Luke ( 6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10 ).


text: In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (see also Matt 10:1-4 ; Luke 6:13-16 ; Acts 1:13 ) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.


text: Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45 .


text: This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29 .


text: There is some debate about what the name Iscariot means. It probably alludes to a region in Judea and thus might make Judas the only non-Galilean in the group. Several explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). For further discussion see D. L. Bock, Luke (BECNT), 1:546; also D. A. Carson, John , 304.


text: Jesus spoke two parables to demonstrate the absurdity of the thinking of the religious leaders who maintained that he was in league with Satan and that he actually derived his power from the devil. The first parable (vv. 23-26 ) teaches that if Jesus cast out demons by the ruler of the demons, then in reality Satan is fighting against himself, with the result that his kingdom has come to an end. The second parable (v. 28 ) about tying up a strong man proves that Jesus does not need to align himself with the devil because Jesus is more powerful. Jesus defeated Satan at his temptation ( 1:12-13 ) and by his exorcisms he clearly demonstrated himself to be stronger than the devil. The passage reveals the desperate condition of the religious leaders, who in their hatred for Jesus end up attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan (a position for which they will be held accountable, 3:29-30 ). For an explanation of what a parable is, see the note on parables in 4:2 .


text: The three conditional statements in vv. 24-26 express the logical result of the assumption that Jesus heals by Satan’s power, expressed by the religious leaders. The point is clear: If the leaders are correct, then Satan’s kingdom will not stand, so the suggestion makes no sense. Satan would not seek to heal.


text: The strong man here pictures Satan.


text: Some see the imagery here as similar to Eph 4:7-10 , although no opponents are explicitly named in that passage. Jesus has the victory over Satan. Jesus’ acts of healing mean that the war is being won and the kingdom is coming.


text: Is guilty of an eternal sin. This passage has troubled many people, who have wondered whether or not they have committed this eternal sin . Three things must be kept in mind: (1) the nature of the sin is to ascribe what is the obvious work of the Holy Spirit (e.g., releasing people from Satan’s power) to Satan himself; (2) it is not simply a momentary doubt or sinful attitude, but is indeed a settled condition which opposes the Spirit’s work, as typified by the religious leaders who opposed Jesus; and (3) a person who is concerned about it has probably never committed this sin, for those who commit it here (i.e., the religious leaders) are not in the least concerned about Jesus’ warning. On this last point see W. W. Wessel, “Mark,” EBC 8:645-46.


text: Unclean spirit refers to an evil spirit.


text: The issue of whether Jesus had brothers (siblings) has had a long history in the church. Epiphanius, in the 4th century, argued that Mary was a perpetual virgin and had no offspring other than Jesus. Others argued that these brothers were really cousins. Nothing in the text suggests any of this. See also John 7:3 .