Topic: Persons Of The Bible - Mark

The name "Mark" is a familiar form of "Marcus"

"Mark" The Evangelist -- (Marcus was his Latin surname.) His Jewish name was John, which is the same as Johanan (the grace of God). We can almost trace the steps whereby the former became his prevalent name in the Church. "John, whose surname was Mark" in (Acts 12:12,25; 15:37) becomes "John" alone in (Acts 13:5,13) "Mark" in (Acts 15:39) and thenceforward there is no change. (Colossians 4:10); Phlm 1:24; 2Tim 4:11. Mark was one of the evangelists, and probable author of the Gospel bearing his name. Mark was the son of a certain Mary, a Jewish matron of some position, means, and influence who dwelt in Jerusalem, (Acts 12:12) and was probably born of a Hellenistic family. Mark was probably born in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12). Of his father we know nothing. He was cousin of Barnabas (Col. 4:10) of Cyprus, the great friend of St. Paul. His mother would seem to have been intimately acquainted with St. Peter, and it was to her house, as to a familiar home, that the apostle repaired, A.D. 44, after his deliverance from prison (Acts 12:12) This fact accounts for St. Mark's intimate acquaintance with that apostle, to whom also he probably owed his conversion, for St. Peter calls him his son. (1 Peter 5:13) It is probable that the "young man" spoken of in Mark 14:51, 52 was Mark himself. He is first mentioned in Acts 12:25. He went with Paul and Barnabas on their first journey (about A.D. 47) as their "minister," but from some cause turned back when they reached Perga in Pamphylia (Acts 12:25; 13:13). Three years afterwards a "sharp contention" arose between Paul and Barnabas (15:36-40), because Paul would not take Mark with him. He, however, was evidently at length reconciled to the apostle, for he was with him in his first imprisonment at Rome (Col. 4:10; Philemon 1:24). At a later period he was with Peter in Babylon (1 Pet. 5:13), and he was with Timothy in Ephesus when Paul wrote him during his second imprisonment (2 Tim. 4:11). He then disappears from view.

Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries

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