Paulinisms in Mark

Here is a table of Pauline maxims, locutions, metaphoric or allegoric parallels as they appear in Mark.

 

 

 

	Mark	Paul
1.	1:1  αρχη του ευαγγελιου…	Phl 4:15  εν αρχη του ευαγγελιου…
The reference to the prophet Isaiah in Mk 1:2 is commonly taken to mean Isaiah 40:3 in the verse following: it is misleading; the invocation of Isaiah relates to αρχη, the builder of the community, and the skilful τεκτον in Isa 44:13 which recalls Paul’s 1 Cor 3:10 :  ‘According to the grace of God  given to me, like a skilled master builder (αρχιτεκτων) I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it’.
2.	1:10-12  And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him (εις αυτον) like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, "Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased." The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.	Gal 1:15-16   But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me (εν εμοι), in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood.
Note the invasive nature of the annunciation in both cases.
3.	1:22  And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.	1 Cr 1:20  Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
This verse in relation to Paul seems the most natural ‘explanation’ for the barbaric Greek, gaffes in reading the tanakh and the ‘primitive’ narrative style Mark adopted.
4.	2:17 Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous but sinners.	Rom 5:8  But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners (οτι ετι αμαρτωλων οντων ημων) Christ died for us.
5.	2:19  And Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.”	2 Cr 11:2  … for I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband.
Note:   the ‘eating and drinking’ was done by the ‘guests’ at the wedding not the ‘pure’ (i.e. ascetic)  ‘bride’ to Christ. Allusion is to the “marriage” of God and Israel in Joel, the Song of Solomon, etc, an old motif but one for which Paul created new reference.
6.	2:21-22  No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins."	2 Cr 5:17 Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.   Possibly also same tradition as Heb 6.4  For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit
7.	3:21-22  And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for people were saying, "He is beside himself (ἐξέστη)." And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Be-el'zebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons."	1 Cr 1:27-28  but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong, God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are   2 Cr 5:12 For if we are beside ourselves (ἐξέστημεν) , it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you.
8.	3:28-29 "Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"	1 Cr 12:3  Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
Note:  this appears a bit of an inverted extension of the original Paul’s maxim by Mark’s               community. Paul does not say that those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit are to be cursed, but in the refractory logic that Mark uses the Holy Spirit proceeds from God and therefore those who blaspheme against the manifestation of God in humans (despise them and molest them) are God’s enemies and will not be forgiven.
9.	4:3-20  "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold." And he said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear." ……… And he said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? The sower sows the word. And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown; when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word which is sown in them. And these in like manner are the ones sown upon rocky ground, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. And others are the ones sown among thorns; they are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the delight in riches, and the desire for other things, enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. But those that were sown upon the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold."	Rom 10:15 But they have not all obeyed the gospel; for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?"  (birds ate the seed...)   Gal 1:6-7 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel-- not that there is another gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. (rocky ground....)   Gal 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you would. (thorns...)   2 Cr 9:10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your resources and increase the harvest of your righteousness. (the promise of good soil…)
10.	4:10-11  And when he was alone, those who were about him with the twelve asked him concerning the parables. And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;	1 Cr 2:14 The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
11.	4:12 so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.	Rom 11:8   as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day."
12.	4:14  The sower sows the word	1 Cr 3:6 I planted….
13.	4:22 For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.	1 Cr 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
14.	6:3 Is not this the carpenter (τεκτων), the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.	1 Cr 3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder (αρχιτεκτων) I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it.   (see note to parallel 1)
15.	6:52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened (αλλ’ ην αυτων η καρδια πεπωρωμενη).   8:17-18 And being aware of it, Jesus said to them, "Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?	2 Cr 3:13-14 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not see the end of the fading splendor. But their minds were hardened (επωρωθη τα νοηματα αυτων); for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.   1 Cr 10:17 For we [being] many are one bread, [and] one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
	Note:  the two verses lock with Paul and provide additional clue to Jesus’ rule of 4:12; the incomprehension of the outsiders (and the disciples were not the ones who addressed Jesus in 4:10) is partly due to their clinging to the law.
16.	7:6-7 And he said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.'	Eph 4:13-14 …until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles.
17.	7:10  For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die';	Rom 1:30  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
18.	7:18-19  “Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.)	1 Cr 10:27-29 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, [that] eat, asking no question for conscience sake: For the earth [is] the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. If any of them that believe not bid you [to a feast], and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.   Rom 14:14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but it is unclean for any one who thinks it unclean.
19.	7:21-22  For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.	Gal 5:19-21 Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
20.	7:36 And he charged them to tell no one; but the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it.	Phl 2:11  and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Note:  Humorous take on the phenom of pressured speech and glossolalia, which appears in highly excited pneumatics (motif repeated from Mk 1:45) .
21.	8:2-4 "I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days, and have nothing to eat; and if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way; and some of them have come a long way." And his disciples answered him, "How can one feed these men with bread here in the desert?"   10:38-39 Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And they said to him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized”;	1 Cr 10:3-5 And all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
22.	8:12 …."Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign shall be given to this generation."	1 Cr 1:22 For Jews demand signs…
23.	8:14-16 Now they had forgotten to bring bread; and they had only one loaf (ενα αρτον) with them in the boat. And he cautioned them, saying, "Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. (της ζυμης των Φαρισαιων καὶ της ζυμης Ἡρωδου)" And they discussed it with one another, saying, "We have no bread."	1 Cr 5:8 Let us, therefore, celebrate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil (ζυμῃ κακιας και πονηριας), but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. 1 Cr 10:16-17… The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread (οτι εις αρτος), we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.
Note:  in this clever spiritual pun Mark literalizes Jesus as ‘one loaf’ creating a confusion among the idolaters in the boat.  The ’leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod’ seems to be a Markan paraphrase of Paul’s ‘leaven of malice and evil’.
24.	8:33  he rebuked Peter, and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men."	Gal 1:7  But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.   Gal 2:11  But when Cephas came to Antioch I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
25.	8:34  “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.…..”	1 Cr 11:1  Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
26.	8:38  For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.	Rom 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to every one who has faith…   1  Cr 2:1  When I came to you, brethren, I did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God in lofty words or wisdom…. I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling; and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
27.	9:2   Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured (μετεμορφώθη) before them.	2 Cr 3:18  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed (μεταμορφούμεθα) into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
28.	9:35   If any one would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all	1 Cor  9:19  For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.
29.	9:49  For every one shall be salted with fire,	1 Cr 3:13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
30.	9:50  … be at peace with one another (εἰρηνεύετε ἐν ἀλλήλοις).	1 Th 5:13  ….be at peace among yourselves (εἰρηνεύετε ἐν ἑαυτοῖς).
31.	10:11-12 And he said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."	1 Cr 7:10:11 To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband)--and that the husband should not divorce his wife.   1 Cr 7:39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives.
32.	10:19 You know the commandments: 'Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud (μὴ ἀποστερήσῃς), Honor your father and mother.	1 Cr 7:5 Do not defraud, (μὴ ἀποστερεῖτε),..... i.e. refuse each other sexually…
Note:  :  Mark incredibly replaces the 10th commandment of Moses “thou shalt not covet…”        (ουκ ἐπιθυμησεις..)  by Paul’s maxim to thwart the temptation to covet by not denying     spousal privileges !
33.	10:22  You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven	1 Cr 13:3  And if I give all my possessions to feed [the poor]….
34.	10:39 … The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized;	1 Cr 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
35.	10:44  and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.	1 Cor  9:19  For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them.
	Note:  This verse seems to assert Paul’s primacy over all other apostolic authorities
36.	10.45  For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."	Gal 3:13 - Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, "Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree"--
37.	11:15-17 … he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; …..And he taught, and said to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."	1 Cr 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own.
38.	11:16  and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple.	2 Cr 4:7  we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.
Note:  The Passion play plot is built around Paul’s idea of one’s body as temple of God (this is        actually confirmed by John 2:2). So the supposed malentendu of Jesus ‘destroying and rebuilding the temple’ in three days is a Markan ploy in asserting the resurrection.
39.	11:23  Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.	1 Cr 13:2 …and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
40.	12:17 Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at him.	Rom 13:7 Pay all of them their dues, taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honour to whom honour is due.
41.	12:31 The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."	Rom 13:9 The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Mark 12:31 repeats Paul’ selection of Lev 19:18, as having overriding importance among the Commandments
42.	13:21-22  And then if any one says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it. False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.	2 Cor 11:12-13 And what I do I will continue to do, in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
43.	13:37  And what I say to you I say to all:  ‘Watch !’ (γρηγορεῖτε) 14:34  And he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch." (γρηγορεῖτε) 14:38  Watch (γρηγορεῖτε) and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."	1 Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch (γρηγορῶμεν) and be sober
‘Watch! ’ relates back to 1 Th 5:2   For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like             a thief in the night, ie unexpectedly.
44.	14:12 And on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrificed the passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the passover?"	1 Cor 5:7 Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed.
45.	14:21  For the Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed (παραδίδοται) !	Rom 4:25  who was delivered up (παρεδόθη) for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
46.	14:22-24 And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.	1 Cr 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?
1 Cr 11:23-25 is not from Paul’s hand. Mark was likely the originator of the Last Supper symbolism, inspired by  Paul’s 1 Cr 10:16. Matthew and Luke adapted it from Mark.  The improbability of  1 Cr 11:23-25 being genuine Paul is that it effectuates the 1 Cr 10:16 questions, and thus becomes its own fulfilled prophecy, and that the verses mimic too closely Luke 22:19-20.
47.	14:29-30  Peter (ο δε Πετρος) said to him, "Even though they all fall away, I will not." And Jesus said to him, "Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times."	Rom 9:33  as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall (πετρα  σκανδαλου); and he who believes in him will not be put to shame."
Note:  It appears that it was Mark who hellenized Cephas as Petros in order to create this allegorical pun on his name.
48.	14:36   And he said, "Abba, Father,….”	Rom 8:15 …you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!"   Gal 4:6 …God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!"
Paul invokes ‘Abba’ in witness of the Spirit of God’s Son, i.e. spiritual witness rather than historical          as in 1 Cr 11:23-25  in a note to 45 above.
49.	14:48 And Jesus said to them, "Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me?	1 Th 5:2  For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night
Mark’s  scene is an ironic reversal of the saying.  Ληστης  replaces κλεπτης to make a point about          the two men crucified with Jesus.  Jesus will be counted among the ‘lawless’ (ανομοι, Isa 53:12).
50.	14:58 "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple that is made with hands(χειροποιητον), and in three days I will build another, not made with hands(αχειροποιητον).'"	1 Cr 6:9 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own;   2 Cr 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands(αχειροποιητον), eternal in the heavens.
51.	14:63-64  And the high priest tore his garments, and said, "Why do we still need witnesses? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision?" And they all condemned him as deserving death.     15:14-15  And Pilate said to them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him." So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barab'bas; and having scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.	1 Cr 1:23 …we preach Christ crucified,     an offence to the Jews,       and folly to the Gentiles
52.	14:72 And immediately the cock crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down and wept.	Gal 6:12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that would compel you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
53.	15:34  And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?	2 Cor 13:4 For he was crucified in weakness but he lives by the power of God.
54.	16:1-2,8  And when the sabbath was past, Mary Mag'dalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salo'me, bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him….And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.	Rom 6:3-4  Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
55.	16:6-7  And he said to them, "Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen, he is not here; see the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you."	1 Cr 12:27  Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Note:  The two verses recall the hidden Malachi 3:1 reference from Mk 1:2.  ‘You seek Jesus  the Nazarene’ evidently paraphrases ‘the Lord whom you seek’ (ὁ κύριος ὃν ὑμεῖς ζητεῖτε) in the Malachi verse and extends the wordplay on the temple as the invisible body of Christ.
56.	16:8  And they went out and fled from the tomb; for trembling and astonishment had come upon them; and they said nothing to any one, for they were afraid.	Rom 8:15   For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear (παλιν εις φοβον), but you have received the spirit of sonship. …
In the circular design of Mark the ‘fear’ caused the women to say nothing, and the gospel  falls back  to 1:1 apparently without resolution.  However, it is the text of Mark pointing to itself as “the beginning of the gospel” which does the proclaiming of Jesus rising from the dead , not the discipled  who do not understand Paul’s doctrine of the resurrected Messiah (8:32, 9:10,  9:32, 10:37, 14:29)  that Jesus tries unsuccessfully to teach them.