MARK (JOHN).There are three groups of NT passages where the name Mark occurs.
(1) John Mark was a Jew and son of Mary, who was a leading Christian woman at Jerusalem. At her house the faithful assembled for prayer, and thither Peter went on his release from imprisonment, having perhaps previously lodged there (Act_12:12 ff.). An improbable conjecture makes Mark the son of the good-man of the house in Mar_14:14, and another, not so unlikely, identifies Mark himself with the young man of Mar_14:51; but the Muratorian Fragment (see next art. § 1) apparently denied that Mark had ever seen our Lord. Probably Mary was a widow. Mark would be an added name such as the Jews often took, in Roman fashion; it was a Roman prnomen, much used among Greek-speaking people, but not common among the Jews. John Mark was chosen as companion of Barnahas and Saul when they left Jerusalem for Antioch (Act_12:25the reading of RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] is hardly possible), and taken by them on their first missionary journey (Act_13:5), not as chosen expressly by the Holy Ghost (ct. [Note: t. contrast.] Act_13:2), and not as an equal; they had also John as their attendant (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] minister). It has been suggested that Mark was a Levite (see below), and that the designation here used means a synagogue minister, as in Luk_4:20 (Chase). But this would make the words they had intolerably harsh. Probably Marks work was to arrange the Apostles journeys, perhaps also to baptizea work not usually performed by St. Paul himself (1Co_1:14). Mark remained with the Apostles on their journey through Cyprus, but left them at Perga in Pamphylia (Act_13:13) either from cowardice, or, more probably, because the journey to Pisidian Antioch and beyond, involving work among distant Gentiles, was a change of plan which he did not approve (Ramsay). He had not yet grasped the idea of a worldwide Christianity, as St. Paul had. His departure to Jerusalem led later to the estrangement of Paul and Barnabas; the latter wished to take Mark with them on the Second Journey (Mar_15:37 ff.), but Paul refused, and separated from Barnabas, who then took Mark to Cyprus.
(2) The Mark of the Pauline Epistles was cousin of Barnabas (Col_4:10 RV [Note: Revised Version.] ), probably of the Jewish colony of Cyprus, and a Levite (Act_4:36). It is therefore generally agreed that he was the same as John Mark. If so, he became reconciled to St. Paul, and was his fellow-worker and a comfort to him (Col_4:11, Phm_1:24), and useful to him for ministering (2Ti_4:11)this was Marks special office, not to be an original organizer but a useful assistant (Swete). We learn that Mark was contemplating a visit to Colossæ, and perhaps that the Colossians had hesitated to receive him (Col_4:10).
(3) The Petrine Mark.St. Peter speaks of a Mark as his son (1Pe_5:13), and as being with him at Babylon when he wrote the First Epistle. It is usually held that Babylon means Rome, as there seems not to have been a Jewish colony in the real Babylon at the time, and as all ecclesiastical tradition connects St. Peters work with Rome. If this he so, we may safely identify all the three Marks as one person. [If not, the Petrine Mark is probably not the same as the Pauline.] The identification is made more likely by the fact that John Mark is connected with both Peter and Paul in Acts; and if 1Pe_5:13 refers to Rome, there is no reason why this double connexion should not have continued as long as both Apostles lived. And if, as is not impossible, St. Peter survived St. Paul for some time, we can well understand that Mark devoted himself exclusively to the former after the death of the latter, and that in this way the ecclesiastical tradition (see next art.), which almost unanimously attaches him to Peter, grew up. By that tradition Marks activity is associated both with Rome and with Alexandria; and the Egyptian Church assigns its principal liturgy to his name. But the early Alexandrian Fathers, Clement and Origen, are silent as to Marks residence in Egypt. The Acts of Mark (5th cent.?) makes him a martyr.
A. J. Maclean.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909