Category Archives: Church History

A Machete Order Reading of the Bible (OT): The Story of Israel

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Many people make it an annual goal to read the Bible all the way through. Most who attempt this do so literally, starting at page one and reading the books in the order they appear in the table of contents. There is nothing wrong with that approach but is it the best way to read it?

Reading the Bible, regardless of the order, is better than not reading it. Still, there is nothing wrong with exploring different approaches to how we read Scripture, especially if those approaches might help us better understand what we are reading.

Many years ago, I put together a New Testament “machete” reading order, inspired by the suggestion on the best way to watch the Star Wars movies. You can find this NT reading plan at this link. Putting that reading plan together was fairly straightforward. The NT is a small corpus that covers a short period of history.

Attempting something similar with the Old Testament has always been a bit more daunting. It has been over a decade and I am just getting to it now. What makes it a more difficult project? There are a few things. For starters, the story of Israel occurs over a span of at least two millennia stretching across the Bronze and Iron Ages. Since the order of books are not arranged chronologically it can be difficult for a reader to follow Israel’s story as it moves from Abraham to Malachi. Long genealogies and extended sections of legal material can also make it hard for the reader to follow the story as they interrupt the narrative flow.

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The Memoirs of Peter on the Life of Jesus with John Mark

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The earlier posts in this series (part 1) explored the early evidence that a person named Mark is the author of the book we call the Gospel of Mark. This author was further identified as John Mark who makes brief appearances throughout the NT (part 6).

There is a prevailing opinion that the Gospels were not written by eyewitnesses and that those who did write them did not consult the eyewitnesses. These authors simply wrote the stories that they had heard.

Even though there may well have been eyewitnesses alive some 35-40 years after Jesus’ death, there is no guarantee – or, I would argue, no reason to think – that any of them were consulted by the authors of the Gospels when writing their accounts. The eyewitnesses would have been Aramaic speaking peasants almost entirely from rural Galilee. Mark was a highly educated, Greek speaking Christian living in an urban area outside of Palestine (Rome?), who never traveled, probably, to Galilee. So the existence of eyewitnesses would not have much if any effect on his Gospel. (emphasis added) 1
– Bart Ehrman

While Mark was not a disciple of Jesus during His earthly ministry the extant evidence affirms that he wrote down what Peter was teaching and proclaiming. Peter was, of course, an eyewitness and one of the three closest disciples to Jesus. We have seen that Mark and Peter would have known each other over a period of decades. This familiarity would give the author of the Gospel of Mark lots of opportunities to talk with him, ask questions and to hear his teaching. In addition, Mark’s mother was hosting meetings where Christians would gather. There would be no reason to think that most of the people that assembled were also eyewitnesses of Jesus’ teaching and healing (Acts 2:22; 12:12). Mark would have met and conversed with them as well. That should counter any idea that eyewitnesses did not have much effect on what was written.

AI generated image from the Fra Angelico painting of St Peter Preaching in the Presence of St Mark
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The Life and Times of John Mark or How to Date a Gospel (Part VI)

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The earlier posts in this series (part 1) explored the early evidence that a person named Mark is the author of the book we call the Gospel of Mark.

The testimony was largely in agreement about the following information:

  • Mark was the author.
  • Mark was not a disciple of Jesus (while Jesus was alive).
  • Mark wrote down what Peter was teaching and proclaiming.
  • The book was written at the request of believers in Rome.

The testimony of the early church also notes that Mark was in Alexandria, Egypt planting churches.

Who is this person named Mark?

The extant testimony of the early church is unanimous that it was written by Mark, a person taken to be John Mark, the associate of Barnabas and Paul on the 1MJ.

One factor in favor of this being correct, notes Daniel Wallace, is that Mark is “by no means a major player in the New Testament.”1

The author identified as Mark is widely accepted as the person named John Mark that we find referenced throughout the NT.

In The New Testament in Its World, affirms that no alterative person has ever been suggested as the author.

Certainty is impossible, but John Mark is probably the best candidate, not least because his name, as a younger and less well-known early Christian, would not naturally occur to second-century Christians when seeking to name the book. No alternative figure has ever warranted consideration. 2

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