John Mark () is named in the
Acts of the Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles (, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; ) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of The gospel, its message to the Roman Empire.
Acts and the Gospel of Luke make u ...
as an assistant accompanying
Paul and
Barnabas on their missionary journeys. Traditionally he is regarded as identical with
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek language, Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, Romanization of Greek, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' ...
, the traditional writer of the
Gospel of Mark
The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...
.
Biblical account

Several times the Acts of the Apostles mentions a certain "John, who was also called Mark" or simply "John":
From these passages it may be gathered that John's mother
Mary had a large house in
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
to which Peter fled after escaping prison; that John assisted Paul and Barnabas on their
first missionary journey to
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
and as far as
Perga in
Pamphylia, but then returned to Jerusalem; and that later controversy over receiving John Mark back led to Paul and Barnabas parting ways, with Barnabas taking Mark back to Cyprus and both thereafter disappearing from the narrative of Acts. The reasons for John Mark's departure to Jerusalem and the subsequent disagreement between Paul and Barnabas have been subject to much speculation.
Matthew Henry, for example, suggested that John Mark had departed "without
arnabas and Paul'sknowledge, or without their consent". However, there is simply too little data to regard any explanation with confidence.
Some scholars have argued that John Mark's negative portrayal in Acts is a polemic against the presumptive author of the Gospel of Mark, Luke's primary source for his own Gospel.
Adela Collins suggests, "Since the author of Acts also wrote the Gospel according to Luke, it could be that this critical portrait was intended to undercut the authority of the second Gospel." Michael Kok notes that "Mark's Gospel was a bit of an embarrassment to the refined literary and theological tastes of an educated Christian like Luke."
Identification
It was common for Jews of the period to bear both a Semitic name such as ''John'' (Hebrew:
''Yochanan'') and a Greco-Roman name such as ''Mark'' (Latin:
Marcus). But since ''John'' was one of the most common names among Judean Jews, and ''Mark'' was the most common in the Roman world, caution is warranted in identifying John Mark with any other John or Mark.
Ancient sources, in fact, consistently distinguish John Mark from the other Marks of the New Testament and style him Bishop of
Byblos
Byblos ( ; ), also known as Jebeil, Jbeil or Jubayl (, Lebanese Arabic, locally ), is an ancient city in the Keserwan-Jbeil Governorate of Lebanon. The area is believed to have been first settled between 8800 and 7000BC and continuously inhabited ...
.
[Pseudo-Hippolytus]
''On the Seventy Apostles''
for example, disguishes "Mark the Evangelist, Bishop of Alexandria" from "Mark cousin of Barnabas, Bishop of Apollonia" and from "Mark, who is also John, Bishop of Bibloupolis". Neither was John Mark identified in antiquity with any other John, apart from rare and explicit speculation.
Medieval sources, on the other hand, increasingly regarded all New Testament references to ''Mark'' as
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek language, Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, Romanization of Greek, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' ...
, and many modern scholars have agreed in seeing a single Mark. The very fact that various writings could refer simply to ''Mark'' without further qualification has been seen as pointing to a single Mark.
First, there is
Mark the cousin of Barnabas, mentioned by Paul as a "fellow worker" in the closings of three Pauline epistles. In antiquity he was regarded as a distinct Mark, Bishop of Apollonia.
If, on the other hand, these two Marks are to be identified, the fact that these epistles were written after the departure of John Mark with Barnabas in Acts must suppose some later reconciliation. But a majority of scholars, noting the close association of both Marks with Paul and Barnabas, indeed regard them as likely the same person. Biblical scholars
Samuel Rolles Driver and
Charles Augustus Briggs identified Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, with John Mark, as do John R. Donahue and
Daniel J. Harrington.
Mark the Evangelist, however, is known only from the patristic tradition, which associates him only with
Peter and makes no mention of Paul.
Jerome
Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome.
He is best known ...
alone suggests that the Mark of whom Paul speaks may be the Evangelist. But modern scholars have noted that as Peter fled to the house of John Mark's mother, the two men may have had a longstanding association.
A minority of modern scholars have argued, on the other hand, for identifying
John the Evangelist or
John the Elder with John Mark.
Later sources
The
Acts of Barnabas, apparently an apocryphal work of the 5th century, purports to be written by John Mark and to detail the missionary journey and martyrdom of Barnabas in Cyprus, thus picking up where the account of Acts leaves off.
''Acts of Barnabas''
The ''Encomium of the Apostle St. Barnabas'', written by Alexander the Monk in the 6th century, also gives an extensive account of the activity of Barnabas and John Mark in Cyprus. After the death of Barnabas, John Mark leaves for Ephesus, and the account then continues by identifying him with Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek: Μᾶρκος, romanized: ''Mârkos''), also known as John Mark (Koine Greek, Koinē Greek language, Greek: Ἰωάννης Μᾶρκος, Romanization of Greek, romanized: ''Iōánnēs Mârkos;'' ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:John Mark
People in Acts of the Apostles
Gospel of Mark
Mark the Evangelist