Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Mark 13:10
And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
10. the gospel must first be published ] And even so while many of His hearers were yet alive, the Gospel was proclaimed throughout the Roman Empire, from Arabia to Damascus, from Jerusalem to Illyricum, in Italy and in Spain. Comp. Rom 15:19; Rom 15:24; Rom 15:28; Col 1:6; Col 1:23.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mar 13:10
And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
Extent of apostolic missionary labours
Doubtless this prediction will only receive its complete accomplishment in the secondary application of the prophesy, but we hardly realize how near it was to fulfilment before the destruction of Jerusalem. The Acts of the Apostles fill us with amazement at the rapid progress of Christianity in Europe and Asia, under the teaching of two of them. What should we not learn if the whole Twelve had found chroniclers to record their labours? Scattered traditions, with more or less of certainty, show at least this, that missionary work was carried on throughout the then known world. There is little doubt that St. Thomas established the church in Parthia and on the shores of India; that St. Andrew penetrated far into Russia; that Bartholomew preached in Arabia and among the fire worshippers of Persia; and it has been said that even Central Africa, which the present generation burns to win back to Christ, was the scene of St. Matthews labours eighteen centuries ago. St. Pauls appeal to the hope of the gospel which was preached to every creature which is under heaven (Col 1:23), though doubtless written with Oriental exaggeration, testifies to a widespread diffusion of the truth. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
Progress of the gospel
I remember hearing a story in connection with our battlefields. One weary, dreary night, while our army was on the eve of a great and important battle, a soldier paced up and down before the tent of his general. Wearied with his work, he began to sing half to himself, When I can read my title clear. After a little his voice grew louder, and he sang the hymn as though it were a song of victory. His tones rang out on the still night air. After a little another soldier, off yonder, hearing the music, and fascinated by it, joined in. There was a duet. A little longer, and another voice, farther off, joined, and there was a chorus, and it was not long before the whole army, as far as the mind could reach on either side, were joining in that wondrous chorus, and singing in the presence of the enemy,
When I can read my title clear,
To mansions in the sky.
Well, brethren, when I heard the story, it seemed to me that I could see in the far-off distance that wondrous carpenters Son of Nazareth, standing alone and singing, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill to men. After a little twelve disciples took up the refrain, and joined in the chorus. After a little longer, in the next century, a still larger company gathered and sang it with all their hearts. In the next century a still larger number added their voices, and now, after eighteen hundred years have gone by, the music of that wondrous song, which began with Him who stood in His fathers workshop, is sung, and echoed, and re-echoed the whole wide world over. It is our revelation from God, and it is the impulse that lifts us all up to God. (Christian Mirror.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. And the Gospel must first be published among all nations.] Many of the Evangelistaria omit this verse. Its proper place seems to be after verse the thirteenth. Mr 13:13
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I am prone to think that our Lord gives this not only as a sign of the destruction of Jerusalem, but of the end of the world, and the latter principally; for before the destruction of Jerusalem (which was in less than forty years after Christs death) the gospel was not preached to all nations, otherwise than as all signifies very many. And I do think that all places shall have the gospel preached to them before the day of judgment, after another manner than either it was possible it should be preached to them within forty years after the death of Christ, or than many places have had it preached amongst them to this day. For though the Holy Scriptures, and ecclesiastical historians, give us a somewhat large account of the gospel being preached in Europe, Asia, and in Africa, yet we have little account from any of them of its being preached in America. I am not wholly ignorant of what those writers tell us, of Thomas the apostles preaching to the Indians, and of Trumentius and his colleague, but there are very few preachers that any stories give an account of gone to the Indians, whither I believe the gospel must go before that Christ comes to judgment.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. And the gospel must first bepublished among all nations“for a witness, and then shallthe end come” (Mt 24:14).God never sends judgment without previous warning; and there can beno doubt that the Jews, already dispersed over most known countries,had nearly all heard the Gospel “as a witness,” before theend of the Jewish state. The same principle was repeated and willrepeat itself to “the end.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Gospel must first be published among all nations. The Syriac version reads, “my Gospel”; the Gospel which Christ was the author, subject, and preacher of; this “must be published”. There was a necessity of the promulgation of it by the will of God, the command and commission of Christ; and for the gathering in of the Jews, that were the elect of God, “among all nations” of the world, especially in the Roman empire; and that “first”, or before the destruction of Jerusalem; [See comments on Mt 24:14].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Must first be preached ( ). This only in Mark. It is interesting to note that Paul in Col 1:6; Col 1:23 claims that the gospel has spread all over the world. All this was before the destruction of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “And the gospel must first be published,” (kai proton dei keruchthenai to euangelion) “And the gospel or good news must first be proclaimed,” published on a wide scale, the way of salvation must be witnessed in all the world, Mat 24:14.
2) “Among all nations.” (eis panta ta ehne) “Into or among all the races,” all the nations or ethnic orders of the earth, as mandated in the Great Commission, Mar 16:15; Mat 28:18-20; Act 1:8; Mar 14:9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
‘And the Gospel must first be preached to all nations.”
In spite of these tribulations the Gospel would reach out to all nations. (By this time the disciples must have been astounded at what they were hearing, and nothing more astounding than this. Their cosy lives were over). For the Good News was for the world. Probably at this stage the disciples with their prejudiced minds were thinking in terms of the Jews spread throughout the Roman world (compare ‘Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven’ (Act 2:5)) but Jesus had His eye on the Gentiles as well, as they would shortly learn. To the disciples at that stage ‘all nations’ would mean primarily Jews in all nations within their knowledge. To Jesus it was probably intended as an indication of the widespread success of the Gospel, without stress on the particular, but including the Gentiles. Compare how at Pentecost those present were seen as ‘from every nation under heaven’ (Act 2:5), and Paul could tell the Romans that their faith was spoken of ‘throughout the whole world’ (Rom 1:8). To that extent this was well fulfilled long before the invasion of 70 AD.
However history has demonstrated that there was a wider meaning. That indeed literally the whole world as indicating a larger world was in God’s mind, as in fact the Old Testament had partly made clear. But to the disciples there was the Jewish world, and then the Roman world, and then a vague world outside without any notion of its extent, and their view would initially be limited.
‘To all nations.’ It was an axiom of the prophetic teaching that in the end all nations would be brought under God’s rule. The Servant was to ‘bring forth justice to the Gentiles’ (Isa 42:1) and indeed be ‘a light to the Gentiles, that you (the Servant) may be my salvation to the ends of the earth’ (Isa 49:6 compare Isa 42:6). ‘The nations’ would seek to the root of Jesse (i.e. a son of the Davidic line – Isa 11:10), and ‘will come from the ends of the earth — and will know that My name is Yahweh’ (Jer 16:19; Jer 16:21). Compare also Mal 1:11; Psa 22:27-28; Psa 96:10; Psa 96:13 and many other references).
‘Must first.’ That is, in context (although Matthew has a wider context), before the following events of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. It is clear that Jesus did therefore see that event as a turning point in history leading on to events that would follow of uncertain duration (Luk 21:24) resulting finally in the end of time and His second coming. To us that destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple is just a blip in history, only remembered because of what Jesus said. But to the Jews and the Jewish Christians in the first century it was an occurrence of vast proportions that turned their worlds upside down. And its significance was huge. To the non-Christian Jews it was a signal of God’s displeasure. To Jewish Christians it was an indication that the final break with the Temple had come. So Jesus knew that certain events must follow on the destruction of the Temple, but what He did not know was how long they would last.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
Ver. 10. Among all nations ] i.e. Among other nations than the Jews.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
gospel = glad tidings [of the kingdom], as in Mat 24:14. See App-112, App-114.
published = proclaimed, Greek. kerusso. See App-121.
among = unto. Greek. eis. App-104.
nations = the nations.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mar 13:10. , and among) The preaching of the Gospel was helped forward by the very persecutions, Mar 13:9; 2Ti 4:17.-, previously) before that the end shall come, Mar 13:7. [When Jerusalem was being destroyed, already a church was collected from among the Gentiles.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
And
Cf. Mat 24:14 “Gospel of the Kingdom:” See note, Rev 14:6 (See Scofield “Rev 14:6”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Mar 16:15, Mat 24:14, Mat 28:18, Mat 28:19, Rom 1:8, Rom 10:18, Rom 15:19, Col 1:6, Col 1:23, Rev 14:6
Reciprocal: Pro 8:1 – General Isa 52:7 – publisheth Mat 26:13 – Wheresoever Tit 1:3 – manifested
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE GOSPEL AND THE NATIONS
And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
Mar 13:10
We may take this verse as describing to us the great work of missions to the heathen, and as binding that work upon us.
I. National responsibility.We, above all other nations, are bound by the strongest reasons and under the severest penalty to do this work of missions, because we are the great colonising race. To us English people has been given, by Divine Providence, more than to other nations, the mission to replenish the earth and subdue it. Look over the map of the world, and you will see that the English language and the English race is more and more taking the earth to itself. It is a well-known saying that upon the dominions of our King the sun never sets; that the drumbeat of the British soldier follows the sun from his rising to his setting, till it rounds the world; and it is true. The burden of dominion has been laid upon the shoulders of the English people. Why is that so? Not that we may boast of our widespread empire. It has been given to us that we may bring to the races the Gospel.
II. Individual responsibility.This call which belongs to our England is addressed to us and falls upon us, because we are part and parcel of that great conquering and colonising race which holds more of these dark places of heathendom than all other nations of the earth put together. It belongs to us, and we shall have to account for it. For consider how this responsibility shapes itself.
(a) There is, first, the responsibility of personal service. To some the secret call of God the Holy Ghost says; Go; go thy own self and preach Me among the heathen. And I would ask especially those who are younger among you, those whose lives are not as yet set in bonds of family hard to separate, those whose spheres of labour are not yet fixed and definiteare there not, I would ask, some among you who are so qualified and willing to say, like the prophet of old, Here am I, send me! That is the best way of service, the serving in person.
(b) To the larger number of Christian people the obligation shows itself differently. We cannot be the combatant soldiers of Christs army, we must be content to be as those who provide its supplies and guard its camps. In plain words, if we cannot do mission work ourselves, we can provide the funds to support those who can. We have not discharged ourselves of this obligation when we have subscribed our pence or shillings on the rare and infrequent occasion of a missionary meeting or sermon. Some more constant, more earnest, more worthy effort is required of us.
(c) Then comes the praying for the heathen, and for the work of missions. Intercessory prayer is the lever by which man can, so to speak, move mountains. We cannot, indeed, see how it acts; we cannot tell what springs of power in the spiritual world it sets in motion, but we follow our Lord and Masters express command and example in making our requests known unto God.
Illustration
Samuel Johnsons observations on the duty of evangelisation may be quoted. If obedience to the will of God be necessary to happiness, and knowledge of His will be necessary to obedience, I know not how he that withholds this knowledge, or delays it, can be said to love his neighbour as himself. He that voluntarily continues ignorant is guilty of all the crimes which ignorance produces, as to him that should extinguish the tapers of a lighthouse might justly be imputed the calamities of shipwrecks. Christianity is the highest perfection of humanity: and as no man is good but as he wishes the good of others, no man can be good in the highest degree who wishes not to others the largest measure of the greatest good. To omit for a year, or for a day, the most efficacious method of advancing Christianity, in compliance with any purposes that terminate on this side of the grave, is a crime.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
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By the time the wars ended in the destruction of Jerusalem, the Gospel was preached in all the countries of the world. (Rom 10:18.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mar 13:10. Must first be preached unto all the nations. Preached, lit. proclaimed, which is the proper conception of preaching. See on Mat 24:14. Here it comes earlier. But the sense is the same. Their martyrdom would spread the gospel, and this spread should precede the end of the woes, in distinction from the beginning (Mar 13:3). A twofold fulfilment of this verse is most probable.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mar 13:10. The gospel must first be published among all nations The fulfilment of this part of the prophecy we learn chiefly from the writings of the New Testament, which inform us that the gospel was preached by Paul in Arabia, and through the vast tract from Jerusalem to Iconium in Lycaonia, and in Galatia, and through all Asia Minor, and in Greece, and round about to Illyricum, and in Crete and Italy, probably also in Spain and Gaul. Besides, the gospel reached much farther than this apostle carried it; for we find him writing to Christians who had never seen his face. Also, we have still remaining Peters epistles to the converted Jews in Pontus, Asia, Cappadocia, and Bythynia. Probably the gospel was preached in these and many other countries by the Jews who sojourned there, and who, having come to Jerusalem to the passover, were converted on the day of pentecost. The Ethiopian eunuch, converted by Philip, would carry it likewise into his country. But whatever way it happened, the fact is certain, that in most of these countries churches were planted within thirty years after Christs death, or about ten years before the destruction of Jerusalem. Hence we find the apostle telling the Romans, (Rom 10:18,) that the sound of the gospel had gone forth into all the world, and that the faith of the Christians at Rome was spoken of throughout the world, chapter Mar 1:8. And hence, too, he tells the Col 1:23, that the truth of the gospel was come to all the world, and was preached to every creature. And when Mark wrote his gospel the apostles had gone forth, and preached everywhere, Mar 16:20. The preaching of the gospel, through the whole world, by twelve illiterate fishermen, and the destruction of Jerusalem, were events extremely improbable, and therefore the prediction and accomplishment of them deserve to be particularly taken notice of; and the rather, because they were both absolutely necessary for bringing about the conversion of the world to Christianity, and are mentioned in this prophecy as such. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
"Unto all the nations" is in the emphatic first position in the Greek text. All the nations must hear the gospel before the end of the age (cf. Mat 24:14). This is the responsibility of every generation of disciples (Mat 28:19). The generation of believers alive during the Tribulation immediately preceding Jesus’ return will accomplish this task in their generation (Revelation 7). "Must" (Gr. dei) indicates divine necessity. God wants this to happen, and it will happen.
"It is part of God’s eschatological purpose that before the End [of this age] all nations shall have an opportunity to accept the gospel." [Note: Cranfield, p. 399.]
This verse is not a promise that if disciples will preach the gospel to all nations in a particular generation God will then begin the kingdom, as postmillennialists teach. Man cannot bring in the kingdom by the universal preaching of the gospel. God will bring it in at His appointed time. This is not a promise that everyone will become a believer in Jesus either.