Originally published in the May 1966 issue of The Christadelphian magazine
The Gospel of the Son of God
IN the preface to his book The Gospel of the Son of God: a Study in Mark’s Record, the author refers in his list of acknowledgements to The Riddle of the New Testament by Hoskyns and Davey as “opening up new avenues for students”. Bro. Sargent in his own book does this no less. In freely acknowledging his sources and giving at the foot of each page the Scripture and other references on which his study is based he has provided the reader with a continuous and unbroken narrative and the Bible student with ample material with which to pursue the many interesting points raised. To this I found one tantalizing exception—there is no footnote to the reference on page 199 to the grim “King game” into which the Lord was so brutally drawn just prior to his crucifixion.
The work is divided into seven sections—The Beginning; The Voice of the King; The Preparing of the People; Recognition by the Twelve; The Way of the Cross; The King comes to the City; Through Death to Life—and follows closely Mark’s narrative of the Life of Christ. Chapter and verse numbers are clearly indicated so that the book could be used as a commentary when following the daily readings, but it is doubtful whether the attentive reader would be content to limit his reading of either the Gospel or this book to so short a daily stint once he had started on them.
The title is in fact Mark’s own, and it is clearly justified, even though the term “Son of God” is used by Mark most sparingly of all the Gospel writers. We are of course familiar with the idea that the four evangelists present different aspects of the life of Christ and that they select or pass over certain incidents consistent with the theme they are pursuing, in a way which has sometimes provided the Bible critic with ammunition. While the author here has seen it as no part of his duty to present a harmony of the Gospels or to deal specifically with all the difficulties of chronology, he has clarified some of the issues and clearly demonstrated that the best commentary on the Scripture is the Scripture itself, and also that a superficial reading of it yields neither its beauties nor its true meaning. The proof of the inspiration of the Scriptures does not lie in ignoring difficulties but in seeing inspiration at work, and that process can be seen on every page of Mark. The structure, choice of phrase, subtle emphasis or occasional reticence seen in the Gospel presents the life of Christ as a fulfilment of the Old Testament Scripture in a way which lies beyond chance: he was the “word made flesh”, and the phases of his life here recorded show the unfolding of the drama in his public ministry. Beginning with the Old Testament implications of the word “gospel”, especially in Isaiah and the Psalms, bro. Sargent takes us through Mark and lets us hear the harmonies which enrich the Gospel writer’s theme. Mark illuminates the prophets, explaining the things which they “searched diligently”.
The climax of the study is the climax of the Lord’s own life, and a quotation from this section of the book will serve as a convenient summary: “Particular Scriptures had formed the background at certain periods of Jesus’ ministry: Deuteronomy in the temptation and when he was setting forth the example of the children in contrast to the spirit of the Pharisees and the young man who turned back; Hosea when he came as Physician to the outcasts of Israel and as Bridegroom in their midst; Ezekiel when he gathered the scattered flock of God on the mountains; the Servant prophecies of Isaiah when he set his face towards Jerusalem. Now for the coming week his life would seem to be interpenetrated with the Psalms of the Hallel.”
A casual glance at the index of Scripture references at the end of the book would confirm that the O.T. books mentioned above are by no means the only ones made use of by either Mark or his commentator. It did seem to me, however, that in view of the importance and interest of some specific topics here discussed a subject index would be a useful addition, to help those who after a detailed reading would be glad to use the book as a work of reference. For example, the use of the word “save” in the sequence which includes the raising of Jairus’ daughter and the healing of the woman with the haemorrhage, as a natural taking up of the Lord’s own words in the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
Mark’s characteristic style, his careful use of words, and the logical relation of his artless background description to the central incident which he is describing, the vivid use of the Lord’s own words, the crises in his life which made his way plain and its goal inevitable—all are presented in this book. The student of New Testament language will find much to stimulate his study of original words and expressions, and for the benefit of those whose knowledge of the original is brought to them through the medium of commentary and concordance—an excellent way to begin, by the way—Mark’s language and idiom are presented in a readily comprehensible way. If I say that on just one or two occasions an original word transliterated for us or a literal rendering of the idiom of New Testament Greek did not seem to add to our understanding of the point expounded, then this is just another way of saying that the reviewer read with a critical eye a book which he recommends for careful study and pleasurable reading.
So let the last word be the author’s own to tell us what he will encourage us to find in Mark’s Gospel: “At every stage and almost every step we have seen (Jesus’) life interpenetrated with the word of God; yet, while he took Law and prophets to himself, lived out their word, and laid upon himself their burden, the fact that he was going voluntarily on a course marked out for him did not check his spontaneity or chill the warmth of his heart. He was himself—quick, eager, loving and lovable, overflowing with selfless giving for the needs of men and women, yet in the very act he was ‘the word made flesh’; as son of man he was instant with emotional response—compassion, sorrow, anguish, sometimes the flash of anger—yet he was Son of God and Emmanuel, God with us.”
