Mark 16:15-20
Go Into All the World
15And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
18they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”
19After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
20And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.
Berean Standard Bible
The same note as last time, in short. The earliest surviving complete manuscripts of Mark end at 16:8, these verses were known by the second century and stand in most later manuscripts, and most scholars do not think they were part of Mark's ending. We read them next to the rest of scripture and build nothing on them alone. That is going to matter in a minute. The command comes first.
Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Jesus had already said in this book that the good news must reach all the nations, so the command is not new. What is new is who holds it: the men who would not believe their own friends at 16:11 and again at 16:13.
Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
People argue about that sentence, and its halves are not built the same way. Believing and baptism stand together in the first. The second names one thing only, and it is not baptism. The weight falls on belief, and Christians have argued about how the two fit for a very long time, which one sentence was never going to settle.
Then the signs, where that rule earns its keep. Verses 17 and 18 say signs will follow those who believe: demons driven out, new tongues, snakes picked up, deadly drink that does no harm, hands laid on the sick. Some people have taken that as instructions, handled snakes and swallowed poison on purpose, and died doing it.
That reading is wrong, and scripture is what shows it wrong. The grammar carries no command: these are things that will happen, not errands handed out. The one place in the Bible where it happens is Paul on Malta, gathering sticks for a fire when a viper fastens on his hand. He was not hunting a snake. He was carrying firewood. And when the devil told Jesus to jump from the temple because God would catch him, Jesus answered out of Deuteronomy: do not put the Lord your God to the test. Deliberately drinking poison to prove God will protect you is what he refused.
Then he is taken up, and he sits down at the right hand of God, which is where David's psalm has the LORD telling David's Lord to sit until his enemies are made a footstool. Jesus quoted that line at his trial, when the high priest asked who he was. He said they would see him seated. Here he is seated.
And they went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked through them, confirming His word by the signs that accompanied it.
The men who could not stay awake, could not stay put and could not believe their own friends went out and told everybody.
How We Know
The commission in verse 15 is not unique to this ending. Matthew 28:19 sends the eleven to make disciples of all nations. Acts 1:8 has the witnesses go to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth. Luke 24:47 has repentance and forgiveness preached to all nations.
Four documents, one instruction, given in four sets of words.
That supports the sending being fixed in the earliest Christian material rather than belonging to one account. The signs listed in verses 17 and 18 are the part with no parallel of that kind, and Acts records some of them and not others.
Questions
1 What should a family know about where these verses come from?
AnswerThe earliest complete copies of Mark stop at verse 8. These verses were known very early and stand in most later manuscripts, which is why they are in our Bibles. We read them, and we build no belief and no practice on them by themselves.
2 The two halves of verse 16 are not built the same way. What is the difference?
AnswerThe first half names believing and baptism together. The second names one thing only, and it is not baptism. Whoever does not believe is condemned. The weight of the verse falls on belief.
3 Are verses 17 and 18 telling believers to go and handle snakes?
AnswerNo. There is no command in the sentence, and these are things that will happen rather than errands to run. The one time it happens in the Bible, Paul is bitten by accident while carrying firewood to a fire.
4 If somebody showed you one verse and said it proved something strange, what would you do about it? What did Jesus do when the devil tried it on him?
AnswerHe answered from another part of scripture. Told to jump from the temple because God would catch him, he quoted Deuteronomy back: do not put the Lord your God to the test.
What This Means for Us
We read the whole Bible, and we let it correct our reading of itself.
Two verses here, taken alone and pushed hard, have got people killed. The same two verses, read next to Deuteronomy and next to what Jesus said in the wilderness and next to what happened to Paul on a beach, are not dangerous at all. The difference is not cleverness. It is refusing to build on one sentence.
Somebody will eventually show this family a verse, on its own, being used to prove something strange. The answer is not to be frightened of the verse. It is to open the rest of the book.
Prayer
Father, thank you for a book that corrects our reading of itself. Keep us from building anything on one sentence. Keep us from testing you and calling it faith. Thank you that your Son is seated, and that the work he gave to men who doubted him has reached as far as this table. Amen.