The Messianic Secret in the Gospel of Mark
The book begins with a new discovery concerning the messianic secret in the Gospel of Mark, the oldest of the four canonical gospels, dating from 65–70 CE. The gospel is designed to discuss the activities of Jesus during his public ministry, dated 30–33 CE, which is more than 30 years before the actual appearance of Mark’s gospel. Thus, the ‘temporal setting’ of the gospel precedes all the canonical works in the New Testament.
In Mark’s gospel, there are ‘unclean spirits’ that knew of Jesus’ identity and Jesus also confirmed that the unclean spirits knew him. When he confronted them, he would silence them and whoever heard their messages would no longer remember them because of the messianic secret. In three cases, however, Mark recorded the messianic messages of ‘unclean spirits’ and included their words in his gospel. Although people at the time who heard them would not remember them, in later times after Mark’s gospel was written, long after Jesus died, people could see these words. They could not come from the New Testament which at the time of the setting of Mark’s gospel had not been written.
An examination of the Old Testament indicates that they did not come from there. Where did these messianic statements come from? What is Mark doing?
