Chapter # 3 Paragraph # 3 Study # 3
October 22, 2019
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis:   Mark's record in this text is of Jesus beginning to fulfill His promise to the "original four".

Introduction:   As we saw last week, Mark is involved in presenting Jesus as the "Christ" (King of God's Kingdom) by telling us that He ascended upon "the" mountain (a reference to Isaiah's prophecies of the coming of "the mountain of the house of the Lord", and, likely, Daniel's prophecy of the "stone cut out of the mountain that destroyed the kingdoms of this world and swelled into a massive mountain that filled the earth as the final "Kingdom" in God's creation). As the "King", Jesus effectively "called" those whom He wanted and they came to Him.

This week we are going to look into what He did after His followers had assembled before Him on the mountain. The translators tell us He "ordained" twelve for two purposes: that they might be "with Him" and that He might "send them forth".

• I. The "Ordination" of "Twelve".
  • A. The translators' fumbling of the ball by using "ordained" (Authorized Version) and "appointed" (ASV).
    • 1. Problematical for us is the fact that this particular word is used in 519 texts of the New Testament and it is translated by "ordained" once and by "appointed" once (What's wrong with this picture?).
    • 2. The choice of this particular word was made because of its "backward linkage" as well as its "forward look".
      • a. The issue of "backward linkage" is that this is the word Mark used, quoting Jesus, in his record of the commitment Jesus made to the "initial four" (1:17).
        • 1) The setting of this event involves Jesus, as "Christ" turning specifically to "those whom He wanted" and selecting from them a group of twelve.
        • 2) The previous setting in 1:16-20 involves Jesus, as "Preacher of the Gospel of the Kingdom" (which Paul was still doing as late as Acts 28:31) making a commitment to four men whom He "called" to "follow Me".
          • a) His "commitment to them" was a "poieo" commitment (this is the word the translators went off on).
          • b) His present action is the beginning of His special focus upon that commitment.
      • b. There is also the issue of the "forward look" because, as we pointed out last week, it is the statement of this text that gives us the "literary design" of Mark's material from 3:13 to 6:13, a matter that is at the root of the translators' errors in rendering the words of the text capriciously.
    • 3. The choice of this particular word was made also because of its "meaning".
      • a. The word's "meaning" is given in its prior uses by Mark.
        • 1) He used it in his quote of Isaiah 40 in 1:3, in the specific setting of John's "commission" as the forerunner of Jesus as the Christ, to refer to a "condition" that was unacceptable being "made" acceptable (the crooked ways are "made" straight).
        • 2) Then, he next used it in 1:17 in another setting where a "commission" is being given in the form of a metaphor very like that of Isaiah 40 (where the physical realities mirror those of the "commission") where certain "men" are involved in a "crooked path" in the pursuit of "life" and are summoned to a "straight path" in the pursuit of "Life"; by this process they will be "made" fishers of men and menders of nets.
        • 3) After these uses, there are many where the point is that "actions are taken to make certain changes in the status quo".
      • b. Thus, the "meaning" of the word is to "take action to change" someone/thing.
  • B. The objective of the verb: twelve.
    • 1. Jesus, the text says, "made twelve".
    • 2. Obviously, something needs to be added to those words for our understanding.
      • a. My choice of that "something" is "a group of", so that what Jesus "made" was a group of twelve men.
        • 1) According to Mark's words, this "made group" had two specific activities in view.
          • a) First, they were to be "with" Him.
            • i. The rationale for this activity is that, for them to become "fishers/menders", they had to "learn" by being with Him 24/7.
            • ii. This "with Him" thesis gives us a clearer understanding of the material between this "making" and His "sending" of them.
          • b) Second, they were to be "sent out" (apostello) to preach and cast out demons.
            • i. There are some textual issues involved, but the editors of the commentary on the Greek text admit that there is not a whole lot of textual support for the inclusion of "healings".
            • ii. Thus, they are to go out to "proclaim" what they have learned by being "with Him", and they are to cast out demons because of the impact that makes upon those who hear and observe (as illustrated in 1:21-28 where a "new" doctrine is made impossible to simply reject in favor of the "crooked ways").
        • 2) Jesus' "making" of this group had a great number of down-line things in view, but the focus on Jesus as the King of the Kingdom makes the most crucial of those things the end result given by Jesus in Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:30.
      • b. The number "twelve".
        • 1) That He made up this group with twelve men is significant.
          • a) The number "twelve" in Hebrew thought is a combination of "four" (the number of representation of a unit; two for evangelism and two for edification) and "three" (the number of adequacy as a multiplier of the original representative).
          • b) In the final state of affairs, there will be twelve gates to the City, twelve foundation stones for its resting place, twelve thrones for the tribes of Israel, etc., etc.).
        • 2) The point is: Jesus chose "twelve" because He had the Plan of the Final Kingdom in mind and He "wanted" three times four so that the people would have adequate representation in His Kingdom and an adequate foundation in their labors for that eventuality.

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This is article #116.
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