Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 1 Study # 6
January 17, 2022
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: Mark's record of the special treatment of Peter, James, and John is best understood in the light of the coming Kingdom of God as a "powerful ultimate reality".
- I. The Special Selection of Peter, James, and John.
- A. Mark is particularly emphatic regarding the special privilege given to Peter, James, and John.
- 1. He uses a three word phrase that the KJV best translates "apart by themselves" (the NASB used "by themselves" even though there are three words in Mark's text, each having its own contribution to the thought).
- a. The first word is kata.
- 1) When it is used with an accusative form of the following word, it indicates a "standard" which is in place to govern our understanding.
- 2) In this text, the second word, idian, identifies the "standard" as that of "being distinctly one's own".
- b. The third word is monous.
- 1) This word means "alone".
- 2) This word is plural and signals that each of the three had their own characteristic of being alone (even though they were "together" with Jesus).
- 2. Mark's use of this form of language is deliberate: he wants us to see Jesus as selecting three distinct men: the implication is that they are to be viewed in the light of their own need to be included in this special privilege.
- B. Mark's record is given with the past, both known and past.
- 1. Peter, when Mark wrote this record, was known as "the apostle to the circumcision" and was accepted as a primary leader in the Church in Jerusalem.
- 2. James was well-known as the brother of John (sons of Zebedee) whose best known characteristic was "sons of thunder" (a name given them by Jesus): he was martyred by Herod (Acts 12:2) as a leader of the Church in Jerusalem.
- 3. John was, perhaps, the most loyal of Jesus' disciples across the board: he wrote the Gospel that carries the name "the Gospel of John", and three letters in the New Testament, and the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and he died a natural death, unlike every other of the Apostles.
- 4. Clearly, the special privilege had its intended effect.
- II. The Special Privileges Of The Three.
- A. They were on hand for Mark's two introductory events that were to begin to identify Jesus as "The Coming Mighty One": the exorcism and healings of chapter one.
- B. They were the only ones allowed to observe Jesus when He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead.
- C. They were three of the four who were "privately" instructed in chapter thirteen regarding the events that were to lead up to the actual coming of the Kingdom of God.
- D. They were the only ones whom Jesus selected in the garden to go with Him to pray: a significant failure on their part.
- III. The Reason For The Special Privileges.
- A. Their future ability to edify their fellow-apostles (Luke 22:32).
- B. Their own development of being drawn away from their bondage to status-lust.
- 1. On the way down from the mountain, they were restricted from telling the others what they had experienced (9:9).
- 2. In the chiastic portions of 9:34 and 10:35-37 we see the "problem" that would undercut what was expected in 9:35 and 10:44.
