The Fallible Study Bible

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Mark16:14–18

The Great Commission

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Mark 16:14–18 — The Great Commission. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

14

Later, as they were eating, Jesus appeared to the Eleven and rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de Hysteron autois anakeimenois ephanerōthē tois hendeka kai ōneidisen autōn tēn apistian kai sklērokardian hoti ouk episteusan tois theasamenois auton egēgermenon

Word by word21 · parsed
δὲdeG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὝστερονHysteronLaterG5305
√ ὕστερον — more lately, iAdverb
hysteron: later, more lately A vague adverb, not a date. Benson and Cambridge both place it on the evening of resurrection day; Gill argues it must be very late at night, after the Emmaus pair had returned. Geneva warns against reading Mark's order as chronology at all.
αὐτοῖςautoisas theyG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἀνακειμένοιςanakeimenoiswere eatingG345
√ ἀνακεῖμαι — to recline (as a corpse or at a meal)VerbPresent Participle Middle or PassiveDative Masculine Plural
anakeimai: to recline (at a meal or as a corpse) The lexicon's double sense is striking in context: the verb that can describe a body laid out describes living men at table, addressed by One who had lain out and no longer does. Gill notes the Arabic and Persic versions render it simply “gathered together,” without any meal.
ἐφανερώθηephanerōthē[Jesus] appearedG5319
√ φανερόω — to render apparent (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
phaneroō: to render apparent Aorist passive. Mark's chosen verb for the resurrection appearances is not one of seeing but of disclosure: the initiative lies outside the eleven. Pulpit notes the emphasis on αὐτοῖς τοῖς ἔνδεκα, “unto the eleven themselves,” since the earlier manifestations had gone to persons with no official standing.
τοῖςtoisto theG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
ἕνδεκαhendekaElevenG1733
√ ἕνδεκα — one and ten, iAdjectiveDative Masculine Plural
hendeka: eleven A rare numeral (six verses in all) that functions as a wound in the text. Barnes: “Judas was dead, and the apostles were then called ‘the eleven.’” Both Barnes and Gill note that Thomas was absent, so ten were physically present; the college is named by its office, not its roll call.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ὠνείδισενōneidisenrebuked themG3679
√ ὀνειδίζω — to defame, iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
oneidizō: to defame, to reproach The verb of reproach, aorist and decisive. Pulpit observes that “St Mark is always careful to record the rebukes administered by our Lord to his apostles.” The first recorded word of the risen Christ to his assembled apostles in this ending is not comfort but reproach, and the commission follows in the very next verse without a break.
αὐτῶνautōnfor theirG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
τὴνtēnG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Feminine Singular
ἀπιστίανapistianunbeliefG570
√ ἀπιστία — faithlessness, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
apistia: faithlessness, unbelief Noun, accusative, object of the reproach. Not doubt about a doctrine but failure to credit witnesses. Gill is careful and pastoral here: their hearts were contrite and grieved, yet “in this point their unbelief increased by their fears.” The same root cluster (G570, G569) reappears in v. 16 as the thing that condemns.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
σκληροκαρδίανsklērokardianhardness of heartG4641
√ σκληροκαρδία — hard-heartedness, iNounAccusative Feminine Singular
sklērokardia: hard-heartedness A very rare compound: the Verifier finds it in only three verses of the whole New Testament (here, Mark 10:5, Matthew 19:8). In the other two it names the condition that forced Moses to concede a certificate of divorce. Jesus now lays the word used of the covenant people's stubbornness on his own apostles, on Easter evening, at table.
ὅτιhotibecauseG3754
√ ὅτι — demonstrative, that (sometimes redundant)Conjunction
οὐκoukvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
ἐπίστευσανepisteusanthey did not believeG4100
√ πιστεύω — to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), iVerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
pisteuō: to have faith, to believe Aorist, with οὐκ: a settled refusal, not a passing hesitation. Barnes draws the apologetic weight out of it: their resistance is evidence, since men so hard to convince cannot have conspired to invent what convinced them.
τοῖςtoisthoseG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
θεασαμένοιςtheasamenoiswho had seenG2300
√ θεάομαι — to look closely at, iVerbAorist Participle MiddleDative Masculine Plural
theaomai: to look closely at Aorist middle participle. Not a glance but a scrutiny. The ones rejected were not rumour-carriers; they had examined him. Cambridge counts four appearances already granted that day, to Mary Magdalene, to the other women, to the Emmaus two, and to Peter, before this interview.
αὐτὸνautonHimG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
ἐγηγερμένονegēgermenonafter He had risenG1453
√ ἐγείρω — to waken (transitively or intransitively), iVerbPerfect Participle Middle or PassiveAccusative Masculine Singular
egeirō: to waken, to raise Perfect participle passive, accusative, agreeing with “him.” The perfect states an accomplished and enduring rising. Mark's whole indictment turns on a tense: the eleven treated as a report what the grammar treats as a standing fact.
15

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

Kai eipen autois Poreuthentes eis hapanta ton kosmon kēryxate to euangelion pasē tē ktisei

Word by word14 · parsed
ΚαὶKaiAndG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
εἶπενeipenHe saidG2036
√ ἔπω — to speak or say (by word or writing)VerbAorist Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
αὐτοῖςautoisto themG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounDative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ΠορευθέντεςPoreuthentesGoG4198
√ πορεύομαι — to traverse, iVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Plural
poreuomai: to traverse, to go Aorist passive participle, nominative plural. The passive form (whether read as true passive or as deponent) leaves the going strangely unowned, as though the apostles are dispatched rather than self-launched. Maclaren feels the size of it: a handful of men hear a command shaped to the whole planet, and the only thing that makes it sane is the promise of the speaker's presence.
εἰςeisintoG1519
√ εἰς — to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etcPreposition
ἅπανταhapantaallG537
√ ἅπας — absolutely all or (singular) every oneAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Singular
hapas: absolutely all, every one The intensive of πᾶς. It is placed against κόσμος, the ordered arrangement, so that no ordered part of the arrangement is exempt. Barnes reads it against the Jewish assumption that the Gentiles were outside the Messiah's kingdom, and notes it took a special revelation before Peter would act on it (Acts 10).
τὸνtontheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Masculine Singular
κόσμονkosmonworldG2889
√ κόσμος — orderly arrangement, iNounAccusative Masculine Singular
kosmos: orderly arrangement, world Not merely territory. The word names the world as a system, and the commission therefore runs not only to places not yet reached but to orders of life not yet confronted. Gill notes that the command has since expanded with geography itself, into parts of the world unknown when it was spoken.
κηρύξατεkēryxate[and] preachG2784
√ κηρύσσω — to herald (as a public crier), especially divine truth (the gospel)VerbAorist Imperative Active2nd Person Plural
kēryssō: to herald, especially divine truth The single imperative of the verse, aorist, second person plural. Everything else in the sentence is participle, preposition or object. Whatever the Church is commissioned to do, this verb is the load-bearing member: proclamation, publicly, by criers who did not write the announcement.
τὸtotheG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleAccusative Neuter Singular
εὐαγγέλιονeuangeliongospelG2098
√ εὐαγγέλιον — a good message, iNounAccusative Neuter Singular
euangelion: a good message The content of the heralding is a message, not a method and not a movement. Barnes unpacks it as “the assurance that the Messiah has come, and that sin may be forgiven and the soul saved.” In Mark's own opening line this same word named the book; here it names the errand.
πάσῃpasēto everyG3956
√ πᾶς — all, any, every, the wholeAdjectiveDative Feminine Singular
pas: all, every, the whole Dative feminine singular, agreeing with κτίσει. Because the noun is singular and collective, πάσῃ means “the whole of,” not “each of.” Cambridge: “i. e. to the whole creation, the whole world of men, not Jews only or Samaritans, but Gentiles of all nations.”
τῇtēG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Singular
κτίσειktiseicreatureG2937
√ κτίσις — original formation (properly, the actNounDative Feminine Singular
ktisis: original formation, creation The most theologically loaded word in the verse. Gill assembles rabbinic evidence that “the creatures” was ordinary Jewish idiom for human beings and often specifically for the Gentiles, and both he and Cambridge send the reader to Romans 8:21-22, where the same noun names a creation groaning for release. Read that way, the herald is sent to the whole subjected order, with mankind as its head and voice.
16

Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

ho pisteusas kai baptistheis sōthēsetai de ho apistēsas katakrithēsetai

Word by word9 · parsed
ὁhoWhoeverG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ho: the (article) A function word doing structural work: it substantivises the participle, producing “the one who believed” as a defined class rather than an open invitation.
πιστεύσαςpisteusasbelievesG4100
√ πιστεύω — to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
pisteuō: to have faith in, upon, or with respect to Aorist active participle. Henry insists the word cannot mean bare assent: this is “that true faith which receives Christ in all his characters and offices, and for all the purposes of salvation,” not “a mere assent, which is a dead faith.” Gill describes the same thing from inside: coming as a poor perishing sinner, venturing on Christ, committing oneself to him.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
βαπτισθεὶςbaptistheisis baptizedG907
√ βαπτίζω — to immerse, submergeVerbAorist Participle PassiveNominative Masculine Singular
baptizō: to immerse, submerge Aorist passive participle. The commentators in this brief divide sharply and the division should be recorded, not smoothed. JFB treats baptism as “the external signature of the inner faith of the heart,” parallel to confession with the mouth in Romans 10:10. Pulpit reads the clause against faith-alone constructions. Gill denies it any causal share in salvation while insisting it is the duty of every believer.
σωθήσεταιsōthēsetaiwill be savedG4982
√ σώζω — to save, iVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
sōzō: to save Future indicative passive. A divine passive: the saving is done to the person, by another. Barnes traces the content across the canon, saved from sin (Matthew 1:21), from eternal death (John 5:24), and raised to life (John 5:28). Note that the verse names no agent for either future passive; the unit does not supply one until v. 17 says “in my name,” so the Name that casts out demons is the same Name behind the unnamed saving here.
δὲdebutG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ὁhowhoeverG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleNominative Masculine Singular
ἀπιστήσαςapistēsasdoes not believeG569
√ ἀπιστέω — to be unbelieving, iVerbAorist Participle ActiveNominative Masculine Singular
apisteō: to be unbelieving The verb, not a negative particle. The Verifier finds this root in only eight verses, one of which is Mark 16:11 in this same chapter, where the disciples themselves are its subject. That is the unnerving symmetry of the unit: the verb that condemns the world in v. 16 was true of the apostles in v. 11 and reproached in v. 14.
κατακριθήσεταιkatakrithēsetaiwill be condemnedG2632
√ κατακρίνω — to judge against, iVerbFuture Indicative Passive3rd Person Singular
katakrinō: to judge against, to condemn Future passive, balancing σωθήσεται exactly: two passives, two futures, one clause each. Ellicott's correction of “damned” to “condemned” is lexically right; Barnes, arguing the justice of the sentence at length, and Gill, allowing that “one that believes not today, may believe tomorrow, and be saved,” mark the honest range of the tradition on how final it is.
17

And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues;

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

de tauta sēmeia parakolouthēsei tois pisteusasin en mou tō onomati ekbalousin daimonia lalēsousin kainais glōssais

Word by word15 · parsed
δὲdeAndG1161
√ δέ — but, and, etcConjunction
ταῦταtautatheseG3778
√ οὗτος — the he (she or it), iDemonstrative PronounNominative Neuter Plural
σημεῖαsēmeiasignsG4592
√ σημεῖον — an indication, especially ceremonially or supernaturallyNounNominative Neuter Plural
sēmeion: an indication, especially supernaturally Not “wonder” and not “power,” but sign: a thing that points away from itself. Barnes reads them strictly as evidence, “necessary for the establishment of religion in the world,” not for its continuance; Benson, quoting Bengelius, holds the opposite, that in every believer “faith has a latent miraculous power.” The brief contains both positions and this layer will not adjudicate between them.
παρακολουθήσειparakolouthēseiwill accompanyG5023
√ ταῦτα — these thingsVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Singular
parakoloutheō: to follow alongside Future, singular, with a plural neuter subject (regular Greek). The verb is consequential, not conditional: the signs trail the believing, they are not summoned by it. Cambridge notes the same verb in Luke 1:3 of an investigator who has carefully followed a matter up.
τοῖςtoisthoseG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Masculine Plural
πιστεύσασινpisteusasinwho believeG4100
√ πιστεύω — to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), iVerbAorist Participle ActiveDative Masculine Plural
pisteuō: to believe Aorist participle, dative plural: “to those who shall have believed.” Cambridge reads it as “those that shall have believed, shall have adopted the Faith and been baptized,” tying v. 17 back to v. 16. Gill restricts the promise: “Not all of them, but some; and not always, only for a time.”
ἐνenInG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
μουmouMyG1473
√ ἐγώ — I, mePersonal / Possessive PronounGenitive 1st Person Singular
τῷtōG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Neuter Singular
ὀνόματίonomatinameG3686
√ ὄνομα — a "name" (literally or figuratively) (authority, character)NounDative Neuter Singular
onoma: a name (authority, character) Dative, the instrument of the exorcism. Barnes presses the difference between Jesus and every other agent in Scripture: the prophets and apostles spoke in the name of another, Jesus wielded original, underived authority. Gill notes that the Arabic version attaches the phrase to “believe” instead, and the Persic omits it, but holds that all other versions rightly keep it here.
ἐκβαλοῦσινekbalousinthey will drive outG1544
√ ἐκβάλλω — to eject (literally or figuratively)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
ekballō: to eject Future indicative. Mark's signature verb for the conflict that has run through his whole Gospel. Pulpit: “St. Mark, of all the evangelists, dwells most perhaps on this, as characteristic of our Lord's work, and as the evidence of his supreme dominion over the spiritual world.” Cambridge supplies the fulfilments: Philip in Samaria, Paul at Philippi and Ephesus.
δαιμόνιαdaimoniademonsG1140
√ δαιμόνιον — a dæmonic beingNounAccusative Neuter Plural
λαλήσουσινlalēsousinthey will speakG2980
√ λαλέω — to talk, iVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
καιναῖςkainaisin newG2537
√ καινός — newAdjectiveDative Feminine Plural
kainos: new New in kind or quality. The word chosen is not the “new” of chronology but of novelty of nature, and it sits against γλώσσαις, the plainest word for tongue.
γλώσσαιςglōssaistonguesG1100
√ γλῶσσα — the tongueNounDative Feminine Plural
glōssa: the tongue Ellicott notes that this is “the only distinct reference in the Gospels to the form of the Pentecostal gift,” which makes the verse either a striking anticipation or, on the disputed-ending reading, a later summary of what Acts records. The honest position is that the verse's evidential force depends on a textual question this layer cannot settle.
18

they 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.”

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Greek — tap a word ↓

kai arousin opheis en tais chersin kan piōsin ti thanasimon ou mē blapsē autous epithēsousin cheiras epi arrōstous kai hexousin kalōs

Word by word21 · parsed
καιkaiG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἀροῦσινarousinthey will pick upG142
√ αἴρω — to lift upVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
airō: to lift up Future indicative active. The verb of raising, used in the Gospels of taking up beds, crosses and burdens, is here used of serpents. Cambridge and Ellicott both anchor it to a single canonical event, Paul at Malta, and both point back to the prior grant of Luke 10:19.
ὄφειςopheissnakesG3789
√ ὄφις — a snake, figuratively, (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially SatanNounAccusative Masculine Plural
ophis: a snake, figuratively Satan The lexicon itself carries the figurative charge: “as a type of sly cunning, an artful malicious person, especially Satan.” Mark's promise therefore reads on two levels at once, and the second level is not imported by the interpreter but is in the word's own semantic range. What the messengers lift without harm is the creature whose name Scripture gives to the enemy.
ἐνenwithG1722
√ ἐν — "in," at, (up-)on, by, etcPreposition
ταῖςtaistheirG3588
√ ὁ — the (sometimes to be supplied, at others omitted, in English idiom)ArticleDative Feminine Plural
χερσὶνchersinhandsG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounDative Feminine Plural
κἂνkanand ifG2579
√ κἄν — and (or even) ifConjunction
kan: and if, even if A crasis of καί and ἐάν introducing the subjunctive clause: concessive, hypothetical. It marks the drinking as something that may befall them, not something they undertake.
πίωσινpiōsinthey drinkG4095
√ πίνω — to imbibe (literally or figuratively)VerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Plural
τιtianyG5100
√ τὶς — some or any person or objectInterrogative / Indefinite PronounAccusative Neuter Singular
θανάσιμόνthanasimondeadly poisonG2286
√ θανάσιμος — fatal, iAdjectiveAccusative Neuter Singular
thanasimos: fatal, deadly A rare adjective, neuter singular with the indefinite τι: “any deadly thing.” The noun for poison is not present in the Greek at all; BSB supplies it. The promise is therefore broader and vaguer than the English: not immunity to a known toxin, but preservation through whatever lethal thing is administered.
οὐouvvvG3756
√ οὐ — the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverbAdverb
μὴmēvvvG3361
√ μή — (adverb) not, (conjunction) lestAdverb
βλάψῃblapsēit will not harmG984
√ βλάπτω — properly, to hinder, iVerbAorist Subjunctive Active3rd Person Singular
blaptō: properly, to hinder A very rare verb: the Verifier finds it in only two verses of the New Testament, the other being Luke 4:35, where the demon comes out of the man “having in no way harmed him.” The same emphatic denial of harm attends the first exorcism in Luke and the last promise in Mark.
αὐτοὺςautousthemG846
√ αὐτός — the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other personsPersonal / Possessive PronounAccusative Masculine 3rd Person Plural
ἐπιθήσουσινepithēsousinthey will layG2007
√ ἐπιτίθημι — to impose (in a friendly or hostile sense)VerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
χεῖραςcheiras[their] handsG5495
√ χείρ — the hand (literally or figuratively (power)NounAccusative Feminine Plural
ἐπὶepionG1909
√ ἐπί — properly, meaning superimposition (of time, place, order, etcPreposition
ἀρρώστουςarrōstous[the] sickG732
√ ἄῤῥωστος — infirmAdjectiveAccusative Masculine Plural
arrōstos: infirm, sick Another rare word, five verses in all, three of them in this brief's candidate list: Mark 6:5 and 6:13, where the Twelve were first sent out and laid hands on the sick, and 1 Corinthians 11:30, where sickness falls on a church abusing the Lord's table. The commission's last promise uses the vocabulary of the commission's first rehearsal.
καὶkaiandG2532
√ καί — and, also, even, so then, too, etcConjunction
ἕξουσινhexousinthey will be madeG2192
√ ἔχω — to hold (used in very various applications, literally or figuratively, direct or remoteVerbFuture Indicative Active3rd Person Plural
echō: to hold, to have Future indicative active with the adverb καλῶς: the Greek idiom for being in good case. The subject of the verb is the sick, not the healers.
καλῶςkalōswellG2573
√ καλῶς — well (usually morally)Adverb
kalōs: well (usually morally) The lexicon flags that the adverb's usual register is moral, not medical. Nothing in the clause forces a moral sense, but the word chosen for bodily recovery is the word ordinarily used for doing rightly, and the unit has been about belief and hardness of heart throughout.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Reproach at the table — 16:14

The unit opens with a word most readers would rather it did not: ὠνείδισεν, a verb whose root sense the lexicon gives as to defame. Pulpit calls it flatly “a strong word of rebuke” and observes that St Mark is always careful to record the rebukes our Lord administered to his apostles. The charge is double, ἀπιστίαν and σκληροκαρδίαν, and the second of those is a word the Verifier finds in only three verses of the New Testament; in the other two (Mark 10:5, Matthew 19:8) it names the stubbornness that forced Moses to write a certificate of divorce. ⚙ The machine layer notes what the vocabulary does: the term reserved for the covenant people's hardest failure is laid on the apostolic college itself, on the evening of the resurrection, at a meal. Gill will not let this become contempt for them: their hearts, he says, were contrite and grieved, and yet “in this point their unbelief increased by their fears.” Cambridge locates the same state from the other side, “their new-born joy still struggled with bewilderment and unbelief.” Barnes turns the whole thing into evidence, arguing that men this hard to convince cannot have conspired to invent the thing that convinced them. Note that Mark himself draws no such conclusion; Barnes' argument is a legitimate inference laid on top of a text that is simply reporting a reproach.

ii. The whole creation, by heralds — 16:15

There is no conjunction of contrast between the reproach and the commission. ⚙ The men rebuked in v. 14 are commissioned in v. 15, in the same room, with no recorded interval, and the grammar makes the errand narrower and heavier than the English suggests: Πορευθέντες is a participle, and the sentence's only imperative is κηρύξατε, to herald. Ellicott corrects the object: “Better, to the whole creation,” and Cambridge agrees, “the whole world of men, not Jews only or Samaritans, but Gentiles of all nations.” Gill adds a body of rabbinic citation showing that “the creatures” was ordinary Jewish idiom for human beings, and frequently for the Gentiles in particular. Cambridge sets the command against Matthew 10:5-6, where the same Twelve were forbidden the road of the Gentiles. Barnes records how slowly it took: “it was long before the disciples could be trained to the belief that the gospel was to be preached to all men.” Maclaren, feeling the disproportion between the command and the company, says that Christianity “is alone in calmly setting forth a universal dominion, and in seeking it by the Word alone.” Gill's practical gloss is worth keeping beside it: the command was not laid on each apostle to cover the whole earth alone, but each had his line marked out.

iii. Two participles, two futures — 16:16

The verse is built with brutal symmetry: article plus aorist participle, then future passive, twice. σωθήσεται and κατακριθήσεται balance exactly. Ellicott corrects the old rendering: “Better, shall be condemned. The Greek word does not necessarily imply the idea of irreversible endless condemnation.” Cambridge catches the asymmetry inside the symmetry: baptism is named in the first clause and not the second, because “he who refuses to believe will refuse to be baptized.” Here the brief's voices genuinely disagree and the disagreement should stand in the open. Pulpit reads the clause against faith alone. JFB reads baptism as “the external signature of the inner faith of the heart.” Gill denies it any causal share at all: “the thief on the cross, went to heaven without it, and Simon Magus to hell with it,” and Henry independently puts Simon Magus to the same use, as a man who professed belief and was baptized and was still declared to be in the bonds of iniquity. Henry's own weight falls on what the first participle must mean: not “a mere assent, which is a dead faith, and cannot profit.” ⚙ One observation the commentators do not make: the participle that condemns in v. 16, ἀπιστήσας (G569), is from the same rare root the narrator used of the apostles themselves at Mark 16:11 and that Jesus reproached in v. 14. The unit therefore condemns in verse 16 the exact condition it forgave in verse 14, which is either its deepest mercy or its sharpest warning, and probably both.

iv. The signs that walk alongside — 16:17-16:18

The verb is παρακολουθήσει, which Cambridge renders literally, “shall proceed along with”: the signs walk beside the believing, they do not precede or produce it. Benson states the order exactly, “the gospel word, and faith therein, must precede, and then the signs shall follow.” The list itself is Markan: demons cast out in the Name (Pulpit notes that of all the evangelists Mark dwells most on this as the evidence of Christ's dominion over the spiritual world), new tongues (Ellicott calls this “the only distinct reference in the Gospels to the form of the Pentecostal gift”; Geneva glosses “strange tongues, ones which they did not know before”), serpents lifted, deadly things drunk, hands laid on the sick. Barnes locates the theological centre in the preposition: acting “in my name,” the apostles differ from their Lord precisely as agents differ from an owner, for “he acted in his own name; they in the name of another.” On whether the signs continue, the brief's voices split and this layer will not pretend otherwise: Barnes and Pulpit hold they were for the first dawn of the faith and ceased early; Benson, quoting Bengelius, holds that in every believer faith retains a latent miraculous power; Gill takes a middle line, “not all of them, but some; and not always, only for a time.” ⚙ Note finally how much of the fulfilment the commentators can actually cite: Acts supplies exorcism, tongues, healing and the Maltese viper. For the deadly draught, Ellicott is candid that there is no recorded New Testament instance at all, and Cambridge, Gill and Ellicott fall back on patristic tradition. That gap is left standing here.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

⚙ This is the tool's own fallible reading, offered to be tested by Scripture and by better readers. The unit's structure is its argument. Verse 14 establishes that the first preachers of the resurrection did not believe it until they were compelled to, and were reproached for it in the harshest covenant vocabulary Mark has (σκληροκαρδία, a word he otherwise uses only of the hardness that made Moses concede divorce). Verse 15 then sends those same men, with no interval and no probation, to the whole creation. Verse 16 makes belief the hinge of salvation and condemnation. Verses 17 and 18 attach signs, not to the messengers as a class, but to believing. Read as a whole, the passage refuses to ground the mission in the qualifications of the missionaries. The heralds are men who had to be reproached into credence; the authority is a Name not their own; the signs follow the faith rather than certify the man. If that reading is right, then the severity of v. 16 is not the severity of a court that expects better of humanity, but of a physician who has just healed the eleven hardest cases in the room and is now sending them out with the cure. Two cautions on our own reading. First, we have not established, and cannot from this brief, that the unit is original to Mark; if the longer ending is a later summary, some of the apologetic weight commentators place on v. 17 shifts. Second, the promise of v. 18 has been read by some as a warrant for testing God, and the Greek forbids it: κἂν πίωσιν is a subjunctive contingency, and Benson's caution is exactly right, that God never calls us to try any such experiment.

The men reproached for unbelief in one verse are sent to the whole creation in the next, which tells you whose errand it is. (This line is our own fallible synthesis, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

Hardness of heart: the word Jesus had used of the Pharisees verbal / quotation: confirmed

The reproach of v. 14 uses σκληροκαρδίαν (G4641), and the Verifier confirms that this compound occurs in only three verses of the New Testament. In the other two, Mark 10:5 and its Matthean parallel, it is the reason Moses wrote the certificate of divorce: “for your hardness of heart he wrote you this precept.” ⚙ The lexical field is therefore not neutral. Mark reserves this word for the condition that forces God to accommodate his law to human stubbornness, and then applies it, once, to the apostles on Easter evening. Cambridge independently links the rebuke to the earlier hardness after the feedings and on the Emmaus road.

Mark 10:5 · Matthew 19:8

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G4641 σκληροκαρδία, present in only 3 verses of the New Testament (Mark 16:14, Mark 10:5, Matthew 19:8). A rare shared lexeme within one Testament; no claim that either text quotes the other.

They did not believe: the refrain of Mark's last chapter verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier pairs this unit with Mark 16:11 on two shared lexemes, θεάομαι (G2300, to look closely at) and ἀπιστέω (G569, to be unbelieving), the latter found in only eight verses. At 16:11 the disciples hear Mary and do not believe; at 16:14 they are reproached for not believing “those who had seen him”; at 16:16 the same root names the condition that condemns. ⚙ The chapter thus runs one verb through three registers: narrative fact, apostolic fault, and universal verdict. Gill and Cambridge both note the accumulating list of rejected witnesses.

Mark 16:11

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G569 ἀπιστέω (in 8 vv, rare) and G2300 θεάομαι (in 22 vv), both within Mark 16. Rare-lexeme verbal link inside one chapter; not a quotation.

The Eleven: a number that names a wound verbal / quotation: confirmed

ἕνδεκα (G1733) occurs in only six verses of the New Testament, and the Verifier finds four of them clustered around exactly this moment: Luke 24:9 and 24:33 on resurrection evening, Matthew 28:16 at the mountain commission, Acts 1:26 where the number is repaired by lot, and Acts 2:14 where Peter stands up “with the eleven.” ⚙ The numeral functions as a scar running through the resurrection narratives. Barnes and Gill both observe that the title survived even when, as here, only ten were physically present, because Thomas was absent; the college is named by its office rather than its attendance.

Matthew 28:16 · Luke 24:9 · Luke 24:33 · Acts 1:26 · Acts 2:14

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G1733 ἕνδεκα (in 6 vv, rare), plus G4198 πορεύομαι (in 146 vv) with Matthew 28:16. All refs are New Testament; rare numeral, no quotation claimed.

The mission already rehearsed: Mark 6 and Mark 16 verbal / quotation: confirmed

The Verifier links v. 18 to Mark 6:5 and Mark 6:13 through ἄῤῥωστος (G732, infirm), a word found in only five verses, alongside ἐπιτίθημι (G2007, to lay on) and ἐκβάλλω (G1544, to eject) and δαιμόνιον (G1140). ⚙ In Mark 6 the Twelve are sent out, cast out demons, anoint the sick and heal them, and in the same chapter Jesus himself can do no mighty work at Nazareth except to lay hands on a few sick folk, because of unbelief. The final commission uses the vocabulary of the first sending, and the same obstacle, unbelief, stands at both ends of the Gospel.

Mark 6:5 · Mark 6:13

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G732 ἄῤῥωστος (in 5 vv, rare), G2007 ἐπιτίθημι (in 38 vv), G1544 ἐκβάλλω (in 75 vv), G1140 δαιμόνιον (in 55 vv). Rare lexeme within one book; a verbal link, not a quotation.

In no way harmed: the rarest verb in the promise verbal / quotation: confirmed

βλάψῃ (G984, whose root sense the lexicon gives as “properly, to hinder”) is, on the Verifier's count, present in only two verses of the New Testament. The other is Luke 4:35, where the unclean spirit throws the man down in the midst and comes out of him, “having in no way harmed him.” ⚙ The same rare verb with the same emphatic negation attends the first exorcism of Luke's Gospel and the last promise of Mark's ending, and both contexts also share δαιμόνιον. The messengers are promised what the man in the synagogue received: the enemy leaves without leaving damage.

Luke 4:35

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexeme G984 βλάπτω, present in only 2 verses of the New Testament (Mark 16:18, Luke 4:35), plus G1140 δαιμόνιον (in 55 vv). Both refs New Testament; a rare verbal link, not a quotation.

Does their unbelief nullify the faithfulness of God? structural / thematic: confirmed

The Verifier pairs the unit with Romans 3:3 on the two related roots ἀπιστία (G570, in 11 verses) and ἀπιστέω (G569, in 8 verses), the very pair Mark uses of the apostles in v. 14 and of the condemned in v. 16. Paul asks whether the unbelief of some nullifies God's faithfulness and answers, let God be true. ⚙ We tier this structural rather than verbal deliberately: the shared lexemes are real and reasonably rare, but Paul is not citing Mark and the connection is conceptual, an argument about what human unbelief cannot undo, which is exactly the logic by which the reproached eleven are still sent.

Romans 3:3

basis: Verifier: shared Greek lexemes G570 ἀπιστία (in 11 vv) and G569 ἀπιστέω (in 8 vv). Deliberately under-claimed: the lexemes are shared and the motif is common, but there is no quotation and no dependence, so the link is recorded as thematic rather than verbal.

All the nations of the earth, and a light to the Gentiles structural / thematic: confirmed

“Preach the gospel to the whole creation” meets the oldest promise in the canon: that in Abraham's seed all the families and all the nations of the earth will be blessed (Genesis 12:3, Genesis 22:18), and that the Servant is given as a light to the nations, that salvation may reach the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). ⚙ No verbal basis is available or claimed: the Old Testament texts are Hebrew and this unit is Greek, so no shared Strong's number can exist between them, and the Verifier offers no basis for this pair. The link is the shared pattern of a universal mandate, and the commentators in this brief read it that way without quoting: Barnes on the gospel “stopped by no barriers,” Cambridge contrasting Matthew 10:5-6, Gill documenting that “the creatures” in Jewish idiom often meant the Gentiles.

Genesis 12:3 · Genesis 22:18 · Isaiah 49:6

basis: Cross-Testament (Hebrew to Greek), so shared Strong's lexemes are impossible by definition and no verbal tier is available. Basis is a shared pattern only: a universal mandate of blessing to all nations. Mark 16:15 contains no formal quotation of these texts.

Lifting the serpent without harm typological

⚙ A figural reading, offered as such. ὄφεις (G3789) carries in the lexicon itself the figurative sense “as a type of sly cunning, an artful malicious person, especially Satan.” Israel in the wilderness was bitten by serpents and healed by looking at one lifted on a pole (Numbers 21:6-9); the psalm promises that the one who dwells in the Most High shall tread on the adder and trample the serpent (Psalm 91:13). Ellicott and Cambridge both connect Mark's promise to the prior grant of authority over serpents and scorpions in Luke 10:19, and Ellicott notes that the single recorded New Testament instance is Paul at Malta. No Hebrew and Greek verbal basis is possible here, and none is claimed; this is a typological reading, ancient and widely held in the tradition (the Numbers serpent is read of Christ in John 3:14), of which the Psalm 91 element is the more contested part.

Numbers 21:6-9 · Psalm 91:13 · Luke 10:19

basis: Figural, not verbal. The Old Testament refs are Hebrew and the unit Greek, so no shared Strong's lexeme is possible; the Verifier supplies no basis for these pairs. Ancient and widely held for the lifted serpent of Numbers 21 read of Christ; the Psalm 91:13 element is the tool's own extension and is flagged as such.

The poisoned cup: a promise whose fulfilment rests on tradition flagged: verify source

For the serpent and the sick there are canonical instances, Acts 28:3-5 and Acts 28:8, cited by Barnes, Ellicott, Gill and Cambridge alike. For “if they drink any deadly thing” there is none. Ellicott says so outright: there is no recorded instance in the New Testament. What the commentators supply instead is church tradition: the hemlock or poisoned cup offered to John (Cambridge, Ellicott, citing Augustine), and Barsabas Justus of Acts 1:23 who, Papias reports through Eusebius, drank poison and was unharmed (Gill, Cambridge, Pulpit). ⚙ These are second and third hand patristic reports, not Scripture, and are recorded here as such. Gill compounds the difficulty by adding a rabbinic anecdote from the Jerusalem Talmud about a son of R. Joshua ben Levi healed in Jesus' name; that is folklore evidence, not fulfilment.

Acts 1:23 · Acts 28:3-5

basis: The canonical refs are secure (Acts 28:3-5 is cited by Barnes, Ellicott, Gill and Cambridge as the serpent fulfilment), but the claimed fulfilment of the deadly-draught clause rests entirely on extra-biblical tradition (Papias via Eusebius on Barsabas Justus; Augustine on John's cup). Provenance disputed; recorded, not endorsed.

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

The wounded witness who reproaches and then sends ancient/widely-held

⚙ The order of the unit is the shape of the gospel. He who is ἐγηγερμένον, perfect participle, raised and remaining raised, reproaches the eleven for unbelief in one verse and commissions them in the next. Barnes draws out what that resistance proves: “Never were people more difficult to be convinced of anything than they were of that fact.” Gill and Cambridge both record that their hearts were broken rather than hostile. The risen Christ does not replace the eleven, purge them, or wait for better men. He rebukes and sends the same mouths. This is the widely-held reading of the tradition here: Henry sees him “renewing his choice of the eleven as his apostles,” Pulpit sees the manifestation made to “the eleven themselves” precisely in their official character.

Mark 16:14 · Mark 16:15 · Luke 24:36-43

In my name: authority that is original, not delegated ancient/widely-held

The signs of v. 17 are performed ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου, and the lexicon defines ὄνομα as a name in the sense of authority and character. Barnes makes this the Christological hinge of the passage: the prophets spoke in the name of the Lord, the apostles in the name of Jesus, but Jesus stilled the sea and raised Lazarus in his own name, “as possessing original, underived authority.” His conclusion is explicit: “He acted in his own name; they in the name of another. He was therefore God.” ⚙ We record that the argument is Barnes', and that it rests on a real feature of the Greek, the instrumental dative of the Name, and on the canonical pattern of Acts 3:6 and Acts 16:18 which Gill and Cambridge document.

Mark 16:17 · Acts 3:6 · Acts 16:18

The whole creation: the herald's errand is as wide as the fall novel

The object of the heralding is πάσῃ τῇ κτίσει, the whole creation, and both Cambridge and Gill send the reader to Romans 8:21-22, where the same noun names a creation groaning in bondage and awaiting the revealing of the sons of God. ⚙ If Ellicott, Pulpit and Cambridge are right that the phrase means the whole created order gathered up in man (Pulpit: “Man is the noblest work of God. All the creation is gathered up in him, created after the image of the Creator”), then the commission is the exact counter-motion to Genesis 3: the curse ran through the man into the ground, and the good message runs back through the man into the whole formation. That last sentence is the tool's own figural extension, not a claim of the commentators, and is offered to be tested.

Mark 16:15 · Romans 8:21-22

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

  • Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
  • Alexander Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (c. 1905)
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
  • Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
  • Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
  • Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
  • Matthew Henry, Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706)
  • The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

Textual standing. This unit lies inside the longer ending of Mark (16:9-20), whose authenticity is disputed in the textual-critical tradition; the passage is absent from some of the earliest witnesses and its originality has been argued both ways for well over a century. The brief supplied to this layer contains no manuscript apparatus, so no sigla are cited here and none should be inferred. What the brief does contain is one side of the argument: Pulpit contends that “no one could have interpolated it after the cessation of the signs to which it refers, which took place very early,” and JFB twice notes that vv. 17-18 “are peculiar to Mark.” Both remarks presuppose that the question was live. Readers should weigh vv. 16-18 with that dispute in view, particularly the salvation-and-condemnation formula of v. 16, which JFB observes is given in this form only here.

Interlinear anomaly. The brief's interlinear assigns Strong's G5023 (ταῦτα, “these things”) to the verb παρακολουθήσει at Mark 16:17 word 3. That number does not correspond to the surface form, which is a compound of ἀκολουθέω. We have not corrected the sourced data; the note at that index follows Cambridge's lexical remark (“shall proceed along with”) rather than the attached number, and the discrepancy is recorded here rather than silently resolved.

Where the commentators disagree. Three genuine splits are preserved rather than harmonised in this unit: (1) the occasion, with Benson, Cambridge and Pulpit's first note placing v. 14 on resurrection evening, while Gill and Pulpit's later note place the commission of v. 15 forty days later in Galilee; (2) the force of baptism in v. 16, with Cambridge and Pulpit reading it as required and Gill and JFB reading it as the fruit and signature of a faith that saves without it; (3) the duration of the signs, with Barnes and Pulpit holding they ceased early and Benson, quoting Bengelius, holding that miraculous power remains latent in faith. This layer takes no side on any of the three.

Unverified reports carried by the sources. Benson relays from Bengelius a healing at Leonberg during a sermon on this text; Gill relays a Talmudic anecdote about a son of R. Joshua ben Levi; Gill, Cambridge, Ellicott and Pulpit relay the traditions of John's poisoned cup and of Barsabas Justus from Papias through Eusebius. These are quoted or cited as what the commentators say, never as established fact, and the deadly-draught thread is badged “flagged: verify source” for that reason. For the drinking of poison there is no New Testament instance; Ellicott states this plainly and we do not paper over it.

Cross-Testament threads. No thread pairing this Greek unit with a Hebrew text is tiered verbal, because shared Strong's numbers cannot exist across the two lexicons and the Verifier supplies no basis for those pairs. Those links are recorded as structural or typological with the reason stated in each basis. Mark 16:14-18 contains no formal quotation of the Old Testament.

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)