Mark: The evangelist; "John whose surname was Mark"
(Acts 12:12,25) Mark
(Marcus,
(Colossians 4:10) etc.) was his Roman name, which gradually came to
supersede his Jewish name John. He is called John in
(Acts 13:5,13) and
Mark in
(Acts 15:39; 2 Timothy 4:11) etc. He was the son of Mary, a woman
apparently of some means and influence, and was probably born in
Jerusalem, where his mother resided
(Acts 12:12) Of his father we know
nothing. He was cousin of Barnabas
(Colossians 4:10) It was in his mother's
house that Peter found "many gathered together praying" when he was
released from prison; and it is probable that it was here that he was
converted by Peter, who calls him his "son"
(1 Peter 5:13) It is probable
that the "young man" spoken of in
(Mark 14:51,52) was Mark himself. He
is first mentioned in
(Acts 12:25) He went with Paul and Barnabas on
their first journey (about A.D. 47) as their "minister," but from
some cause turned back when they reached Perga in Pamphylia
(Acts 12:25)
(Acts 13:13) Three years afterwards a "sharp contention" arose between
Paul and Barnabas
(Acts 15:36-40) because Paul would not take Mark
with him. He, however, was evidently at length reconciled to the
apostle, for he was with him in his first imprisonment at Rome
(Colossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24) At a later period he was with Peter in Babylon
(1 Peter 5:13) then, and for some centuries afterwards, one of the
chief seats of Jewish learning; and he was with Timothy in Ephesus
when Paul wrote him during his second imprisonment
(2 Timothy 4:11) He
then disappears from view.
