Monday, October 08, 2018

"eat such things as are set before you" - Gospel of Peter/Mark


A City North of Tokyo

Gospel of Peter/Mark

It is now thought among experts that the Gospel according to Mark was actually based on a story told by St. Peter.

That must be the reason why the Gospel according to Mark was adopted for canonical books, and other Gospels according to Matthew, Luke and John followed Mark.

Indeed, in the Gospel according to Mark, other scenes and conversations between Christ Jesus and other disciples are rare, and some episodes only Peter had known were recorded.  Mark must have traveled with Peter after Peter disappeared from the Acts around 48 AD, leaving Jerusalem to run away from persecution by the Jewish authority.  But was the Gospel written during this journey?  The Acts did not say even Paul and Peter met in Rome although both were killed by Emperor Nero in Rome.

As Peter belonged to Judaism that had its own Bible, it is unthinkable that Peter presented a new holy book.  Peter must have preached by talking to people outside Palestine without distributing the Gospel based on his memory and written by Mark.  So, there must have been a strong motivation for Peter to have Mark write a story of Christ Jesus and Peter.  As finally Peter went to Rome, he must have met Paul and tried to save Paul from a Roman trial.  To save Paul, Peter must have tried to show who and what Christ Jesus was to the Roman authority.  If Roman citizens understood their religion was not a dangerous religion, Paul might be released.  So, Peter must have had Mark write the Gospel.

Accordingly, the Gospel according to Mark was regarded as authentic among early Christians since its release to the public.  Therefore, Matthew, Luke, and John who had never seen Christ Jesus living and preaching had to partly or mostly copy Mark, although they must have also heard some other facts from Peter or Mark, thus modifying the Gospel of Mark.     

But why did not Luke write the Paul and Peter met in Rome?  It is another mystery.
The Gospel of Mark or of Peter? 
There is extremely reliable evidence through church tradition and early church historians that the Gospel of Mark is actually the gospel of Peter. Peter is said to have dictated his discipleship with Jesus to John Mark, who was a companion of his for many of the later years of his life. If you read the Gospel of Mark you can see the extremely fine details of what appears to be an eyewitness from the perspective of Peter. John Mark was not ever a disciple of Jesus and he was not an apostle. There is little doubt that the work of Mark and his gospel is actually the story of Peter who retold the story and then was written down by John Mark. This is testified by the fact that Mark was not present for Jesus’ ministry and the extremely intimate details that are described in Mark. Some of the events where Peter, John, and James who were often alone with Jesus, like the Transfiguration, are like a first-person retelling of the story.
https://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/apostle-peter-biography-timeline-life-and-death/ 

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Luk 10:8 And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: