Home > Jesus is God in Mark's Gospel
The Gospel of Mark starts with the gospel of Jesus Christ and calls Jesus the "Son of God".
Mark 1:1 - "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God."
John Mark was companion of Peter and Paul. He was not an Apostle. The strongest case for Markan authorship comes from the writings of early church leaders who lived shortly after the apostolic age. Clement of Alexandria and Tertullian: Both early fathers echo the same tradition: the Gospel of Mark is essentially the recorded preaching of the Apostle Peter.
Mark opens his gospel with a direct and unambiguous statement that sets the theme for the entire book. The phrase "Son of God" is missing in the original hand of Codex Sinaiticus (325–350 AD), though it is present in Codex Vaticanus (300–350 AD).
Even without the phrase, the Father’s voice from heaven (v. 11) confirms His Sonship.
Mark 1:11 "and a voice came out of the heavens, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased."
The omission of "Son of God" in Sinaiticus () is widely recognized by textual critics as a classic case of parablepsis (the eye skipping text due to similar endings). The first corrector of Sinaiticus (), working almost immediately in the scriptorium, caught this obvious blunder and inserted the words back in.
It is present in Codex Vaticanus (B), Codex Bezae (D), Codex Freerianus (W), the Byzantine text-type, and critically, early Church Fathers who predate Sinaiticus by generations (like Irenaeus in Against Heresies and Origen).
Thus, Sinaiticus is an isolated exception. The phrase is firmly attested across the rest of the manuscript spectrum and by church fathers who lived centuries before Sinaiticus was even written.
While human beings within the narrative remain blind to Jesus' identity due to the "Messianic Secret"—a deliberate narrative device where Jesus conceals his identity from the crowds—the reader is granted immediate access to the cosmic truth known only to God, the demons (Mark 1:24, 5:7), and ultimately confessed by the Gentile world at the foot of the cross (Mark 15:39). Jesus seems to have hid His identity (to avoid a purely political/military uprising before the cross). The climax in Mark 15:39 (the Roman Centurion) proves that the title "Son of God" brackets the entire Gospel.
E. Tod Twist, “The Best Kept Secret,” in Study Like a Pro: Explore Difficult Passages from Every Book of the Bible, ed. John D. Barry and Rebecca Van Noord (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
Adela Yarbro Collins and Harold W. Attridge, Mark: A Commentary on the Gospel of Mark, Hermeneia—a Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2007), 172.
Mark Allan Powell, Fortress Introduction to the Gospels (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1998), 53–54.
In Mark, Jesus uses "Son of Man" more than "Son of God." The audience would have been far more familar with this Messianic title.
Daniel 7:13–14 "I saw in the night-visions, and, behold, there came with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed."
By claiming the title "Son of Man," Jesus was NOT denying his divinity; he was identifying himself as the pre-existent, cloud-riding heavenly figure who shares the throne, the glory, and the absolute worship due only to the Ancient of Days.
In this 1st-century Jewish context, this title was a claim to a divine, heavenly figure who receives worship and an everlasting kingdom.