Mark 1:27

Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο; διδαχὴ καινή ([159][160][161] 33). These abrupt sentences have been smoothed in different ways in [162] and [163] and other texts.

[159] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[160] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[161] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[162] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.
[163] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mark 1:17 to Mark 6:31; Mark 8:5 to Mark 12:29; Mark 13:19 to Mark 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

27. ἐθαμβήθησαν ἅπαντες. Lk. has ἐγένετο θάμβος ἐπὶ πάντας. In N.T. Mk alone uses θαμβέομαι, and Lk. alone uses θάμβος. But Lk., far more often than all other N.T. writers put together, uses the strong form ἅπας. Just as Christ’s rebuke to the demon reveals the two things which provoked the rebuke (see on Mark 1:25), so the people’s utterance reveals the two things which excited their astonishment, His authoritative teaching and His casting out the unclean spirit with a word. Cf. Matthew 7:28.

συνζητεῖν. Freq. in Mk, elsewhere twice in Lk. and twice in Acts. It is usually followed by πρός.

Τί ἐστιν τοῦτο; See crit. note. The text of [193][194][195] 33 and other cursives gives the utterances of the congregation in abrupt short sentences and is probably original. But the punctuation is doubtful: διδαχὴ καινή may be interrogative, and κατʼ ἐξουσίαν may be taken either with what precedes or with what follows. Διδαχὴ καινή is probably the answer to τί ἐστιν τοῦτο; and Lk. is in favour of taking κατʼ ἐξ. with what follows. It is barely possible to take κατʼ ἐξ. (with ἐστιν understood) as a separate sentence. The recently discovered MS. acquired by Mr C. L. Freer has “What is this new, this authoritative teaching, and that He commandeth even the unclean spirits and they obey Him?” See Appendix.

[193] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[194] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mark 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[195] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mark 1:1 to Mark 10:15; Mark 10:30 to Mark 15:1; Mark 15:20 to Mark 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mark 16:8 and Mark 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

καινή. “New” in reference to quality, “fresh,” not worn out or obsolete; whereas νέος is “new” in reference to time, “young,” not aged. But, excepting in Mark 2:22 and parallels, καινός cannot be translated “fresh”: “fresh covenant,” “fresh heaven,” “fresh Jerusalem” are intolerable.

καὶ τοῖς πνεύμασι τ. ἀκ. Even the spirits, the unclean ones. The repetition of the art. makes the adj. a separate idea. They had often heard of exorcisms; they had not so often heard that the demons at once obeyed. Cf. the Testaments (Benj. Mark 1:2), καὶ τὰ�ʼ ὑμῶν. Cf. καὶ ὁ ἄνεμος (Mark 4:41), καὶ τὰ δαιμόνια (Luke 10:17). Christ’s miracles, like His teaching, were not an art which He had acquired, but ἐξουσία with which He was endowed.