ordinary christianity for the world.
Marking God's Word — Understanding Jesus
by Phillip A. Ross
Second Edition, 340 pages.
There is much confusion in and out of the church about Christianity—Jesus' life, Jesus' teachings, Jesus' death and Jesus' resurrection. Is confusion about the gospel of Jesus Christ new to the contemporary world? When did the confusion begin? What is the confusion about? How have people dealt with it? These are the questions that have guided this commentary on Mark.
Marking God's Word will help you see the gospel with new eyes, to help free you from a perspective that has been obscured by sin and selfishness. Yet, it does not offer a new perspective. Rather, it provides an old perspective that has a long and noble history of reformation and revival. It is simply a walk through the Gospel of Mark that will show you many gospel truths that you are not likely to be familiar with. Think of it as a new adventure down an old path.
Come, see Christ again, for the first time.
From the Back Cover
As Jesus began His ministry He was met with much misunderstanding and disbelief. No one seemed to know what He was doing or talking about. His friends and family misunderstood Him. Even the twelve disciples failed to understand the gospel until Jesus returned in His resurrected form to ex-plain it to them. We find story after story of Jesus being misunderstood or attempting to correct many popular misunderstandings that were in circulation at the time. Those stories and misunderstandings centered on the miracles and wonders that seemed to accompany Jesus wherever He went. People were tempted to make Him into a sort of magician. Crowds came, not to hear His preaching, but to see wonders and receive miracles. They came for what they could get for themselves or for their families.
The disciples, like most everyone else in Mark’s gospel, were focused on themselves and what they could get from Jesus. In exasperation Jesus finally contradicted their self-centeredness with a clear expression of His intent. "Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Mark 8:34). The disciples had been in it for own their glory, Christ was in it for the cross and God's glory.
Christians from a variey of perspectives will be challenged to read Scripture more carefully. Those who have an interest in Christian theology, or who are concerned about the state of the churches and of Christianity generally will find much grist for the mill here.
Christian seminary students will discover many ideas for papers and dissertations in these pages. And yet the ideas are not new or novel, but come from the lips of Jesus Himself. Indeed, the Protestant perspective can be clearly seen as Mark tells the story of Jesus.
