James F. Myers¹

JFM Ministries

I. INTRODUCTION

Advocates of baptismal regeneration and the continuation of sign gifts for the post-apostolic church often turn to Mark 16:16-20 for a proof text:

“He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.²

Those opposed to these two doctrines often dispute the authenticity of this proof text as a later addition by an editor, not Mark,³ or they ignore contextual data in interpreting Mark 16:16-20, thereby, missing its thrust. Regarding the latter, the most common approach is to deny the necessity of baptismal regeneration based upon the structure of the passage⁴ and to dismiss the continuation of sign gifts by citing dispensational distinctives. A simpler and more accurate approach emphasizes context. This article presents an alternative interpretation of Mark 16:16–20 based upon these contextual features of Mark 16.⁵

II. DISBELIEVING THE RESURRECTION (MARK 16:1-14)

On the day of Jesus’ resurrection, His scattered disciples were hiding. Privately they mourned, weeping because they did not believe Jesus’ predictions that He would rise from the dead.⁶ As the hours passed, they continued to doubt that their Lord had risen from the tomb, despite eyewitness testimony.

A. The Women (Mark 16:1-8)

Early on the third day after the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene and others came to the tomb to anoint His body, showing their unbelief in the resurrection. Upon reaching the tomb, they found the stone removed and an angel seated inside. Having informed them that Jesus had risen and was no longer in the tomb, the angel invited them to look and see where Jesus had lain. Then he commanded them to go and tell the disciples, especially Peter, that Jesus would meet them in Galilee, just as He had previously said. Fear caused the women to flee in terror without telling anyone, another obvious expression of unbelief.

B. Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9-10)

Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus alive after His death, burial, and resurrection. She had remained at the tomb where she met the resurrected Christ. John 20:13–17 indicates that initially she too disbelieved Christ’s resurrection.⁷ Nevertheless, after Jesus reiterated the angel’s command, she did indeed go and tell the hiding disciples who were mourning in unbelief (Mark 16:10).

C. The Disciples (Mark 16:11-14)

The disciples did not believe Mary’s report that Jesus was alive and that she had in fact seen Him. Later that same day, Jesus appeared to two of his followers going to Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:13-35). Likewise, these had not believed Jesus’ resurrection. However, when the Lord finally opened their eyes to His resurrection, they returned to Jerusalem to tell the other disciples. Once again, the eleven disciples did not believe their report, just as they had not believed Mary earlier.

III. JESUS’ RESPONSE (MARK 16:15-18)

That evening, Jesus appeared to all the disciples (Mark 16:14; cf. John 20:19-23) and rebuked their hardness of heart for disbelieving those who had seen Him after His resurrection. In verse 11, they did not believe. In verse 13, they did not believe. In verse 14, Jesus rebuked their unbelief… because they did not believe. Clearly, the disciples were unbelieving.

Unbelief in the resurrection and in the prophecies Jesus had given them about His resurrection resulted in the disciples’ fearfulness and retreat into hiding (John 20:19-25). They were also hard-hearted, that is, obstinate, stubborn, refusing to accept the truth even in light of clear and certain eyewitness evidence. Consequently, Jesus strongly rebuked their obduracy because they had not believed the testimony of the eyewitnesses.⁸ Mark does not give the content of Jesus’ rebuke to the disciples, which is consistent with the rest of his account in which he seldom gives the content of Jesus teaching, but merely reports that He taught.⁹ However, Mark does record the command Jesus gave after the rebuke. Since it immediately follows the rebuke, one ought not consider it an entirely new subject.

A. The Commission (Mark 16:15-16)

Most Christians regard the Great Commission passages as Matt 28:16-20, Luke 24:45-48, and Mark 16:15-16. The common references to going and to baptism cause many commentators to parallel all three passages. But Mark 16:15-16 is not parallel. Mark alone includes references to signs of healing, casting out demons, speaking in tongues, and protection from snakebites and poisons. These aspects set it apart from Matthew and Luke. There are further reasons for viewing the passage as distinct from the Great Commission.

B. The Occasion

The Mark 16 passage occurred on the day of Jesus’ resurrection, when He appeared to the disciples privately in Jerusalem as they ate a meal in hiding. Matthew’s Great Commission occurred before hundreds of disciples on a Galilean mountain designated by Jesus. Luke records what some have called His Great Commission on the day of Jesus’ ascension from the Mount of Olives near Bethany (Luke 24:46-49). The commissioning of His disciples was extremely important to our Lord. The fact that He taught it on a number of occasions to different audiences seems fitting.

The event in Mark’s account chronologically precedes those by Matthew and Luke. Moreover, the primary concern within the immediate context was His disciples’ unbelief. Having excoriated them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, Jesus commissioned them to go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). It is not necessary to move Mark’s event to Galilee, the Mount of Olives, or to parallel Matthew or Luke. Rather, it parallels John 20:19-23.

C. Addressees

Mark 16:14 portrays a private gathering around a table for those particular disciples whom the Lord would appoint as His apostles. The commission initiated in verse 15 addresses a select few (not all believers). Unfortunately, some commentators interpret Mark 16:15-16 as if verse 16 concerns non-Christians who will believe the gospel. Magically, these new believers become the subject of verses 17-18. Inserting a new group into the context creates unnecessary interpretive difficulties. Accordingly, to whom does Jesus address verses 16-18?

It is common for New Testament writers to give consequences of obedience versus disobedience immediately after an imperative. First then, what is the imperative or command? It is found in 16:15: preach the gospel. The responses to this imperative are in the following verse, he who believes… he who does not believe (16:16). Second, the consequence of belief and baptism is will be saved; the consequence of unbelief is will be condemned (also 16:16).

Many hold that verse 16 speaks of those who hear the gospel proclamation. An articular participle, he who believes, may indicate a general category applicable to the hearers of the apostolic proclamation. However, such a construction following an imperative normally addresses the same audience, in this case, the Eleven (cf. Mark 16:14). The flow of thought is this: They did not believe (16:11); they did not believe (16:13); they did not believe (16:14); he who believes (16:16). In light of this, the subjects of verse 16 are the apostles themselves.¹⁰

D. The Baptism of the Eleven

He who believes and is baptized…(Mark 16:16): Which baptism did Jesus mean? The two most common answers are water baptism (wet) and Holy Spirit baptism (dry), both of which Mark mentions (Mark 1:8). Some give this a dispensational twist, interpreting it as baptism by the Holy Spirit because it eliminates problems attendant with water baptism being salvific. The one who believes and whom the Holy Spirit baptizes, God will eternally save. Yet, this unnecessarily introduces a concept not germane to the passage, one that would not only have been obscure to the disciples at the time but is also tautological. It is like saying that one who believes and is justified will be saved.

Mark also refers to another baptism (discussed in Luke 12:50–53) which better fits the passage. Namely, it is the baptism of Christ’s death of which He spoke in Mark 10:38–39, saying with the baptism I am baptized with, you will be baptized. This reference to chapter 10 is not nearly so distant as the previous reference to water baptism found in chapter 1. In addition, it is clearly not so distant as Matt 28:19, to which some commentators refer.

The baptism spoken of in Mark 10 easily fits the context of Mark 16. Jesus had already told the disciples of a future baptism for them, the very baptism that He would experience at the cross.¹¹ In addition, if this baptism indicated submission to the Father’s plan, even to the point of humiliation, suffering, and death, then this fits both passages quite well. After all, in this baptism the disciples indeed shared in the sufferings of Christ for the sake of the gospel.

E. The Salvation of the Eleven

Many Christians immediately assume that the word save speaks of salvation unto eternal life. This grievous error leads to a multitude of false conclusions. In the Bible, the verb save (or its noun form, salvation) usually refers to a different kind of salvation. Marcan usage conforms to this pattern.¹² In other instances, English translates the Greek term (“saved”) in ways other than saved: 5:23 (be healed); 5:28 (made well); 5:34 (be healed); 6:56 (made well); and 10:52 (made you well). Jesus’ words in Mark 8:35 are particularly applicable: For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. Saved in what sense? Saved from the condemnation announced at the end of the passage: saved from a wasted life.

F. The Possibility of Condemnation

In Mark, 16:16, Jesus continued by declaring the consequences of unbelief: he who does not believe will be condemned. As with the word salvation, readers tend to conclude falsely that the word condemned must mean eternal condemnation. This leads to unwarranted conclusions. Louw-Nida defines it as, “to judge someone as definitely guilty and thus subject to punishment.”¹³

The punishment referred to in the New Testament is usually physical and temporal. Mark’s two other usages of the word both refer to physical death as condemnation (Mark 10:33; 14:64). The word, as used by other authors, usually refers to a temporal judgment, not an eternal condemnation as the penalty for sin (cf. Rom 14:23; Heb 11:7; 2 Pet 2:6). Although this word can apply to eternal condemnation, context determines its interpretation. Its usual sense of punishing one found guilty of wrong applies in Mark 16. If the disciples would not believe and identify themselves with Christ’s sufferings (their wrong), they could expect divine discipline for their unbelief and hardheartedness (the punishment).

G. Summary (Mark 16:15-16)

Mark 16:15 commissioned only those who would become His apostles. Jesus then followed this commission with an exhortation to believe and be baptized. The immediate object of their faith must be the truth of their Savior’s resurrection.¹⁴ Jesus sharply rebuked the Eleven for not believing His resurrection. Nevertheless, those apostles who believed that God raised Jesus from the dead and were baptized into His humiliation and suffering through obedience to God’s plan would be delivered (16:16a). God would find guilty and discipline any of the Eleven who would disbelieve the resurrection.

IV. THE SIGN GIFTS (MARK 16:17-18)

The rest of this passage relates specifically to the eleven disciples (not to others), so one would also expect this for verse 17. Second Corinthians 12:12 states that the signs of an apostle were signs, wonders and mighty deeds. These were to authenticate apostolic credentials, not the reception of eternal life. Therefore, when Mark 16:17 says, these signs shall follow them [those apostles] that believe, it does not speak of those who believe through apostolic preaching, but of the apostles themselves. Those of the Eleven who would believe in the resurrected Savior (not for eternal salvation, but to enable apostolic ministry) and were baptized (Mark 10:38-39) would do the miraculous things specified. Jesus instructed them and promised that the supernatural signs would follow those apostles who would believe.

The book of Acts and this interpretation harmonize. Only apostles (and two of their close associates) actually healed people. Paul alone survived a snakebite. The New Testament does not mention occasions of drinking poison. The casting out of demons was, again, basically an apostolic role. Though others outside the apostolic group experienced tongues, they most certainly did not perform the other signs. The New Testament neither teaches that Christians in general would perform other signs, nor gives examples that they did. Moreover, the fact that others besides the eleven disciples spoke in tongues does not change Jesus’ audience or the content of His words in Mark 16:15–18.

With the singular exception of the apostle Paul,¹⁵ context confines verses 17-18 to the eleven disciples present at the table when Christ appeared to them, beginning in verse 14. There is no reason to apply this to all following believers of that day or now, as many charismatics, Pentecostals, and others seek to do. The miraculous manifestations of verses 17-18 would accompany those of the Eleven (later to include the apostle Paul) who as apostles believed in the resurrection and were obedient to the sufferings of gospel ministry.

Verse 20 reinforces that this pericope is focused on the disciples in the upper room. They indeed went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Their unbelief was gone. Their belief was strong; they endured the baptism of suffering and humiliation for the sake of their Lord. They were saved from the shame and discipline that would have come upon them had they not gone from unbelief to belief. The veracity of the gospel they preached was validated through the miraculous signs which accompanied their message.

V. BAPTISM OF THE CUP

The word baptize (from baptizō) is transliterated straight from Greek into English, which offers little understanding regarding the meaning of the word. Various definitions include: “to put or go under water in a variety of senses;”¹⁶ “to immerse for a religious purpose;”¹⁷ “consisting of the processes of immersion, submersion and emergence;”¹⁸ “the application of water as a rite of purification or initiation; a Christian sacrament;”¹⁹ “to dip in or under;” “to dye;” “to immerse;” “to sink;” “to drown;” “to bathe;” and “to wash.”²⁰

In passages such as Matt 26:23, Mark 14:20, Luke 16:24, John 13:26, and Rev 19:13 [all of which contain baptō, the root word of baptizō], the definitions given above are applicable and make good sense, but in numerous other passages they simply will not work. This is because these definitions all involve a liquid such as water, blood, or a solution for dyeing something. But there are other types of baptisms which do not involve a liquid solution at all. For example, in Matt 3:11, it is stated that Jesus would baptize with fire and with the Holy Spirit. Clearly there is no water in those two baptisms; they are dry baptisms.

From a study of baptizō and related words in their contexts, a definition can be derived: “to place into or identify with.” That is, in baptism, one thing or person is placed into or identified with another thing or person. It is an action which signifies identification with someone or something. The identification may be symbolic through ritual, or it may be an actual identification. In a ritual baptism, a person or object is identified with water or other substance which represents someone or something else. This may be a ceremonial washing or cleansing of objects (Mark 7:4, 8; Heb 6:2; 9:10). It may be a ritual in which a person is immersed in water to indicate identification with a person or an object (Acts 1:5; 1 Cor 1:16). Ritual baptisms serve as a public testimony, a declaration by the person being baptized that he desires to be identified with the reality of whatever the water signifies. However, in a real baptism, a person is actually identified with someone or something else, but without ritual (1 Cor 10:1–2; 12:13).

There are eight different baptisms in the New Testament. Three are ritual baptisms, and five are real identifications. The first of the rituals is the baptism of Jesus, which was His public anointing as prophet and priest in terms of His ministry and His identification with the Father’s plan for the Incarnation. The second ritual baptism is that of John the Baptist to identify the Jews of his day with his message that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. The third ritual baptism is believer’s baptism by immersion in water as a public declaration that the believer is now identified with Jesus Christ.

The other five baptisms found in the New Testament, designated as real baptisms as opposed to a ritual baptism, do not involve an identification that concerns water, i.e., these are dry baptisms. In Mark 1:8, John the Baptist gave a prophecy that Jesus would baptize by means of God the Holy Spirit. This occurred for the first time on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 (see also Acts 1:5; 11:16). The apostle Paul indicated in 1 Cor 12:13 that this baptism is common to all church age believers and is the means by which the body of Christ is formed. In the baptism of Noah (1 Pet 3:20-21), those who were in the ark were delivered from temporal judgment. There is a corresponding baptism which can now deliver the believer from temporal judgment in his life, which is identification with the resurrected Christ through godly living. The baptism of Moses, mentioned in 1 Cor 10:2, is an identification of the children of Israel with Moses as they went through the Red Sea. The baptism of fire mentioned by John the Baptist refers to judgment and is likely a reference to judgments at the Second Advent of Christ to the earth.

Then there is the baptism called the baptism of the cup. It is sometimes referred to as the baptism of the cross, which is not apt because this baptism is not unique to Jesus but is one to be shared by the disciples. In Mark 10:38-39, both the cup and the baptism are brought together. It is striking that Jesus would declare to the disciples that they would share in His baptism. Two primary interpretations of this are: (1) the disciples would be identified with Christ on the cross through positional sanctification. That is, they themselves would not go to the cross to pay for the sins of others as Christ was doing, but that their lives would be identified with His as He hung on the cross (Rom 6:3-4, 6; Gal 2:20); or (2) just as Christ was to suffer at the hands of sinners for righteousness’ sake, so too the disciples would suffer at the hands of others undeservedly. Thus, their identification with Christ’s suffering would be experiential, though not identical. Peter and Paul both spoke of sharing in the sufferings of Christ in this sense (1 Pet 4:13; Phil 3:10).

The disciples to whom Jesus spoke were not sent to a cross to bear the sins of the world. Yet Jesus clearly said that in the future, they would be baptized with the same baptism that Jesus was undergoing. This cannot be a reference to Jesus’ water baptism because that was a past event. It cannot refer to the baptism by the Holy Spirit, for that is something that Jesus did not experience.

The cup as a metaphor for experiencing something is used throughout Scripture, usually referring to judgment. Jesus used it several times in reference to His suffering leading up to the cross as well as the experience of the cross itself (Matt 26:39, 42; John 18:11). So in saying, “you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized,” Jesus meant that the disciples would also encounter unjust and undeserved suffering because of their faith in Christ.

Understanding the baptism of Mark 16 in this light makes good sense in the context. If the disciples would believe in the resurrection of Christ and were willing to endure this cup of humiliation and suffering, they would be delivered from the consequences of living a life of unbelief.

VI. CONCLUSION

Those who advocate baptismal regeneration and the continuation of sign gifts often base their thinking on a particular understanding of Mark 16:16-20. Christians who disagree with these two doctrines also have become so accustomed to other interpretations of this passage that it becomes difficult to think of it in any other way. Nevertheless, a careful preview of the immediate context in Mark 16 reveals that our Lord addressed the eleven disciples when He rebuked their unbelief in the resurrection. If the disciples were to believe in His resurrection and identify with His sufferings as they proclaimed the gospel, He would deliver them from the promised divine temporal discipline for unbelief. When these disciples believed in Christ’s resurrection, accompanying supernatural signs would validate their gospel preaching.

APPENDIX

The Traditional Argument against Baptismal Regeneration

Four categories of persons emerge from Mark 16:16: (1) Those who believe and are baptized; (2) those who believe and are not baptized; (3) those who do not believe and are baptized; and (4) those who do not believe and are not baptized.

Action	Result
Belief and baptism	Saved
Belief and no baptism	Not stated
Baptism, but no belief	Condemned
No belief and no baptism	Condemned

 

Since the one who does not believe is condemned, it matters not whether someone baptizes him. However, since the verse says nothing about those who believe but are not baptized, one who takes the passage in a traditional way may not conclude such are not eternally saved because the verse does not address this.²¹ As A. T. Robertson states concerning Mark 16:16, “Condemnation rests on disbelief, not on baptism. So salvation rests on belief. Baptism…[is] not the means of securing it.”²² This interpretation assumes that the ones referred to are non-Christians who respond to the proclamation of the gospel.

Although the traditional interpretation correctly rejects baptismal regeneration, it does not handle the repeated motif of the disciples’ unbelief in Christ’s resurrection. Under that approach, Mark 16:15-18 appears suddenly without any transition. This article’s view finds a stronger contextual basis than the traditional view, because the context flows naturally through these verses.

____________________

¹ This is an updated version of James F. Myers, “Mark 16:16–18: An Alternate View” Chafer Theological Seminary Journal 7 (January 2001): 2-12.

² Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture citations are from the NKJV, New King James Version (Nashville: Nelson, 1982).

³ This article assumes that the text of Mark 16:16–20 is not a scribal addition, but original to Mark’s account.

⁴ See the appendix.

⁵ Two excellent defenses of the authenticity of this passage are John W. Burgon, The Last Twelve Verses of the Gospel according to S. Mark (London: 1871; reprint, Ann Arbor, MI: Sovereign Grace, 1959); William R. Farmer, The Last Twelve Verses of Mark, SNTSMN, vol. 25, ed. Matthew Black (Cambridge: University Press, 1969).

⁶ Mark 8:31; 9:31; 10:34.

⁷ In John 20:13, she thought that people had moved Jesus. Clearly, she was thinking in terms of a dead body.

⁸ The word for “rebuke” is severe, sometimes implying insult, reviling, justifiably reproaching a person because of his guilt.

⁹ Of all four Gospels, Mark quotes the lowest percentage of Jesus’ words. See, A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in Light of Historical Research, 4th ed. (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1934), 1405.

¹⁰ Editor’s note: The appendix considers traditional alternatives to baptismal regeneration.

¹¹ The baptism of Mark 10 cannot be the baptism of the Spirit, for Jesus did not experience this. Furthermore, Holy Spirit baptism never occurred prior to Acts 2. Acts 1:5 regards Spirit baptism as yet future.

¹² Cf. Mark 3:4; 8:35; 10:26; 13:13, 20; 15:30–31; 16:16.

¹³ Johannes P. Louw and Eugene A. Nida, eds., Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: UBS, 1988), 556.

¹⁴ The resurrection is foundational to the apostolic message of eternal life through faith alone in Christ alone (Acts 2:24–32; 3:15; 4:10, etc.).

¹⁵ Paul was not present in Mark 16, since his conversion occurred in Acts 9.

¹⁶ W. Arndt, F. W. Danker, W. Bauer, and F. W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 164.

¹⁷ E. W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1975), 80.

¹⁸ W. E. Vine and F. F. Bruce, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Old Tappan NJ: Revell, 1981), 2:96.

¹⁹ M. F. Unger, R. K., Harrison, H. F. Vos, and C. J. Barber, The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, rev. and updated ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1988).

²⁰ The NT uses baptō only in the literal sense, e.g., “to dip” (Lk. 16:24), “to dye” (Rev. 19:13), and baptizō only in a cultic sense, mostly “to baptize.” (G. Kittel, Friedrich, and G. W. Bromiley, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1985], 92.)

²¹ From the standpoint of this article, verse 16 would not speak of either eternal salvation or eternal condemnation at all.

²² A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman, 1930), 1:405.