Deck 5: The Earliest Good News-Marks Gospel

Question 1

The Gospels occur first in our Bibles because they were the first New Testament documents written.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The term "gospel" referred to oral proclamation about Jesus before it referred to the written documents in our New Testament.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The Gospels are written like various forms of modern literature.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Mark was a sometime companion of Paul sometime around A.D. 65-66 during the persecutions and executions of Christians in Rome by Nero

Question 5

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of ancient biographies?

A) They are objective and unbiased.
B) They are focused on the subject's character.
C) They are concerned with the subject's legacy.
D) They have a special focus on how the subject died.

Question 6

Which of the following IS a characteristic of ancient biographies?

A) They usually identify their sources of information.
B) They reveal the subject's character through his/her words and deeds, not through overt commentary.
C) They analyze their subjects psychologically, offering insight into their motivations.
D) They focus on the subject's achievements, not ethics.

Question 7

Which of the following best explains why Dr. Witherington treats the Gospel of Mark before Matthew, Luke, and John in your textbook?

A) Mark contains the most information about Jesus.
B) Mark is the longest Gospel.
C) Mark is the shortest Gospel.
D) Mark was the first Gospel to be written.

Question 8

The Greek word euaggelion means . . .

A) a tame spirit.
B) a haughty spirit.
C) good news.
D) bad news.

Question 9

The term "chreia" . . .

A) means greed.
B) refers to a source of information available to historians.
C) refers to a character-revealing anecdote.
D) is the plural form of "crayon."

Question 10

The earliest testimony that John Mark wrote the Gospel attributed to him comes from . . .

A) Paul.
B) Peter.
C) Josephus.
D) Papias.

Question 11

The main meaning of the phrase "word of God" in Acts and Paul refers to the . . .

A) Bible as a whole.
B) Old Testament.
C) New Testament.
D) oral proclamation of Good News about Jesus.

Question 12

According to early and reliable testimony, which of the following concerns guided Mark in composing his Gospel?

A) not to omit anything he remembered that Peter had said
B) not to say anything false about Jesus
C) to present the words and deeds of Jesus in a careful, chronological order
D) a and b
E) b and c

Question 13

According to your textbook, which of the following is most likely when Mark wrote his Gospel?

A) A.D. 30
B) A.D. 55
C) A.D. 68
D) A.D. 85

Question 14

According to your textbook, "Let the reader understand" is . . .

A) Jesus' word to Mark's audience.
B) Mark's word to readers of his Gospel.
C) Mark's word to the one reading his Gospel to his audience.
D) A later textual addition.

Question 15

Which of the following best describes the arrangement of the material in Mark's Gospel?

A) It is strictly chronological.
B) It is broadly chronological.
C) It is unrelated to chronology.
D) It is totally haphazard.

Question 16

Jesus' frequent commands to individuals not to tell anyone what he had done for them have given rise to a hypothesis called . . .

A) the Synoptic problem.
B) the messianic secret.
C) the "Q" hypothesis.
D) infralapsarianism.

Question 17

Who first suggested that Jesus' commands to silence in Mark's Gospel were created by Mark to cover up the historical fact that during his lifetime Jesus didn't really present himself as a messianic figure?

A) William Wrede
B) William the Conqueror
C) William Shakespeare
D) Helmut Thielicke

Question 18

The term "apocalyptic" comes from the Greek word apocalypsis, which means . . .

A) "cataclysm."
B) "end of the world."
C) "hidden."
D) "revelation of divine secrets."

Question 19

Jesus' silence commands in Mark's Gospel . . .

A) were a test of the person's obedience.
B) were due to his timetable and terms for revealing his messiahship.
C) were a challenge to the demonic spirits.
D) were reverse psychology inciting them to publicize his messiahship.

Question 20

The expression "Son of Man" points to Jesus' . . .

A) humanity.
B) deity.
C) both a and b
D) not a or b

Question 21

Mark uses the Greek term euthus, loosely translated as "immediately," in order to . . .

A) mark time and indicate something like "next" or "after that."
B) indicate an event that takes place immediately next in time.
C) Both a and b
D) Neither a nor b

Question 22

Jesus predicted that he would rise "after three days." He was crucified on Friday but was resurrected on Sunday, not Monday. According to Witherington, . . .

A) "three days" was a scribal error.
B) in Jewish reckoning, parts of a day were counted as a day.
C) Jesus really said "two days," but his disciples misheard him.
D) Jesus actually predicted "after three days," but he wanted to illustrate the importance of being early.

Question 23

According to Witherington, which type of Jesus' miracles caused the most surprise in his day?

A) healings
B) nature miracles
C) exorcisms
D) raising the dead

Question 24

What is the relationship between the amount of teaching material to the number of miracles and the amount of activity of Jesus in the Gospel of Mark?

A) It was way more activity than teaching.
B) It was way more teaching than activity.
C) It was slightly more teaching than activity.
D) It was about the same amount of teaching as activity.

Question 25

How has Mark arranged Jesus' teaching in his Gospel?

A) scattered throughout
B) in five blocks, modeling the five books of Moses
C) a Galilee section, a Samaria section, and a Judea section
D) in two small blocks

Question 26

The Jewish Sabbath began on . . .

A) Friday at sundown.
B) Saturday morning.
C) Saturday at noon.
D) Saturday at three o'clock.

Question 27

The Greek word "parabole" . . .

A) was used only of the typical short-story type of figure of speech we call a parable.
B) was used more broadly to include simple metaphors.
C) was never used by the Biblical writers or by Jesus.
D) was thought to have magical power.

Question 28

What did people of antiquity believe was the clearest indicator of a person's character?

A) the number of mourners at the person's funeral
B) the Zodiac sign under which the person was born
C) the person's relationship with his/her parents
D) how the person died

Question 29

According to your textbook, the original ending of Mark's Gospel was . . .

A) ". . . for they were afraid."
B) ". . . and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it."
C) ". . . the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation."
D) lost.

Question 30

Witherington suggests that if the ending of Mark's Gospel were reconstructed that . . .

A) it would involve Matthew 28:9-10 and 28:16-20 with small editorial subtractions of Matthean verbiage.
B) it would end like John's Gospel.
C) it would end like Luke's Gospel.
D) both a and c

Question 31

On what bases do most scholars conclude that John Mark was the author of the Gospel that bears his name?

Question 32

List three characteristic features of ancient biography, and evaluate Mark's Gospel on the basis of these criteria.

Question 33

Identify two or three subgenres within Mark's Gospel, and assess their theological significance.

Question 34

Assess the various explanations for Mark's abrupt ending at 16:8.