| The first Gospel written was Mark's, and the earliest copies we have
end at Mark 16:8, when the women flee from Jesus' tomb after finding His
body missing. They don't mention the post-resurrection appearances, but these
copies do mention the resurrection. In Mark 16:6, the angel tells the women
that Jesus was resurrected. The remainder of the book of Mark quickly summarizes
the events of the next 40 days. So who wrote it? One possibility is that
Mark wrote it, but an early scribe left out the final twelve verses and they
were only re-added later on. But most scholars believe that the final verses
were written by someone other than Mark several years later. One early reference
work suggests they were added by Aristion, a student of John, under John's
authority, in the late first century. I don't think we'll ever know for sure
whether Mark ended at 16:8, or if he'd written a conclusion that was later
lost, but what we have of his Gospel does not shed any doubt on the resurrection
of Jesus. |