Mark 1:1-3 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The beginning of the gospel That is, of the gospel history; of Jesus Christ, the Son of God Who was, or is, in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18, and came down from heaven, John 3:13, to reveal his Father's will unto us, to confirm his doctrine by a great variety of astonishing miracles, to set us a perfect example of every branch of piety and virtue, to expiate our sins by the sacrifice of himself, and to abolish death, with respect to such as believe aright in him, by rising from the dead as the first-fruits of them that sleep. The evangelist speaks with strict propriety in this sentence, for the beginning of the gospel is in the account of John the Baptist, contained in the first paragraph; the gospel itself in the rest of the book. Thus the verse must be considered as being connected with the following, and as signifying that the gospel of Jesus Christ began, according to the prediction of the prophets, with the preaching and baptism of John the Baptist. In styling Jesus the Son of God, while the other evangelists describe him chiefly as the Son of man, Mark gives him a title the most likely, as being the most august, to engage the attention and obedience of the Romans, those lords of the earth, to the religion which was promulgated by him. Behold, I send my messenger, &c. See notes on Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10. The voice of one, &c. See notes on Isaiah 40:3; Matthew 3:3.