Mark 16:18

[retired firefighter]

what's you're interpretation of Mark 16:18 ?

 

[Maria Billingsley]

what's you're interpretation of Mark 16:18 ?

A great faith passage but not to be taken literally. Blessings.

 

[HTacianas]

what's you're interpretation of Mark 16:18 ?

If you read Mark 16:17 you'll probably find the answer to your question.

Mar 16:17 “And these signs will follow those who believe..."

Note that it says "these signs shall follow those who believe" and not "every single person who believes will do all -or any- of these things". Those signs have generally followed the Church throughout history, but nowhere near all who believe have ever done any of those things.

 

[rocknanchor]

"To the pure, all things are pure; but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure."

 

[sandman]

what's you're interpretation of Mark 16:18 ?

I don’t remember where I copied these two paragraphs from but I thought I would throw it in.

In red brackets





[[[[[ A Christian named Marinus wrote to Eusebius (c. AD 265–339) to ask for help resolving a perceived contradiction between Matthew and Mark. Marinus asked why Matthew (28:1) says Jesus appeared “late on the Sabbath,” but Mark (16:9) says Jesus appeared “early on the first day of the week.” Eusebius responded that one possible solution to this problem was simply to reject Mark 16:9 as not part of Mark’s Gospel. “[T]he accurate ones of the copies define the end of the history according to Mark [at 16:8] . . . in this way the ending of the Gospel according to Mark is defined in nearly all the copies.”

Think about that. Eusebius told a Christian whose Bible contained Mark 16:9–20 that “nearly all the copies” of Mark, including “the accurate ones” lacked these verses, so they might not be inspired Scripture. And Eusebius didn’t have a problem saying that! ]]]]]



Although there is no contradiction between Mat & Mark… and there doesn’t appear to be any discrepancies or deviation from the rest of the Word in Mark_16:9-20 …so you can take that for what it’s worth.

There is one thing I will add regarding this verse.

Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

As someone else stated ….the context of this are the signs of those that believe. However (and I am sorry to disappoint the snake handlers) serpents was a common Aramaic idiom for enemies.

Jesus spoke Aramaic.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

You have to take it at face value and confess the reality of it.
These signs follow me because I believe. I speak in new tongues. I cast out devils in Jesus name. I lay hands on the sick and they recover. If I drink of any deadly thing, it will not harm me. I can take up snakes. I can do what he says I can do. I am well able to the things he says I can do.
If you are not willing to make this confession with your mouth... chances are you will not be the kind of vessel that He can use.
Every time I walk into a public place, I try to remember to confess that "when I am around people, sometimes they get better."
I just do it. I want these things to happen, and I know because of the strength of His word and because I am willing to submit to it, they will.

 

[Carl Emerson]

You have to take it at face value and confess the reality of it.
These signs follow me because I believe. I speak in new tongues. I cast out devils in Jesus name. I lay hands on the sick and they recover. If I drink of any deadly thing, it will not harm me. I can take up snakes. I can do what he says I can do. I am well able to the things he says I can do.
If you are not willing to make this confession with your mouth... chances are you will not be the kind of vessel that He can use.
Every time I walk into a public place, I try to remember to confess that "when I am around people, sometimes they get better."
I just do it. I want these things to happen, and I know because of the strength of His word and because I am willing to submit to it, they will.

Unless I have misunderstood you...

The danger of this approach is that belief is being confused with faith.

Confessing you believe something is not faith unless He has spoken to you personally about it.

While confessing what you are capable of in Him is good, never forget that Jesus could only do what He saw the Father doing.

So it takes more than believing possibilities - faith to act only comes from hearing His specific directive to act first.

Faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ.

Someone needs healing - until He by the Spirit directs you to pray and lay on hands for healing, you are not in faith.

Just yesterday I was in a car park and someone called out to me - I had not seen the guy for maybe 3 years when he was living in a car.

We both knew it was a divine appointment. The chances of meeting were just about zip. He spoke of getting to a better place with Jesus.

As we conversed He spoke of a neck injury and on the spot in the car park I recalled the verse "If you confess your sins to one another and pray for one another you will be healed...." So I asked Him if he had anything to confess - which He did... Mindful that this was a divine appointment and with His confirming Peace - I placed my hand on the back of His neck and played as in Acts 4 for the Father to extend His hand to heal. At once he was overcome with a sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit doing His work.

Now if I tried that with anyone else in the car park without first hearing the will of God in the heart and seeing in the Spirit what the Father wanted to do - I would be in presumption and not faith - having not specifically heard first.

Faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ.

Sadly this is not often taught.

 

[Dosblade]

That verse start of with "they" so something came before it "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;".

So you believe or not? Not about any other believer. Do you believe or not. Its that name faith in that name..

 

[Carl Emerson]

That verse start of with "they" so something came before it "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;".

So you believe or not? Not about any other believer. Do you believe or not. Its that name faith in that name..

Does this mean collectively or individually is an important question.

As the Spirit gives gifts in the Body as He wills then not all have every gift.

But together in healthy fellowship these signs will evidence His Kingship.

 

[ARBITER01]

what's you're interpretation of Mark 16:18 ?

Although serpents is obviously meaning enemies, I take the passage literally. We are to be doers of His word, not ones who find ways to ignore it.

The only problem I might have with the whole of the passage is that most manuscripts are not in agreement with what the passage is actually suppose to say. From what I read a while back, not many of the manuscripts agree together on it, the ones that have it.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I don’t remember where I copied these two paragraphs from but I thought I would throw it in.

In red brackets





[[[[[ A Christian named Marinus wrote to Eusebius (c. AD 265–339) to ask for help resolving a perceived contradiction between Matthew and Mark. Marinus asked why Matthew (28:1) says Jesus appeared “late on the Sabbath,” but Mark (16:9) says Jesus appeared “early on the first day of the week.” Eusebius responded that one possible solution to this problem was simply to reject Mark 16:9 as not part of Mark’s Gospel. “[T]he accurate ones of the copies define the end of the history according to Mark [at 16:8] . . . in this way the ending of the Gospel according to Mark is defined in nearly all the copies.”

Think about that. Eusebius told a Christian whose Bible contained Mark 16:9–20 that “nearly all the copies” of Mark, including “the accurate ones” lacked these verses, so they might not be inspired Scripture. And Eusebius didn’t have a problem saying that! ]]]]]



Although there is no contradiction between Mat & Mark… and there doesn’t appear to be any discrepancies or deviation from the rest of the Word in Mark_16:9-20 …so you can take that for what it’s worth.

There is one thing I will add regarding this verse.

Mar 16:18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

As someone else stated ….the context of this are the signs of those that believe. However (and I am sorry to disappoint the snake handlers) serpents was a common Aramaic idiom for enemies.

Jesus spoke Aramaic.

It has been discovered that the Greek text of the ending of Mark is consistent with the rest of the book in that the words are equally divisible by 7 without a remainder. The odds of this happening by chance, or by human design is about 3 million to 1. This shows that although Mark was the author, the overall designer of the book is the Holy Spirit, and this includes the ending of it. It is thought that the Alexandrian scribes, being more conservative decided to leave off the Mark ending to comply with their particular theology.

Other church fathers preceding Eusebius quoted the Mark ending, showing that in the earliest manuscripts preceding the 4th Century Alexandrian, included the ending. This fact, plus the continued miraculous word format consistent with the rest of the book, gives credence that the ending of Mark is of the Holy Spirit just as the rest of the book is.

I don't know how the references of ingesting poison and handling snakes should be interpreted, but if we take other Scriptures into account, such as "You shall not test the Lord your God", then deliberately doing those things is certainly not advisable and does not guarantee God's protection against the consequences. A better explanation could be described by Paul accidentally having a viper attach itself to his hand on Malta without any harm coming to himself. I don't know of any reference where a person has ingested poison by accident and survived without harm. Perhaps somewhere in Church History.

 

[retired firefighter]

That verse start of with "they" so something came before it "And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues;".

So you believe or not? Not about any other believer. Do you believe or not. Its that name faith in that name..

i believe every word