Faith And The Gospel Of Mark

“Faith alone is the saving and efficacious use of the Word of God, according to Rom. 10{:9}” (16).

Many people would agree that without faith, the world would be in chaos. The book Christian Foundation by Kathleen Fischer and Thomas Hart gives an interpretation on faith in our time. Many people would question the definition of faith. Faith is a gift, which is given by God to have trust in him and belief in him. This book is a great entry in anyone's life that has speculation on his or her own faith. The book has many ways into understanding ones own religion. It discusses the Bible, Jesus, Church, God's existence and Images of God. All of these chapters helped me get a better interpretation of what my religion entailed.

Faith is a simple word that has such a powerful meaning and application. To have faith in something, requires an act of trust. People can place their faith in many things, finances, careers, health, even loved ones. Abraham, however, chose a different path; he placed his faith in the Lord. For Abraham to do this was no small task or sacrifice, he was already prosperous and had amounted great wealth. By choosing to follow God, he would be leaving all those things behind. In Genesis 12:1-2, we see the Lord command Abraham to leave all these things behind in return for His great blessing. With great faith, Abraham obeyed and his life's journey began. Promising him many wonderful things, the Lord made a special covenant

Faith is belief in something unknown or unseen. It is belief in something you don’t have control over. It is trust that someone or something is correct, even if you have never really experienced it. It is the assumption of something that you fully put your trust in, that it is correct and unshakeable. Faith is belief in something wholly without fail. In the case of Christianity and Jesus, it is the belief of life and forgiveness for all if only you have faith in God. A characteristic of faith that people most often don’t usually think about is the act of practicing your faith. A person might say they have faith in God and believe in Him but people often say

What is faith? Is it a feeling, a thought, or a concept? As Martin Luther said in his book Freedom of a Christian, faith is “God’s work in us, that changes us and gives new birth from God.” When one thinks of faith, they maybe think about their personal relationship with God and the unconditional love He has. “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” The Word of God cannot be interpreted by any works but only by faith. Martin Luther had stated that, “It is clear that, as the soul needs only the Word of God for its life and righteousness, so it is justified by faith alone and not any works.” (Janz, A Reformation Reader, pg 109)

Faith Is also a verb in a way, faith is a verb because it means we must act on what we believe. Faith, as we have seen, is the theological virtue of being secure in our belief that God is real and that His Son died on the cross for our sins. It is taking that in a trusting acceptance of what God wants us to do and then going out and doing what we are told. This information was received from https://www.allaboutreligion.org/definition-of-faith-faq.htm

The Gospel of Mark is a fast-moving, succinct, and informative gospel thought to be originally written by John Mark, using Simon Peter’s eye-witness accounts. The author seems to place emphasis around the meaningful events and moments in the life of Jesus Christ, such as his suffering, crucifixion, and messianic secret. However, the gospel is primarily centered around Jesus’ teachings, especially honing in on the beginning of Jesus’ Ministry. Jesus as a teacher and the discipleship are key factors to the gospel’s proposed message — Jesus Christ gave his life in service to the world. Therefore, humans are to learn from his message and teachings. In Mark 12:38-44, these themes of discipleship, suffering, and Jesus as a teacher are represented as there is an obvious gap between the affluent scribes’ offering for the treasury and the widow’s gift of “all that she had to live on” (NRSV, Mark 12:44). Jesus takes this opportunity to continue his teaching by summoning his disciples and pointing out the different contributions to the temple treasury, while making a notable commentary on the social and socio-economic situation that the scribes have created — a situation that lead to poverty for the widow.

The topic of faith is very controversial. Many believe it is merely an idea of fiction, while others hold on to miracles. For me, faith has provided comfort and strength. There is so much more to learn in my Christianity.

Faith as defined by the Merriam –Webster Dictionary is a noun. Faith could mean having confidence or trust in a person or thing, a belief that is not based on proof, a code of ethics or the belief in God or the doctrines or teachings of religion. Faith is something that many struggle with, especially when their trust has been compromised or broken.

The definition of faith from Merriam-Webster dictionary is the complete trust or confidence in someone or something, and the strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.

The Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John all wrote about Jesus differently because of when they were written. The Gospel of Mark, written during 70 CE, portrayed Jesus as a suffering servant, apocalyptic preacher, and miracle worker (Frigge, 163). Mark was written when the second temple had fallen, and the Romans were in complete control. Seen as being closely related to Saint Paul, Mark was assumed to have lived to see when Nero persecuted the Christians, especially the disciples Paul, Peter, and James (Frigge, 163). With Mark’s gospel, he wrote about not only Jesus’s passion story and death but also, the miracles he performed and the way he interacted with his disciples (Frigge, 164). Mark wrote Jesus as the authoritative son of God

Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” The biblical definition of faith is “trusting in something you cannot explicitly prove.” In other words, faith requires trust in all that is worthy of believing in. For many people, faith means a belief in some higher power.

Faith is defined as the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen. Many people choose to either believe

The Bible consists of four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Gospel of Mark is considered to be the first gospel written, although some may disagree with that. Written between 50 AD and 67 AD and being originally drafted in Greek. It was addressed to the Gentile Christians and reached out to members of the community being persecuted, even to death for their beliefs and emphasised the humanity of Jesus. There is no known author of the Gospel of Mark, which is why many people believe it is written on opinion. There is a belief that the author of this Gospel may be John Mark. The gospel illustrates Jesus as a humanist and tells us how the Christian population believed Jesus was the Messiah. Mark is able to capture Jesus as not only a healer, but also a teacher throughout the gospel. We believe the Gospel is written to portray Jesus as the suffering servant and to help emphasise Jesus as a humanist.

Though Mark is the shortest of the four gospels, it seems to be the most “action packed” of them all. Mark also tells the events in more of a chronological order than the other gospels. Skipping the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth, the gospel of Mark begins with verse one proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then continues straight to John the Baptist preaching and preparing the people for the coming of the Messiah. Only nine verses into the opening chapter, Jesus enters the scene. He is coming to be baptized by John. After coming up out of the water, the heavens are opened. In Mark 1:11, God speaks from heaven saying, “this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Here we learn from the Father himself that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the Son of God.