The Gospel of Mark, Acts and Ephesians - Essay Example

The Gospel of Mark, Acts and Ephesians The Bible is a collection of different books, each of which has a specific purpose. It makes the Bible a surprisingly interesting book that gives one the opportunity to become acquainted with the person of Jesus Christ, the peculiarities of the existence of the first Christian communities, including the history of their origin and development. In addition, the Bible is a treasure of Christian thought, the study of which allows one to understand the peculiarities of the Christian faith. It is of great interest to consider the books of Mark, Acts and Ephesians, since Mark describes Jesus as a healer able to help people, Acts focuses on the spread of the Christian Church throughout the world, and Ephesians can be regarded as a moral advice of the Apostle Paul in relation to God-pleasing life. The Gospel of Mark is a historical narrative of the affairs and the person of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, it cannot be called a biographical narrative. It says nothing about Jesus' birth, childhood, family, and education. In Gospel of Mark, there is no attempt to describe any period of Jesus' life in detail. It is almost a continuous series of episodes from the life of Christ. The last week of Jesus' life is described in more detail. Mark’s approach is characterized by a special objectivity. In his narrative, there are no comments, and the events seem to say for themselves. There is no attempt to hide or exaggerate the supernatural aspects of Jesus' life. Miracles performed by Jesus are always associated with the extreme need of any person (1:34, 1:41, 2:12, 3:10, 4:39, 5:29, 6:56, 7:30, 8:25, 9:27, 10:52, ). They are performed not in order to surprise the crowd, but in order to help people. The narrative is constructed as if Jesus is calmly and confidently moving towards His goal, making it clear that the outcome of his ministry will be a resurrection (8:31, 9:31, 10:34). Mark leaves the reader to decide him/herself whether Jesus is only a man. The main Mark’s goal is evangelism that is an attempt to introduce the person of Christ and His work as a new message - "Gospel" (in the truest sense of the word). Mark's narration does not involve theological training and knowledge of the Old Testament. His short stories, apt comments, and aphorisms may be the characteristic of a preacher, addressing to a diverse street crowd. One cannot state that the Gospel of Mark is the sample of a literary style, however, it conveys the image of Christ with remarkable accuracy and power. In turn, Acts is devoted to the creation of a Christian church and its development in the first thirty years of the existence of Christianity after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles, the idea of God's omnipotence is greatly emphasized: in spite of the diverse forms of stubborn resistance, the word of God is spreading on the earth, and people respond to it. Christianity is gaining power, and nothing can stop it. The first chapter deals with the appearance of Christ to his disciples after his death that leads many to verify the truth of the word of God (1:13, 1:14). Peter becomes one of the Apostles (1:17). On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is visiting all the apostles, and each of them begins to speak in different languages ​​(2: 4). From this day, the apostles begin their preaching, and the first preacher is Peter proclaiming Christ as the savior of the people (2:38). Apostles demonstrate the ability to healing (3: 9, 3:10). The apostles are faced with various problems, in particular, Peter and John are arrested, though they continue defending the truth of Christianity without fear of any guards or priests (4: 1, 4:20). As a result, they are released (4:21). The 19th chapter describes the preaching of Paul, who teaches and baptizes people from different countries (19: 6). After a while Paul's opponents from the Jews are trying to prevent him preaching (19:30). This gives Paul the opportunity to collect the most fervent supporters of his teaching, give them Christian instructions and go to Macedonia (20: 1). Performing various miracles Paul finds new followers there (20:12, 20:37). Finally, Ephesians can be regarded as a moral farewell of Paul, who is trying to justify the need for a righteous life and faith in Christ's name. His message is addressed in particular to the Gentiles, whose life in his opinion is not worthy of God’s respect and recognition due to the fact that it does not correspond to God's plan towards people. One of the main aspects of the book belongs to the question of the purpose of God's election. God chose people so they could be holy and blameless (1: 4). The main requirement for a person is the need of a sincere faith in God, through which one can receive the grace of God (2: 8). In this regard, Paul considers himself a prophet of God, whose mission is to discover the people the truth of God (3: 4). In subsequent chapters, Paul defends the idea of ​​the unity of God and the Christian church, which should unite all the people and bring them into the kingdom of God. This in turn requires people to love each other as God loves people (5: 2). True faith in God implies the ability to open one’s soul and live a righteous life devoid of sins. In addition, Paul’s moral farewell suggests recommendations regarding the relationship between the spouses and their children (5:22, 5:28, 6: 1). As one can see, each of the analyzed books of the Bible focuses either on the person of Christ as a healer, or on the idea of the omnipotence of Christianity by the example of its wide geographical spread as well as the moral and ethical ideas in relation to God-pleasing life. All this makes each part of the Bible unique and exclusive source of Christian faith and doctrine. Work Cited Holy Bible. n.d. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. Read More