Tim Barnett clarifies that even the earliest manuscripts of Mark—before the so-called “long ending”—explicitly say Jesus has risen.
Transcript
Original Video: What is the biggest, most blatant misconception of Christianity? The scene in Mark where Jesus returns from the dead and shows the disciples that he’s risen—that’s not in the oldest manuscripts. In the oldest manuscripts—the ones that are dated to the second, third, and fourth century—he doesn’t come back. It literally ends tragically with the women weeping at the tomb. Then, in the manuscript tradition after the fifth century is when you start seeing an extra 21 verses get added to the Bible about Jesus coming back and saying, “Hey, look, I’m risen.”
Tim: Whoa, whoa, whoa—stop the video right there. There is a lot of misinformation being thrown around here. Yes, there is a long ending to Mark, but the long ending to Mark is not 21 verses. It’s 12 verses—specifically, Mark 16:9–20. And, yes, in those verses, we have a description of Jesus appearing to his followers—like Mary Magdalene, like the disciples on the road (likely to Emmaus), like the 11 disciples. However, we do have Jesus’ resurrection in the earliest manuscripts of Mark before the so-called long ending. In fact, look at the verses they just highlighted on their screen. It says, “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has been risen. He is not here.” And what verse is that? Verse 6. That’s not part of the long ending.
So, while telling us that Mark’s Gospel doesn’t contain Jesus’ resurrection, the video literally highlights for us where Mark’s Gospel explicitly says Jesus has been raised.
Original Video: The last chapter of Mark—the last 21 verses in that last chapter—do not show up in any of the manuscripts before the fifth century.
Tim: Again, this doesn’t give the full story. While the earliest surviving manuscript with the long ending—Codex Alexandrinus—comes from the fifth century, the long ending was not invented in the fifth century. Irenaeus, in the second century, refers to the long ending of Mark, suggesting that, by that time, the long ending was in circulation.
It’s ironic that a video trying to expose the most blatant misconception of Christianity actually gives us a blatant misconception of Christianity.