Mark 1:15

Note

These are the first words Jesus speaks in Mark's Gospel. Two pieces of news and two calls are packed into one sentence, and its last word is "gospel."

This sentence is what Jesus proclaimed when He came into Galilee after John was handed over (Mark 1:14). Its first half tells what has happened; its second half calls for an answer. Mark sets the sentence at the head of Jesus' ministry as a summary of all His preaching.

The verbs show that order. "Is fulfilled" (peplērōtai) and "is near" (ēngiken, "has drawn near") are both perfect: something done whose result stands now. "Time" here is kairos, a word for a fixed or fitting time; here, the time God appointed. Then come metanoeō, "repent," and pisteuō, "believe," both present imperatives: not only a single decision but a life of turning and trusting. Paul speaks of the same moment: "when the time had fully come, God sent His Son" (Galatians 4:4). Finally euangelion stands in the dative after the preposition en, "believe in the gospel," a construction rare in the New Testament. It suggests more than agreeing with a message: resting one's weight on it.

The versions handle that preposition differently. The BSB keeps it, "believe in the gospel," and so does the LSV, "believe in the good news." The KJV writes "believe the gospel," the plain English idiom. The KJV's "repent ye" brings out that the command is plural, spoken to all who hear. The LSV's "convert" for "repent" is worth noticing: metanoeō is a change of mind that turns a person around, and "convert" puts the turning in front.

Matthew Henry joins the two commands: "By repentance we give glory to our Creator whom we have offended; by faith we give glory to our Redeemer who came to save us from our sins" Matthew Henry. Christ, he adds, has joined the two together, and no one should think to put them asunder. Wesley reads "the time is fulfilled" as "The time of my kingdom, foretold by Daniel, expected by you, is fully come" Wesley. In the Catena, Bede guards the order of faith and works: "The merit of good works does not, however, bring to faith, but faith begins, that good works may follow" Bede. Martin Luther opened his Ninety-five Theses with the same call (Matthew 4:17): when the Lord said "Repent," He willed the whole life of believers to be repentance Luther, Ninety-five Theses. That is what a present imperative asks.

In this verse the gospel arrives as news before it makes any demand. First the hearer is told that the time has come and the kingdom is near; only then is he called to turn and to trust himself to that news.