Bible Dictionaries
Mark

Easton's Bible Dictionary

The evangelist; "John whose surname was Mark" (Acts 12:12,25 ). Mark (Marcus, Colossians 4:10 , etc.) was his Roman name, which gradually came to supersede his Jewish name John. He is called John in Acts 13:5,13 , and Mark in 15:39,2 Timothy 4:11 , etc.

He was the son of Mary, a woman apparently of some means and influence, and was probably born in Jerusalem, where his mother resided (Acts 12:12 ). Of his father we know nothing. He was cousin of Barnabas (Colossians 4:10 ). It was in his mother's house that Peter found "many gathered together praying" when he was released from prison; and it is probable that it was here that he was converted by Peter, who calls him his "son" (1 Peter 5:13 ). It is probable that the "young man" spoken of in Mark 14:51,52 was Mark himself. He is first mentioned in Acts 12:25 . He went with Paul and Barnabas on their first journey (about A.D. 47) as their "minister," but from some cause turned back when they reached Perga in Pamphylia (Acts 12:25; 13:13 ). Three years afterwards a "sharp contention" arose between Paul and Barnabas (15:36-40), because Paul would not take Mark with him. He, however, was evidently at length reconciled to the apostle, for he was with him in his first imprisonment at Rome (Colossians 4:10; Philippians 1:24 ). At a later period he was with Peter in Babylon (1 Peter 5:13 ), then, and for some centuries afterwards, one of the chief seats of Jewish learning; and he was with Timothy in Ephesus when Paul wrote him during his second imprisonment (2 Timothy 4:11 ). He then disappears from view.