Text:

huios theou ‘the Son of God’ is missing in some important mss. and some of the early Fathers, and so is omitted by Tischendorf, Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Kilpatrick: its presence is attested by most of the external evidence, however, and the phrase is included by Textus Receptus et al.

Punctuation:

The verse is not a complete sentence, and its relation to the verses which follow has been proposed in three ways: (1) the verse is taken to be a title, with a full stop placed at the end: so Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Vogel, Merk, Soden, Tischendorf, King James Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, other translations and commentators (Gould, Taylor, Grant); (2) verses 2-3 are treated parenthetically, and v. 1 is connected to v. 4: “The beginning … was John…” so Rawlinson, Branscomb, Turner; (3) the verse is connected directly to v. 2: “The beginning … (was) as it stands written in Isaiah”: so Translator’s New Testament. The overwhelming majority of translations and commentarators favor the first solution.

Exegesis:

archē (10.6; 13.8, 19) ‘beginning’ has several possible meanings, but its sense here is simply temporal, ‘the starting-point,’ ‘the beginning.’ The absence of the article does not necessarily make the word indefinite, and it has been suggested that such absence favors understanding the verse as a title. Modern languages, as required, may or may not use the definite article: cf. Zürich (Zürcher Bibel) Anfang, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale Commencement, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada Princípio.

euaggeliou (1.14, 15; 8.35; 10.29; 13.10; 14.9; 16.15) ‘of the gospel.’ From the earlier meaning of ‘reward for good news’ and ‘good news’ the word developed into a technical Christian term, i.e. the content of the Christian faith, the good tidings of God’s redemptive act in Jesus Christ. Lagrange: “It is the proclamation of salvation in Jesus … the announcement of the salvation contained in the words and acts of Jesus.” Only after N.T. times did the word take on the further specialized meaning of ‘a book relating the words and deeds of Jesus.’

Iēsou Christou (only here in Mark) ‘of Jesus Christ.’ The genitive may mean: (1) the gospel about Jesus Christ, or (2) the gospel that comes from Jesus Christ. Almost without exception the translations and commentators prefer the first interpretation.

Christos is no longer a title ‘The Anointed One’: it is a proper name, just as Jesus is a proper name. As a title, ‘Messiah’ (or ‘The Anointed’) has its origins in the O.T. concept of God anointing the individual or people of his choice with his Spirit and power. In the case of Jesus, however, the title becomes a proper name.

huiou (tou) theou (3.11; 5.7; 15.39; cf. 14.61; cf. 1.11; 9.7) ‘(the) Son of God.’ Though there is no article with huiou ‘son’ it is nevertheless definite, ‘the Son of God’ or (what amounts to the same thing) ‘Son of God.’

huios ‘son’: wherever the word refers to Jesus, in Mark, it is always followed by a qualifying genitive, with the single exception of 13.32 where ho huios ‘the Son’ is used absolutely.

Translation:

The translator is faced with two principal types of problems in this verse: (1) lexical, involving the words for gospel and God; and (2) syntactic: (a) how to relate the four principal lexical units: beginning, gospel, Jesus Christ, and Son of God, and (b) how to relate this verse to the following verses.

In choosing a word for gospel there are two principal alternatives: (1) borrowing a term from a more dominant language, e.g. the use of Spanish evangelio in some Indian language translations in Latin America, or (2) constructing a phrase meaning ‘good news,’ ‘joyful report’ or ‘happiness-bringing words.’ The latter method is almost always preferable. In some instances such a phrase may be slightly expanded in order to convey the proper meaning, e.g. ‘new good word’ (Tzotzil), or it may involve some special local usage, e.g. ‘good message’ (Huautla Mazatec) or ‘good story’ (Navajo, Amganad Ifugao), or ‘joyful telling’ (Joloano); ‘joyful message’ (Toraja-Sa’dan).

An adequate term for God is one of the major problems for any translator and its full exposition is beyond the limits of this volume.

Wherever, of course there is a generic term used to designate ‘a god’ or ‘gods’ this should be used, and the context must be counted on to make the reference definite and unique, while at the same time permitting the radical contrast of the Bible between “the God of the believer” and “the gods of the heathen.” One must not, however, imagine that a “high-god concept” (which is relatively widespread throughout the world) is the same as biblical monotheism, for the high god may have few if any of the moral qualifications of the God of the Scriptures. Moreover, his name may not permit generic extension or pluralization. In such instances one may be forced to use a more generic term for ‘spirit’ and add a qualifier, e.g. ‘the Great Spirit’ (Central Mazahua) and ‘the Eternal Spirit’ (Navajo, which, however, also employs the English borrowing God). In other instances one may take an indigenous phrase and “Christianize” its meaning by context, e.g. ‘the Great Father’ (San Blas Kuna) or Nhialich ‘one in the above’ (Northwestern Dinka), or camaq ‘he who is sufficient’ (Chanca Quechua), or Jehoba (which accidentally resembles Jehovah) ‘the great ruler,’ a kind of generic descriptive term used among the Kipsigis.

In trying to discover an adequate word for God one must recognize that there is little or no likelihood that one will encounter a fully adequate term within the indigenous language, for the very significance of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is that He is radically different from what men have devised. This means that an indigenous term will be considerably less than perfect, even at best. But this should not, however, lead one to resort automatically to a borrowed term, with its essentially zero meaning. Such a word is likely to imply only ‘the white man’s God’ or be equated, as a proper name, with an already known high god. Accordingly, whenever at all possible one should employ some indigenous equivalent, even though it is a descriptive title. However, the particular form which this expression must take within any given situation must be determined by a very careful, exhaustive study of all the religious beliefs and practices of the people; otherwise there is entirely too much chance of having the message distorted by an unfortunately chosen key term.

If we assume that this first verse is in the nature of a title (which is by far the most widely accepted interpretation – see above), the principal syntactic problems involve the internal arrangements of the principal constituent parts. The first of these is the relationship between ‘beginning’ and ‘good news.’ What makes this combination somewhat of a problem, however, is the fact that in most languages ‘beginning’ (which is essentially a process and not an object) is a verb-like word, not a noun. That is to say, in most languages one may say ‘something begins’ but one cannot talk about ‘the beginning of something.’ This means that the expression must often be recast so as to read, ‘the good news about … began this way,’ or ‘… begins thus’ (Kaqchikel, South Bolivian Quechua). In Eastern Maninkakanone may translate ‘here begins the good news….’

In relating the constituents ‘good news’ and ‘Jesus Christ’ one should be sure that this is the ‘good news about Jesus Christ,’ not the ‘good news that Jesus Christ announced.’ This of course, does not deny the fact that Jesus announced good news, but the viewpoint of the Gospel writers was that Jesus Christ was in himself the good news, hence this must be a so-called objective, rather than subjective construction.

The expression the Son of God is in apposition with Jesus Christ. In some languages, however, one cannot express such identity merely by juxtaposing expressions. One must use more specific relators, e.g. ‘Jesus Christ, He is the Son of God’ or ‘Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God.’

If verse 1 is to be interpreted as a title and if in the language in question the title needs to be a complete sentence, as is often the case, one can render this verse as ‘the good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son, began thus’ (or ‘… in this way,’ or ‘… here’). If, on the other hand, one relates the first verse to what follows (alternatives 2 and 3 under “Punctuation”, above), one may translate either: ‘… began as it is written in…’ (alternative 3) or ‘… began (As it is written in …) when John the baptizer…’ (alternative 2).

Compare the following renderings, retranslated more or less literally from the languages in question: ‘Here begins the good word, the good word regarding God’s child Jesus Christ’ (Shipibo-Conibo, in which ‘good word’ must be repeated because of syntactic requirements and ‘child’ is the appropriate generic term for such a context). ‘This is the beginning of the good news about the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God’ (Balinese, in which an obligatory honorific pattern requires the addition of ‘Lord’) and ‘The good news’ beginning is this, about Jesus Christ God’s Son’ (Kpelle).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .