INTRODUCTION TO MARK
This is the title of the book, the subject of which is the Gospel; a joyful account of the ministry, miracles, actions, and sufferings of Christ: the writer of it was not one of the twelve apostles, but an evangelist; the same with John Mark, or John, whose surname was Mark: John was his Hebrew name, and Mark his Gentile name, Acts 12:12, and was Barnabas's sister's son, Colossians 4:10, his mother's name was Mary, Acts 12:12. The Apostle Peter calls him his son, 1 Peter 5:13, if he is the same; and he is thought to have wrote his Gospel from himF1Papias apud Euseb. Hist. l. 3. c. 39. Tertull. adv. Marcion. l. 4. c. 5. , and by his order, and which was afterwards examined and approved by himF2Hieron. Catalog. Script. Eccles. p. 91. sect. 18. it is said to have been wrote originally in Latin, or in the Roman tongue: so say the Arabic and Persic versions at the beginning of it, and the Syriac version says the same at the end: but of this there is no evidence, any more, nor so much, as of Matthew's writing his Gospel in Hebrew. The old Latin copy of this, is a version from the Greek; it is most likely that it was originally written in Greek, as the rest of the New Testament.
