.
πρῶτον
The word πρῶτον (proton) played an important role in Hermann Detering’s article „The Synoptic Apocalypse (Mark 13 par): a document from the time of Bar Kochba“ (JHC, Volume 7, No.2 – Fall 2000) in which he argued in favour of the dependency of Mark 13 from Matthew 24.
Hermann presented several arguments, but his most important one was that Mark 13:10 would be incomprehensible without Matthew 24:14 as its Vorlage.
Mark used πρῶτον („first") in Mark 13:10 (
„And the gospel must first [πρῶτον] be proclaimed to all nations.“) which, as Hermann stated, requires a „second“ or a „then, thereafter“ and that can only be found in Matthew 24:14 (
„and then the end will come“).
Mark 13 - ESV |
Matthew 24 - ESV |
9 “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first (πρῶτον) be proclaimed to all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. |
11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. |
Hermann
wrote
The question is whether, for the sake of his Gentile-Christian readers, Mark abridged Matthew by deleting Jewish-Christian elements, or did Matthew expand his source to appeal to his Jewish-Christian readers? This question would have to remain undecided but for the several passages which clearly indicate that Mark's version presupposes the prior existence of Matthew's version, particularly at Mk 13:13, Mk 13:18, and Mt 24:30. At these several points, the Markan text would not be understandable without the prior existence of the Matthean text.
The word πρῶτον (“first”) in Mark 13:10 doesn't make sense, since it is not clear from the preceding text to what it refers. Mark can hardly have wanted to say that the gospel must be spread across the whole world prior to the persecution of Christians referred to in 13:9. That matter is treated in 13:7 and 13:13. But the substantial gap in between makes it impossible to any longer detect the connection. From this it follows that Mark was writing with a document in view — such as Matthew 24:13-14 — in which the proclamation of the gospel and the coming End formed a meaningful connection.
The verse Mark 13:10 consequently appears to derive from the text of Matthew 24:14. It was only that Mark, who wrote his own version, failed to incorporate half of the verse, “and then the end will come.”Nevertheless Mark did, in his own mind, retain the spirit of the passage. That accounts for the term πρῶτον (“first”), which now becomes a revealing indicator of his dependence on the text he had before him.
But Hermann forgot that the word
πρῶτον (proton) can take the meaning of „chiefly, above all“ and then a „second“ or a „then, thereafter“ is not required. Two examples, one of the LXX, one of the NT:
Tobit 4:12
12 Beware of all whoredom, my son, and chiefly (πρῶτον) take a wife of the seed of thy fathers, and take not a strange woman to wife, which is not of thy father's tribe: for we are the children of the prophets, Noe, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: remember, my son, that our fathers from the beginning, even that they all married wives of their own kindred, and were blessed in their children, and their seed shall inherit the land.
2 Peter 1:20
19 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all (πρῶτον), that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.