Objection: Mark 16:9-20 Was Not in Some Early Manuscripts

Occasionally, those prone to discrediting the ministry of lying on of hands fuss over this point.  However, the removal of Mark 16:9-20 from the Bible would not change the New Testament’s teaching on any of its contents.  Thus, this is somewhat of a useless argument against healing ministry.

It should be noted that the vast majority of old texts DO include these verses.  The retort to this from the objector is that the “most reliable” manuscripts do not.  An argument over this is well beyond the scope of this book, but suffice it to say that most scholars through the ages have seen no need to cut Mark 16:9-20 out of their Bibles.

But suppose that Mark 16 ended at verse 8.  So what?

Matthew and Luke both record the commissioning of believers to preach everywhere.

Admonitions that only believers make heaven are throughout the New Testament.

There are many accounts of believers speaking in new tongues as Jesus said they would.  (See Acts 2:4, Acts 10:46, Acts 19:6 and 1 Corinthians chapter 14, for starters.)  Paul expressed his wish (and God’s) that all would speak in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:5).  So the fact that believers would speak in tongues can be proved apart from Mark 16.

Paul’s experience with the snake in Acts 28:3-6 confirms Jesus’ words concerning snakes.  Besides, God healed people of deadly snakebites in the Old Testament – see Numbers 21:5-9.

Exodus 15:23-25 tells of a tree cast into undrinkable bitter water that made the water drinkable; this tree was a symbol of the cross and can reasonably symbolize Jesus being the antidote for poison.

James 5:14-15 COMMANDS sick people to call for the church elders, with the promise that the prayer of faith will save the sick person and the Lord will raise him up.

There are plenty of passages in Acts where the gospel was preached with signs following.

God’s promises of divine protection and long life in Psalm 91 would cover poisoning as well as fatal snakebites, which if successful, would lead to short life.  This would constitute evil befalling the one who abides in the secret place of the Most High, which God promised would not happen in Psalm 91:10.

Jesus commissioned His disciples to preach and heal the sick during His earthly ministry.  Laying hands on the sick was not new in Mark 16; the disciples already had experience doing that!  See Matthew 10:1, Mark 3:14-15, Luke 9:1-2 and Luke 10:19 for proof of this.  Note especially that the power was given when they were sent out to preach.  Romans 8:29 tells us that our destiny is to be in the image of Christ.  Preaching with power was so important that Jesus said not to leave Jerusalem without power (Luke 24:49).

Jesus said that those who believe in Him will do the works that He did, and greater (John 14:12).  Therefore, even if we rip out “they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover,” we could still figure that out from what Jesus said in John’s gospel, as He successfully ministered to the sick over and over.  Thus, we should do the same.

Luke records the Ascension twice – once in his gospel (Luke 24:51) and once in Acts 1:9.

Acts 1:8 summarizes what Jesus said would happen.  His followers would share His gospel all over the world in the power of the Spirit.  The rest of the book of Acts demonstrates believers going into the world, preaching the gospel, and having it confirmed with signs following.  You don’t need Mark 16:20 to verify that this happened.

God’s principle is that by two or three witnesses every word should be established (2 Corinthians 13:1), so yanking out only one section of Scripture (Mark 16:9-20) cannot invalidate any principle.  Everything in Mark 16:9-20 is taught elsewhere.

Rather than fussing about some verses that weren’t in a couple of early manuscripts, why not weigh the entire Bible’s teaching on the subject of healing?  There is no shortage of teaching on it, as the list of Scriptures in this book should demonstrate.