The Ending of Mark

QUESTION: Did Mark write 16:9-20, the last fourteen verses of his Gospel?

ANSWER: No, they are not found in the two oldest manuscripts, and the 8th verse ends in Greek with gar 'for,' an ending as absurd as "and" in English. It seems that the original ending was torn off and some one has supplied an ending containing twenty-one words and expressions — some  of  them repeated — which are never elsewhere used by Mark. Its omission is a great relief to our missionaries in India, who are often challenged to prove their doctrine true by handling cobras and rattlesnakes and drinking deadly poisons. The different ending referred to in the R V. margin is this: "They concisely announced to Peter and his company all things that were commanded." After these things Jesus himself also through them sent forth, from the rising of the sun to its going down, the sacred and incorruptible proclamation of the eternal salvation."

— Steele's Answers p. 244.

How Could Christ Have Been in Heaven While on Earth?

QUESTION: How could Christ be in heaven while on earth, as taught in John 1:18 and 3:13?

"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1:18 KJV)

"And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (John 3:13 KJV)

ANSWER: The first text, "in the bosom of the Father," we understand as an oriental figure to express endearment, beautifully translated by the Twentieth Century New Testament, "God the only Son, who is ever close to the Father's heart." The other text, "even the Son of man which is in heaven," in several critical texts, and oldest manuscripts ends with the word "man," omitting "which is in heaven." See the margin of the Revision. By this explanation we rid Johns's Gospel of of the unthinkable idea that only a part of the personality of the Son of God was incarnated.

— Steele's Answers pp. 57, 58.

The Only Begotten God

QUESTION: In the Revision there is this marginal reading, to John 1:18: "Many very ancient authorities read 'God only begotten.'" (1) What are these authorities? (2) If this is the true reading, does it relate to the Incarnation?

ANSWER: (1) Three of the four oldest manuscripts, two of the oldest versions, three ancient commentators, and the following critical editions: Tregelles, Weiss, and Westcott and Hort sustain this marginal reading. Several ancient writers quote it as written by John, and others use the expression "the only begotten God," without referring it to the Scriptures, just as we use many scriptural phrases, without saying they are quotations. We predict that the next revision will put this marginal reading in the text, and the present text in the margin. (2) We do not believe that either of these readings relate to the virgin birth. Adam Clarke and Moses Stuart believed that the Logos did not become the Son of God till he became the son of Mary. Richard Watson felt called to refute this error. His extended and unanswerable argument in proof of the "eternal Sonship of Christ" is found in his Institutes.

— Steele's Answers  pp. 56, 57.