A unique series designed to bring detailed scholarship of the Scriptures and contemporary application together in one volume, explaining not only what the Bible means, but also how it speaks to us today.

Mark, which is part of the NIV Application Commentary Series, helps readers learn how the message of Mark's Gospel can have the same powerful impact today that it did when Mark first wrote it.

When it comes to living the Christian life, beginnings are better than endings. That may be one of the most important lessons that the Gospel of Mark, by its very structure, teaches us. Looking at life in terms of endings often leads to discontent, neuroses, and despair. We always want to win more, make more, and succeed more. More is an insatiable task master. But the Gospel of Mark says the better way is to focus on beginnings. It gives answers; it gives meaning to suffering; It restores hope as the queen of virtues.

Mark displays Jesus Christ as the New Beginning, giving us all the chance to start over again at any time. The Gospel of Mark, itself, starts abruptly and really has no ending, showing that Jesus makes it possible for the story of God, working in human history and in the church, to go on and on.