Text:

The reading pros hautous (=heautous) ‘among themselves’ of Textus Receptus is accepted also by Soden, Souter, Vogels, Merk, Lagrange, Kilpatrick, and (apparently) Revised Standard Version; the reading autous ‘they’ is preferred by Tischendorf, Nestle, Westcott and Hort, Taylor, Turner.

Instead of didachē kainē kat’ exousian (disregarding punctuation) ‘a new teaching according to authority’ of the majority of modern editions of the Greek text, Textus Receptus and Kilpatrick have tis hē didachē hē kainē hautē hoti kat’ exousian ‘what (is) this new teaching for according to authority,’ an obvious expansion of the original for the sake of smoothness.

Punctuation:

The clause kat’ exousian ‘according to authority’ may be joined either to didachē kainē ‘new teaching’ or to epitassei ‘he commands.’ The first is preferred by Tischendorf, Nestle, Vogels, Soden, Turner, Lagrange, Moffatt, Berkeley, The Modern Speech New Testament, Zürcher Bibel, Gould, Taylor; the second is favored by King James Version, American Standard Version, Revised Standard Version, Translator’s New Testament, Knox, Le Nouveau Testament. Version Synodale, O Novo Testamento de Nosso Senhor Jesus Cristo. Revisdo Autorizada, Swete. Field believes the second is confirmed by the parallel passage Lk. 4.36. Daube’s lengthy discussion of the phrase favors the first construction.

Although there is division of opinion on this passage, it would seem that the prepositional phrase, with adverbial force, rather modifies the verb epitassei ‘he commands’ than the noun didachē ‘teaching.’

Exegesis:

ethambēthēsan (10.24, 32) ‘were amazed’: a strong word, meaning ‘be astounded, amazed.’

hōste suzētein ‘so as to question’: the consecutive particle hōste ‘so that’ plus the infinitive of the verb, to express result, is found also in 1.45; 2.2, 12; 3.10, 20; 4.1, 32, 37; 9.26; 15.5.

suzētein (8.11; 9.10, 14, 16; 12.28) ‘discuss,’ ‘debate.’ As Marcan usage demonstrates, a group is always implied (even when the verb is used absolutely, as at 12.28), so that the sense is that of an exchange (if not conflict) of opinions. Even if autous ‘they’ of the Nestle text is read (instead of pros hautous ‘among themselves’ of the Revised Standard Version), the sense will still be that of debate or discussion.

didachē ‘teaching’: here in the passive sense of the content of the teaching, “doctrine” (cf. 1.22).

kainē (2.21, 22; 14.25; 16.17) ‘new’: the old distinction between kainos ‘new’ of quality and neos ‘new’ of time (cf. Taylor) is not always observed in the New Testament (cf. R. A. Harrisville “The Concept of Newness in the New Testament,” Journal of Biblical Literature, 74.69-79, 1955, who concludes that the terms are synonymous in the N.T., implying both qualitative and temporal newness).

kat’ exousian … epitassei ‘with authority … he commands,’ ‘authoritatively … he orders.’

exousia ‘authority’ (cf. v. 22).

epitassō (6.27, 39; 9.25) ‘order,’ ‘command.’

kai ‘and’ has what is called the ascensive force, meaning ‘even.’

hupakoousin (4.41) ‘they obey’: from the literal idea of ‘listen,’ ‘attend’ (Abbott-Smith) follows the idea of ‘be subject to.’ Arndt & Gingrich see here the element of unwillingness, ‘they are forced to obey him.’

Translation:

It is essential that ‘they’ refer to the people, not to the immediately preceding referents, namely, Jesus, the man, and the demon. Hence, it is often necessary to introduce a noun subject ‘the people.’

It is not easy to distinguish readily between the two Greek terms translated ‘amazed’ in this verse and ‘astonished’ in verse 22. In many languages one must use the same expression in both cases. Possibly, however, the expression in verse 27 should be even stronger than in 22, for a miracle had taken place in the meantime and the amazement of the people should have been greatly heightened. (The Tzeltal expression ‘felt like dying’ is an interesting idiom for extreme amazement.)

Questioned among themselves may be rendered as ‘kept saying to one another.’ Note, however, that in some languages one must be precise about words which introduce direct discourse. If, for example, a question follows, one must use a word meaning ‘to ask’ or ‘to question.’ If a statement is involved, the introductory verb must be ‘to say,’ ‘to declare,’ etc. If an exclamation follows, some other appropriate term must be chosen. Certain languages require constant attention to such details.

Where it is possible to distinguish neatly between the qualitative and temporal values of ‘new,’ it is entirely legitimate to use a term in this context which implies ‘different’ (for this type of context this can be the significance of the Greek kainos, in contrast with neos); hence, ‘different teaching’ (Amganad Ifugao).

If teaching is to be taken in the passive sense in this context (and this certainly seems to be the correct interpretation), one may translate ‘What different words he teaches!’ or ‘what different (or new) teachings.’

In some languages authority must in this context be made concrete rather than left abstract, e.g. ‘as a ruler he commands’ or ‘as one who has power (or is powerful) he commands.’

Most languages have quite acceptable terms meaning ‘to obey,’ but in this context the specific nature of the obedience may require some descriptive phrase, e.g. ‘do what he says,’ ‘take hold of his words’ (Southern Bobo Madaré), or ‘accept his orders.’

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of Mark. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1961. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .