give a full history of our Lord in chronological order, so Mark
wrote not all things pertaining to our Lord's life and ministry,
but certain things, those namely that he had learned from
Peter's discourses, without always observing the strict order of
time. We need not press the words "in order" and "certain
things," as if Papias meant to say that Mark's gospel is only a
loose collection of fragments. It is a connected and
self-consistent whole; but it does not profess to give in all
cases the exact chronological order of events, nor to be an
exhaustive account of our Saviour's life and teachings. Eusebius
has preserved for us in his Ecclesiastical History the testimony
of Irenaeus on the same point (Hist. Eccl., 5. 8); also of
Clement of Alexandria (Hist. Eccl., 6.14); and of Origen (Hist.
Eccl., 6. 25). He also gives his own (Hist. Eccl., 2. 5). We
have besides these, the statements of Tertullian (Against
Marcion, 6. 25); and Jerome (Epist. ad Hedib. Quaest., 2). All
these witnesses, though not consistent among themselves in
respect to several minor details, yet agree in respect to the
two great facts, (1) that Mark was the companion of Peter and
had a special relation to him, (2) that he was the author of the
gospel which bears his name. We add from Meyer (Introduction to
Commentary on Mark) the following exposition of the word
_interpreter_ as applied to Mark in his relation to Peter: "No
valid ground of doubt can be alleged against it, provided only
we do not understand the idea contained in the word
_interpreter_ to mean that Peter, not having sufficient mastery
of the Greek, delivered his discourses in Aramaean, and had them
interpreted by Mark into Greek; but rather that the office of a
_secretary_ is indicated, who wrote down the oral communications
of his apostle (whether from dictation, or in the freer exercise
of his own activity) and so became _in the way of writing_ his
interpreter to others."

Mark's connection with the apostle Paul, though interrupted by the
incident recorded in the Acts of the Apostles (15:37-39), was afterwards
renewed and he restored to the apostle's confidence, as is manifest from
the way in which he notices him. Col. 4:10; 2 Tim. 4:11. If, as is
probable (see below, No. 22), Mark wrote between A.D. 60 and 70, his
long intimacy with Peter and Paul qualifi