The first verse of Mark summarizes the content of the Gospel and functions as its de facto title. The opening word, “Beginning,” recalls the opening word of Genesis (so too the book of Hosea and Gospel of John), implying that in the gospel of Jesus Christ a new creation is at hand. “Beginning” should probably be understood not as the first of several things in a sequence but rather first in terms of “source” or “essence.” Mark’s Gospel thus intends to set forth the essence of God’s redemptive work in Jesus Christ. The word “gospel” does not mean a book but rather the story of salvation in Jesus. The Greek word for “gospel” means “good news.” Several verses in the Greek Old Testament use the term in this sense (1 Sam. 31:9; 2 Sam. 1:20; 1 Chron. 10:9), and even in the Greco-Roman world the…