Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 73:1 (NA 2022)
Article: Jesus As The Isaian Stronger One In Mark 1:7 A Contribution To Markan Divine Identity Christology
Author: John Dennis

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Jesus As The Isaian Stronger One In Mark 1:7
A Contribution To Markan Divine Identity Christology

John Dennis

Lecturer in New Testament and Greek
London School of Theology
[email protected]

Abstract

The contention of this article is that John the Baptist’s declaration of Jesus as ‘the stronger one’ (ὁ ἰσχυρότερος) in Mark 1:7 echoes Isaiah 40:10a so that Jesus is identified with YHWH both in Mark 1:3 by means of the citation of Isaiah 40:3 and in Mark 1:7 by means of an echo of Isaiah 40:10a. The article will show that an Isaian divine identity interpretation of ‘stronger one’ is a satisfying reading of Mark 1:7 in light of the allusions to Isaiah and especially Isaiah 40:3–10 within Mark’s prologue and in light of the links between Jesus’s encounter with Satan in Mark 1:13 and the parable of Mark 3:27.

1. Introduction

Scholarly views on the meaning of ‘the stronger one’1 (ὁ ἰσχυρότερος) in Mark 1:7 tend to focus either on what the historical John the Baptist could have meant by the designation or what it likely means in Mark’s prologue. Some have suggested that the historical Baptist would have expected the coming of God himself.2 Josef Ernst is somewhat representative here when he argues that what originally was probably a reference to the absolute ‘name of God’ (ὁ ἰσχυρότερος) was, due to the process of ‘Christianisation’ (Verchristlichung), transformed into a statement about

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the humble status of the Baptist relative to Jesus as Messiah.3 Interpretations that focus on the literary context of Mark’s prologue normally yield a messianic interpretation of ‘stronger one’ in 1:7. The Baptist points to Jesus as the one who is ‘stronger than I’ because Jesus is the one who will baptise in the Holy Spirit (v. 8)