From a historical point of view, Mark, being the oldest of the Gospels, is the most reliable, the reason for which is not merely that it is closer in point of time to the events that it records but that less interpretation concerns the meaning of these events than in the other Gospels. The author of Mark was a Christian named John Mark, a relatively obscure person so far as New Testament records indicate. Believed to have been a relative of Barnabas, who was one of the leaders of the church in Antioch, Mark accompanied Paul and Barnabas on one of their missionary journeys and was a companion of Peter during the time when that disciple spent his last years in the city of Rome.
The Gospel of Mark records with as much accuracy as possible the main events of the life and teachings of Jesus. A record of this kind furnished evidence to support the belief that Jesus was the true Messiah; by believing in Jesus, people could obtain salvation. That this gospel has been preserved in the form in which we have it today testifies to the importance attached to it from its beginning. A relatively short gospel, most of the material contained in it is reproduced in the Gospels that were written later. The authors of both Matthew and Luke appear to have included in each of their gospels all that was necessary to be remembered from Mark, in which case the oldest of the Gospels would be replaced by later and more complete accounts. That Mark survived these attempts to replace it is probably due to the fact that its origin was regarded as more authentic than the others and that it was highly prized by the church at Rome, which was destined to become one of the leading churches in the entire Christian movement.
