Mark 1:1-3

1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

² As it is written in the Prophets: “Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.”

³ “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight.’ ”

beginning (v.1) = origin, the first person or thing in a series. In Greek, it does not have a definite article, which makes it a title. Mark may have intended this first sentence to be his title for the book.

gospel (v.1) = a message of good news. The word was used in the first century to refer to good news of any sort.

Of Jesus Christ (v.1) — [Jesus is] the transliterated form of the Hebrew word we know as Jehoshua, which means “Jehovah saves;” Christos, the transliterated form of the Greek word which means “The Anointed One;” in the first name we have the deity, humanity, and atonement of our Lord, in the second, the fact that He is the Anointed of God, to Israel, its Messiah. [The tense indicates that] the good news is not preached by Jesus Christ but is concerning Him. The message announces Him. … The word “Son” is without the article in the Greek text. Emphasis is therefore upon character or nature. Jesus Christ is Son of God by nature. — Wuest, page 11.

As (v.2) = just as. In Greek, written in a way that emphasizes the accuracy of what has been written.

In the Prophets (v.2) — The best Greek texts have “in Isaiah the prophet.” The quotation is from Malachi 3:1 and Isaiah 40:3. That the first verse isn’t from Isaiah isn’t an issue since Mark used it simply as an introduction to the Isaiah quote in v.3.

Behold (v.2) — “Pay attention.”

send (v.2) = commission, like an ambassador or envoy. John was God’s ambassador who was given a commission to proclaim Christ.

messenger (v.2) — basically, the same as “send,” but as a noun instead of a verb.

prepare (v.2) = furnish, equip, prepare, make ready.

Your, You (v.2) — referring to Jesus Christ.

way (v.2) = road.

The voice (v.3) — In Greek “a” voice. John wasn’t the only messenger sent to Israel.

crying (v.3) = shout, speak with a high, strong voice –“to cry out” in a way that expresses feeling.

wilderness (v.3) = a solitary, lonely, desolate, uninhabited place. Specifically, land in Judea suitable only for pasture.

prepare (v.3) — Used as a figure drawn from the oriental custom of sending on before kings on their journeys persons to level the roads and make them passable, thus [here], to prepare the minds of men to give the Messiah a fit reception and secure His blessings. … [the tense indicates] a summary command given with military snap and curtness, and was a command to be obeyed at once. — Wuest, page 14.

make (v.3) — The tense indicates a command to be continuously obeyed.

paths (v.3) — not a literal road or path, but the attitude of the people of Israel.