Book Review of Mark by RC Sproul

A Book Review of Mark by RC Sproul (St. Andrews Expositional Commentary series)


I have been reading through the book on Romans in this series, when I found out that you could request a copy of a new book and do a review on it. Since I love to read I decided to take advantage of this offer. The first book I requested was his expositional commentary on the Gospel of Mark. An expositional commentary goes verse by verse throughout an entire book of the bible. This book is based on the sermons preached by Dr. Sproul on the book of Mark.

I greatly enjoyed reading through this book, as I have with all of his works that I have read. One thing I admire in a minister is when he has the honesty to say he does not know the answer to a question about the text. As Dr. Sproul does with some of the verses in the Olivet discourse, he does give what he believes is the meaning of the text. But also makes it clear that he is not 100% certain about his exposition, which I find admirable.

The only thing that disappointed me about the book was how short it was. As I have said I have been reading his book on Romans in the series and even though Mark and Romans have the same number of chapters. His book on the Gospel of Mark is at least 50 pages shorter. I would have enjoyed more meat to each of the chapters. It seemed that each time he was starting to really explain a topic or section of verses, the chapter would end.

I would also caution those who are looking for a true biblical commentary on the Gospel of Mark, even though this is an expositional commentary by title, to look elsewhere. This book is not an in depth commentary such as you would find by say Matthew Henry, to name one prominent bible commentary. This book does not proclaim itself to be such a commentary, rather it is as I said previously, a collection of sermons. If you are like me and enjoy reading or listening to sermons then I recommend this book to you.



In accordance with FCC bylaws, I must note that I could receive a copy of the book as compensation for my review.