The Gospel According to Mark:
A Look at the Son of God

Lesson 8 ‘But Who Do You Say That I Am?’
the Gospel According to Mark 8:1–38

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
glossary for the Gospel According to Mark
cross references in the Gospel According to Mark
next lesson: The Transfiguration

This material coordinates with Lesson 8, “’But Who Do You Say That I Am?’,” on pages 38–41 in The Gospel According to Mark: A Look at the Son of God.

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying,
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.”
—the Gospel According to Mark 1:14–15

welcome to our in-depth study of the Gospel According to Mark
We invite interested groups and individuals to check out the sample introduction and first lesson from this 17-lesson Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study based on Scripture that is the source of most of the Sunday Gospel readings for Liturgical Year B. These online study pages link to an online glossary and cross references in the biblical text. Other study aids include maps, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. The Gospel According to Mark: A Look at the Son of God and the other two synoptic studies are being submitted for imprimaturs. This study will be available from our website shop about three months before the start of liturgical Year B in 2026. If you have a Bible-related question or comment, click on one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.

open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion study group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

let’s review—the Gospel According to Mark 7:1–37
Lesson 7 ‘What Defiles Comes from Within’ opens with the Pharisees and scribes who have come from Jerusalem to the region around Gennesaret criticizing Jesus because his disciples eat without washing their hands. Jesus criticizes them in turn, for placing the traditions of men above the commandments of God. Jesus announces to the gathered crowd that there is nothing outside a person which by going into him can defile him. Jesus then lists interior spiritual dangers as  evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery,  coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. Jesus and his disciples then travel to the region of Tyre and Sidon, where Jesus heals the daughter of a Syrophoenician woman based on her words of faith. Returning through the Decapolis to the area of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus then heals a man who is deaf and mute. After that healing, Jesus once again asks that no one discuss the healing—and, as usual, the people who witnessed this event are amazed and can’t stop talking about Jesus.

Jesus is on the move
At the beginning of the eighth chapter in the Gospel According to Mark, Jesus feeds a crowd of about 4,000 people. This takes place near the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus and his disciples then take a boat to the region of Dalmanutha, a town on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus next crosses to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, to Beth-saida. From there they venture into villages of Caesarea Philippi, an area ruled by Philip the Tetrarch, a son of Herod the Great. Most of these regions were inhabited by pagans who indulged in Hellenistic and Roman practices, although there were some Jews living in Galilee. Caesarea Philippi was the site of pagan child sacrifice and also featured a temple to Caesar Augustus, who ruled the Roman Empire from 67 B.C. until his death in A.D. 14. He also is called Octavian. While he stopped short of declaring himself to be a god, he did claim to be the son of a god.

two accounts of miraculous feedings of crowds
Although some readers are quick to decide that in the sixth chapter and the eighth chapter in the Gospel According to Mark refer to the same event, there are a number of details that differ. Scripture scholars view these as two separate events. Although there are a number of details that fail to match up, the most significant probably appears in the Gospel According to Mark 8:19 –21. There Jesus asks his disciples: “‘When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ They said to him, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?’ And they said to him, ‘Seven.’  And he said to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?'”

In Scripture, the number seven usually calls to mind the seven days of Creation, the story of which is recorded in the first chapter in the book of Genesis. In the Old Testament, the number 12 is related to the number of Jacob’s sons, who are considered founders of the 12 tribes of Israel. The sons of Jacob are listed in the thirty-fifth chapter in the book of Genesis. In the New Testament, Jesus chooses 12 disciples, a number that matches the 12 tribes of Israel. The numbers seven and 12 (especially seven) appear throughout the New Testament book of Revelation as well. What point might Jesus be trying to make when he mentions these numbers in regard to the leftovers from the two miracles?

miracles & signs—you could look it up in our archives
The Gospel According to Mark 8:11 records that the Pharisees argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven.  To learn about the distinctions between miracles & signs, read Lost in Translation, a weekly online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.

Christian Connection: what would a sign prove anyway?
Consider why the Pharisees and scribes want Jesus to provide them with evidence of his divinity.

 ?  What might cause the Pharisees and scribes to ask for a sign from heaven from Jesus instead of a miracle?
?  Consider whether any sign would be sufficient to satisfy their curiosity.
?  Think about whether such evidence would dispel the Pharisees’ obvious concern about how they are unable to control Jesus.
?  Why might Jesus have decided not to give them any sign?
?  Read the sixteenth chapter in the Gospel According to Matthew, which also records the story of the Pharisees asking Jesus for a sign. How does Jesus’ reply differ in that account?

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by passages in The Gospel According to Mark: A Look at the Son of God, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links to each lesson’s primary Scripture passages (from the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) that are cited in relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the Gospel According to Mark is referenced in a Catechism paragraph.

the Gospel According to Mark 8:6—paragraph 1329
the Gospel According to Mark 8:19—paragraph 1329
the Gospel According to Mark 8:22–25—paragraphs 1151 and 1504
the Gospel According to Mark 8:23—paragraph 699
the Gospel According to Mark 8:27—paragraph 472
the Gospel According to Mark 8:31—paragraphs 474, 572, 649
the Gospel According to Mark 8:31–33—paragraph 557
the Gospel According to Mark 8:34—paragraphs 459 and 1615
the Gospel According to Mark 8:35—paragraph 2544

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out persons or places mentioned in the biblical text under more than one name or more than one spelling. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the biblical text for every lesson in The Gospel According to Mark: A Look at the Son of God. A few general terms also are included that may be unfamiliar or whose meaning may be unclear to readers.

to learn more, read more Scripture
If you’re having difficulty with a particular passage of Scripture, it can be helpful to read the relevant cross references—but looking these up can take time. To make that easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. A link to that list can be found at the top of every online study page; the list features links to cross references in the primary biblical text in the study book The Gospel According to Mark: A Look at the  Son of God.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
Link to magisterial documents referred to in our Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This listing includes significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following link is to a reading from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, open the link and click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV reading provides an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical text. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the Gospel According to Mark 8:1—38 (NIV)

round black doveclose with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps. If you prefer, you can use the following prayer based on this lesson’s text from the Gospel According to Mark.

Jesus withheld details about his Passion from his disciples
until close to the time that he was to experience it.
Grant, O Lord, that we may be prepared 
to take up our own crosses and follow Jesus in faith,
no matter what that involves.
Fill our hearts with love, and banish all traces of fear
as we strive to imitate your Son in all things. Amen.

Lesson 9 The Transfiguration—the Gospel According to Mark 9:1—50
Lesson 7 ‘What Defiles Comes from Within’—the Gospel According to Mark 7:1–37

you also may like our study of the book of Revelation
The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness, a 23-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, examines ways in which our traditional Christian view of heaven is built on Hebrew apocalyptic visions recorded in the Old Testament. This recently revised study includes maps and additional commentary and takes a close look at the role of the prophets in present-day Christianity. Illustrations by Tami Palladino depict the often-misunderstood images in the book of Revelation. Click here to view a sample of the first lesson.

start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in our three-part study of the synoptic Gospels. More information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study can be found at start a Bible study, and Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer questions or discuss concerns. Contact us to start this or one of our other studies or to have your schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—Baruch, Judith, Sirach, Tobit, Wisdom, and First and Second Maccabees—and there are some deuterocanonical passages in the Books of Daniel and Esther. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. Deuterocanonical means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages for The Gospel According to Mark: A Look at the Son of God are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” and “didst” in the psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces these with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies (print and digital) follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book.

You can learn more about the psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church. The first volume covers psalms prayed at Lauds and Vespers; the second volume covers psalms prayed at Vigils, Day Prayer, and Compline. Numbering of psalms and verses may vary in different translations.