the various endings of the book of Mark<\/a>. Since you mentioned the possibility of the deliberate removal of Mark 16:9-20 due to heretical tampering, isn’t it also possible that the Freer Logion could have been also removed by heretics? The Freer Logion also suffers from mentioning the physicality of Jesus, which would have offended the Gnostics who believed that Jesus did not have a physical body but only “appeared” to be physical. I think they were known as Cerinthians, but I could be wrong. Let me know what you think of this idea.<\/p>\nThank you.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
Greetings in Christ!<\/p>\n
The Gospel of Mark was circulated by the Christian community in Rome for many years; from there it was taken to the far reaches of the Roman Empire.\u00a0 If the Freer Logion had been part of the original text, it is extremely unlikely that any localized group of heretics would have the ability to remove it from the text that was used in other places.\u00a0 In addition, in terms of internal evidence, the Freer Logion looks like just the sort of thing that someone might insert to make the transition from 16:14 (where Jesus is rebuking the eleven disciples) to 16:15 (where Jesus is commissioning the disciples) less drastic.<\/p>\n
Also, the Freer Logion does not explicitly mention Christ’s physicality; it merely mentions that Christ “was delivered over to death,” which would be unobjectionable to a heretic who accepted the rest of the text of Mark as it stands in Codex W (the lone manuscript-witness for the Freer Logion).<\/p>\n
So, the short answer to your question is:\u00a0 No. \u00a0Such a theory has no historical or textual foundation.<\/p>\n
Yours in Christ,<\/p>\n
James Snapp, Jr.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Mr. Jim Snapps, I have read your article about\u00a0the various endings of the book of Mark. Since you mentioned the possibility of the deliberate removal of Mark 16:9-20 due to heretical tampering, isn’t it also possible that the Freer Logion could have been also removed by heretics? The Freer Logion also suffers from mentioning…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[568,121],"class_list":["post-37770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-accuracy-of-the-bible","tag-mark"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":627,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-authenticity-of-mark-169-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":37770,"position":0},"title":"The Authenticity of Mark 16:9-20","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jim Snapps II \"Does\u00a0Mark 16:9-20\u00a0belong in the Bible?\" The church has answered \"Yes\" for centuries. Many in the church still do. But in the 1800s, scholars questioned the originality of these 12 verses. Many scholars today take it for granted that the Gospel of Mark originally did not contain\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/10\/64ManuscriptsChart.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/10\/64ManuscriptsChart.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/10\/64ManuscriptsChart.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2003\/10\/64ManuscriptsChart.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":88379,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-there-something-else-i-could-have-said\/","url_meta":{"origin":37770,"position":1},"title":"Was there something else I could have said?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had a debate with someone about Colossians 2:11-12, specifically regarding how it was interpreted as referring to water baptism and that water baptism was a work of God. However, my opponent argued that \"without hands\" proved it was not water baptism since a man is involved in immersing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20220,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-connection-between-the-mark-of-the-beast-and-the-mark-of-cain\/","url_meta":{"origin":37770,"position":2},"title":"Is there a connection between the mark of the beast and the mark of Cain?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to ask you a question concerning the 'mark' of Cain. In Genesis 4:15, it talks about the 'sign for Cain.' I understand this was something God did. In Revelation 20:4, it talks about the 'mark of the beast, on the forehead and hands'. My question is:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32449,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-matthew-mention-the-exception-to-divorce-but-mark-and-luke-dont\/","url_meta":{"origin":37770,"position":3},"title":"Why does Matthew mention the exception to divorce but Mark and Luke don’t?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 7, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is the exception clause \"except it be for fornication\" in Matthew 19:8 regarding the teaching of Jesus on divorce and remarriage not included in Mark's account of this teaching (Mark 10:2-10) or in Luke's account (Luke 16:18)? Answer: Each gospel account was written to different audiences with different\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94903,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/she-has-done-what-she-could\/","url_meta":{"origin":37770,"position":4},"title":"She Has Done What She Could","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jason Hardin via In God's Image \"She has done what she could.\" She wasn't the first, and she wouldn't be the last. The Gospel of Mark is full of examples. Simon, Andrew, James, and John could leave their nets and boats behind when Jesus called them to follow him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":623,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-mark-169-20-spurious-or-genuine\/","url_meta":{"origin":37770,"position":5},"title":"Is Mark 16:9-20 Spurious or Genuine?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 11, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Howard See Truth Magazine XIX: 29, pp. 454-455,\u00a0May 29, 1975 In a recent, late-night television interview of a snake-handling preacher from East Tennessee, the text of Mark 16:9-20 was attacked as being spurious. This was an effort to try to offset the teaching in Mark 16:18, \"'They shall take\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}