Quote Originally Posted by Victor View Post
We have to weight several factors to establish the link between the Gospels and the Beasts/Kingdoms. Yes, Mark was probably written in Rome, but that isn't the only factor into play here. What about the places where the other Gospels were located? Do they show a pattern that can be associated with the kingdoms/Gospels correlation? It seems that this fact by itself doesn't establish a clear link.

We should look for the overall gist. In favor of Mark, there is the primary audience, which was Roman. In favor of John, there are the many references to Rome's face in the land of Jesus (viz, Pilate) and the only mention of "Romans" in the four Gospels. "Caesar" seems to play a distinctive role as well, as I explained in "Princes have persecuted me". John is governed by Shin (Tooth) and the Roman beast had "iron teeth".

The connection between Mark and Rome may come up in another level of the structure. Like, if we try to establish a link within the Synoptics and Rome, Mark stands out. For example, the three languages written on the superscription above the Cross seem to relate to the Synoptics in the following way: Hebrew - Matthew, Latin - Mark, Greek - Luke. Maybe there's a link between Mark and West in the four directions correlation. Or maybe in some other context, time will tell.

In a nutshell: "Rome" is of course important in all four Gospels, but in John it seems that the connection is stronger and somewhat distinctive for the reasons explained above.



The word "Roman" appears in NIV only as a supplementary word added for understanding; it is not in the Greek text.

Well, you can always use the search engine here at Bible Wheel, Blue Letter Bible, Search God's Word or even your own! :lol:
Peter is mentioned to go places where he doesn't want to go in the last chapter of John. We suspect it's Rome but it's uncertain.

Look at how confident Paul was when he was shipwrecked...because God had promised he would go to Rome as well. How many trips did Paul make? The last was from Jerusalem to Rome but I think they stopped by Malta.