Mark 9:10 Study Bible: They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the "rising from the dead" meant.

◄ Mark 9:10 ►

So they kept this matter to themselves, discussing what it meant to rise from the dead.

So they kept this matter to themselves
This phrase indicates the disciples' obedience to Jesus' command to keep the Transfiguration event a secret until after His resurrection. The Greek word for "kept" (κρατέω, krateo) implies a firm hold or grasp, suggesting that the disciples were diligent in maintaining this confidentiality. Historically, this reflects the Messianic Secret theme in Mark, where Jesus often instructs His followers to keep His identity and works concealed until the appropriate time. This secrecy underscores the unfolding revelation of Jesus' mission and the divine timing of God's plan.

discussing
The Greek word used here is συζητέω (suzeteo), which means to seek together or to debate. This indicates that the disciples were actively engaging with one another, trying to understand the profound implications of Jesus' words. This reflects a common practice in Jewish tradition, where disciples would discuss and debate teachings to gain deeper understanding. It highlights the disciples' earnest desire to comprehend the mysteries of Jesus' mission and the nature of His kingdom.

what it meant
This phrase shows the disciples' struggle to grasp the concept of resurrection, which was a complex and somewhat abstract idea in Jewish thought at the time. While the Pharisees believed in a general resurrection at the end of days, the idea of an individual rising from the dead before that time was perplexing. This reflects the disciples' limited understanding and foreshadows the fuller revelation that would come with the resurrection of Christ.

to rise from the dead
The Greek phrase here is ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστῆναι (ek nekron anastēnai), which literally means "to stand up from the dead." This concept is central to Christian theology, as it signifies Jesus' victory over death and His divine nature. In the historical context, the resurrection was a radical and transformative event that would redefine the disciples' understanding of life, death, and the Messiah's role. It points to the hope of eternal life and the promise of resurrection for all believers, a cornerstone of Christian faith that assures us of God's ultimate power and love.

Persons / Places / Events

1. Jesus
The central figure in the Gospel of Mark, whose teachings and actions are the focus of the disciples' discussions.

2. Peter, James, and John
The three disciples who witnessed the Transfiguration and are now pondering Jesus' statement about rising from the dead.

3. The Transfiguration
A significant event where Jesus is transfigured before Peter, James, and John, revealing His divine glory.

4. Mount of Transfiguration
The location where the Transfiguration took place, traditionally identified as Mount Tabor or Mount Hermon.

5. Resurrection
The concept of rising from the dead, which the disciples are trying to understand in the context of Jesus' teachings.

Teaching Points

Understanding the Resurrection
The disciples' confusion highlights the importance of seeking a deeper understanding of the resurrection. As believers, we should study Scripture to grasp the full significance of Jesus' victory over death.

Faith in the Unseen
The concept of resurrection challenges us to trust in God's promises, even when they defy human understanding. Our faith should rest in the assurance of things hoped for, as described in Hebrews 11:1.

The Importance of Discussion
The disciples' discussion among themselves serves as a model for us to engage in community and dialogue about our faith. Sharing insights and questions with fellow believers can lead to greater spiritual growth.

Anticipating Christ's Return
Just as the disciples pondered the meaning of rising from the dead, we are called to live in anticipation of Christ's return and the resurrection of all believers, as promised in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

Living in the Light of the Resurrection
The resurrection is not just a future hope but a present reality that should transform our daily lives. We are called to live as new creations, empowered by the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11).

Bible Study Questions

1. How does the concept of resurrection challenge or affirm your current understanding of life after death?

2. In what ways can you engage in meaningful discussions with others about difficult or confusing aspects of your faith?

3. How does the promise of resurrection influence your daily decisions and priorities?

4. What steps can you take to deepen your understanding of the resurrection and its implications for your life?

5. How can you live in anticipation of Christ's return, and what practical changes might this bring to your lifestyle?

Connections to Other Scriptures

Mark 8:31
Jesus begins to teach His disciples about His suffering, death, and resurrection, setting the stage for their confusion and discussion in Mark 9:10.

1 Corinthians 15:12-22
Paul discusses the resurrection of the dead, providing a theological foundation for understanding the significance of Jesus' resurrection.

John 11:25-26
Jesus declares Himself as the resurrection and the life, offering insight into the meaning of rising from the dead.

Acts 2:24
Peter's sermon at Pentecost emphasizes the resurrection of Jesus, affirming its centrality to the Christian faith.

Sermons

Questionings Concerning the Resurrection Set At Rest	J. B. Heard, M. A.	Mark 9:10
The Resurrection: its Moral Meanings	J. B. Brown, B. A.	Mark 9:10
A Vision of Home		Mark 9:1-10
Christ the Light of the Body	C. Kingsley, M. A.	Mark 9:1-10
Dust of Gold Gathered from a Variety of Authors	J. Morison, D. D., J. Morison, D. D., J. Morison, D. D., Bengel., Bengel., Dr. Brown., Hall.	Mark 9:1-10
Ecstasy Cannot be Continued	A. P. Foster.	Mark 9:1-10
Elias with Moses	H. M. Luckock, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
Exceptional Hours in Life	J. Parker, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
How We Know There is a Heaven	Dr. Newton.	Mark 9:1-10
It is Good for Us to be Here	Bishop Hall., T. M. Lindsay, D. D., J. H. Godwin.	Mark 9:1-10
Man's Transformation	R. W. Evans.	Mark 9:1-10
Moses and Elias Talking with Jesus	J. Parker, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
On the Holy Mount	W. M. Taylor, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
Secrecy Enjoined Till the Son of Man be Risen from the Dead	J. Parker, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
The Decease At Jerusalem; Or, the Power of the Cross	Dr. Newton.	Mark 9:1-10
The Glorified Saint	Thomas Jones.	Mark 9:1-10
The Hiding of the Higher Life	J. Parker, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
The Influence of Heaven Here Below	A. P. Foster.	Mark 9:1-10
The Lessons of the Transfiguration	S. Cox, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration	J. W. Boulding.	Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration and its Teachings	Dean Goulburn.	Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration Gives Us a Pledge and Earnest of Our Personal Identity in the Risen State	H. M. Luckock, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration of Christ	W. J. Brock, B. A.	Mark 9:1-10
The Transfiguration of Christ	Dr. Newton.	Mark 9:1-10
The Use of Religious Excitement	Bishop Walsham How.	Mark 9:1-10
Transfiguration of Christ	W. H. Lewis, D. D.	Mark 9:1-10
A Glimpse of Glory	J.J. Given	Mark 9:1-13
Glimpses of the Glory of Jesus	E. Johnson	Mark 9:2-18
Dark Sayings	E. Johnson	Mark 9:9-13
The Saying that was Kept	A.F. Muir	Mark 9:9-13

People

Elias, Elijah, James, Jesus, John, Peter

Places

Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum, Galilee, High Mountain

Topics

Although, Asking, Dead, Discussing, Frequently, Kept, Matter, Mean, Meant, Questioning, Rising, Saying, Seized, Statement, Themselves

Dictionary of Bible Themes

Mark 9:2-13

5092 Elijah

Mark 9:9-11

2580 Christ, transfiguration

Library

February 2 Evening
One star differeth from another star in glory.--I COR. 15:41. By the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all.--Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Christ's Lament Over Our Faithlessness
'He answereth him and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you?'--Mark ix. 19. There is a very evident, and, I think, intentional contrast between the two scenes, of the Transfiguration, and of this healing of the maniac boy. And in nothing is the contrast more marked than in the demeanour of these enfeebled and unbelieving Apostles, as contrasted with the rapture of devotion of the other three, and with the lowly submission and faith of Moses and Elias. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Omnipotence of Faith
Jesus said unto him, If them canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.'--Mark ix. 23. The necessity and power of faith is the prominent lesson of this narrative of the healing of a demoniac boy, especially as it is told by the Evangelist Mark, The lesson is enforced by the actions of all the persons in the group, except the central figure, Christ. The disciples could not cast out the demon, and incur Christ's plaintive rebuke, which is quite as much sorrow as blame: 'O faithless …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Unbelieving Belief
'And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.'--Mark ix. 24. We owe to Mark's Gospel the fullest account of the pathetic incident of the healing of the demoniac boy. He alone gives us this part of the conversation between our Lord and the afflicted child's father. The poor man had brought his child to the disciples, and found them unable to do anything with him. A torrent of appeal breaks from his lips as soon as the Lord gives …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

An Unanswered Question
'What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?'--Mark ix. 33. Was it not a strange time to squabble when they had just been told of His death? Note-- I. The variations of feeling common to the disciples and to us all: one moment 'exceeding sorrowful,' the next fighting for precedence. II. Christ's divine insight into His servants' faults. This question was put because He knew what the wrangle had been about. The disputants did not answer, but He knew without an answer, as His immediately …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Salted with Fire
Every one shall be salted with fire.'--Mark ix. 49. Our Lord has just been uttering some of the most solemn words that ever came from His gracious lips. He has been enjoining the severest self-suppression, extending even to mutilation and excision of the eye, the hand, or the foot, that might cause us to stumble. He has been giving that sharp lesson on the ground of plain common sense and enlightened self-regard. It is better, obviously, to live maimed than to die whole. The man who elects to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Salt in Yourselves'
'Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.'--Mark ix. 50. In the context 'salt' is employed to express the preserving, purifying, divine energy which is otherwise spoken of as 'fire.' The two emblems produce the same result. They both salt--that is, they cleanse and keep. And if in the one we recognise the quick energy of the Divine Spirit as the central idea, no less are we to see the same typified under a slightly different aspect in the other. The fire transforms into its own substance …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'This is My Beloved Son: Hear Him'
'And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son: hear Him.'--Mark ix. 7. With regard to the first part of these words spoken at the Transfiguration, they open far too large and wonderful a subject for me to do more than just touch with the tip of my finger, as it were, in passing, because the utterance of the divine words, 'This is My beloved Son,' in all the depth of their meaning and loftiness, is laid as the foundation of the two …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Jesus Only!
'They saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.'--Mark ix. 8. The Transfiguration was the solemn inauguration of Jesus for His sufferings and death. Moses, the founder, and Elijah, the restorer, of the Jewish polity, the great Lawgiver and the great Prophet, were present. The former had died and been mysteriously buried, the latter had been translated without 'seeing death.' So both are visitors from the unseen world, appearing to own that Jesus is the Lord of that dim land, and that …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Transfiguration
'And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them. 3. And His raimemt became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. 4. And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Receiving and Forbidding
'And He came to Capernaum: and being in the house He asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? 34. But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest. 35. And He sat down, and called the Twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. 36. And He took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, 37. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

July the Ninth Scholars in Christ's School
"He taught His disciples." --MARK ix. 30-37. And my Lord will teach me. He will lead me into "the deep things" of God. There is only one school for this sort of learning, and an old saint called it the Academy of Love, and it meets in Gethsemane and Calvary, and the Lord Himself is the teacher, and there is room in the school for thee and me. But the disciples were not in the mood for learning. They were not ambitious for heavenly knowledge, but for carnal prizes, not for wisdom, but for place. …
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

The Lenten Fast.
"This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer."--ST. MARK ix. 29. You remember the narrative from which I have taken this verse. Jesus, as we read, had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and when He was come to the multitude, a certain man besought him saying, "Have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sore vexed, and I brought him to Thy disciples, but they could not cure him." Then Jesus rebuked the devil, and the child was cured from that hour. Thereupon His disciples …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

The Child in the Midst.
"And He took a child and set Him in the midst of them: and when He had taken him in His arms, He said unto them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in My name, receiveth Me: and whosoever shall receive Me, receiveth not Me, but Him that sent Me."--ST. MARK ix. 36, 37. It is one of the characteristics of our time, one of its most hopeful and most encouraging signs, that men are awaking to higher and purer conceptions of the Christian life and what it is that constitutes such a life. We …
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

Of Hell
"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:48. 1. Every truth which is revealed in the oracles of God is undoubtedly of great importance. Yet it may be allowed that some of those which are revealed therein are of greater importance than others, as being more immediately conducive to the grand end of all, the eternal salvation of men. And we may judge of their importance even from this circumstance, -- that they are not mentioned once only in the sacred writings, but are repeated …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

A Caution against Bigotry
"And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in Thy name: and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not." Mark 9:38, 39. 1. In the preceding verses we read, that after the Twelve had been disputing "which of them should be the greatest," Jesus took a little child, and set him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, said unto them, "Whosoever shall receive one of these little children in My name, receiveth …
John Wesley—Sermons on Several Occasions

Faith's Dawn and Its Clouds
In the text there are three things very clearly. Here is true faith; here is grievous unbelief; here is a battle between the two. I. Very clearly in the text there is TRUE FAITH. "Lord, I believe," says the anxious father. When our Lord tells him that, if he can believe, all things are possible to him, he makes no demur, asks for no pause, wishes to hear no more evidence, but cries at once, "Lord, I believe." Now, observe we have called this faith true faith, and we will prove it to have been so. …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

The Child in the Midst.
And he came to Capernaum: and, being in the house, he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves who should be the greatest. And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all. And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them, Whosoever shall …
George MacDonald—Unspoken Sermons

Absolute Surrender
"And Ben-hadad the king of Syria gathered all his host together: and there were thirty and two kings with him, and horses, and chariots: and he went up and besieged Samaria, and warred against it. And he sent messengers to Ahab king of Israel into the city, and said unto him, Thus saith Ben-hadad, Thy silver and thy gold is mine; thy wives also and thy children, even the goodliest, are mine. And the king of Israel answered and said, My lord, O king, according to thy saying, I am thine and all that …
Andrew Murray—Absolute Surrender

Thoughts Upon Striving to Enter at the Strait Gate.
AS certainly as we are here now, it is not long but we shall all be in another World, either in a World of Happiness, or else in a World of Misery, or if you will, either in Heaven or in Hell. For these are the two only places which all Mankind from the beginning of the World to the end of it, must live in for evermore, some in the one, some in the other, according to their carriage and behaviour here; and therefore it is worth the while to take a view and prospect now and then of both these places, …
William Beveridge—Private Thoughts Upon a Christian Life

The Three Tabernacles
And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles, one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. MARK ix. 5. Caught up in glory and in rapture, the Apostle seems to have forgotten the world from which he had ascended, and to which he still belonged, and to have craved permanent shelter and extatic communion within the mystic splendors that brightened the Mount of Transfiguration. But it was true, not only as to the confusion of his …
E. H. Chapin—The Crown of Thorns

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