He
who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.
Mark 16:16-18
Mark 16 [8.] They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid. Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. When they heard that he was alive, and had been seen by her, they disbelieved. After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country. They went away and told it to the rest. They didn’t believe them, either.
Mark 16 [14.] Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen. He said to them, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who disbelieves will be condemned. These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mark 16 [19.] So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen.
Meaning:
Jesus has just commanded the eleven, “Go into all the world, and preach the Good News to the whole creation” (Mark 16:15). These verses explain what is at stake when that message is heard. Having just rebuked them for unbelief (Mark 16:14), he shows how much depends on believing.
- “He who believes and is baptized will be saved”
Salvation is linked first of all to faith: trusting Jesus as the risen Lord. Baptism is the outward sign that goes with that faith, the public act by which a believer is joined to Christ and his people. On the day of Pentecost Peter said, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins” (Acts 2:38). Peter later explains that baptism saves, “not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 3:21).
Faith and baptism belonged together in the early church, but the ground of salvation is God’s grace received by faith: “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). The thief on the cross had no chance to be baptized, yet Jesus promised him, “today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
- “but he who disbelieves will be condemned”
Notice that the second half does not say “he who is not baptized”, but “he who disbelieves”. The decisive issue is faith. John says the same: “He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God” (John 3:18). Rejecting the Good News has eternal consequences.
- “These signs will accompany those who believe”
Jesus promised that powerful signs would go with the preaching of the Gospel. The book of Acts records them. The apostles spoke “with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak” (Acts 2:4). Paul cast out a spirit “in the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:18). On Malta a viper fastened on Paul’s hand, but “he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed” (Acts 28:3-6).
“In my name” is the key. The signs were not displays of the disciples’ own power but the work of the risen Lord through them, confirming that the message was from God.
- “if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them”
This is a promise of protection for God’s messengers in the course of their mission, like Jesus’ earlier word to the seventy: “Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you” (Luke 10:19). It is not an invitation to handle snakes or drink poison to prove one’s faith. When Satan urged Jesus to throw himself down from the temple, Jesus answered, “You shall not test the Lord, your God” (Matthew 4:7).
The Significance of Mark 16:16-18
- Faith is decisive
Believing in Jesus leads to salvation; refusing him leads to condemnation. This makes the message urgent and the call to believe personal.
- Signs serve the message
The signs were never the point in themselves. They accompanied and confirmed the word, as Hebrews says: “God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, by various works of power, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit” (Hebrews 2:3-4).
- Trust without testing God
God protects his servants as they do his will, but we must not put him to the test by reckless acts. True faith obeys and trusts rather than demanding proof.
Cross-References:
John 3:18: "He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already," Faith is the decisive issue.
Acts 2:38: "Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins," Baptism with faith and repentance.
Acts 28:5: "However he shook off the creature into the fire, and wasn’t harmed." Paul and the viper on Malta.
Hebrews 2:3-4: "God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders," Signs confirming the message.
Conclusion: Jesus declared that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever disbelieves will be condemned, and he promised that signs would accompany those who believe: casting out demons, speaking new languages, protection from serpents and poison, and healing the sick. The book of Acts shows these promises fulfilled as the apostles carried the Good News into the world. The decisive matter is faith in the risen Lord, and the signs exist to confirm his word, not to put God to the test.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible