In the oldest form in which the gospel of Mark exists, it ends abruptly at verse 8 and the Greek seems to have been interrupted. In some ancient manuscripts the gospel narrative has been completed by an account of Jesus' appearances after his Resurrection, added after verse 8 and in a clearly different style of writing from that of Mark. The Church accepted this ending, which consists of material reflecting passages from the gospel of Luke and Acts, but Mark's own writing ends at 16:8.

There are three theories about the ending of Mark's gospel at 16:8:

(i) That Mark did stop writing there although it was a very abrupt way to end,

(ii) That Mark did not actually write any more but intended to and was in some way prevented from finishing his gospel,

(iii) That Mark wrote more after verse 8 but the end of the papyrus roll on which he had written was lost or tom off before it had circulated around his readers.

Whatever did actually happen, the climax of the whole gospel is reached in 16:1-8, when the women discover the empty tomb and receive the message that Jesus was raised from death. The whole faith and life of the Church was based on the truth of the Resurrection.