Hogan to Bloss, 4-06-98:
------------------------
>And in regard to Mr 16:18, might we not consider Lu 10:19 and Ps
>91:13 also?
Luke 10.19 NRSV says, putatively quoting Jesus,
  "... See, I have given you the authority to tread on snakes
  and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and
  nothing will hurt you."
Psalms 91.13 NRSV says,
  You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and
  the serpent you will trample under foot.
Mark 16.18 NRSV (Longer Ending) says, putatively quoting Jesus,
  "... they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they
  drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay
  their hands on the sick, and they will recover."
There is a general theme about snakes and whether a person is hurt
by them that runs through these passages; however, the second
clause of the Longer Ending passage, "they will lay their hands on
the sick, and they will recover", and the reference to drinking
"deadly things", are unique to the Longer Ending.
In all probability, therefore, Luke was looking at OT scripture
when he wrote his lines above, while the Longer Ending took
liberties with Psalms.
>And was this not fulfilled in Acts 28 by Paul and
>the viper?
This is not an independent witness, since Acts was written by
Luke.
Luke thought the Psalms theme was pretty important.  In addition,
we know that he had a copy of Mark to look at when he wrote his
own stuff.  (Many passages in Luke are in fact copied straight out
of Mark, more or less word for word)
Therefore, if Luke had seen the line "they will lay their hands on
the sick, and they will recover" and the reference to drinking
"deadly things" in Mark, he would almost certainly have reproduced
those ideas.
In fact, he did not.  The passage, Mark 16.18, is therefore bogus.
The Longer Ending did not exist in Luke's time.
Bob
---------------