Charles Ellicott Commentary Mark 6:12

"And they went out, and preached that [men] should repent." — Mark 6:12 (ASV)

And preached that men should repent.—The work of the Apostles appears from this to have been a continuation of that of the Baptist. They announced the nearness of the kingdom of God, and repentance as the one adequate preparation for it, and baptized as the outward token of that repentance and the new life in which it was to result (John 3:5; John 4:2), but they did not as yet proclaim their Master as being Himself the Christ, and therefore the Head of that kingdom.