Was the kinship of Jesus and John the Baptist ever mentioned in the Bible?

Answer 1

A:Just one gospel claims a kinship between Jesus and John the Baptist. Luke's Gospel says that their mothers, Mary and Elizabeth, were cousins. Elsewhere, John seems not to know or recognise Jesus. Matthew 11:3 even has John ask of Jesus whether he was the one to come. John 1:31 has John say of Jesus, "And I knew him not ..."

The kinship of Jesus and John depends on Mary and Elizabeth being cousins, but Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) believes that Elizabeth and Zechariah were literary creations by the author of Luke's Gospel.

A:Yes it was. Luke 1:36 says Mary and Elizabeth were cousins. Elizabeth gave birth to John and Mary gave birth to Jesus. This would make John and Jesus second cousins. John's Gospel, passing over Jesus' birth, childhood, baptism, and temptation, starts with the testimony of the deity of Jesus given by his cousin John the Baptist to the investigating committee from the Sanhedrin. Part of John's testimony reveals to the reader that John knew Jesus as something more than his mere cousin. He says in John 1:29, "The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him; and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."