John the Baptist

A:

John the baptist was executed on the orders of Herod Antipas, who was only a tetrarch in the Roman Empire, not a king. The gospels say that John had been arrested for publicly criticising the marriage of Herod Antipas to his own brother's former wife, but that Herod did not wish to harm John. The daughter of Herodias danced for Herod Antipas at a party in Galilee, after which he offered her anything she wished. Prompted by her mother, Herodias, she asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter. This could hardly be more different to the account told by the first-century historian, Josephus.

Josephus tells us that Herod Antipas had John arrested and taken to faraway Macherus and executed, for fear that he would raise a rebellion among the Jews. Although John's criticism of the marriage was a factor, Herod was chiefly concerned about the possibility of John sparking an uprising. For this reason, he had John executed as quickly as possible. We are not told whether John the Baptist was actually beheaded, or executed in some other way. The relevant text from Book 18 of Antiquities of the Jews:

"Now many people came in crowds to him, for they were greatly moved by his words. Herod, who feared that the great influence John had over the masses might put them into his power and enable him to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best to put him to death. In this way, he might prevent any mischief John might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly John was sent as a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I already mentioned, and was put to death."

John was born about six months before Jesus [see Luke 1]. But neither John nor his cousin, Jesus, began their missions until later in their lives, so they were both alive at the same time when John began to "prepare the way" for Jesus.

How he "prepared" the way was through the preaching of "repentance"... the first step toward "salvation" [Jesus' mission].

"I indeed baptize you with water unto REPENTANCE: but He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall BAPTIZE YOU WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT, and with fire: whose fan is in His hand, and he will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." (Matt.3:11-12)

John's "baptism with water unto repentance" was to: "...turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:6)

"Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary" explains it this way:

"John the Baptist preached repentance and reformation, as Elijah had done. The turning of souls to God and their duty, is the best preparation of them for the Great and Dreadful Day of the Lord. John shall preach a doctrine that shall reach men's hearts, and work a change in them. Thus he shall prepare the way for the Kingdom of Heaven...".

Many people aren't aware that all of Judaea was "looking for the Messiah" to appear around that time. Many understood what John was doing... and John had upwards of 10,000 followers of his own.

Because of his popularity, even the hypocritical Pharisees visited him on occasion to witness some of his baptisms... hoping to find some reason to criticise him... and possibly initiate his public stoning.

A group of these Pharisees ANGERED JOHN... they were the ones to whom he spoke about his mission of water baptism UNTO REPENTANCE.

"...when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O GENERATION OF VIPERS [YOU SLITHERING SNAKES! strong words for these judges and leaders of the Jews], WHO HATH WARNED YOU TO FLEE FROM THE WRATH TO COME? BRING FORTH THEREFORE FRUITS MEET FOR REPENTANCE..." (Matt.3:7-8).

The "baptisms" he told them the Messiah had for them was "two-fold": one; the baptism of the Holy Spirit -- and two; the baptism of FIRE. These are two DIFFERENT baptisms. The Holy Spirit would go to those whose "hearts were turned to God"... and the "baptism of fire" was the "Lake of Fire" for those with the "hardened hearts."

You hear people of some modern denominations of professing Christianity shouting in ignorance to be "baptised with the baptism of fire"... not understanding what it truly means.

But John's mission was to prepare the people for Jesus' appearance. To cause some to "change their ways"... to get them thinking about God, their miserable lives, how they should be conducting themselves before God... turning some people's attitudes in the right direction to meet their Maker. John the Baptist tried to set people on the right spiritual path to the first step of salvation: repentance.

Until a person takes the first step: repentance through faith... then they are not prepared to receive God's gift of the Holy Spirit.

"...Peter said unto them, REPENT, and BE BAPTIZED [John's preparatory baptism] every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the REMISSION OF SINS, and YE SHALL RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. [Jesus' baptism]" (Acts 2:38)

"...it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that REPENTANCE [John's preparatory mission] and REMISSION OF SINS [Jesus' followup mission] should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." (Luke 24:46-47)

John the baptist was the preparer of the way for the messiah.

John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus by having the people repent their sins and baptizing them.

John the Baptist was approximately six months older than Jesus.

Luke 1:36 says that Elizabeth, mother of John, was six months pregnant when the angel came to Mary. If this was when Mary conceived, then John was about six months older than Jesus.

However, the story of Elizabeth and Zacharias appears only in Luke's Gospel, with some puzzling aspects if it is to be considered historical. Scholars such as Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) believe that Elizabeth and Zechariah were literary creations by the gospel author, purely to create a close family relationship between Jesus and the popular Jewish preacher, John the Baptist. On this view, we do not know who John's parents were or how old he was.

Ephesus.

John was exiled to the isle of Patmos during the reign of Emperor Domitian (Revelation 1:9) who viciously persecuted Christians during his rule (81-96 C.E.). Most historians feel that John was released from exile following Domitian's death and died in Ephesus about the close of the first century C.E.

The historical account, told by Josephus, is somewhat different. The gospel account is correct in that John the Baptist had publicly criticised Antipas' marriage to Herodias, which took place in 34 CE. But Herod himself had wanted John killed, lest he start an uprising among the people of Galilee. There was no party in Galilee and John the Baptist died in 35 or 36 CE in the faraway castle of Macherus. The relevant text from Book 18 of Antiquities of the Jews says:

"Now many people came in crowds to him, for they were greatly moved by his words. Herod, who feared that the great influence John had over the masses might put them into his power and enable him to raise a rebellion (for they seemed ready to do anything he should advise), thought it best to put him to death. In this way, he might prevent any mischief John might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly John was sent as a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I already mentioned, and was put to death."

Another answer from our community:

There are none. There are some things hard to understand and especially many deep spiritual truths, but no contradictions. Since John, like the rest of scripture is divinely inspired, God knew what He wanted written through the mind and pen of John. He did not forget as He went nor did He contradict what He said previously in other places.

It would appear so based on this scripture. Luke 1:15

"For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother's womb.

The Old Testament states characteristics of a Nazarite which are noted in Numbers 6. Verse 2 says:

"He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried."

The first-century Jewish historian, Josephus, agrees that John was arrested and also executed for criticising Antipas, but tells us that the wedding did not take place until 34 CE. Josephus also links the Jewish reaction to the execution of John to the attack on Antipas by King Aretas in 36 CE. Thus, we can reliably say that John the Baptist died in 35 or 36 CE.

If the gospels are correct in saying that John the Baptist was already preaching in 29 CE, then he must have been preaching for at least six or seven years, but it is not possible to say more than this.

In Luke 3:7-10, John called the multitude who came to him a generation of vipers who were fleeing the wrath to come: "Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?" In this Gospel, John did not say anything to the Pharisees and Sadducees.

In Matthew 3:7-9, John is reported to say this to the Pharisees and Sadducees, rather than to the multitude: "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham."

A:

Of course the basic gsopel story of John the Baptist was first written in Mark's Gospel and then copied and elaborated by the authors of the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. The author of Luke added some extensive material about the birth of John to Zacherias and Elizabeth, although Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says that both Zacharius and Elizabeth were literary creations by the author of Luke's Gospel. The Magnificat, a hymn sung by Mary in Luke 1:46-55 is actually a compilation of passages from various parts of the Old Testament.

The authors of both Matthew and Luke wrote nativity stories that are described as virtually irreconcilable. Luke's Gospel says that Jesus was born during the reign of Herod but then contradicts itself by saying that he was born during the census of Quirinius, taken ten years after Herod's death. Raymond E. Brown (An Introduction to the New Testament) says the best explanation is that, although Luke likes to set his Christian drama in the context of well known events from antiquity, sometimes he does so inaccurately.

Because Luke places Elizabeth in Jerusalem, Uta Ranke-Heinemann (Putting Away Childish Things) says it is altogether impossible to understand why Joseph did not arrange things so that when "the time came for her to be delivered" she could stay with her cousin and give birth to her son there, rather than travel onwards to Bethlehem where she knew no one and could not even find accommodation. Ranke-Heinemann agrees with the scholarly consensus that Luke's account is not historical and adds that presumably Elizabeth was herself a creature of legend. This view contradicts Luke's story of Elizabeth in Jerusalem.