Overview

At first, the author was under the impression that this would be a brief document; however, it turned out not to be the case. Consequently, this document is broken up into

a brief summary,
a less-brief summary,
a detailed in-depth analysis of every passage associated with John the Baptist,
a look at one apology on this matter, and
we conclude with an interesting pair of narratives.

Not every verse is explicitly copied, but most are. The brief summary is one of those too-long, didn't read... summaries.

A brief summary

The relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist as described in Mark is best understood if one understands that John the Baptist was an itinerant apocalyptic preacher who was teaching that the kingdom of Yahweh was coming soon and that people needed to repent and prepare for this coming. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist, and Jesus himself was also charismatic. When John the Baptist was arrested, Jesus decided to take up the mantle of his teacher, and he also gained a following in Galilee. John the Baptist was murdered, and then Jesus had himself anointed, an action announcing he held some form of current or future authority over Judea, and this was betrayed to the Jewish priests and aristocracy, who then turned him over to the Romans, who had him executed for sedition.

If Jesus and John the Baptist were closely related (as is recorded only in Luke), would knowledge of this not have spread throughout all of Christianity in the 50 years between the execution of Jesus and the authoring of the first gospel? If John the Baptist was actually in some way Elijah incarnate (as is stated in Matthew), would knowledge of this also not have spread throughout all of Christianity in the 50 years between the execution of Jesus and the authoring of Mark? While Elijah is referred to in all of the gospels, only Matthew makes it clear that John the Baptist was in some way Elijah incarnate, while Luke makes Mary and Elizabeth close relatives (the latter being either an aunt or great aunt of the former). Of course, if the "wages" of sin is death, and Elijah did not die, if Elijah was temporarily taken into Heaven only to return to Earth as John the Baptist, then John the Baptist's death means Elijah finally died, leaves only Enoch as one who did not die despite having sinned.

The most significant contradiction can be seen by contrasting John and Mark, but there are also contradictions introduced by the authors of Matthew and Luke. In John, Jesus calls his first disciples and begins his ministry immediately after being baptized, and the only interactions with Jesus and John the Baptist happen before the arrest of John the Baptist. In Mark, Jesus immediately goes into the wilderness for forty days after his baptism and he does not begin his ministry until after John the Baptist is arrested, and the third and forth disciples recorded in Mark differ from the third and forth disciples in recorded in John. Next, we summarize the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist in John, then Mark, and then identify yet another contradiction in the other gospels.

In the gospel of John, after Jesus is baptized in the vicinity of Judea, John the Baptist declares Jesus to be the “Chosen One”, and on the next day, he declares Jesus to be the “lamb of Yahweh.” On that day, Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, recognizes Jesus as the Messiah and immediately tells his brother Simon (later called Peter), who is also there, and together they become the first two disciples of Jesus. On the next day, Jesus calls two more disciples, and these are Philip and Nathanael (likely called Bartholomew in the other gospels). Together, they set out that day for a journey to Galilee, thus beginning his ministry, and upon reaching Galilee, they attend a wedding where Jesus performs his first miracle of turning water into wine. Then Jesus, his mother Mary, his brothers, and his disciples set out for Capernaum, after which Jesus sets out for a trip to Jerusalem. Later during his ministry, once back in Galilee, Jesus and his disciples return to Judea where they are baptizing in the same region as John the Baptist, and once again, John the Baptist alludes to Jesus being the Messiah, and says “[h]e must increase, but I must decrease.” Prior to his arrest, John the Baptist is clearly aware that Jesus is the Messiah. The arrest of John the Baptist is only indirectly referenced, in that this last narrative is said to have occurred before his arrest. Nothing more is said about John, although later Jesus once again returns to Judea, and “many came to him, and they were saying, ‘John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.’ And many believed in him there.” Philip, the third disciple, is referenced occasionally in the gospel of John, but the names of the disciples James and John are never mentioned, and only at the end of the gospel does it even mention the “sons of Zebedee” (although, this may be because one of the two is the disciple who Jesus loved).

This should be contrasted with Mark, where for forty days after Jesus's baptism, Jesus is in the wilderness being tempted by Satan. Then, Jesus does nothing until after John the Baptist is arrested. He only starts his ministry after John the Baptist is arrested, and consequently neither does he call his first disciples until after John the Baptist is arrested. Mark records that after John the Baptist is arrested, he begins his ministry by journeying alone to Capernaum, and there he calls his first two disciples, Simon (later called Peter) and Andrew, and next he calls his next two disciples, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, and the names of Philip and Bartholomew are only ever recorded in Mark as having been disciples, nothing more. However, in Mark, Jesus and his disciples are never once recorded as going to Judea, not even once, until the last journey prior to his execution, and it is closer to the end of Jesus's ministry in Galilee that Peter, not Andrew, recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.

Next, both Matthew and Luke include a story while John the Baptist is in prison, where John the Baptist hears about Jesus and sends his disciples to ask Jesus if “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” This needs be contrasted with the gospel of John where prior to John the Baptist's arrest, it is quite clear that John is very aware by he who sent him (Yahweh?) that Jesus is the “Chosen One”, the “lamb of Yahweh” and the “Messiah”, and before his arrest, he had already said “[h]e must increase, but I must decrease.”

Finally, there are significant differences between the stories of John the Baptist in the synoptic gospels, and some of the differences between Mark and the gospels of Matthew and Luke, the authors of which copied from Mark, are made to diminish the significance of John the Baptist and elevate Jesus, for even in the second century, there were still disciples of John the Baptist who did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah, and even today, two-thousand years later, there are still followers of John the Baptist who acknowledge him and not Jesus as the Messiah.

brief-summary

A less brief summary

Only the author of Luke records the birth of John the Baptist, and makes him a relative of Jesus through Mary. There are issues with this narrative, as both King Herod and Quirinus, the governor of Syria, are mentioned, but Quirinius does not become governor of Syria until a decade after the death of King Herod.

All four gospels describe John the Baptist's ministry. All refer to a verse in Isaiah,

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

All gospels have John the Baptist state that one is coming after him who is more powerful, and that he is not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. All state that John the Baptist is baptizing with water, and three record that the one who is coming after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit, and two record that the one coming after him will also baptize with fire. The baptism of water by John the Baptist is said to be either a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, or simply a baptism for repentance. Only Mark calls it a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and this is quickly corrected in Matthew and Luke, as only Yahweh can forgive sins; however, if John the Baptist was Elijah incarnate sent by Yahweh, might he not also have the ability to forgive sins, as he himself did not die, but was taken directly into heaven.

All four gospels describe Jesus's baptism by John the Baptist, but only the author of Matthew records that John the Baptist objected to baptizing Jesus, acquiescing only after Jesus insists it is necessary. In all other gospels, it does not appear that John the Baptist even recognized Jesus, and specifically in John, it says that John was explicitly told by Yahweh that he would recognize Jesus as the Holy Spirit would descend on him. At the baptism, all gospels describing the Holy Spirit descending from heaven in the form of a dove. In the first three gospels, this coincides with a voice from heaven acknowledging that Jesus is Yahweh's son, and that Yahweh is pleased with Jesus, but no such message is recorded in John.

Now, all three synoptic gospels said that after the baptism, Jesus was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tested, and Mark records that this was immediately after the baptism. Matthew and Luke describe Satan taking Jesus to the Temple and to a tall mountain, but they cannot agree on the order. After the 40 days, nothing more is recorded in Mark and Matthew about Jesus until Jesus hears that John the Baptist is arrested: Jesus does not start his ministry in Mark and Matthew until after he hears that John the Baptist is arrested. In Luke, it says that John the Baptist was put into prison, but it appears to be immediately after the 40 days that Jesus started his ministry, where he travelled throughout Galilee. The story where Jesus is rejected at Nazareth is now moved from the end of Mark and Matthew to one of the first significant events in Jesus's ministry worth recording, and it is only after this that Jesus calls his first three disciples: Simon Peter and the James and John, the sons of Zebedee with a great catch of fish in the Sea of Galilee.

In John, however, there is no mention of 40 days in the wilderness, and instead, John the Baptist immediately recognizes and testifies that Jesus is the “Chosen One.” The next day, John the Baptist proclaims that Jesus is the lamb of Yahweh and Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, recognizes Jesus as the Messiah and tells his brother Simon Peter, who is also in Judea. These two become Jesus's first disciples, and on the next day, Jesus calls two more Galileans who are in Judea to be his disciples: Philip and Nathanael (probably named Bartholomew in the other gospels). Then they travel north to Galilee and Jesus performs his first miracle or sign at Cana where he turns water into wine. After this, Jesus, his brothers, his mother Mary, and his disciples travel to Capernaum: all within a week of Jesus's baptism, and no mention of 40 days in the wilderness.

The last appearance of John the Baptist in the gospel of John is one that is explicitly stated to have occurred before John the Baptist's arrest, and that is where Jesus travels to Judea with his disciples and it is remarked to John the Baptist that more people were coming to Jesus and Jesus's disciples were baptizing more people than John the Baptist. To this, John the Baptist responds “I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him” and “[h]e must increase, but I must decrease.” Thus, prior to John the Baptist's arrest, Jesus already has many disciples, Jesus has visited both Galilee and Judea in his ministry, and John the Baptist has declared that Jesus is the “Chosen One,” the “lamb” of Yahweh, and inferred that Jesus is the Messiah.

In Mark and Matthew, however, Jesus is not recorded to have travelled anywhere for his ministry prior to the arrest of John the Baptist--in fact, nothing is recorded at all between the 40 days in the wilderness and the arrest of John the Baptist, and it is only after the arrest of John the Baptist that Jesus travels to Capernaum and only then does he call first Simon Peter and Andrew, and then on another occasion, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, to be his first four disciples. Nothing is recorded about the third and fourth disciples mentioned in the gospel of John (Philip and Nathanael) in any of the three synoptic gospels except for that they were disciples (under the assumption that Nathanael is named Bartholomew in the synoptic gospels).

In Luke, the relative timing of the arrest of John the Baptist and the start of Jesus's ministry is more vague, and it appears that Jesus started his ministry by himself before he travelled to the Sea of Galilee where he called his first three disciples, but it is clearly recorded that Jesus's solo ministry at this time was entirely restricted to Galilee, with no mention of him visiting Judea in the south. When he finally does call his first three disciples, they are Simon Peter, and James and John, the sons of Zebedee, with no mention of Andrew. Only later are Philip and Bartholomew even recorded as being disciples chosen by Jesus.

Also, in Matthew and Luke, once John the Baptist is in prison, despite before his arrest having publicly declared that Jesus is the “Chosen One,” the “lamb” of Yahweh, and inferred that Jesus is the Messiah, John the Baptist feels it is necessary to inquire, through his disciples, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?” Was John the Baptist not told even prior to Jesus's baptism by Yahweh that “He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” and did not John the Baptist see “the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.” Why then is there any question in the mind of John the Baptist as to who Jesus is?

Also, after John the Baptist's arrest, we find out that:

The disciples of John the Baptist fast, while the disciples of Jesus do not.
In Luke, at the annunciation of John the Baptist's birth, it is said that John the Baptist will not drink alcoholic beverages, and this is reaffirmed in Matthew and Luke, and it may be interpreted that his disciples do not drink alcoholic beverages, either, but Matthew and Luke not only record that Jesus and his disciples drink, but they drink so much that they are called drunkards. Indeed, the last supper, once again, has Jesus and his disciples drinking wine (although some believe that the wine is actually turned into blood, although I've never seen a Christian who participates regularly in communion ever get used to and enjoy the taste of blood--I suspect communion wine still tastes like wine), and Jesus's first miracle in the gospel of John is turning water into wine: specifically, providing the equivalent of approximately 750 bottles of 750 mL of wine to a wedding crowd that was already, at the very least, inebriated to the point that they should have bringing out the plonk and not the good stuff.

The death of John the Baptist at the hands of Herod Antipas (not King Herod, as is recorded in Mark) is recorded only in Mark and Matthew, but in Mark it is recorded that he “feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him” and “[w]hen he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him,” while in Matthew, Herod Antipas “wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet.” Yet, in both cases, after John the Baptist was killed, Herod Antipas grieved. Why would anyone grieve over someone they wanted dead? If John the Baptist was in some way Elijah incarnate, would that not be frustrating, too, to be killed, as nine centuries earlier, the first time he was here on Earth, Elijah did not die but rather was taken directly into heaven. Only Matthew records Jesus being directly told that John the Baptist was killed, and only Matthew gives this awareness as causing a sequence of events that leads to the feeding of the 5000 men.

The only explicit description of Jesus going to Judea in the synoptic gospels is in the last few weeks of his life, where he travels to Jerusalem for the Passover, has himself anointed and thereby implying that he was a ruler of the Jews, and when Judas Iscariot made the Jewish priesthood and aristocracy aware of this, they reported this to Pilate, who then had Jesus executed for sedition against Rome; his crime being posted above his head: “King of the Jews.”

Finally, there are many allusions to Jesus being a resurrected John the Baptist or Elijah, and Matthew clearly equates John the Baptist with Elijah as a fulfillment of a prophesy in Malachi, and even at his birth, Luke stated that John the Baptist would be “[w]ith the spirit and power of Elijah.” At the transfiguration, the disciples even meet Moses and Elijah, at least, in the synoptic gospels.

The last reference to John the Baptist is in Acts, where some of the disciples of John the Baptist (who seem to have spread throughout the Roman Empire, as over a dozen were in the city of Ephesus) become converts to Jesus, including one, Apollos from Alexandria, who was converted by Paul.

less-brief-summary

A detailed analysis of all verses associated with John the Baptist

John the Baptist is a figure that is mentioned in all four of the gospels, but their accounts are very different, as we will explore here by looking at every verse that is related to John the Baptist. We will look at

his birth,
his ministry,
the baptism of Jesus,
post-baptismal events,
his arrest,
his time in prison,
his death,
Peter's declaration,
Elijah,
the transfiguration,
subsequent conversions,
contrasting events in the synoptic gospels with the gospel of John, and
why were there still disciples of John?

In each case, we will look at the four authors in the order Mark, Matthew, Luke and John, as Mark is likely the earliest gospel, Matthew and Luke independently copied off of Mark, and John was written independently much later. The numbering of the sections n.1 through n.4 will always correspond to the gospel in question, and n.5 will generally be the summary. All this is followed by a summary of the issues, and then followed by a succinct summary of the adventures of John the Baptist and his association with Jesus.

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1. His birth

Only one gospel describes John the Baptist's birth, but this will lead to a problem later, as other gospels will describe John the Baptist as being Elijah come back to Earth, as Elijah is recorded as having never died but rather ascended into heaven, and a prophesy said that Elijah would come back. We will look at the birth of John the Baptist in detail.

1.1 His birth in Mark

The author of Mark makes no allusion to the birth of John the Baptist. The first mention is Mark 1:2-4:

“As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ... so John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, ...”

1.2 His birth in Matthew

The author of Matthew also makes no allusion to his birth, with the first mention paralleling that in Mark, specifically, in Matthew 3:1, we have

“In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, ...”

The words that are translated to “appeared” are actually different: παραγίνεται and Ἐγένετο, respectively. The first means to be produced, the second is to be born.

1.3 His birth in Luke

According to the author of Luke, John the Baptist was the firstborn son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, six months before the birth of Jesus. First, we are given information about the lineage of the parents in Luke 1:5-7, where it says:

“In the days of King Herod of Judea,

there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah.
His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.”

The priestly order of Abijah are the descendants of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and thus this claims that John the Baptist is the product of two lineages converging after a period of well over fifteen hundred years. If Elizabeth is a descendant of the daughters of Aaron, then Mary, too, is descendant along this same line.

Then, one day, Zechariah is working at the temple:

Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him.

There, he is spoken to the angel Gabriel in Luke 1:8-23,

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.
You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
He must never drink wine or strong drink; even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.
He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him,
to turn the hearts of parents to their children and
the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous,
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

and when Zechariah dares to question the possibility of her getting pregnant “How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” he is punished for nine months. Of course, Yahweh already knew that Zechariah would question this before he created Adam and Eve, so it seems awkward to punish someone when you know exactly how they will react with your news. Elizabeth does get pregnant, as recorded in Luke 1:24-25.

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, she is visited by her relative Mary. Given the age difference, it is likely that Elizabeth is either an aunt or a great aunt, probably the latter, and thus this makes John the Baptist and Jesus second cousins once or twice removed.

Next, the author of Luke describes the reaction of the infant to the arrival of Mary and Jesus in her womb:

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.

And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months, so right up until the time of the birth of John the Baptist, but it does not say if she was actually present for the birth. However, given that they both had spoken to angels, and that Mary is pregnant, would they not have discussed Mary's virginal conception? Would not have told the young John about the message from the angels, explained their own age and the miracle of his birth, but also the miracle of the virginal conception of his relative, thus making the young John aware of Jesus and his divine status?

Finally, “[t]he child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day he appeared publicly to Israel.”

There is only one issue: later in Luke, it says that Jesus was not born until after Quirinius was the governor of Syria, and King Herod died in 4 CE, while Quirinius became the governor of Syria in 6 CE. There is no ambiguity over Quirinius, but there is the potential for an ambiguity over King Herod and his son Herod Archelaus. After all, some of the gospel writers mistakenly call Herod Antipas, the other son of King Herod, a “king.” The only possibilities therefore are:

as the author of Luke did not explicitly state that the events surrounding the pregnancy occurred during the life of King Herod, it may have been that the author was recording that Zechariah and Elizabeth were a righteous couple who were already married during the reign of King Herod, but there was no need to record Herod's death, nor the rule of and the subsequent deposition of his son, Herod Archelaus,
the author of Luke got it wrong: it was Herod Archelaus who as the ruler of Judea, in which case, John the Baptist is born around 6 CE, or
Mary did not actually get pregnant when she was visited by the angel, and she was not pregnant when she visited Elizabeth. This is awkward, as this would mean that Mary, if she was a teenager when she was visited by the angel, then she would be in her mid-to-late twenties when she was finally betrothed to Joseph, only to find herself pregnant at that time. In this case, Elizabeth, when she said “blessed is the fruit of your womb” was only referring to the future expected miraculous pregnancy.

The first two would make John the Baptist and Jesus approximately the same age: in their early twenties. The third would make John the Baptist in his early thirties, and ten years older than Jesus. The only one that would allow the passage to be inerrant is the first, but why introduce King Herod if the very next narrative occurs a decade later?

1.5 Contrasting Zachariah and Mary

Let us how Gabriel's reaction to unbelief differs between these two characters. First, Zechariah asks how can this happen, for he is old, and so is his wife:

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, ...”

Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.”

The angel replied, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.”

This is serious punishment: nine months of being mute! Let us see what happens to Mary:

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, ...”

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Each asks how this can happen, and yet, Zechariah is punished, but Mary simply receives further details. If Mary questions what Gabriel is saying, should not she, too, be punished, for each has the same transgression: neither believed Gabriel's words!

1.6 Summary of his birth

Only the author of Luke describes John the Baptist's birth in a town in the Judean hills near Jerusalem, and it is clear that he is the offspring of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and that Elizabeth got pregnant through sexual intercourse with Zechariah: the miracle that is recorded is not that Elizabeth had a virgin birth, but rather that she had a birth with Zechariah when they were both as old as they were. As Mary is a relation of Elizabeth, given the age difference (Elizabeth is described as old, and Mary is likely a teenager), Elizabeth may be an aunt or great aunt, making Jesus and John the Baptist second cousins once or twice removed. We also have two approximate years for the birth of John the Baptist: either he was born near the end of King Herod's reign, so in his early thirties, or he was born near the end of Herod Archelaus's rule, so in his early twenties.

1-birth

2. The ministry of John the Baptist

All gospels speak of John the Baptist's teachings prior to Jesus's baptism. They describe his words and his interactions with those who came to him seeking a baptism of repentance, and other aspects of his ministry.

2.1 His ministry in Mark

In Mark, we have the most succinct:

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,

“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight,’ ”

so John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And the whole Judean region and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Note that John the Baptist is baptizing "in the River Jordan."

The actual text come Malachi 3:1, which says

See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.

and from Isaiah 40:3, which says

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

There does appear to be extreme hyperbole in these statements:

all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him and were baptized by him in the River Jordan

Does this include the priests, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the scribes, etc.?

As for his actions, he said

I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

This is described to be a baptism of “repentance”, and the purpose is for the “forgiveness of sins.” Note, however, only a few verses later, the author of Mark records the sentence

Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Another point: John is described as being clothed with camel's hair with a leather belt. This parallels a description of Elijah: “A hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.” Apparently, John the Baptist was not sufficiently hairy and so had to wear a coat of camel's hair to mimic the appearance of Elijah.

2.2 His ministry in Matthew

In Matthew, the author is more careful about what is written in the prophet Isaiah:

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.

Note that John the Baptist is baptizing "in the River Jordan."

The next proclamation, however, is directed right at the Pharisees:

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them,

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Note that despite calling the Pharisees and Sadducees a "brood of vipers," it appears that he did, never-the-less baptize them, for he expicitly was speaking to them directly, and he said "I baptize you with water for repentance, ..."

Also, we have John comparing himself to his relative:

The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.

...but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals.

Note the difference:

I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

I baptize you with water for repentance, ... . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Note also that the purpose of baptism changes. In Mark, it was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”; however, in Matthew, this has been abbreviated to “I baptize you with water for repentance.” The baptism is for repentance, not for forgiveness.

2.3 His ministry in Luke

In Luke, the author expands even more, including the father of John the Baptist, something not mentioned elsewhere:

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,

the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

To begin, the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar is 29 CE, so John the Baptist is 23 or 24 years old.

As with Matthew, the author of Luke removes the reference to Malachi, and instead expands to paraphrase subsequent verses in Isaiah 40:

A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

In Matthew, it is when Pharisees and Sadducees come to him that he calls them a brood of vipers, but the author of Luke directs this comment to the entire crowd:

John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Therefore, bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

The gospel then enumerates his responses to various groups:

And the crowds asked him, “What, then, should we do?”
In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.”
Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.”
Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?”
He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

Finally, we have the author of Luke paralleling other text that appears in Matthew:

As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Having gone through the text in Luke, we begin by having John the Baptist comparing himself to his relative Jesus in the three gospels:

The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.

...but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals.

...but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals.

Note that the author of Luke continued to copy the more reasonable comparison described in Mark: he is not worthy to untie the strap of his relative's sandals. This contrasts with Matthew who says that John is not worthy to carry his relative's sandals.

Note the difference:

I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

I baptize you with water for repentance, ... . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

I baptize you with water, ... . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Both authors of Matthew and Luke continue with the tradition that Jesus will baptize additionally with fire, and now compare the following verses:

His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

Even the Greek is essentially verbatim, which makes one wonder why the authors do not have similarly verbatim words for other statements John the Baptist made (untie or carry sandals or baptize with or without fire):

οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ, καὶ διακαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ καὶ συνάξει τὸν σῖτον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην, τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ.

οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ διακαθᾶραι τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ καὶ συναγαγεῖν τὸν σῖτον εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην αὐτοῦ. τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ.

It is clear that both these originate from the same source, either a single document or collection of documents labeled Q.

Unfortunately, in Acts (also written by the author of Luke), the comment on baptism with the Holy Spirit is repeated, but now the fire is no longer mentioned:

Luke: I baptize you with water, ... . He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Acts: “This,” he said, “is what you have heard from me; for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”

Note also that the author of Luke, in copying from Mark, continues to use the phrase “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”? But later, the same author, in Acts 19, says instead that it is just a “baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.” Given that John the Baptist recognized Jesus as the “Chosen One” on the day of Jesus's baptism, and Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, recognizing Jesus as the “Messiah”, you'd think that John the Baptist may have mentioned something about Jesus to his other followers: "Hey, this is my second cousin's daughter's son, and I'm so sure he's the anointed one that I was even kicking in my mother's stomach when she was in the presence of Jesus's mother!"

2.4 His ministry in John

In John, two sentences of prose are inserted into what is the poetry that appears from John 1:1-18.

There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

...

(John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”)

Next, we don't have individuals coming to be baptized, but rather, those sent to inquire about him:

This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

He confessed and did not deny it, but he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”

And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the prophet?”

He answered, “No.”

Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ” as the prophet Isaiah said.

Thus, John, like Matthew, takes a minimalist approach, stating only what appears in Isaiah 40:3. The dialog continues:

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, “Why, then, are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.”

Note that the author of John uses the same formulation as in Mark and Luke:

First, we have John comparing himself to his relative:

The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.

...but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals.

...but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals.

Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.

The author of John now mentions where John the Baptist was baptizing:

This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

While the other three gospels mention that the baptisms occurred "in the River Jordan" (both in Mark and Matthew) and "in the Jordan" (also in Mark). While it would be fun to point this out as a contradiction, Bethany is perhaps a hundred meters away from the Jordan River.

The author of John only mentions that he baptizes with water, but makes no mention of baptizing with the Holy Spirit or with fire.

Finally, the author of John is the only person to mention the location:

This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

Interesting difference: You will note that the author of John stating that “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me.” This does not appear in any of the first three gospels, indicating that John is apparently aware the Jesus is already there and in the crowd. Now, if John is a relative of Jesus, perhaps he saw Jesus in the crowd, but next we will see that he did not know Jesus until after Jesus was baptized.

2.5 Summary of the ministry of John the Baptist

All of the descriptions of his ministries have John the Baptist fulfilling various non-specific prophesies. Any wandering preacher could teach “Make straight the way of the Lord” and claim that this teaching is a fulfillment of prophesy. Anyone could claim to be the messenger sent to fulfill “I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me.” In author of John has John the Baptist explicitly stating that he is not Elijah nor the Messiah nor a prophet, but rather the fulfillment of the prophesy of a voice in the wilderness. John also clearly subordinates himself to the one who will come after him, and in the gospel of John, the speech that is recorded is one where he indicates that Jesus is already standing in the crowd. John is also describing his baptism as being with water for the repentance of sin, but that Jesus's baptism will be with the Holy Spirit and fire. Interestingly enough, if John baptized with water, and Jesus with the Holy Spirit, why do Christians still baptize with water today? Recorded also is the animosity between John the Baptist and the Pharisees, Sadducees, priests and scribes of Jerusalem.

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3. Jesus's baptism

All four gospels describe Jesus as having been baptized, although only Mark and Matthew explicitly describes John the Baptist as the baptizer, but this may be inferred in Luke and John.

3.1 Jesus's baptism in Mark

In Mark it is written:

In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him.

And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Only the author of Mark specifies that Jesus was explicitly baptized in the Jordan.

3.2 Jesus's baptism in Matthew

In Matthew it is written:

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him.

John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then he consented.

And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him.

And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

3.3 Jesus's baptism in Luke

In Luke it is written:

Now when all the people were baptized

and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.

And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

3.4 Jesus's baptism in John

In John it is written:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”

This differs from the first three, as John the Baptist appears to have received a message from Yahweh about how he will recognize the ‘Chosen One.”

3.5 Comparisons of Jesus's baptism

The gospel of John is the most different, and will continue to be the most different, as we will see.

In the first three, we have

And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove upon him.
And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him.
and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove.
And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

Only the first three describe the words from heaven, for in John, John the Baptist was given the message before the event:

And a voice came from the heavens, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.

As you can tell, the author of Luke continued to follow what was already written in Mark, while the author of Matthew has the voice from the heavens speaking not to Jesus, but to the crowd. Now, if Jesus was Yahweh incarnate (or at least part of him), why would he have to make the statement that appears in Mark? However, if the author of Mark is from the adoptionist interpretation of Jesus, where Jesus is born a human being to human parents, and only adopted the Son of God at his baptism, then Yahweh speaking directly to Jesus and telling him “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” makes perfect sense. However, in Matthew, where Jesus is born the Son of Yahweh, it makes more sense for Yahweh to announce Jesus to those who are present.

As for the gospel of John, there are a number of critical statements made that we need to record:

“I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”
“And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”

First, he says that he did not know Jesus until after the spirit descended on him, as he was told. Compare and contrast this with Matthew, where John the Baptist protests:

John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.”

Then he consented.

Thus, we must ask: Did John the Baptist know who Jesus was or not? According to Matthew, he most certainly did, and he did recognize Jesus before baptizing him. According to John, no, he did not until after the Spirit descended on him (with no mention of it being in the form of a dove). In Luke, recall, that Jesus is a relative of John the Baptist, and that their mothers spent three months together, and that John the Baptist was so attuned to Mary and Jesus that while John the Baptist was in the womb, he “leaped for joy” at the presence of Mary and Jesus in her womb. Now, it may be that after their births, Mary and Elizabeth never met again, but that seems implausible.

Critical point: Later, we will see that in the synoptic gospels, John the Baptist has to indirectly ask Jesus if he the one who is to come, while in the gospel of John, John the Baptist is already aware and has “testified that this is the Chosen One” and in all gospels, there is a dove and a voice from heaven.

3.6 Summary of Jesus's baptism

We have different versions of Jesus's baptism. In Matthew, John the Baptist knew exactly who Jesus was, and in John, John the Baptist was told how he would recognize Jesus, but states that he did not know Jesus beforehand. Neither Mark or Luke describe if Jesus was or was not known to John the Baptist. Indeed, is it not odd that, at least in Luke, Jesus and John the Baptist don't recognize each other as relatives, given how close their mothers were? Not everyone gets a visit from an angel. The words from heaven also differ, likely based on the theological understanding of the author: was Jesus adopted the son of Yahweh, or was Jesus born the son of Yahweh? Additionally critical is that in John, John the Baptist is fully aware and testifies that Jesus is the “Chosen One.”

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4. Post-baptismal events

What happens after Jesus's baptism is recorded in all four gospels. These are my favorites, for the four gospels tell so different stories.

4.1 Post-baptismal events in Mark

We start with Mark:

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tested by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts, and the angels waited on him.

If Jesus was human, then it makes sense that he would be tested by Satan, so while this makes sense if Jesus was adopted the Son of Yahweh at his baptism, it makes little sense if Jesus was Yahweh, or a third of him, incarnate on Earth.

The same Spirit that descended like a dove on Jesus seems to have immediately drove him into the wilderness following the baptism, at least, according to Mark.

4.2 Post-baptismal events in Matthew

Matthew elaborates on this, but includes dialog between Jesus and Satan:

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterward he was famished.

The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”

But he answered, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

The additional details is that he fasted for forty days, and that Satan took him to Temple, and then showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. This makes sense if you believe in a flat earth, for some sort of supernatural being might indeed be able to view the entire world from one very high mountain; however, by this time, there was Rome and there was Luoyang, the capitol of the Han dynasty in China, and there is no mountain in the world that allows you to see both capitols. The populations of both the Roman Empire and the Han Empire were well over 50 million each at this time, so one cannot consider the latter to not be a kingdom worth presenting to Jesus in order to tempt him.

Humor: The distance between Rome and Luoyang, the capitol of the Han dynasty at this time, is approximately 8000 km or 20% the circumference of the Earth. The great arc that passes through these two cities has a mid-point that is almost exactly on top of the southern Ural Mountains. However, the tallest mountain in the southern Urals is Mount Yamantau at only 1600 meters high. To see both Rome and Luoyang simultaneously from a mountain at that location would, with the help of trigonometry, need to be r sec(0.2π) - r where r is the radius of the Earth (6378 km), and this works out to 1500 km. If Satan took Jesus to Mount Yamantau, he would be off by three orders of magnitude. Perhaps this mountain was this tall before the Flood, but today and at the time of Jesus, it is only 1.6 km high. Perhaps Satan mixed up 1600 m with 1600 km, so perhaps they did indeed go there, and all they saw was the Steppes of Russia, so this really wouldn't be that much of an enticement to Jesus.

4.3 Post-baptismal events in Luke

In Luke, we have a similar dialog between between Satan and Jesus:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tested by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over he was famished.

The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”

Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ”

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”

Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’ ”

Then the devil led him to Jerusalem and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”

Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”

When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Again, if Jesus is a third of Yahweh incarnate, and the Holy Spirit is another third of Yahweh, why is the Holy Spirit filling Jesus? However, more importantly, the stories in Luke are the same as in Matthew, but the order is opposite: first Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world, and then he takes Jesus to the Temple. Recall that this is the same author who verbatim transcribed the words Mary when she met Elizabeth, and the words of Simeon and Anna in the temple at the ritual of purification, and yet, the authors of Matthew and Luke cannot agree on what order Satan took Jesus where, nor can they agree on what was said by either party.

4.4 Post-baptismal events in John

However, now we go to the gospel of John, where the narrative contradicts the first three synoptic gospels, where there is not even a record of Jesus going into the wilderness for forty days, and definitely not immediately. Instead, there is a day-by-day record of what happens over the next week or so, with no mention of a wilderness or temptations by Satan. To summarize the events recorded in this gospel:

The day after the baptism, John the Baptist proclaims that Jesus is the Lamb of God and Jesus gets his first two disciples.
The next day, Jesus decides to go to Galilee and finds two more disciples.
After three more days of travel, they arrive in Cana at the wedding, and Jesus turns water into wine.
Then, “[a]fter this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they remained there a few days.”

Let us go through these days in greater detail:

The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”

He said to them, “Come and see.”

They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus,

who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Thus, on the day of the baptism, John the Baptist is proclaiming that Jesus “is the Chosen One.” and on the next day, he is proclaiming that Jesus is “the Lamb of God!” On top of that, Andrew (from Galilee) is explicitly stated to be a disciple of John the Baptist, and given that his brother, Simon, is also in the vicinity, it is reasonable to assume that Simon (who was named Peter) was also a disciple of John the Baptist. No other gospel records either Andrew or Simon being disciples of John the Baptist. Also, none of the other three gospels have Andrew or Simon becoming Jesus's disciples the day after Jesus's baptism.

Instead, in Mark, it is very clear: Jesus does not even start his ministry until John the Baptist has been arrested. The narrative immediately following Jesus returning from the wilderness has Jesus start his ministry after John the Baptist is arrested:

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

It is only after this that Jesus gets his first disciples:

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Thus, did Andrew and Simon become disciples of Jesus before or after John the Baptist was arrested? Also, on this first day, the author of Mark has Jesus gain two more disciples: James and John, the sons of Zebedee. There is no mention that these individuals recognized Jesus or were disciples of Jesus prior to this (but to be fair, John only mentions Andrew and Peter as becoming disciples).

Interestingly enough, the story about the first four disciples in Matthew is very similar. The story in Luke, however, is very different: now there are only three fishermen (Simon, James and John--no Andrew) are working together and the author describes a massive catch of fish.

[Jesus] got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore... For [Simon] and all who were with him were astounded at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon... When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Now, the gospel of John is the only other gospel that describes a massive catch of fish, but it is not in the context of Jesus calling his first disciples, but rather, it is after the execution and resurrection of Jesus, and it is in Galilee, exactly where the author of Luke has Jesus tell the disciples not to go, as in Luke, Jesus “ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait there for the promise of the Father.”

So just after one day (recalling that Jesus went into the wilderness immediately after the baptism, at least according to Mark), we already have the gospel of John diverging from the other three. Let us go to the next day in John:

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”

Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?”

Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”

And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

As Philip is also from the home of Simon (Bethsaida, which is in Galilee), one can assume these are also disciples of John, but this is not made clear. It does not suggest that Nathanael is from Galilee, but he is known to Philip, and he is also aware of the very village of Nazareth. Also, when Philip says “We have found him...” this suggests that it includes Simon and Andrew, and this would really only be the case if Philip was well known to Simon and Andrew, and thus, further evidence that all four were disciples of John the Baptist. Fortunately, later it explicitly says that Nathanael is from Galilee. Someone from Judea may have heard the name "Nazareth", but would probably not have known so much so as to immediately state “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” One issue is that Nathanael is not mentioned in any of the other gospels; for example, in Mark:

He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve to be with him and to be sent out to preach and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder), and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who handed him over.

The name Nathaneal only appears one more time in scriptures and that is in conjunction with the story of the massive catch of fish where

Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.

It is interesting that only the gospel of John mentions Cana, in relation to a wedding and turning water into wine, and the home of Nathanael. It is possible that Bartholomew is the other name of Nathanael, as, for example, Luke also mentions Bartholomew next to Philip. Nowhere in the Christian scriptures does it make any other mention of Bartholomew.

Something that is awkward: all this is happening in Judea, much to the south of Galilee, and John the Baptist is from Judea, and people from all of the Levant seem to have travelled to be baptized by him. Why then, are the only disciples Jesus calls in the first two days while in the presence of John the Baptist in Judea are all from Galilee? Did no Judean hear the words of both John the Baptist and Jesus and begin to follow him? Did none from Jerusalem, did none from Samaria? If Jesus began his ministry in Galilee as is described in the synoptic gospels, it makes perfect sense that his first disciples would be from Galilee, but John the Baptist was not from Galilee, but rather from the Judean highlands around Jerusalem, so why would the vast majority of his disciples be from Galilee.

Thus, now we find Jesus with likely four disciples, but not James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who are nowhere mentioned in this section of the gospel of John. Indeed, the gospel of John does not even mention the names of James and John, and the only reference to them is in the aforementioned story with the massive catch of fish, an event that occurs after Jesus's execution and resurrection:

Gathered there together were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples.

This may be simply be because James or John is the disciple who Jesus loved:

One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining close to his heart.

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”

That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them.

However, while James and John, the sons of Zebedee, are the third and fourth disciples called by Jesus in Matthew and Mark, and they are together with Simon when Simon is called in the gospel of Luke (so the first three), the at least one of the four disciples of Jesus in the gospel of John is a previous disciples of John the Baptist, and given the context, all four may have been previous disciples of John the Baptist, and yet no other gospel mentions this fact.

Additionally, Philip who is the third follower of Jesus, following him since the second day after Jesus's baptism, is mentioned quite often in the gospel of John: at the feeding of the five thousand, he asks “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” and responds “Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” In Mark, it is not Philip who says this last statement, but rather it is recorded that

They said to him, “Are we to go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?”

Philip is also mentioned in the gospel of John associated with the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem. Just before Jesus's execution,

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

This is the same Philip who said to Nathanael, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” Nathanael is only mentioned one more time after Jesus's resurrection in the gospel of John; however, neither Philip, Nathanael or Bartholomew are mentioned in any of the synoptic gospels in any other context than the listing of the disciples, and when Philip did say something at the feeding of the 5000, the the only other gospel that records this statement, Mark, no longer attributes that statement directly to Philip. Yet, he was the third disciple, and likely a disciple of John the Baptist.

So now Jesus is travelling to Galilee with his disciples, and no mention is made about going into the wilderness for 40 days. As we are focused on John the Baptist, and as Jesus and his first four disciples are now leaving him, you are welcome to read about how, after three days, in Galilee they meet Mary at the wedding at Cana, and then immediately journey to Capernaum together with Mary.

4.5 Summary of post-baptismal events

The synoptic gospels all have Jesus going into the wilderness for 40 days following his baptism, and the author of Mark emphasizes that this is “immediately” following his baptism. Matthew and Luke have Satan bring Jesus to both a tall mountain and the Temple, but they cannot agree on the order in which they are visited. John, however, describes a complete different order of events, specifying what happens day-by-day for at least a week after the baptism, and there is no comment on any time spent in the wilderness. Instead, four of Jesus's disciples turn out to be disciples of John the Baptist, but this is not mentioned in any of the other synoptic gospels. Also, John has Jesus call his first four disciples and even has them travelling with him to Capernaum in the week following his baptism, while Jesus only calls Simon Peter and Andrew following the start of his ministry, which was spurred by the arrest of John the Baptist. John is also the only gospel that describes Mary and Jesus's brothers accompanying his ministry to Capernaum, and the first four disciples are Andrew (not mentioned in Luke), Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael (probably Bartholomew). Andrew, from the day after Jesus's baptism, recognizes him as the Messiah. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who are the third and fourth disciples in Mark, are never even mentioned by name in the gospel of John; however, to be fair, the gospel of John always refers to “the disciple who Jesus loved,” and this may be John the son of Zebedee. You will note that Jesus begins is ministry before John the Baptist is arrested.

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5. The arrest of John the Baptist

In Mark and Matthew, Jesus starts his ministry when he hears that John the Baptist is arrested. In Luke, the arrest of John the Baptist is mentioned. In John, interestingly enough, there were significant events occurring in Jesus's ministry even before the arrest.

5.1 His arrest in Mark

In Mark, Jesus hears of John the Baptist's arrest, and this is the impetus that starts Jesus on his ministry:

5.2 His arrest in Matthew

In Matthew, like Mark, we have the Jesus hears of John the Baptist's arrest:

Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ...

5.3 His arrest in Luke

In Luke, the arrest of John the Baptist is mentioned almost as an afterthought. After quoting John the Baptist about sandals and a winnowing fork, but before the mention about the baptism of Jesus, we have:

So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people. But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done, added to them all by shutting up John in prison.

One may argue that this suggests that John the Baptist was arrested before Jesus was baptized, but it seems more like this was an opportune moment to mention the arrest. I say this, because unlike Mark and Matthew, it is not the hearing of the news of John the Baptist's arrest that spurs Jesus to begin his ministry, but rather Luke takes a story that appears much later Mark and Matthew, and moves it to the event that begins Jesus's ministry: You will recall that at some point Jesus returns to Nazareth, preaches in the synagogue and is then chased out of town. You can read about this in Mark and in Matthew, and both these events occur before the feeding of the 5000. Specifically, in Mark, this return to Nazareth is told immediately between Jesus

resurrecting the daughter of Jairus after she dies, and
sending out the disciples: “Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.”

In Luke, where the story was moved from, we see exactly the same two stories in Mark, only now there is no comment about Jesus returning to Nazareth: Jesus

resurrects the daughter of Jairus after she dies, and
sends out his disciples: “Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.”

In Luke, however, the story of the return to Nazareth is moved from between these two to the start, and it is him being chased out of Nazareth:

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ” And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land, yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Note the similar text in Mark:

They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house.”

and in Matthew:

they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own hometown and in their own house.”

What is awkward in Luke, however, is that he says:

“Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”

However, this is the first recorded event following his baptism. No mention is made of the arrest of John the Baptist with respect to Jesus leaving Nazareth, and nothing prior to this is recorded, and not only that, the very next verse in Luke is:

He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath. They were astounded at his teaching because he spoke with authority.

Jesus then casts out a demon from a man, and it concludes with:

They were all astounded and kept saying to one another, “What kind of word is this, that with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out?” And news about him began to reach every place in the region.

This really doesn't sound like Jesus was previously in Capernaum and performed miracles of such wonder that the people of Nazareth were already hearing about them.

However, this is on John the Baptist, so in Matthew and Mark, Jesus begins his ministry upon hearing that John the Baptist is arrested. Perhaps the author of Luke is uncomfortable, as this strongly suggests that Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist: his master has been arrested, so Jesus starts to take up the yoke. Separating the arrest and the start of Jesus's ministry removes the suggestion of such a relationship.

5.4 His arrest in John

In John, it is much more difficult, for in the synoptic gospels, Jesus does nothing of significance (at least, nothing worth recording) between his baptism, the 40 days in the wilderness, and hearing of John the Baptist's arrest; absolutely no events are recorded. The gospel of John, however, records after the wedding at Cana, after the cleansing of the Temple (an event that only takes place in the last week of Jesus's life in the three synoptic gospels), and after taking to Nicodemus:

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there, and people kept coming and were being baptized. (John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.)

Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”

John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified this, that God is true. He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life but must endure God’s wrath.

Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John” (although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized), he left Judea and started back to Galilee.

So, Jesus has already been on his ministry according to the author for some time, and is even baptizing together with his disciples. Recall that in the synoptic gospels, he does not even call Peter, Andrew, James or John until after it is reported that John the Baptist is arrested; however, in John, Jesus is already baptizing, or more specifically, as it says at the end: “although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized.” None of this is recorded in the synoptic gospels.

However, there is even one more critical point: once again, John the Baptist is recognizing the significance of Jesus before he is arrested. Previously, John the Baptist testified that

“I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”

Now, John the Baptist says:

“No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.”
“You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’”
“He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.”
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”

It is quite clear that John the Baptist is very aware of who Jesus is and his relationship to Jesus. Of course, it is quite clear that no one is aware that John the Baptist is a relative of Jesus through Mary.

5.5 Summary of John the Baptist's arrest

In the gospels of Mark and Matthew, it is on hearing of John the Baptist's arrest that Jesus begins his ministry. This contrasts with the gospel of John where Jesus calls four disciples in the two days following his baptism, and after returning to Cana (in the neighborhood of Nazareth), he begins his ministry in Capernaum, all long before the arrest of John the Baptist as recorded in the gospel of John. Not only that, there are numerous other events recorded in the gospel of John, all explicitly stated to have occurred prior to John the Baptist's arrest, including baptizing with John the Baptist, and it being observed that the disciples of Jesus are baptizing more than the disciples of John. Before John the Baptist's arrest in Mark and Matthew, Jesus has no disciples. Additionally, prior to John the Baptist's arrest, he once again emphasizes that he is aware of who Jesus is, and explicitly states that “[h]e must increase, but I must decrease.” In Luke, however, the author recognizes that Jesus starting his ministry as a result of hearing of John the Baptist's arrest puts Jesus in a subordinate position to John the Baptist: if Jesus was superior to John the Baptist, why would Jesus's choice of time to start his ministry depend on John the Baptist no longer being able to preach due to his arrest. Instead, the author of Luke takes a story that appears closer to the end of both Mark and Matthew, and makes that the seminal event that spurs Jesus to begin his ministry. The arrest becomes a footnote at the end of the baptism of Jesus in Luke.

5-arrest

6. John the Baptist in prison

All three synoptic gospels describe a contrast between the disciples of John the Baptist and Jesus while John the Baptist is in prison, but the gospels of Mark and John do not record any interactions between Jesus and John the Baptist while the latter is in prison. There are only two mentions that describe a communication between John the Baptist and Jesus, and they are in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. You will recall that in the gospel of John, John the Baptist is fully aware of who Jesus is. Even in Matthew, Matthew objects to baptizing Jesus, and instead, insists that it should be Jesus who should baptize John. Additionally, in Luke, Jesus and John the Baptist are related. Consequently, would there be any need for John the Baptist to confirm any of this while in prison? However, let us never-the-less look at what is recorded.

6.1 In prison in Mark

After John the Baptist is arrested and Jesus starts his ministry and after calling his fifth disciple, Levi or Matthew, they are contrasted with the disciples of John starting at Mark 2:15 with the relevant discussion in Mark 2:18-22 where it says:

And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him...

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”

Thus, the disciples of John the Baptist fast, while Jesus and his disciples do not. You may recall that prior to John the Baptist's arrest, at least as recorded in the gospel of John, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as the bridegroom. The only other references to a bridegroom in the Christian scriptures are the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew and in the Revelation of John.

6.2 In prison in Matthew

The gospel of Matthew has a similar story to that in Mark, but now it is the disciples of John the Baptist who are directly speaking to Jesus starting with Matthew 9:10 and continuing with Matthew 9:14-17 where it says

And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with Jesus and his disciples...

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”

And Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are ruined, but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

The words of Jesus are the same, but it is now a conversation between the disciples of John the Baptist and Jesus, and not just an observation being made by the people around them.

The gospels of Mark and John do not record any events associated with John the Baptist's imprisonment; however, in Matthew 11:2-19 we have the following:

When John heard in prison what the Messiah was doing, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?”

Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with a skin disease are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

So, according to John, before John the Baptist was imprisoned, he explicitly said “this is the Chosen One.” Why then, in Matthew, is he now, in prison, asking his disciples to ask Jesus if he is “the one who is to come”? Did he forget the dove, the message, and his testimony? Jesus now says a few words about John the Baptist:

What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What, then, did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and violent people take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John came, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. Let anyone with ears listen!

But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’

For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.

Note that Jesus explicitly says “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John came, ... he is Elijah who is to come.”

It seems that Jesus drank enough to be called a drunkard. No one who has an occasional glass of wine is called a drunkard. I don't think, after turning water into wine and explicitly stating that he drinks so much that others call him a drunkard is a model for abstinence from alcohol. Jesus enjoyed his booze.

6.3 In prison in Luke

In Luke, we have yet another version of the story told in Mark and Matthew, for now it is the Pharsees and scribes . In Luke 5:29-39 it says

Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.”

Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding attendants fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise, not only will one tear the new garment, but the piece from the new will not match the old garment. Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and will spill out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine but says, ‘The old is good.’ ”

Now it is a great banquet being thrown by Levi, not just a dinner, and it explicitly says that the questions were being asked by the “Pharisees and their scribes”. Thus, was this being asked by bystanders who simply are making observations, by the disciples of John the Baptist, or by the Pharisees and their scribes?

In the gospel of Luke, the author does not explicitly state that John the Baptist is in prison, but this can be inferred from the fact that the author recorded that John the Baptist was arrested:

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?”

When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else?’ ”

Jesus had just then cured many people of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits and had given sight to many who were blind. And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight; the lame walk; those with a skin disease are cleansed; the deaf hear; the dead are raised; the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.”

The story is the same as that in Matthew, only that repetition is added: the disciples explicitly repeat the words of John the Baptist, and then context is added stating that Jesus had just cured many people, and it goes on to list ailments that were cured, and then Jesus repeats these to the disciples. But as with Matthew, we have the problem of why is John the Baptist even asking these questions if prior to him being arrested, he is already testifying that Jesus “is the Chosen One.”

The balance in Luke is also similar to Matthew, and again, likely from the Q source:

What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What, then, did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. What, then, did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John, yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” (And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, having been baptized with John’s baptism. But the Pharisees and the experts in the law, not having been baptized by him, rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)

To what, then, will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Also, while in Matthew, it appears that although John the Baptist did baptizes Pharisees and Sadducees, despite calling them a “brood of vipers”, here it explicitly says “the Pharisees and the experts in the law, not having been baptized by him, rejected God’s purpose for themselves.”

6.5 Summary of John the Baptist in Prison

Thus, for some reason, John the Baptist forgot all the events around Jesus's baptism, forgot that Jesus was his relative (as was told in Luke), forgot that his mother likely told her stories heard from Mary (also in Luke), forgot was told by Yahweh (or whoever sent him) that he would recognize “the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” (as told in John), forgot he insisted Jesus should baptize him instead of him baptizing Jesus (as told in Matthew), and forgot the dove and the words from heaven (as told in all gospels), so much so that he had to ask “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to expect someone else or wait for another?” Perhaps prison was adversely affecting the mind of John the Baptist.

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7. The death of John the Baptist

Unfortunately, once again, even with the death of John the Baptist, we run into issues. The first three gospels describe the situation around Herod's death, but the gospel of John mentions nothing, but there is at least one event that appears to be after his death.

7.1 His death in Mark

In Mark, we have:

King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’s name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

First, this is Herod Antipas, and not King Herod. Antipas was never crowned a king. Given that John the Baptist in prison was receiving reports about Jesus, is it not odd that Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, has not heard of him until after John the Baptist's death? Also, Jesus's ministry would have already been ongoing for some time, so why does anyone think that Jesus is John the Baptist raised from the dead? This is the only place were Luke's familial relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist may have any relevance: Did Jesus and John the Baptist look alike?

We continue with the description of John the Baptist's death in Mark 6:17-29:

For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod had married her. For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to kill him.

But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl,

“Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.”

Herodias is the name of Herod Antipas's wife, and the best and most reliable manuscripts of Mark name the daughter as also being Herodias, while other manuscripts say that this unnamed woman is the daughter of Herodias. Interestingly enough, the author of Mark claims that this woman is the daughter of Herod Antipas, while next we will see the author of Matthew simply has her being the daughter of Herodias, and almost certainly from her previous marriage. From Chapter 5 of The Antiquities of the Jews by Flavius Josephus, it may be inferred that this daughter's name is Salome, the daughter of Herod II and Herodias, who later went on to marry her uncle and Herod Antipas's brother Philip.

And he swore to her,

“Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.”

She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?”

She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.”

Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

The king was deeply grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother.

When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

The first point we must note is a historical oddity: King Herod had many sons, including:

Antipater II, Alexander, Aristobulus IV, Herod II, Herod Antipas, Herod Archelaus, Philip

The first three were executed while King Herod was still alive. Herod II was removed from the line of succession while King Herod was still alive, and it was Herod II who was married to Herodias. On the other hand, Herod Archelaus was made the ethnarch, while Herod Antipas and Philip were made tetrarchs. Consequently, Herod Antipas did have a brother Philip, but Herodias was married to Herod II. It may have been the case that Herod II was also named Philip, although this is nowhere else recorded, or--and more likely--the author of Mark was aware that Herodias was married to Herod Antipas's brother, and thus assumed this was Philip.

Another issue is the location of this narrative: first, the author of Mark tells about the rejection at Nazareth, but then the story of the death of John the Baptist falls squarely between to passages that otherwise would flow together:

He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown and among their own kin and in their own house.” And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff: no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”

For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things...

This leads to the narrative of the feeding of the 5000 men as well as the women and children who were present. However, the story of the death of John the Baptist is injected into this story, and you are welcome to guess where, although, you are also welcome to read Mark 6 to check your guess. Perhaps from the point of narrating the surrounding story, the death of John the Baptist may simply have inserted a pause between Jesus sending out his disciples and those disciples returning to tell Jesus what they had accomplished.

7.2 His death in Matthew

In Matthew, we begin at Matthew 14:1-2 with

At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus, and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.”

If we contrast this with Mark, we already have an issue:

Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.”

But others said, “It is Elijah.”

And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

While Mark attributes the longer statement to "some people" and only attributes the much abbreviated statement “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” to Herod Antipas, the author of Matthew attributes the longer statement to Herod Antipas. If the author of Matthew was copying from Mark, and if both authors were divinely inspired, could they not have both attributed to Herod Antipas what he actually said?

For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Note that in Mark, it is Herodias who wants to kill John the Baptist, but he is protected by Herod Antipas; while, the author of Matthew imposes this desire to kill John the Baptist on Herod Antipas himself, with no mention of such a desire on the part of Herodias.

But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask.

Note that the oldest and best manuscripts have the author of Matthew correcting the error in Mark, and instead of naming the daughter, the daughter is simply said to be the daughter of Herodias.

Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”

The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother.

His disciples came and took the body and buried him; then they went and told Jesus.

This is an example of editorial fatigue. Matthew is copying from Mark, but makes a change: Herod Antipas, instead of admiring and wanting to protect John the Baptist, the author of Matthew has Herod Antipas wanting to kill John the Baptist. However, just a few sentences down, the author of Matthew reverts to copying Mark essentially verbatim: “The king was grieved, ...” Note that while the author of Luke corrected the first mistake of calling Herod Antipas "King Herod", here he just copies the incorrect title together with the emotional response. The reason given that Herod Antipas did not kill John the Baptist was because “he feared the crowd.” In this case, he would not be “grieved”, as one losing one whom one admires, but rather he would be perhaps “frustrated” or “annoyed” or “vexed”, as now he must face the wrath of the crowds, but he is definitely not going to be “grieved.” Editorial fatigue is, I believe, an idea advanced by Mark Goodacre.

To be fair, the phrases translated to "The king was grieved, ..." do differ between the two texts:

καὶ περίλυπος γενόμενος ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τοὺς ἀνακειμένους οὐκ ἠθέλησεν ἀθετῆσαι αὐτήν.

καὶ λυπηθεὶς ὁ βασιλεὺς διὰ τοὺς ὅρκους καὶ τοὺς συνανακειμένους ἐκέλευσεν δοθῆναι.

However, the word used by Luke means to be saddened. What is clear, however, is that one of these is copying from the other, substituting synonyms where the copier deems there are better words to be used. Both, however, use the Greek word for king: βασιλεὺς.

As for the placement of this story of the death of John the Baptist, in Mark, this story was injected into a narrative where Jesus sends out his disciples, but the story where Jesus sends out his disciples occurs much earlier in Matthew 10:5-15, and then continuing with Matthew 11:1:

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not take a road leading to gentiles, and do not enter a Samaritan town, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick; raise the dead; cleanse those with a skin disease; cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

...other teachings of Jesus...

Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.

This is more elaborate that what is written in Mark, but the gist is the same:

He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff: no bread, no bag, no money in their belts, but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.

Humorously, the author of Matthew seems to suggest that Jesus to not take sandals, but this likely means to not take a second pair of sandals. The story of the death of John the Baptist in Matthew does not occur for some time, and instead, the author follows this with the story of John the Baptist in prison asking, through his disciples, if Jesus is the anointed one. This is a narrative that does not appear in Mark, so the author of Matthew, while copying from Mark introduces a different story of John the Baptist where the author of Mark retold the story of the death of John the Baptist.

Instead, the story of the death of John the Baptist in Matthew occurs after Jesus's rejection at Nazareth. Additionally, as we can see above, Jesus is explicitly being told about the death of John the Baptist, so we may surmise that the death of John the Baptist occurred soon before the feeding of the 5000 men:

He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor except in their own hometown and in their own house.” And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.

The story of the death of John the Baptist, followed by

His disciples came and took the body and buried him; then they went and told Jesus.

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them and cured their sick...

Note that it is when Jesus heard that John the Baptist was killed that he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. Now, as the disciples appear in the story immediately hereafter, we may assume that "himself" refers to "himself and his disciples" in contrast to the multitude following him. Let us contrast this with the parallel text in Mark:

The apostles gathered around Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.

He said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”

For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things...

There is another oddity: if Jesus is Yahweh, and John the Baptist is Elijah, then Jesus and Elijah have been together in Heaven for almost a millennium, and both Jesus and Elijah were both aware that Elijah was returning to Earth to serve a purpose. Jesus would have known that Elijah was going to die on this second coming to Earth (and perhaps so did Elijah), so why would he need to withdraw to a deserted place to be by himself, or at least, away from people other than his disciples? While death is viewed as a terminal event for humans, Yahweh would not care about this, as Yahweh would know that Elijah is returning to Heaven. This does, however, solve a problem in Catholicism, as, the wages of sin are death and all humans other than Mary (who was immaculately conceived) and Jesus (also born of a virgin) have "original sin" (the sin that is given to each child as a result of the sexual act of the parents). However, two others did not die in the Judean scriptures: Enoch and Elijah. While it is perhaps a little more vague in Genesis concerning Enoch, it is clear that Elijah did enter Heaven without dying, and yet, Elijah would have had to have had original sin. Perhaps the visit to Heaven was only a temporary stay of death, and that Elijah had to return nine hundred years later in order to die.

To summarize and contrast, we have in Mark:

Jesus is rejected at Nazareth.
Jesus sends out the disciples.
The story of the death of John the Baptist is told.
The disciples return, and their return sets up the story of the feeding of the 5000 men.

In Matthew, however,

Jesus sends out the disciples.
The story of John the Baptist sending his disciples out to inquire about Jesus is told (a story not in Mark).
A number of other parables are told...
Jesus is rejected at Nazareth.
The story of the death of John the Baptist is told.
Jesus hearing about the death of John the Baptist is what sets the story of the feeding of the 5000 men.

While the author of Matthew had access to Mark, the author of Matthew explicitly decided to change the order, and to change the cause that resulted in the feeding of the 5000 men. Additionally, the author of Matthew continues to tell a story about John the Baptist after the narrative of Jesus sending out the disciples, but the story included is a different one, one that does not appear in Mark. Alas, the author

7.3 His death in Luke

Now, the death of John the Baptist comes immediately before the feeding of the 5000 in all three synoptic gospels; however, in Luke, it only describes the reaction of Herod Antipas:

Now Herod the ruler heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he tried to see him.

At least Luke is aware that Herod Antipas was not king, however, Herod Antipas in this text does not claim that John the Baptist is raised from the dead. Also, the author does not discuss the motivation for having John the Baptist killed. However, contrasting what was said by Herod Antipas in the three gospels, we have:

“John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”

“This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.”

“John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?”

The statement in Luke is closer to the statement in Mark, but says nothing Jesus being a resurrected John the Baptist; that is, the author of Luke appears to be trying to distance Jesus from John the Baptist, something we will see when we look at the context of this one statement with the surrounding narratives.

You may recall in Mark that the narratives that immediately preceded the story of the death of John the Baptist were Jesus being rejected at Nazareth and Jesus instructing and sending out his disciples, and immediately following it Jesus feeds the 5000 men. Unfortunately, the author of Luke moves the story of Jesus's rejection at Nazareth from an intermediate point to being the seminal event that spurred Jesus to begin his ministry: in both Mark and Matthew, it is Jesus hearing that John the Baptist was arrested that causes him to begin his ministry:

Mark 1:14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the good news of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Matthew 4:12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, ... From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

This, however, subordinated Jesus to John the Baptist: why would the Son of Yahweh need to wait until after John the Baptist is arrested for him to start his ministry? Consequently, the author of Luke takes the narrative of Jesus being arrested and moving it to the very start of Jesus's ministry. The author of Luke, however, leaves the instruction and sending out of his disciples immediately before the report of Herod Antipas hearing of Jesus in Luke 9:1-6:

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey: no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

So they departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

Compare and contrast this with the similar passage in Mark:

So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

The author of Luke, unlike the author of Matthew, kept this narrative in the same relative location in his gospel. Following this, the author of Luke describes Herod Antipas's reaction to hearing of Jesus, and as in Mark and Matthew, this is immediately followed by the feeding of the 5000 mne:

On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done.

Then, taking them along, he slipped quietly into a city called Bethsaida.

When the crowds found out about it, they followed him, and he welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God and healed those who needed to be cured.

As in Mark, we see the disciples returning and telling Jesus of what they did, and there is no mention of Jesus hearing that John the Baptist had been executed. There is no mention that Jesus and his disciples took a boat, but instead, they go to Bethsaida, a fishing village a little more than three miles from Capernaum. This is not the deserted region that is described as the setting in Mark and Matthew.

Consequently, while the author of Luke more closely follows the text he was copying from Mark in some cases, he also moved the story of Jesus's rejection from Nazareth, and so now we have the following three timelines:

In Mark:

Jesus hears that John the Baptist is arrested and begins his ministry leaving Nazareth for Capernaum.
After some time, Jesus is rejected at Nazareth.
Jesus sends out the disciples.
The story of the death of John the Baptist is told.
The disciples return and they leave with Jesus in a boat to a deserted region, setting up the story of the feeding of the 5000 men.

In Matthew:

Jesus hears that John the Baptist is arrested and begins his ministry leaving Nazareth for Capernaum.
After some time, Jesus sends out the disciples.
The story of John the Baptist sending his disciples out to inquire about Jesus is told (a story not in Mark).
After some time again, Jesus is rejected at Nazareth.
The story of the death of John the Baptist is told.
Jesus hears about the death of John the Baptist and he and his disciples leave in a boat to a deserted region, setting up the story of the feeding of the 5000 men.

In Luke:

Jesus begins his ministry, is rejected at Nazareth, and leaves for Capernaum.
After some time, Jesus sends out the disciples.
The story that Herod Antipas hears of Jesus is told.
The disciples return and they leave with Jesus to Bethsaida, setting up the story of the feeding of the 5000 men.

Each of the three gospels are mutually incompatible. Let us look now at the gospel of John.

7.4 His death in John

There is no explicit description of how John the Baptist dies in John, but in a another visit to Jerusalem for the Festival of Dedication, an visit not recorded in any of the synoptic gospels (indeed, none of the synoptic gospels record even one journey to Judea prior to the last weeks of his life), Jesus is chased out of Jerusalem after which in John 10:40-42, it says

He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” And many believed in him there.

As John the Baptist is being spoken about in the past tense, one may infer this is being said after he is dead; however, what is critical here is that it is the crowds who are saying that John the Baptist was already speaking about Jesus, and the crowds would have only heard this directly from him prior to his arrest.

Additionally, there is the telling of the feeding of the 5000 men, but the setting is very different. In John 5, we begin with

After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes.

At this location, Jesus heals a man who had been ill for 38 years, but this healing occurred on the Sabbath, and thus the balance of the entire chapter is Jesus soliloquizing on the reaction of "the Jews." The very next chapter begins with:

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near...

Once again, this sets the scene for the feeding of the 5000 men and as in Mark and Matthew, it is in a remote region (on a mountain); however, immediately before this, Jesus is not being rejected at Nazareth, but rather, he was in Jerusalem. If Jesus was in Jerusalem, he would not be on "one side" of the Sea of Galilee so as to go to the "other side" of that sea. Jerusalem is over 80 miles by road from the Sea of Galilee. At least, however, this does suggest, as is recorded in Mark and Matthew, that Jesus took a boat. It seems that the author of John does not seem to understand Judean geography.

7.5 Summary of the death of John the Baptist

Even with only two versions of this story in Mark and Matthew, there is still the frustrating difference where in Mark, Herod Antipas knew that John the Baptist was a righteous and holy man, he protected John the Baptist, and liked to listen to to him. Consequently, when he was tricked into beheading him, he was naturally grieved; that is, that is, he felt deep sorrow over John the Baptist's death. In Matthew, the author changes Herod Antipas's attitude towards John the Baptist: he wanted to put John the Baptist to death, and the only reason he did not follow through on this desire was that he feared those (apparently numerous) who regarded John the Baptist as a prophet. Never-the-less, once John the Baptist was beheaded, the king grieved. John the Baptist's death is not explicitly mentioned in the gospel of John, but he is spoken about in the past tense, which may suggest that the visit to Judea recorded there occurred after his death. As for the events surrounding the telling of this story, all four gospels are at complete odds with each other. The story that occurs immediately after the reaction of Herod Antipas and in Mark and Matthew the story of the death of John the Baptist is the story of the feeding of 5000 men, and yet this story is preceded by Jesus being in Jerusalem in the gospel of John. The events that occur prior to these narratives also differ in all three synoptic gospels: it would be a significant challenge for any apologist to reconcile all four gospels. What is interesting, however, is that in the three synoptic gospels, the differences introduced by the author always deal with another situation with John the Baptist:

the author of Luke moves the rejection at Nazareth to replace Jesus hearing about the arrest of John the Baptist,
the author of Matthew moves Jesus's direction to and sending out of his disciples to a point earlier in the gospel and this is immediately followed by the aforementioned discussion of John the Baptist in prison making inquiries to Jesus through his disciples, and
the author of Matthew is the only gospel that has Jesus be explicitly told about the death of John the Baptist and this becomes the motivation for taking a boat across the Sea of Galilee.

7-death

8. Peter's declaration

In Mark, Matthew and Luke, there is one subsequent reference to John the Baptist in an event described as Peter's declaration just before the transfiguration, so close to the end of Jesus's ministry:

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”

And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”

And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”

And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, ...” Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Once when Jesus was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

They answered, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.”

Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Peter answered, “The Messiah of God.”

He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone, saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

It is Simon Peter who first recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah. Additionally, Jesus orders the disciples to not tell anyone. Contrast this with the very first day after Jesus is baptized in John:

One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed). He brought Simon to Jesus, ...

In the gospel of John, Andrew (and not Simon) is the first to recognize Jesus as being the Messiah, and this is not towards the end of Jesus's ministry, but rather on the very next day after Jesus's baptism. In all other gospels, Simon is the one who recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.

8-declaration

9. Elijah?

At the transfiguration, there is one more mention of John the Baptist, one that associates him with Elijah, a prophet from Judean scriptures. We will first review the association with Elijah up to this point, and then describe the transfiguration.

Elijah is a prophet who lived in the nineth century before the common era. He was a prophet of Yahweh in Samaria, the state north of Judea. One particular distinguishing feature of this prophet is that he was apparently brought to heaven without dying in 2 Kings 2:11:

As [Elijah and Elisha] continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven.

Perhaps for this reason there is a prophesy in Malachi 4 that Elijah will return:

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

Remember the teaching of my servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.

Now, Jesus and others believed the coming of the Kingdom of Yahweh was at hand, and thus this prophesy makes sense within the context of the apocalyptic beliefs of Jesus and his followers and others. Like Jesus, John the Baptist was an apocalyptic preacher, proclaiming “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Consequently, some felt that the charismatic John the Baptist was Elijah. To look at the record, during his ministry, John the Baptist denied being Elijah:

Priests and Levites from Jerusalem asked him “Who are you?”

“I am not the Messiah.”

“What then? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the prophet?”

“No.”

“Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

“I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ”

“Why, then, are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”

“I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.”

Here, John the Baptist refers to himself as the fulfillment of the prophesy in Isaiah 40:3:

In Luke, Jesus refers to Elijah, but this is in the context an insult to the others in the synagogue for rejecting his status as a prophet. The people of Samaria rejected Yahweh and were so undeserving that only two foreigners received healing:

Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.

But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land,

yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.

There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha,

and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.

Essentially, Jesus is telling those in the Synagogue that they are like these Israelis and have less merit than gentiles.

In Matthew, after Jesus answers the disciples of John the Baptist who is in prison, Jesus says the following about John the Baptist:

A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is the one about whom it is written,

‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

Here, Jesus refers to Malachi 3:1 and then to Malachi 4:5.

In Mark, following the death of John the Baptist, it seems Jesus was being compared to John the Baptist or Elijah, for when it describes Herod Antipas's reaction to hearing of Jesus, it says in Mark:

Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.”

But others said, “It is Elijah.”

And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

The gospel of Matthew leaves this out, but it appears also in Luke:

it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,

by some that Elijah had appeared,

and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen.

Later, when the disciples are asked by Jesus who he is, we have in Matthew a reiteration of the above:

“John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.

9-Elijah

10. The transfiguration

The transfiguration is where Jesus's clothes are suddenly light up. Jesus the talks with Moses and Elijah. Despite such an illustrious meeting, the author of John does not appear to have either heard of this event, or did not feel that Jesus meeting with Moses and Elijah was worth mentioning. The issue with the transfiguration is that there is commentary at the end on the relationship between John the Baptist and Elijah.

10.1 The transfiguration in Mark

The transfiguration in Mark has Jesus meeting with Moses and Elijah followed by a statement from Yahweh, then Moses and Elijah disappear, and as they go down the mountain, the disciples ask about Elijah:

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one on earth could brighten them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus...

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

He said to them, “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.”

10.2 The transfiguration in Matthew

The author of Matthew says something similar:

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him...

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “Why, then, do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

He replied, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things, but I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man is about to suffer at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

The last line does not appear in Mark, and is the author emphasizing to the reader that this discussion was one about Elijah. Thus, we have a second clear statement that John the Baptist was Elijah.

10.3 The transfiguration in Luke

The gospel of Luke, however, does not make any association with Elijah:

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking about his exodus, which he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.

Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but as they awoke they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him...

While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”

When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

Just like the author of Luke removed the arrest of John the Baptist as the cause for Jesus starting his ministry, it seems that the author of Luke is also, perhaps, trying to downplay the role of John the Baptist. After all, both authors of Matthew and Luke had access to Mark, and while Mark and Matthew both mentioned the subsequent question about Elijah, Luke choses to leave this out. Remember also that Luke has John the Baptist born to who human parents.

10.5 Summary of the transfiguration

During the transfiguration, Elijah appears with Moses, and yet the author of Matthew, who previously had Jesus say “he is Elijah who is to come” is now also saying, when they are discussing Elijah, Jesus says “I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but they did to him whatever they pleased...” and to emphasize the point, the author of Matthew adds “Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.” Thus, this is a second clear statement that John the Baptist was in some way Elijah. We must now reconcile this with Luke's narrative that John the Baptist is also the son of Elizabeth and Zechariah. How did this happen, and why, after fifty years, did no other author of a gospel understand that John the Baptist was Elijah? It cannot be that Elizabeth miraculously conceived, for Zechariah is the father, but then how is the son Elijah incarnate? Did John the Baptist have all the memories of Elijah, and why would Elijah lie about being Elijah, as he did in the gospel of John? Why would Elijah deny who he really is, especially when directly asked. While bearing false witness against a neighbor is a sin, lying technically is not explicitly a sin, so while it may be unethical for Elijah to lie about who he is, it is not a sin. However, it must be frustrating for Elijah, to have been one of only two people to have been brought into heaven without dying, only to be sent back to Earth to have his head cut off; however, given that he is appearing with Moses only a few months after, speaking with Jesus (what they were speaking about, I cannot imagine), he doesn't seem to have suffered any ill effects.

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11. Subsequent references and conversions

When Jesus is in the Temple just prior to his execution in Matthew 21:23-27, we see this reference to John the Baptist:

When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?”

Jesus said to them, “I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?”

And they argued with one another, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why, then, did you not believe him?’

But if we say, ‘Of human origin,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for all regard John as a prophet.”

So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.”

And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not,’ but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same, and he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”

They said, “The first.”

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him, and even after you saw it you did not change your minds and believe him.

Recall that the gospels do not contain consistent ideas as to the relationship between Jesus and John the Baptist, and the author of Matthew is the only gospel that has John the Baptist recognize Jesus prior to his baptism. Now, that same author, includes another narrative where it is implied that John the Baptist had in some ways predicted, foretold or described Jesus as the Messiah in his teachings. John the Baptist was an apocalyptic itinerant preacher who baptized Jesus, and in all likelihood, did not even remember this individual. Jesus began his ministry only after his teacher, John the Baptist was arrested, and long after even Jesus was dead, there were disciples of John who did not recognize the authority of Jesus. Never-the-less, the author of Matthew is attempting to make it seem that the priests and elders of Jerusalem were aware that John the Baptist acknowledged publicly the significance of Jesus. Of course, how could the author of Matthew have known what the priests and elders were privately discussing? If Yahweh, in his divine wisdom, chose to enlighten that author as to what the priests and elders had said amongst each other, could Yahweh not have also divinely inspired that same author to be in harmony with the gospel of John, where John the Baptist is not aware of who Jesus is until after the dove lands on Jesus's head?

The next story is just another example of Jesus believing the Kingdom of Yahweh was coming soon: the tax collectors and prostitutes who were alive at the time would enter the Kingdom of Yahweh prior to those priests and elders to whom Jesus was talking to. Jesus is still acknowledging that the priests and elders will enter the Kingdom of Yahweh, so it does not seem that these priests and elders will be condemned to Hell, even if they die after Jesus is executed and resurrected as a human sacrifice to Yahweh.

There are a few final reference to John the Baptist, and that is in the book of Acts, one written by the same author as Luke. The first simply refers to Jesus's baptism when the disciples choose a twelfth member to replace Judas, and there were two candidates:

In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, “... So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles.

Given that Jesus had chosen his original twelve, and given that Jesus, at least in the second retelling of the post-resurrection events in Acts, stayed with the disciples for forty days, would it not have made sense to choose another disciple in those forty days? Recall, however, that in Luke, Jesus ascends into heaven apparently the same day that he is resurrected. The wording above is rather interesting, as it suggests a telling of the earliest events that differs from what was told in Mark and copied in Luke:

“So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.”

In Luke, as in Mark, Jesus is alone when he is baptized, and after the forty days in the wilderness, he returns to Nazareth and does not begin his mission until after he hears that John the Baptist was arrested:

“Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea [of Galilee].”

This is, of course, at odds with what is in Luke, but even Luke does not suggest that anyone was with him the entire time. In Luke, while Jesus has a more extensive ministry between his arrest and calling on his first disciples, including Simon (later called Peter), there is no mention of anyone being with him the entire time starting with his baptism. Indeed, the author of Luke does not even mention the name of either mysterious follower, Joseph or Matthias, and neither do the authors of Mark and Matthew. If the author of Luke knew that Joseph and Matthias were going to be candidates for being one of the twelve, and that these two had been with Jesus since the very start (even before Simon Peter), would the author not have mentioned these two figures earlier? But then again, that same author, when writing Luke, seems to have thought that Jesus ascended into heaven the same day that he was resurrected, and only in writing Acts did he recall that Jesus had remained amongst the disciples in Jerusalem (and not Galilee) for an entire forty days!

Next, John the Baptist is mentioned in relation to the conversion of the gentiles by Simon Peter:

“I truly understand that God shows no partiality,

but in every people anyone who fears him and practices righteousness is acceptable to him.

You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.

That message spread throughout Judea,

beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced:

how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

There are some issues here: the Spirit of Yahweh descended onto Jesus at his baptism, but this is the only place where this event is described as an anointing by Yahweh himself. Recall that according to the ideas of the trinity, all three are one, so we could rewrite this as:

how Yahweh anointed Yahweh with Yahweh and with power, ...

None of the three gospels describe the descending of the Spirit of Yahweh onto Jesus as an anointing of “power.”

In the next chapter of Acts, the author once again refers to the baptism of John the Baptist in another discussion on the conversions of the Gentiles:

And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?”

Later, Simon Peter is speaking to other Judeans:

When [Yahweh] had removed [Saul], he made David their king.

In his testimony about him he said, ‘I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’

Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised;

before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

And as John was finishing his work, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of the sandals on his feet.’

This is an attempt to tie Jesus back to the lineage of King David; however, the genealogy in Matthew differs from the genealogy in Luke. Also, the author of Acts parallels Matthew's deviation from Mark, where it is simply referred to as a “baptism of repentance”, leaving off the prepositional phrase that that same author included in Luke 3: “for the forgiveness of sins.”

Finally, there is one last reference to the conversion of a number of disciples of John the Baptist:

Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos from Alexandria. He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been instructed in the Way of the Lord, and he spoke with burning enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him they took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he wished to cross over to Achaia, the brothers and sisters encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah is Jesus.

The story begins in Ephesus on the west coast of the Asiatic side of modern-day Turkey, and he then travels to Achaia, which forms most of the northern shore of the Peloponnese peninsula, which included the city of Corinth. However, Paul found other disciples of John the Baptist in Ephesus:

While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the interior regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.

He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”

They replied, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”

Then he said, “Into what, then, were you baptized?”

They answered, “Into John’s baptism.”

Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.”

On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied, altogether there were about twelve of them.

If these were disciples of John the Baptist, would not that John the Baptist who

who immediately, upon baptizing him, recognized Jesus as the “Chosen One,”
who was Elijah sent from heaven to explicitly sent “before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes,”
who was a relative of Jesus,
who refused to baptize Jesus,
whose disciples became Jesus's first disciples,
who explicitly said that “[h]e must increase, but I must decrease.”

have told all his disciples that Jesus was indeed the Messiah? Why would his disciples not all immediately flock to follow Jesus? We will discus this soon, but for now, this is the last mention of John the Baptist in the Christian scriptures.

John the Baptist is only mentioned in the book of Acts, and his name does not appear in any of the letters of Paul.

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12. Contrasting events in the synoptic gospels with the gospel of John

We will look at events relative to

Jesus's baptism,
John the Baptist's arrest, and
John the Baptist's death

as recorded in the synoptic gospels and contrast these with the gospel of John.

To compare and contrast, in the synoptic gospels, we have that immediately after the baptism,

Jesus wandered in wilderness for 40 days

and and nothing more is recorded until after John the Baptist's arrest, after which

Jesus begins his ministry,
travels (apparently alone) to Capernaum,
calls his first four disciples (Peter, Andrew, James and John), and
later, choses his twelve disciples;

and after the death of John the Baptist,

Peter first recognizes Jesus as the Messiah.

In the gospel of John, in the week after the baptism,

Andrew recognizes Jesus as the Messiah the day after Jesus's baptism,
in the two days after Jesus's baptism, he calls his first four disciples (Andrew, Peter, Philip and Nathanael),
Jesus returns to Galilee and performs his first miracle (turning water into wine), and
travels to Capernaum, apparently as part of his ministry, with his mother Mary, his brothers and his disciples,

with no reference to a 40-day trial in the wilderness. Not only that, before the arrest of John the Baptist,

Jesus is actively baptizing, so engaged in his ministry, with his disciples, who are doing the baptizing,

and nothing significant is recorded after the arrest of John the Baptist and the death of John the Baptist is not even remarked upon.

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13. Why were there still disciples of John?

If you look at the gospels, it is clearly recorded that John the Baptist was very well aware of the status of Jesus; indeed, John the Baptist was a relative of Jesus (a second cousin removed once or twice). The questions then are

why, in the second century, were there still records of disciples of John the Baptist, some of whom regarded him as the Messiah, and
why, still today, are there still followers of John the Baptist (the Mandaeans) who regard him, and not Jesus, as the Messiah?

Sure, if John the Baptist was related to Jesus and and recognized Jesus as the Messiah, why would some of his disciples continue to follow him, exclusively? The point is, the earliest gospel, Mark, has

Jesus being explicitly baptized by John the Baptist,
the voice from heaven speaking directly to Jesus,
Jesus starts his ministry as a consequence of hearing that John the Baptist is arrested, and
later, while John the Baptist is in prison, he is inquiring as to whether or not Jesus is the Messiah.

Mark, being the earliest gospel, is likely the closest account as to what really happened:

Jesus was a follower of John the Baptist, an apocalyptical itinerant preacher, who was baptized by John, and adopted the message of John. However, when his teacher, John the Baptist, was arrested, Jesus took it upon himself to continue spreading the message that the kingdom of Yahweh is coming soon. Jesus must have been a charismatic figure who gained a following, and one who eventually had himself anointed, and was subsequently betrayed to the Romans for this anointing, who then had him executed.

Subsequent authors, however, recognized the difficulty associated with Jesus apparently being the Messiah, and yet,

Jesus would have been subordinate to John the Baptist, as Jesus was baptized by John, and
there were still followers of John the Baptist who did not recognize Jesus as in any way significant.

Thus, we see subsequent authors of gospels include additional details that subordinated John the Baptist to Jesus:

The author of Matthew has John the Baptist initially refuse to baptize Jesus, therefore suggesting that the relationship between John the Baptist and Jesus was not one of teacher and pupil, but rather the other way around: John the Baptist was obligated to baptize Jesus.
The author of Matthew has John the Baptist equated with Elijah, one who was explicitly sent back to Earth in order to prepare the way for Jesus.
The author of Luke has John the Baptist become a relative of Jesus and the enunciation of Jesus becomes intimately tied to the enunciation of John the Baptist. Unfortunately, no subsequent events in the gospel of Luke--or any other gospel--suggest any recognition of this familial relationship.
The author of Luke excludes the justification in Mark and copied in Matthew that Jesus began his ministry as a consequence of hearing that John the Baptist was arrested, and instead moves a narrative from later in the gospel of Mark to be the seminal event spurring the start of his ministry.
The author of Luke explicitly includes stories of the conversion of some of the disciples of John the Baptist to followers of Jesus in the Book of Acts.
The author of John has Jesus's first disciples being disciples of John who recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
The author of John has John the Baptist state that “[h]e must increase, but I must decrease.”

With all these alterations and stories added to the sub0sequent gospels (those authored after Mark), those spreading the message of Jesus to non-believers could explain away the continued existence of disciples of John the Baptist as simply individuals who were not fully aware that John the Baptist knew and acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah and Chosen One, and that those disciples of John the Baptist who were later taught the truth of Jesus, did indeed convert. And yet, followers of John the Baptist continue to this very day.

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Summary

At every single step, there are contradictions introduced into the stories of John the Baptist and the events surrounding John the Baptist's interactions with Jesus.

It has been 50 years since the execution of Jesus, and yet only one gospel writer was aware that John the Baptist was a relative of Jesus?
At Jesus's baptism, was John the Baptist aware of who he was baptizing before the baptism or after it when the Holy Spirit descended on Jesus like a dove?
Was John the Baptist absolutely sure that Jesus was the Messiah?
Were Jesus's first disciples also disciples of John, and did he meet them in the days after his baptism, or in Galilee?
Did Jesus spend 40 days in the wilderness or not? And if so, did he go to the Temple first and then the mountain, or vice versa?
Did Jesus engage in a significant ministry before the arrest of John the Baptist?
Did Jesus start his ministry after hearing that John the Baptist was arrested?
If John the Baptist is so sure that Jesus is the one, as is recorded in John, why do the other gospels have John the Baptist reach out from prison to get an answer to this question.
Why, if the author of Luke is being divinely inspired, does he succumb to editorial fatigue?
Finally, was John the Baptist Elijah? If, according to Luke, he was the child of two human parents, this seems odd.

John the Baptist probably was Jesus's teacher and mentor, and when Jesus heard that John the Baptist had been arrested, he started his own ministry, making people aware that the end was near and that the kingdom of Yahweh was coming. They both had apocalyptic teachings, and both were certain the world was coming to an end. While John the Baptist was killed by Herod Antipas, Jesus was killed after the Romans found that he had had himself anointed, presenting himself as the Son of Yahweh, a title taken by many previous kings of the Judeans: for this, he was found guilty of sedition, and executed.

If John the Baptist is considered to be Elijah returned to Earth from heaven, a man so holy that he did not die, but rather was brought into heaven by Yahweh himself, should not his actions be an example to all Christians? Is there a reason there are no (significant) denominations of Christianity that do not have, at least in part, a diet based on locusts and honey? :-)

Sadly, this is unlikely to convince any true-believer who believes the canonical scriptures are inerrant, and regardless of errors and confusion, many true-believers will simply ignore the difficulties and believe that when they get to heaven, there they will learn the true secrets and insights behind the scriptures, and they will laugh at those of us burning in hell. Indeed, many true believers will read this and it will only strengthen their faith, as faith will be the only thing left if they believe the gospels are inerrant. How often have we read that confronting the contradictions in the scriptures only strengthens the faith of the believer? However, it should reassure and aid anyone seeking to counter such arguments, and it should definitely provide additional arguments for anyone who maintains that the scriptures are nothing more than stories collected and written down half a century after the execution of Yeshua. It should also aid anyone trying to understand all aspects of John the Baptist as described in the New Testament. It will also, interestingly enough, aid Muslims who may be presented with this idea that يحيى ابن زكريا (Yahya or John, the son of Zechariah)--who is understood to herald the coming of عيسى (Isa, or Jesus)--actually believed that Isa was the one to be sacrificed for the atonement of those who believe, who was then raised from the dead three days later, as recorded by Christians, as opposed to the Muslim belief that Isa was a human and the Messiah and the penultimate prophet and messenger from God, followed only by محمد صلي الله عليه وسلم (Mohammed).

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Apologetics

As elsewhere, it is always useful, and indeed, beneficial to look at some of the better apologies available. As usual, all of the apologies I've seen focus on one or two aspects, but one of the better ones is a blog by Slim Jim. I can appreciate some of his argumentation, but I will point out the flaws. Jim contrasts John 1:29-34, where John the Baptist declares Jesus the “lamb of Yahweh”, etc. He contrasts this with John the Baptist in prison sending his disciples to ask if Jesus was the “expected one”, or not. Unfortunately, all he does is refer to this one specific passage in John, but what he does not do is list every associated passage that indicates something significant about John's relationship with Jesus:

He begins by listing the passage where Jesus was walking towards him, and this appears to have been after the baptism:
1. “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
2. “This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”
3. “I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
Next, Jim continues with quoting the next section, but I will reverse two of the verses:
- “I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’”
- And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”
Finally, John concludes with a declaration about Jesus: “And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”
Unfortunately, Jim stops here, and unnecessarily, for the next day, John the Baptist says to his disciples: “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” As a consequence, Jesus gets his first two disciples: Andrew, who recognized Jesus as the Messiah and his brother Simon Peter. It does not say that Simon was also a disciple of Jesus, but given they were both from Galilee, it is not entirely unreasonable that this should be inferred.
However, Jim also leaves out other issues, such as Jesus and John the Baptist being closely related, with annunciations made to each of their mothers. Did neither Mary tell Jesus about John the Baptist, and did Elizabeth say nothing in the years she brought John the Baptist up? Recall that John the Baptist in the womb was so attuned to Mary or Jesus or both that “as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.”
Jim also leaves out the passage in Matthew, where Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” This was not mentioned in John, but it's not really a contradiction; however, John the Baptist in John the gospel only became aware of Jesus's status after the baptism when he “saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”
Jim also leaves out a subsequent visit by Jesus and his disciples to Judea, and they were baptizing in the same region. This would have been weeks or months after Jesus's baptism, so John has had ample time to reconsider; however, when it is pointed out to John the Baptist that Jesus's disciples are baptizing many more people than John the Baptist, John the Baptist replies with three statements that essentially acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah, and he specifically points out that his evening has come, while for Jesus the sun still rises:
1. “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’”
2. “He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.”
3. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Finally, when Jesus returned to the Jordan, people in the vicinity said that “John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.” Thus, even when Jesus was gone from his presence, John the Baptist was speaking about Jesus.

Thus, John the Baptist has repeatedly said over and over on many different occasions, and on different days sometimes separated by days or months, and even when Jesus is not present, the significant character of Jesus. It is under this context that the gospels have John the Baptist in prison asking his disciples to reach out to ask Jesus if the “expected one”, or not.

Jim then continues with:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction. A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time. To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.

Jim just presented one group of statements from John the Baptist; however, throughout the gospels, there are numerous instances where John the Baptist in some way or other acknowledges that Jesus is greater than he.

Interestingly enough, John the Baptist's question would actually be completely valid if we just look at the gospel of Mark:

Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist, but the voice from heaven speaks directly to Jesus, and thus may not have even been audible by anyone else. Certainly John the Baptist is not recorded as having made any significant statements at this time in Mark.
Jesus does wander in the wilderness as a result of this experience, but apparently does nothing else significant with respect to any form of ministry.
Instead, Jesus only begins his ministry after John the Baptist is arrested. In this case, John the Baptist would only hear reports of what Jesus is doing in his ministry.

Under these circumstances, it makes much more sense for John the Baptist to be curious about the status of Jesus.

However, as for contradictions:

The gospel of Mark says that Jesus was immediately lead to the wilderness following his baptism, and that was for 40 days.
The gospel of John has Jesus calling Andrew and Simon Peter the day after his baptism, and calling Philip and Nathanael the day thereafter, and then deciding to all go to Galilee, and after a three-day trip, reaching Cana and turning water into wine, after which Jesus, his mother Mary, his brothers and disciples continue Jesus's ministry by travelling to Capernaum.

This is a contradiction. Also, another contradiction is the order in which Satan temped Jesus:

Matthew has Satan first lead Jesus to the Temple, and only after that to a tall mountain.
Luke has Satan first lead Jesus to a tall mountain, and only then to the Temple.

This, too, is a clear contradiction. However, the above, when put into the scope of all of the verses associated with John the Baptist is about as close to a contradiction as you can reasonably determine.

Next, Jim continues with an ad hominin attack:

2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible. See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions. Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do. But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.

Yes, people make mistakes, especially when dealing with translations. It is unfortunate that an all-powerful, all-knowing deity chose one two languages to communicate in, and then the second was not even the language that Jesus spoke. However, Jim is correct: one error does not mean that mean that a different observation is not correct. The idea, however, for Jim, is to sow doubt about the Skeptic's Annotated Bible into the mind of the true-believer who may have had the seed of doubt cast into their mind by that very book: here's one statement that cannot be trusted, so in general, you should trust nothing. It would equally be an ad hominin attack against Slim Jim to point out that the author takes a name that happens to be a device used to break into and steal cars. That, however, would not negate any of the statements that Slim Jim makes.

Third, we have:

3. A minor correction: Under “No, he still wasn’t sure when he was in prison,” the second verse on the Skeptic Annotated Bible listed “John 7:19” but its actually incorrect citation; the writer Steve Wells meant not John 7:19 but Luke 7:19. It does make you wonder about the scholarship of the Skeptic Annotated Bible when such obvious errors aren’t corrected on their website. Hereafter below we deal with Luke 7:19.

By this same reasoning, any pastor that ever makes a mistake in referencing the Bible should be suspect as a preacher of Christianity. The author is using the default assumption of the true-believer that the Bible is perfect and thus, rather than addressing the contradiction, points out that there are clear errors in the source that points out the contradiction. This, however, does not change the fact that Satan either led Jesus to the Temple first, and then the mountain, or the other way around.

Next, Jim continues with:

4. The skeptic tries to pit John 1:29-34 against both Matthew 11:2-3 and Luke 7:19. John 1:29-34 was cited as support for the claim that the Bible taught “John the Baptist immediately recognize Jesus as the Son of God.” On the other hand both Matthew 11:2-3 and Luke 7:19 were cited as support for the claim that the Bible taught “John the Baptist did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God as he still wasn’t sure when he was in prison.”

Yes, Matthew does have material that contradicts material that appears later in Matthew: John the Baptist explicitly refuses to baptize Jesus, but later acquiesces. This indicates a clear recognition of Jesus. Also, recall that Matthew believes that Jesus is somehow Elijah incarnate, so if this is the case, should this not also be a mechanism by which he should be aware of his role and who Jesus is. The confusion in Matthew (as with Mark) is likely the result of these texts not being written by theologians, but rather skilled scribes in communities writing down stories over a longer period of time without necessarily cross checking. In this author's opinion, it seems the author of Luke may have been more careful, but that author, too, suffered from editorial fatigue.

Jim continues:

5. Even looking at the two claims analytically and granted as true for the sake of the argument there’s not a Bible contradiction. The claim “John the Baptist did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God as he still wasn’t sure when he was in prison” and the claim “John the Baptist immediately recognize Jesus as the Son of God” are not contradictory because they happened at different times. The time John the Baptist wasn’t so sure if Jesus was the Son of God is admitted by the skeptic himself as when John the Baptist “was in prison.”

I'm not sure what Jim means by "analytically" here. Technically, Jim is correct here, people do change their minds, so perhaps John the Baptist did change his mind about Jesus, and if these were the only two statements being made about John the Baptist's belief or disbelief in Jesus, then he would be correct; however, Jim makes no attempt to delve any further than is necessary to refute this simple claim. Recall that in the stories told in Matthew and Luke, it seems as if John the Baptist was just learning about Jesus's actions, and sends his disciples to inquire about him. This makes sense in the telling in Mark and Matthew, as it seems Jesus was baptized, went away (perhaps into the wilderness), and then only started his ministry after John the Baptist was arrested. In this case, John the Baptist would probably not have even remembered Jesus, as he was simply one of many who came to him for a baptism either for repentance or for the forgiveness of sins. Recall, however, as noted above, John the Baptist showed on many occasions that he was aware of who Jesus was prior to his arrest, and not only that, he was preaching about Jesus to those who were coming to him even when Jesus was not there, for in the gospel of John, it is recorded that

The critical phrase here is “everything that John said about this man was true” meaning that John the Baptist was telling people about Jesus. Now, one may argue that John the Baptist was not speaking about Jesus personally, but rather John the Baptist was simply speaking about the one who was to follow him, but, still, there are still many other passages whereby John the Baptist is spoken to by Yahweh that Jesus is someone significant, John the Baptist is Elijah incarnate or sent back, that John the Baptist was telling others that Jesus was someone significant. Most of this appears in the gospel of John, the last gospel to be written, and likely all of these additional passages about John the Baptist were added not to reflect what really happened, but to address the issue at hand: if John the Baptist was actually heralding in Jesus, why were there still so many disciples of John the Baptist around who did not recognize Jesus. All these additional stories were added to emphasize that these disciples who refuse to acknowledge Jesus are simply mistaken; however, the addition of these stories contradicted what actually happened: Jesus probably did not start his ministry until after John the Baptist was arrested, and perhaps John the Baptist did indeed hear about Jesus while in prison.

Next, Jim continues with a non sequitur:

6. While recognizing and not recognizing someone’s identity are opposites are not a contradiction if we understand it happened at different times. For example you can say “I took a hot shower” and “I ate a cold Ice Cream” and the the aren’t logically contradictory. There might be different temperature involved that are opposites but both events can take place at different times (and logically speaking its not a contradiction either since technically you can eat a cold ice cream while also taking a hot shower though its not recommended!). You can even eat hot spicy ramen and eat cold ice cream! It happens more often than you think!

The example provided has nothing to do with the claim in the first sentence. A better example may be “I like papadum” and “I don't like papadum” would be a much better example. This happened to this author, as the last item of food I ate prior to getting the norovirus was papadum, a food I really enjoyed; however, because that was the flavor I tasted as I was extremely ill, for the next decade of my life, whenever I tasted papadum, my body literally felt ill, and I could not tolerate the flavor, even though prior it was a delicious, if distinct, bread. However, none of this addresses the issue in the Christian scriptures: John the Baptist does not once, but many times recognize Jesus (apparently, even in the womb), and yet, while in prison, he seems to have no prior knowledge of who Jesus was or what he did.

Jim continues:

7. Looking more closely at the passage we do see the skeptic did cite the verses properly to establish their premises (which is not always a given how they twist Scripture so often). But that goes to show there’s not a Bible contradiction because in context the passages took place at different time. When John 1:29-34 was cited as support for the claim that the Bible taught “John the Baptist immediately recognize Jesus as the Son of God,” this took place during the early days of Jesus’ ministry when He just got baptized by John the Baptist. When Matthew 11:2-3 and Luke 7:19 were cited as support for the claim that the Bible taught “John the Baptist did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God as he still wasn’t sure” this was when later in John’s ministry and when John was in prison.

Here, Jim just reiterates the previous statement. However, John the Baptist did not just once recognize Jesus, but did so multiple times on many occasions: prior to his baptism in Matthew, at his baptism in the gospel of John, and then continuing to proclaim Jesus was the lamb of Yahweh the day thereafter to his own disciples, and weeks or months or perhaps over a year later explicitly acknowledging that “[h]e must increase, but I must decrease.” John the Baptist appears to be very sure who Jesus was.

Jim provides an oddity here:

8. Also John the Baptist seem to have recognize Jesus as the Messiah even in the womb; see Luke 1:41, 1:44.

This author is not sure what is meant: this only supports the absurdity of John the Baptist not knowing who Jesus was, after all, according to Luke, John the Baptist was even aware of who Jesus was prior to their births, and John the Baptist was aware before, during and significantly after Jesus's baptism. Not only that, John the Baptist was apparently Elijah incarnate, and Yahweh explicitly spoke to John the Baptist, telling him how we would recognize Jesus. With all this, John the Baptist seems to have forgotten who Jesus actually was. If, however, Jesus was just another person who was baptized by John the Baptist, and who then, upon hearing that John the Baptist was arrested, decided to continue spreading the apocalyptic message of John the Baptist, and happened to be someone who was charismatic and developed his own following, then it makes sense that John the Baptist had no clue who Jesus was.

Jim continues:

9. Knowing that John the Baptist sent messengers to ask Jesus if He’s the Son of God while John was in prison makes sense; people can be discouraged during prison and confinement. So that can explain why John the Baptist sent someone to confim if Jesus was the Messianic Son of God.

Remember, John the Baptist is allegedly Elijah incarnate (although how is never made clear), and John the Baptist was explicitly spoken to by Yahweh who explained to him how John the Baptist would recognize Jesus, and John continued to acknowledge the status of Jesus after the baptism. Not only that, they were relatives: Jesus was his second cousin once or twice removed, and both his mother and Jesus's mother both had annunciations have both been spoken to by angels.

Jim concludes:

10. In conclusion there is no Bible contradiction here.

The common mantra of apologists: there are no contradictions. Close your eyes, stick your head in the sand, and continue to believe, you true-believer, for the true-believer is not interested in the truth, the true-believer is interested in the belief.

This, however, is followed by another non sequitur:

11. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity. The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible. In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview. Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”

None of this has any bearing on the case at hand. The law of non-contradiction says that it is impossible for a truth statement to be both true and false. This only relates to statements that can only be true or false. For example, a person can be both "nice" and "not nice" simultaneously. One may not be able to determine if a person is "tall" or "not tall" apart from defining everyone over 6' tall to be "tall" and thus, anyone 6' or less is "not tall;" however, it may be very difficult to tell if a person is 6' plus a 64th of an inch, or just 6'. Thus, the precise definition of "tall" does indeed allow for truth statements, but it may not be possible to determine if the statement is indeed true. Besides, 6' is by definition the distance light travels in 1143/187370286250 of a second in a vacuum. Many other statements do not have truth values: "She got home at 6 am." would still be true if the person got home at 6:02 am, it may be sort-of true if she got home at 6:14 am, but it may not be true if the person got home at 6:26 am. In the latter case, one would expect the person to say "She got home at 6:30 am." However, non-contradiction becomes relevant in mathematics, where clear statements of truth can be made: either x < y or it is false that x < y, in which case, x ≥ y. However, there is no natural definition for a linear relationship between complex numbers, so x < y is simply not defined. Similarly, there are statements in the Bible that do not allow for precision: Jesus "immediately" headed into the wilderness. I would say this is "true" if Jesus headed into the wilderness any time before, say, the next meal; however, it would not "true" if Jesus did not head out for a week.

Another apology I have heard is that Jesus did indeed call his first four disciples; however, after Jesus went into the wilderness, they parted ways, and only met again in Capernaum. The issues with such an apology, however, are a multitude:

Andrew recognized Jesus as the anointed one at the very first meeting in John, but it is not until close to the end of Jesus's mission that Peter, not Andrew, recognizes Jesus as the anointed one.
In Mark, it says that Jesus was immediately driven into the wilderness, and a week's worth of adventures hardly counts as "immediately."
None of the other gospels mention that Andrew, and likely Simon Peter, were disciples of John the Baptist. After 50 years, you'd think this would be well known, and something that other gospel writers would want to report on.
There is no mention in any of the synoptic gospels that Jesus already knew Simon Peter before he was called in the synoptic gospels.
Mark and Matthew have a contradictory story from how Jesus called his first disciples:
- in Mark and Matthew, Simon and Andrew are called first, and then James and John were called, while
- in Luke, Simon, James and John are all called at the same time, and there is no mention of Andrew.

To demonstrate Point 4, let us review what appears in the gospel of Luke:

Once while Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” For he and all who were with him were astounded at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

There is no hint of familiarity in this interaction. There is indeed, no mention of Andrew, despite Andrew being the very first disciple of Jesus, a former disciple of John the Baptist, and the very first disciple to recognize Jesus as the anointed one. Also, note that Jesus sees "two boats" and gets into one of the boats. He did not see Simon and Andrew and get into their boat, he saw "two boats."

The one point identified by the Skeptic's Annotated Bible is simply one of many issues with John the Baptist, but what Jim did here is pick a simple foil: an attack he could easily parry, as the Skeptic's Annotated Bible only pointed out one set of verses that indicated that John the Baptist recognized Jesus at one point, but did not later. If you look at all the verses, it becomes much more difficult to claim there is never-the-less no "contradiction."

apologetics

An interesting pair of narratives

I now present two scenarios, and you are invited to render judgement on each:

Suppose you read in the news a case where the defendant was found guilty and sentenced. The crime was that this entrepreneur founded a company, but over time, he began to see himself as the next Steve Jobs and Elon Musk, put together, and then spent lavishly on himself, buying himself a Rolex, a Lamborghini, and a house, all on company money. One of his executive officers, Josephine, turned him in. You watch a newscast where other executives, however, continue to claim he is innocent, so you'd like to determine if this person is really guilty. You notice that during the trial, there was a question as to the culpability of one of the professors at the defendant's university as to what role he had in acquiring funding. During the testimony and cross examination, the professor and the defendant himself made the following claims, respectively, under oath as to how the company was started and the professor's involvement:

At convocation in Boston, the graduate (the defendant) spoke briefly to the professor after the ceremony, and the conversation gave the defendant an idea for a great start-up. The professor had hundreds of students over the years, and there was nothing particularly outstanding about this one. Immediately after convocation, the graduate went for a 40-day holiday in Europe. Then, after this professor retired, the student reconsidered the idea for a start-up and went to Philadelphia. There he met his first two partners (Allison and Sarah) and they bought into this idea, and then they met their next two partners (Julian and Jonathan, named the "football players"), and together they started their company in Philadelphia (with Allison, Sarah, Julian and Jonathan being the first executives). Later, Patricia and Nancy joined and were also made executives. Only after a while did Sarah finally acknowledge the defendant as the Supreme Visionary, a nick name they then gave him.
At convocation in Boston, the University President spoke to a professor indicating that the student receiving the Fields Medal is easily the best graduate in the last decade, so the professor spoke to the the graduate (the defendant) and he was impressed by the defendant's ideas, and together they brainstormed an idea for a great start-up. The professor declared that this student was indeed worthy of the award. The next day, both the graduate and the professor pitched the idea to two other graduates who were supervised by that professor (Allison and Bob), and while one declined, the other got her friend (Sarah) interested, too. That day, Allison was the first to give the defendant the nick name of the "Supreme Visionary," a name that stuck. The day thereafter, the graduate convinced two more graduates (Patricia and Nancy) to become interested in this idea. Thus, they made the journey to New York and three days later they all (the defendant, Allison, Bob, Patricia and Nancy) had an interview with an angel investor. They got the investment, so together with his family, the graduate and his new partners moved to Philadelphia where they started their company. Later, two other unnamed guys (the "football players") joined and also became executives. All this time, the professor was still teaching and doing research at the university while simultaneously advocating for this graduate and his company, one time pointing out that "my research projects are waning, but his are waxing: he really is something special" and he finally retired later that year. Even after the professor was long out of the picture, people were saying what great things the professor said about what this graduate did, and people recognized that these were true, and also invested in the graduate's company.

Both the defendant and the professor claim that Josephine was not acting in the best interest of the investors, but was simply interested in syphoning off that money herself. The defendant who was found guilty and the professor both claim that these are true representations of what really really happened. Two other witnesses said that the defendant did indeed take a 40-day holiday in Europe after convocation, but one was sure the defendant visited Italy first, and only later went to England; while the other was sure the defendant visited England first, and then Italy. They both, however, indicated that the professor did, some time after retirement, hear in the news about the initial success of the defendant's company and did contact him. Is it possible both the defendant and the professor are both telling the truth?

Suppose you hear about a defendant who was found guilty and executed. The crime was that the person had gathered a following, but over time, he began to see himself as the anointed one, and then he had someone, using the following's money, buy a large quantity of expensive spikenard, the essential oil of Nardostachys jatamansi and had himself anointed with that oil, thus declaring himself to be above the emperor, a capital crime in the state he is in. One of his disciples, Josephine, turned him in, the defendant was arrested and executed. You are listening in the plaza to two other followers who both claim the defendant was actually innocent, so you listen to their stories about what happened:

One says that at his baptism, few words were spoken at the event and the defendant immediately went into the wilderness for 40 days of solitary reflection. Then after the one who baptized him was arrested, the defendant went to Capernaum and there he called his first two disciples, Allison and Sarah, and then they met his next two disciples, Julian and Jonathan (later named the "sons of Thunder"), and together they started their ministry in Capernaum. Later Patricia and Nancy became disciples. After a while, Simon recognized the defendant as the anointed one.
The other says before the baptism, the baptizer was first told by Yahweh that he who has a dove land on him will baptize later with the same spirit as the dove, and after the baptism, the baptizer was declaring that the defendant was the "Chosen One". The next day, he was saying great things about the defendant in front of two of his disciples (Allison and Bob), and one of those two, Allison, began as a disciple of the defendant, and also got her sister Sarah to follow him, too. That day, Allison recognized the defendant as the anointed one. The next day, the defendant gets two more followers (Patricia and Nancy), and together they head north to Galilee. After three days, they get there and at a wedding, the defendant turns an incredible amount of water into a lot of really good wine to allow already intoxicated wedding guests to become further intoxicated with "the good stuff", thus announcing himself with this first sign. Then the defendant, his mother, his brothers and his disciples headed to Capernaum where they started his ministry. Later, the two other unnamed guys (the "sons of Thunder") joined and also became disciples. All this time, the baptizer was still baptizing individuals who came to him while simultaneously advocating for the defendant, pointing out that “he must increase, but I must decrease” and he was not arrested for another year. Even after the baptizer was murdered, people were saying what great things the baptizer said about what the defendant did, and people recognized that these were true, and also followed the defendant.

Both the followers claim that Josephine was not acting in the best interest of the group, but was simply interested in syphoning off that money herself. The two followers telling these stories both claim that the defendant is all-powerful and all-knowing being and each follower telling these stories assures you that this defendant explicitly told them that what they are saying really really happened. Two other followers also said that the defendant did go out for 40 days for a period of solitary reflection after the baptism, but one insists that during this time, the defendant went to Mount Ararat first and then to Jerusalem, while the other insisted he went to Jerusalem first and then to Mount Ararat. Both however, describe that when the baptizer had been in jail for some time, he had no idea this was going on, but after hearing reports from his disciples, he reached out to the defendant--whom he baptized--to inquire as to his purpose, and this was shortly before the baptizer's death.

I enjoyed writing this. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I'm sure that someone will carefully point out any minor issue, but the parallel is sufficiently close, and hopefully the more modern setting will more readily demonstrate the issues at hand.

my-narratives

Acknowledgements

Some of these ideas come from Bart Ehrman's many books, although many were revealed simply by methodically going through the text. All verses come from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, while any Greek text comes from the Tyndale House Greek New Testament.