Question
Who was John the Baptist?
Analysis
What he actually preached
His message was blunt and moral rather than comforting. He told the crowds the kingdom of heaven was near and called for repentance (Matthew 3:2), warned that descent from Abraham saved nobody by itself (Matthew 3:9), and when people asked what to do he gave practical answers: share your spare clothing and food, collect no more tax than you are owed, do not extort, be content with your pay (Luke 3:11; Luke 3:13; Luke 3:14). He identified himself with the voice in the wilderness of Isaiah 40:3 (John 1:23), and pointed away from himself to the one coming after (Mark 1:7; John 1:29; John 3:30).
How Jesus described him
Jesus called him more than a prophet and said that among those born of women none greater had arisen, while adding that the least in the kingdom is greater still (Matthew 11:9; Matthew 11:11). He also said John came in the way of righteousness and was not believed (Matthew 21:32).
An honest detail the Gospels keep in
From prison, John sent messengers to ask Jesus whether he really was the one to come, or whether they should expect someone else (Matthew 11:2; Matthew 11:3; Luke 7:19). The man who had announced Jesus asked, later, whether he had been right. Jesus did not rebuke him; he pointed to what was happening and sent word back (Matthew 11:4; Matthew 11:5). Readers have taken this in different ways, as a genuine wavering under imprisonment, or as a question asked for the sake of his own disciples, and the text does not settle which.
Was he Elijah? (a genuine tension in the text)
This is the one point about John that Scripture presents in two directions, and it should not be smoothed over.
| Reading | The case for it | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| He is the promised Elijah | Jesus says plainly that if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come, and later that Elijah has already come and was not recognised, which the disciples understood to mean John | Matthew 11:14; Matthew 17:12; Matthew 17:13 |
| He is not Elijah | Asked directly by the priests whether he was Elijah, John answered that he was not | John 1:21 |
| In the spirit and power of Elijah, a mediating reading | The angel's announcement says he will go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, which many read as fulfilment of function rather than identity | Luke 1:17; cf. Malachi 4:5 |
Christian traditions differ over whether Malachi 4:5 is fully satisfied in John or awaits a further coming. Jewish tradition continues to expect Elijah before the day of the Lord. The texts are given here as they stand; this reference commits to none of the readings.
Outside the Bible
John is one of the few New Testament figures attested by a non-Christian source of the period. The Jewish historian Josephus, writing near the end of the first century, records John as a good man who urged the Jews to virtue and baptism, and reports that Herod had him put to death, giving a political motive, fear of John's influence over the crowds, alongside the Gospels' account of the quarrel over Herodias. The two explanations are not mutually exclusive, and historians weigh them differently.
Why the baptism of Jesus raises a question
John's baptism was for repentance, which has long prompted the question of why a sinless Jesus would receive it. Matthew 3:14 records John himself objecting, and Matthew 3:15 gives Jesus' answer about fulfilling all righteousness. Interpretations differ, identification with those he came to save, a formal commissioning at the start of his ministry, an endorsement of John's mission, and the text does not spell out which is meant.