Answer: You are likely referring to a passage in John’s Gospel where St. John the Baptist says twice: “I did not know him” (Jn 1:31, 33). While it is possible that John and Jesus, though cousins, did not know each other, this seems unlikely.
Full Answer
John the Baptist. John's account of the Baptist is different from that of the synoptic gospels. In this gospel, John is not called "the Baptist.". The Baptist's ministry overlaps with that of Jesus; his baptism of Jesus is not explicitly mentioned, but his witness to Jesus is unambiguous.
John’s Gospel. Rather, the emphasis is entirely on Jesus’ receipt of the Spirit and John’s prophecy that Jesus would baptize with the Spirit. This passage is so much about the Spirit ent that water baptism entirely disappears from the account. Moreover, John declares that Jesus is the “Son of God.” Now, to a Jew in John’s audience,...
Notice that, unlike the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke), John’s Gospel never mentions Jesus’ baptism. Rather, the emphasis is entirely on Jesus’ receipt of the Spirit and John’s prophecy that Jesus would baptize with the Spirit.
In a sense, one could say that John’s mission in life was to introduce Jesus as God’s promised Messiah, the hope of all the ages. But who would have ever thought that God would have chosen a man like John the Baptist for this task?
John the Baptist is in the front of our New Testament four times (once in each of the four Gospels) in order to put the law of God in front of us four times just before Jesus comes to us four times with gospel. John is the law of God in person; Jesus is the gospel of God in person.” 72.
John played a vital role in the commencement of our Lord’s ministry. He called upon men to be prepared for the coming of the Messiah. His message is far from obsolete: the Lord Jesus Christ is coming again, for the second time, and this time it will be to judge men.
The first and most obvious answer is because that is what Malachi prophesied (3:1; 4:5). Elijah, like John, was a kind of “wilderness man,” a man who lived on the run, out of the mainstream of society. But Elijah was a prophet of the Northern Kingdom and not Judah. This is true, but I believe it is also purposeful.
Let us use the law to reveal sin. Surely the Ten Commandments condemn us all. John the Baptist spoke from the law to reveal man’s sin, and also to show that Jesus was the Messiah the law had promised would come. Let me give you a very specific way that parents can use the law evangelistically.
For nearly 400 years God had not spoken through the prophets (see Isaiah 29:10 ). Suddenly, from the Judean wilderness a voice began to cry out, “ Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near ” ( Matthew 3:2 ). People began to make their way out to the wilderness to see and to hear John.
When Jesus began to preach, His message was virtually a repetition of John’s words: From that time Jesus began to preach this message: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near” ( Matthew 4:17 ). If men are to be saved, there must be something from which they are saved.
While he was born into a priestly family, he did not take his father’s name, nor his work ( Luke 1:59-63, 80). And although John was a prophet, he did not perform any miraculous signs: 41 Many came to him and began to say, “John performed no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true!”.
What is more likely is that John is speaking of the fact that he , by the Holy Spirit, has come to see Jesus in a deeper and more sublime way. If at one time John the Baptist saw Jesus merely as a cousin, a carpenter and an ordinary man, he now sees Jesus as far more: as the preexistent Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, ...
Question: In the Bible, the Promised Land is called a land flowing with milk and honey. I was there this past year, and it didn’t look that way to me. It was brown and arid. Has something changed there, or do I misunderstand the texts?
The Gospel according to John ( Greek: Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, romanized : Euangélion katà Iōánnēn, also known as the Gospel of John, or simply John) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus ...
He subordinates the Baptist to Jesus, perhaps in response to members of the Baptist's sect who regarded the Jesus movement as an offshoot of their movement. In John's gospel, Jesus and his disciples go to Judea early in Jesus' ministry before John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed by Herod.
Johannine literature. The Gospel of John and the three Johannine epistles exhibit strong resemblances in theology and style; the Book of Revelation has also been traditionally linked with these, but differs from the gospel and letters in style and even theology.
In the Synoptics, quotations from Jesus are usually in the form of short, pithy sayings; in John, longer quotations are often given.
The majority of scholars see four sections in John's gospel: a prologue (1:1–18); an account of the ministry, often called the " Book of Signs " (1:19–12:50); the account of Jesus' final night with his disciples and the passion and resurrection, sometimes called the Book of Glory (13:1–20:31); and a conclusion (20:30–31); to these is added an epilogue which most scholars believe did not form part of the original text (Chapter 21).
The Gospel of John is significantly different from the synoptic gospels in the selection of its material, its theological emphasis, its chronology, and literary style, with some of its discrepancies amounting to contradictions.
Scholars agree that while John clearly regards Jesus as divine, he just as clearly subordinates him to the one God. The idea of the Trinity developed only slowly through the merger of Hebrew monotheism and the idea of the messiah, Greek ideas of the relationship between God, the world, and the mediating Saviour, and the Egyptian concept of the three-part divinity. John's "high Christology" depicts Jesus as divine and pre-existent, defends him against Jewish claims that he was "making himself equal to God", and talks openly about his divine role and echoing Yahweh 's " I Am that I Am " with seven " I Am " declarations of his own.