John the Baptist

Description

John the Baptist[note 1] (late 1st century BC – AD 28–36) was a Jewish itinerant preacher in the early 1st century AD. Other titles for John include John the Forerunner in Eastern Christianity, John the Immerser in some Baptist traditions, and the prophet John (Yaḥyā) in Islam. He is sometimes alternatively called John the Baptizer.

John the Baptist is mentioned by the Hebrew historian Josephus and revered as a major religious figure in Christianity, Islam, the Bahá’í Faith, and Mandaeism. He is called a prophet by all of these faiths, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian traditions. According to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself, and the Gospels portray John as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus, since John announces Jesus’ coming and prepares the people for Jesus’ ministry. Jesus himself identifies John as “Elijah who is to come”, which is a direct reference to the prophecy of Malachi 4:5–6, that has been confirmed by the angel who announced John’s birth to his father Zecharia. According to the New Testament, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth were relatives.

Some scholars maintain that John belonged to the Essenes, a semi-ascetic Judaic sect who expected a Hebrew messiah and who practiced ritual baptism. John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his pre-messianic movement. Most scholars agree that John baptized Jesus, and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus’ early followers had previously been followers of John.

According to the New Testament John was sentenced to death and subsequently beheaded by Herod Antipas sometime between AD 28 and 36 after John rebuked him for divorcing his wife, Phasaelis, and then unlawfully wedding Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Philip I.

The fourth gospel describes John the Baptist as “a man sent from God” who “was not the light”, but “came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that through him everyone might believe”. John clearly denies being the Christ or Elijah or ‘the prophet’, instead describing himself as the “voice of one crying in the wilderness”.

Matthias Grünewald, detail of the Isenheim Altarpiece
Jesus’s baptism is implied but not depicted. Unlike the other gospels, it is John himself who testifies to seeing “the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on him”. John explicitly announces that Jesus is the one “who baptizes with the Holy Spirit” and John even professes a “belief that he is the Son of God” and “the Lamb of God”.

The Gospel of John reports that Jesus’ disciples were baptizing and that a debate broke out between some of the disciples of John and another Jew about purification. In this debate John argued that Jesus “must become greater,” while he (John) “must become less” (Latin Vulgate: illum oportet crescere me autem minui).

The Gospel of John then points out that Jesus’ disciples were baptizing more people than John. Later, the Gospel relates that Jesus regarded John as “a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light”.