JOHN THE BAPTIST

Simon the Maecabee (1 Mac 162), commonly known as John Hyrcanus, and described as 'a (valiant) man' (1 Mac 13"). See Maccabees, § 5. 6. The father of Simon Peter (Jn 1« 2V^-" RV; AV Jonas), who is called in Mt 16' Bar-Jona(h) . In the latter passage the form Jonas may be a contraction for Joanes, or possibly Peter's father had two names, as in the case of Saul — Paul. 7.0neofthehigh-priestlyfamily(Ac#). S.John Mark (see Mark). 9. 10. For the Baptist and the Apostle see the following two articles.

JOHN THE BAPTIST.— The single narrative of John's birth and circumcision (Lk 1) states that, as the child of promise (v."), he was born in 'a city of Judah' (v.==), when his parents were old (v.'). They were both of priestly descent (v.s), and his mother was a kinswoman of the mother of Jesus (v."). John was a Nazirite from his birth (v."); he developed self-reliance in his lonely home, and learnt the secret of spiritual strength as he communed with God in the solitudes of the desert (v.""). In the Judsean wilderness — the wild waste which Ues to the west of the Dead Sea — this Elijah-hke prophet (v.") 'on rough food throve'; but, notwithstanding his ascetic affinities with the Essenes, he was not a vegetarian, his diet consisting of edible locusts (Lv 11^2) as well as the vegetable honey which exudes from fig-trees and palms (Mt 3'). For this and for other reasons — as, e.g., his zeal as a social reformer, — John cannot be called an Essene (Graetz). It was not from these 'Pharisees in the superlative degree' (SchUrer) that the last of the prophets learnt his message. His familiarity with the OT is proved by his frequent use of its picturesque language (Lk 3", cf. Am 9', Is 66«; Jn 1^, cf. Is 40=; Jn V, cf. Is S3', Ex 29'« 12'), but he heard God's voice in nature as well as in His word: as he brooded on the signs of the times, the barren trees of the desert, fit only for burning, and the vipers fleeing before the flaming scrub, became emblems of the nation's peril and lent colour to his warnings of impending wrath (cf. G. A. Smith, HGHL p. 495).

In the wilderness ' the word of God came unto John ' (Lk 32). The phrase impUes (1 S IS'" etc.) that, after more than three centuries of silence, the voice of a prophet was to be heard in the land, and the Synoptic Gospels (Mt 31-", Mk I'-s, Lk 3'-=») tell of the stirring effects of his preaching in ever- widening circles (Mt 3'), and give a summary of his message. It is probable that, in the course of his successful six months' ministry, John moved northwards along the then more thickly populated valley of the Jordan, proclaiming the coming of the Kingdom to the crowds that flocked to hear him from 'the whole region circumjacent to Jordan' (Lk 3'); once at least (Jn 10") he crossed the river (cf. Sanday, Sacred Sites of the Gospel, p. 35 f.; Warfleld, Expositor, III. [1885] i. p. 267 £f.; and see Bethany, Salim). 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand' (Mt 3^) was the Baptist's theme, but on his lips the proclama-tion became a warning that neither descent from Abraham nor Pharisaic legalism would constitute a title to the blessings of the Messianic age, and that it is vain for a nation to plead privilege when its sins have made it ripe for judgment. There is a Pauline ring in the stern reminder that Abraham's spiritual seed may spring from the stones of paganism (Lk 3*, but also Mt 39, cf. Ro 4" 9', Gal 42'). On the universality of the coming judgment is based John's call to repentance addressed to all men without respect of persons. The axe already 'laid to the root of the trees' (Lk 3») will spare those bringing forth good fruit, and not those growing in favoured enclosures. Soldiers, publicans, and inquirers of different classes are taught how practical and how varied are the good works in which the 'fruits' of repentance are seen (Lk 3™).

The baptism of John was the declaration unto all

JOHN THE BAPTIST

men, by means of a symbolic action, that the condi-tion of entrance into God's Kingdom is the putting away of sin. It was a 'repentance-baptism,' and its purpose was 'remission of sins' (Mk 1') [Weiss regards this statement as a Christianized version of John's baptism, but Bruce (,EGT, in loc.) agrees with Holtzmann that forgiveness is implied ' if men really repented ']. John's baptism was no copying of Essene rites, and it had a deeper ethical significance than the 'divers washings' of the ceremonial law. It has close and suggestive affinities with the prophet's teaching in regard to spiritual cleansing (Is 1", Ezk 362*, Zee 13"), the truth expressed in their metaphorical language being trans-lated by him into a striking symbolic act; but John's baptism has most definite coimexion with the baptism of proselytes, which was the rule in Israel before his days (Schtlrer, HJP 11. 322 f.). John sought 'to make men "proselytes of righteousness" in a new and higher order. He came, as Jesus once said, "in the way of righteousness"; and the righteousness he wished men to possess . . . did not consist in mere obedience to the law of a carnal commandment, but in repent-ance towards God and deUberate self-consecration to His kingdom' (Lambert, The Sacraments in the NT, p. 62). When Jesus was baptized of John (Mt S^^-, Mk V-, Lk 321'), He did not come confessing sin as did all other men (Mt 3'); the act marked His consecra-tion to His Messianic work, and His identification of Himself with sinners. It was part of His fulfilment of all righteousness (v.''), and was followed by His anointing with the Holy Spirit. John knew that his baptism was to prepare the way for the coming of a 'mightier' than he, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit (Mk l^). But after Pentecost there were disciples who had not advanced beyond the Baptist's point of view, and were unaware that the Holy Spirit had been poured out (Ac IS^s 19"-).

The narrative in Jn 1'*-'' assumes as well known the Synoptic account of John's activity as evangelist and baptizer (v.^*'). From what John heard and saw at the baptism of Jesus, and from intercourse with Jesus, he had learnt that his mission was not only to announce the Messiah's coming, and to prepare His way by calling men to repent, but also to point Him out to men.

Many critics regard the words, 'Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world' (v.^^), aa inconsistent with John's later question, ' Art thou he that Cometh, or look we for another?' (Mt ll'); but if John learnt from Jesus what was His ideal of the Messiah's work, it may well be, as Garvie says, 'that Jesus for a time at least raised John's mind to the height of His own insight; that when the influence of Jesus was withdrawn, John relapsed to his own familiar modes of thought; and that the answer of Jesus by the two disciples . . . was a kindly reminder' of an earlier conversation {Expositor, vi. [1902] v. 375).

This heightened sense of the glory of Jesus was ac-companied by a deepening humility in John's estimate of his own function as the Messiah's forerunner. In his last testimony ^to Jesus (Jn 3^") ' the friend of the bridegroom' is saidT^^ave rejoiced greatly as he heard the welcome tidinesMfaat men were coming to Jesus :ulogy when Jesus said, 'John 0 the truth' (Jn 5"); but it aim that the lowlier members is bride, enjoy greater spiritual privileges than he who! in spite of his own disclaimer (Jn 121), ^as truly tlife Elijah foretold by Malachi (Mt 11"; cf. Mai 4'), — the herald of the day of which he saw only the dawn. It was not John's fault that in the early Church there were some who attached undue importance to his teaching and failed to recognize the unique glory of Jesus — the Light to whom he bore faithful witness (Jn 1").

The Synoptic narrative of the imprisonment and murder of John yields incidental evidence of his great-ness as a prophet. There were some who accounted

(v.2"). It was a higl hath borne witness also impUed the high of the Church, which is'

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