John the Baptist ( – ) was an itinerant Jewish preacher (Hebrew name Yochanan) who was active in the area of the Jordan River in the early 1st century AD. Sometimes referred to as John the Baptizer, he is known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Catholicism, and Oriental Orthodoxy, as Saint John the Immerser in the Baptist tradition,Cheek, John C., New Testament Translation in America , Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 72, No. 2 (Jun. 1953), pp. 103–114 and as the prophet Yahya ibn Zakariya in Islam.
John the Baptist is revered as a major religious figure in Christianity,Funk, Robert W. and the Jesus Seminar (1998), The Acts of Jesus: The search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus. San Francisco: Harper; "John the Baptist" cameo, p. 268 Islam, the Baháʼí Faith, the Druze faith, and Mandaeism; in the last of these he is considered to be the final and most vital prophet. He is regarded as a prophet of God by all of the aforementioned faiths, and is honoured as a saint in many Christian denominations.
According to the New Testament, John anticipated a messianic figure greater than himself;Funk, Robert W. & the Jesus Seminar (1998). The Acts of Jesus: the search for the authentic deeds of Jesus. San Francisco: Harper. "Mark", pp. 51–161. in the Gospels, he is portrayed as the precursor or forerunner of Jesus. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus himself identifies John as "Elijah who is to come", which is a direct reference to the Book of Malachi (Malachi 4:5), as confirmed by the angel Gabriel, who announced John's birth to his father Zechariah. According to the Gospel of Luke, John and Jesus were relatives.
Some scholars think that John belonged to the Essenes, a semi-ascetic Jewish sect who expected a messiah and practised ritual baptism.Harris, Stephen L. (1985). Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. p. 382 John used baptism as the central symbol or sacrament of his pre-messianic movement. The majority of biblical scholars agree that John baptized Jesus,Jesus as a figure in history: how modern historians view the man from Galilee. Mark Allan Powell, published by Westminster John Knox Press, p. 47 "Few would doubt the basic fact...Jesus was baptized by John" and several New Testament accounts report that some of Jesus's early followers had previously been followers of John.Harris, Stephen L. (1985) Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield
According to the New Testament, John the Baptist was sentenced to death by Herod Antipas and subsequently beheaded around AD 30, after John rebuked him for divorcing his wife and then unlawfully wedding Herodias, the wife of his brother Herod Philip I. The Roman historian Josephus also mentions John in his Antiquities of the Jews, and states that he was executed by order of Herod Antipas in the fortress at Machaerus.Flavius Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews Book 18, 5, 2 Text at Wikisource
Followers of John persisted into the second century AD, and some proclaimed him to be the Messiah awaited by Jews. In modern times, the followers of John the Baptist are the Mandaeans, an ancient ethnoreligious group who believe that he is their greatest and final prophet. In Catholic martyrology, John is the only saint whose birth and death are both commemorated.
Gospel narratives
John the Baptist is mentioned in all four canonical Gospels and the non-canonical Gospel of the Nazarenes. The Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) describe John baptising Jesus; in the Gospel of John this is inferred by many to be referred to in John 1:32.
In Mark
The Gospel of Mark introduces John as a fulfilment of a prophecy from the Book of Isaiah, which is a conflation of texts from Isaiah, Malachi, and Exodus,Carl R. Kazmierski, John the Baptist: Prophet and Evangelist (Liturgical Press, 1996) p. 31. about a messenger being sent ahead, and a voice crying out in the wilderness. John is described as wearing clothes of camel's hair, and living on locusts and wild honey. John proclaims baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin, and says another will come after him who will not baptize with water, but with the Holy Spirit.
Jesus comes to John, and is baptized by him in the River Jordan. The account describes how, as he emerges from the water, Jesus sees the heavens open and the Holy Spirit descends on him "like a dove", and he hears a voice from heaven that says, "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased".
Later in the gospel there is an account of John's death. It is introduced by an incident where the Tetrarch Herod Antipas, hearing stories about Jesus, imagines that this is John the Baptist raised from the dead. It then explains that John had rebuked Herod for marrying Herodias, the ex-wife of his brother, named here as Philip. Herodias demands his execution, but Herod, who "liked to listen" to John, is reluctant to do so because he fears him, knowing he is a "righteous and holy man".
The account then describes how Herodias' unnamed daughter dances before Herod, who is pleased and offers her anything she asks for in return. When the girl asks her mother what she should request, she is told to demand the head of John the Baptist. Reluctantly, Herod orders the beheading of John, and his head is delivered to her, at her request, on a plate. John's disciples take the body away and bury it in a tomb.
The Gospel refers to Antipas as "King"John R. Donahue, Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Mark (Liturgical Press, 2006) p. 195. and the ex-husband of Herodias is named as Philip, but he is known to have been called Herod II. Although the wording implies the girl was the daughter of Herodias, many texts describe her as "Herod's daughter, Herodias". Since these texts are early and significant and the reading is 'difficult', many scholars see this as the original version, altered in later versions and in Matthew and Luke.Geoff R. Webb, Mark at the Threshold: Applying Bakhtinian Categories to Markan Characterisation, (BRILL, 2008) pp. 110–111.John R. Donahue, Daniel J. Harrington, The Gospel of Mark (Liturgical Press, 2005) p. 198. Josephus says that Herodias had a daughter by the name of Salome.
Many scholars have seen the story of John arrested, executed, and buried in a tomb as a conscious foreshadowing of the fate of Jesus.Geoff R. Webb, Mark at the Threshold: Applying Bakhtinian Categories to Markan Characterisation, (Brill, 2008) p. 107.
In Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew account begins with the same modified quotation from Isaiah, moving the Malachi and Exodus material to later in the text, where it is quoted by Jesus. The description of John is possibly taken directly from Mark ("clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey"), along with the proclamation that one was coming who would baptize with the Holy Spirit "and fire". The book of Matthew next has Jesus coming to John to be baptized, but John objects because he is not worthy because Jesus is the one that brings the baptism in the Spirit.
Unlike Mark, Matthew describes John as critical of Pharisees and Sadducees—calling them a "brood of vipers"—and as preaching "the kingdom of heaven is at hand" and a "coming judgment".
Matthew shortens the account of the beheading of John, and adds two elements: that Herod Antipas wants John dead, and that the death is reported to Jesus by his disciples. Matthew's approach is to shift the focus away from Herod and onto John as a prototype of Jesus. Where Mark has Herod killing John reluctantly and at Herodias' insistence, Matthew describes him as wanting John dead.Robert Horton Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Handbook for a Mixed Church Under Persecution (Eerdmans, 1994) p. 286.
In Luke and Acts
The Gospel of Luke adds an account of John's infancy, introducing him as the miraculous son of Zechariah, an old priest, and his wife Elizabeth, who was past menopause and therefore unable to have children.Libby Ahluwalia, Understanding Philosophy of Religion (Folens, 2008), p. 180.Just, Arthur A.; Oden, Thomas C. (2003), Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture – Luke: New Testament III , InterVarsity Press; p. 10. According to this account, the birth of John was foretold by the angel Gabriel to Zechariah while he was performing his functions as a priest in the temple of Jerusalem. Since he is described as a priest of the course of Abijah and Elizabeth as one of the daughters of Aaron, this would make John a descendant of Aaron on both his father's and mother's side.'Aaron', In: Mills, Watson E. (ed.) (1998) Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, Vol. 5, Macon GA: Mercer University Press, ; p. 1 On the basis of this account, the Catholic as well as the Anglican and Lutheran liturgical calendars placed the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist on 24 June, six months before Christmas.
Elizabeth is described as a "relative" of Mary the mother of Jesus, in Luke 1:36. There is no mention of a family relationship between John and Jesus in the other Gospels, and Raymond E. Brown has described it as "of dubious historicity".Brown, Raymond Edward (1973), The Virginal Conception and Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, Paulist Press, p. 54 Géza Vermes has called it "artificial and undoubtedly Luke's creation".Vermes, Geza. The Nativity, p. 143. The many similarities between Luke's story of the birth of John and the Old Testament account of the birth of Samuel suggest that Luke's account of the annunciation and birth of Jesus are modelled on that of Samuel.Freed, Edwin D. (2001), The Stories of Jesus' Birth: a Critical Introduction, Continuum International, pp. 87–90.
Uniquely in the Gospel of Luke, John explicitly teaches charity, baptizes tax-collectors, and advises soldiers. He teaches his disciples to pray. Frederic Farrar notes that John travels around the Jordan region to reach people, whereas in the accounts in the other gospels, the crowds come to him.Farrar, F. W. (1891), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Luke 3, accessed on 1 April 2025
The text briefly mentions that John is imprisoned and later beheaded by Herod, but the Gospel of Luke lacks the story of a step-daughter dancing for Herod and requesting John's head.
The Book of Acts portrays some disciples of John becoming followers of Jesus, a development not reported by the gospels except for the early case of Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
In the Gospel of John 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 confirms that he is not the Christ nor Elijah nor 'the prophet' when asked by Jewish priests and Pharisees; instead, he described himself as the "voice of one crying in the wilderness"., compare
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:Ioannes|3:30|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".
Comparative analysis