John the Baptist Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===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".<ref>{{bibleverse|John|1:6–8|NKJV}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{bibleverse|John|1:19–23|NKJV}}, compare {{bibleverse|Isaiah|40:3|NKJV}}</ref> Upon literary analysis, it is clear that John is the "testifier and confessor ''par excellence''", particularly when compared to figures like [[Nicodemus]].<ref>{{citation|last=Vande Vrede|first=Keith|title=A Contrast Between Nicodemus and John the Baptist in the Gospel of John|volume=57|date=December 2014|pages=715–26|editor-last=Kostenberger|editor-first=Andreas|journal=Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society|issue=4|issn=0360-8808|editor-link=Andreas J. Köstenberger}}</ref> [[File:Mathis Gothart Grünewald 024.jpg|thumb|[[Matthias Grünewald]], detail of the ''[[Isenheim Altarpiece]]''|upright]] 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.<ref>{{bibleref2|John|3:22–36}}</ref> In this debate John argued that Jesus "must become greater," while he (John) "must become less."<ref>{{bibleref2|John|3:30}}</ref><ref>Latin [[Vulgate]]:Ioannes|3:30|VULGATE|''illum oportet crescere me autem minui''</ref> The Gospel of John then points out that Jesus' disciples were baptizing more people than John.<ref>{{bibleref2|John|4:2}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{bibleref2|John|5:35|ESV}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page