differences between the Synoptics and John: John the Baptist, part 1

The story of John the Baptist is well known, but looking closely shows that the four Gospel accounts are surprisingly different.

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The life and work of John the Baptist

After 2000 years we know the story by heart, but looking at it carefully from the people's early perspective gives a different understanding of why John was in the wilderness and why the people went to him for baptism.

The table below is long, but worth a read.

Here are some highlights :

— Only Matthew includes "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" in John's message

— Only in John does John the Baptist deny he is the Messiah or Elijah

— John does not say John the Baptist lived in the wilderness

— Mark and John do not include a warning of the coming wrath

— Mark and John do not say that the one who is coming will separate his wheat from the chaff

— In John, the work of John the Baptist is to reveal Jesus as the One. His message calls for belief,

not repentance, forgiveness, or preparation.

— In Luke, John the Baptist is arrested before Jesus is baptized

— In John, Jesus is not baptized at all

​— In John, there is no voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am

well pleased."

— Only Luke calls the message "the good news"

The table combines events and sayings only if they are equivalent. For example, "This is my Son" and "You are my Son" are not equivalent, and "the heavens opened" is not the same as "he saw the heavens opened". Small differences are in parentheses, such as "the wilderness (of Judea)".

​The life and work of John the Baptist	Matt	Mark	Luke	John
His birth was foretold by the angel of the Lord: "He will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must not drink wine or strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. He will turn many of the people of Israel [1] to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah [2] he will go before him, to return the heart of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make for the Lord a people prepared for him.” [3]			1:8- 17
His father Zechariah prophesied: "You will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. Because of the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”			1:64- 79
​Appeared in the wilderness (of Judea). [4]	3:1	1:4	1:80
Began his work in the 15th year of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.			3:1-3
​Went into all the region around the Jordan.			3:3
Proclaimed, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." [5]	3:2
Fulfilled Isaiah: "I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way,		1:2	1:17
Fulfilled Isaiah: "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight."	3:3	1:3	3:4
Fulfilled Isaiah: "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all [6] flesh shall see the salvation of God."			3:5-6
​Proclaimed a baptism [7] of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. [8]		1:4	3:3; 1:77
Wore clothing of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.	3:4	1:6
Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him.	3:5	1:5
The people were baptized by him in the River Jordan, [7] confessing their sins. [8]	3:6	1:5
He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all [6] might believe [9] through him				1:7
Called the Pharisees and Sadducees [10] coming to his baptism a brood of vipers.	3:7
Called the crowds [10] coming out to him for baptism a brood of vipers.			3:7
Warned them of the coming wrath [11] and told them to bear fruits worthy of repentance.	3:7-8		3:7-8
Denounced the claim, "We have Abraham as our father" [12] and told them "God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham".	3:9		3:8
Warned them that "the ax is lying at the root of the trees" and that every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.	3:10		3:9

It is important to keep in mind the different perspectives:

— our ideas on what John and Jesus said and did, 2000 years later

— what the authors say the people knew at the time of the event

— what the authors say the people said at the time of the event

— what the authors knew, years later when they wrote

— what the authors wrote as their own words

For instance, John probably knew what the angel of the Lord told his father, but what did the people remember or know 30 years later when he appeared in the wilderness? In spite of what John knew about the prophecy, did he believe he had the power and spirit of Elijah and that he was the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy? Did he ever claim to have the power of Elijah or that he was the one Isaiah spoke of?

Matthew and John were eyewitnesses to most of it, but Matthew wrote during the expansion of the work and John wrote after the destruction of Israel. Their perspective on what had happened during those intervening years, and what the Church needed at the time of their writing, affected what they wrote and what they emphasized.

None of the authors went home at the end of the day and wrote down their Gospels that evening. There were years of development, thought, and reflection between the event and the writing. Those years mattered. So also does what we assume to know.

1. Only in the announcement to Zechariah is the work of John the Baptist expressly connected to Israel.

2. All the Gospels have people questioning where John is Elijah, but only Luke includes the details. The promise that John would be equipped with the spirit and power of Elijah points to the enormity of the task. Elijah lived 100 years after David during some of the darkest days of Israel's history. King Ahab and his wife Jezebel became bywords for evil, and Elijah took on the 850 prophets of Baal and Asherah by himself with no help from the people.

"To return the heart of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous" is a parallel thought, reversed. God's delight in people such as Abraham, Moses, David, and Elijah (the righteous) was profoundly overshadowed by his disappointment in the children (the disobedient).

3. "To make for the Lord a people prepared for him" is not in Malachi 3 and can confuse the prophesy about Elijah with Isaiah's prophecy. Malachi 3:24 says "Lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction" is not the same at all. "To make for the Lord a people prepared for him" seems to be added as a regret or a postponement of the judgment. John and Jesus are inserted as the ultimate solution that must work because God does not want to judge.

4. John the Baptist living in the wilderness and calling the people to come out to him at the Jordan could be a reminder that the water and the wilderness were places of separation between where the people were and where God wanted them to be, or that the wilderness was the place of winnowing and preparation before their entry into the Promised Land, or a reminder that God stranded them in the wilderness to die when they refused his demands and instead gave the Land to the next generation.

Regardless, the thought is that the people cannot stay where they are. Going to John is the physical move from where they are to where God wants them that mirrors the spiritual move from where they are to where God wants them. John does not go to them: they must go to him.

John never says the people must stay in the wilderness, only that they must come to him to hear his message: a warning that God disrupts in order to wake up, and that people cannot go about their normal lives during abnormal times. Possibly a parallel to "as it was in the days of Noah"? (Matt 24:37-39)

5. Only Matthew connects repentance to the kingdom, along with the warning that the people will not be welcomed in as they are.

6. The "all" in Luke and John are the only hints that this may extend beyond the people of Israel.

7. We know John as "the Baptist", but until he begins baptizing there is no hint that his work will include baptism. At times the baptism is said to be at the River Jordan, but not always.

The River Jordan formed the eastern boundary of the nation at that time. Being called to the border hints that the Land might not always be the place of God's special care.

When the people first came into the Land they came in through the Jordan. God stopped the waters of the river so they could cross over on dry land. The memorial of twelve stones possibly still stood on the riverbed.

John the Baptist is not called the new Moses or Joshua (possibly because he never led the people, only called them), but the similarities are nevertheless strong: the people are not where God wants them, he appoints his prophet to call them back to him, and the path to God is through the wilderness and through the water. The people in John's day are allowed to return home but the people of Moses' day were destroyed when they wanted to leave the wilderness, so Israel is not (yet) a place that God refuses to let his people live. But, the different situations (a clean people in an unclean land vs an unclean people in a clean land) means the parallels cannot be identical.

Notably, Paul says Israel's baptism into Moses in the cloud and in the sea is identical to Christian baptism (1 Cor 10:1-13) and so by inference we can say that John's baptism, coming between the two, is the same thing as well.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke say the baptism of John is for the people: for their repentance and their confession of sin. The Gospel of John does not, and so the connections between the wilderness, baptism, separation, preparation, and places/people of God's favor and disfavor are lost.

8. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke there is a strong call for the people to repent, the apparent point being they are not ready for what God wants to do—and prefers to do with them, though he is not handcuffed by that if they don't pay attention ("God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham").

9. In the Gospel of John, revealing the one who is to come and belief in him is the sole purpose of John the Baptist's work. There is no call to repentance and no warning of what will happen if the people don't pay attention. The need for repentance and forgiveness is apparently subsumed within the statement that Jesus takes away the sins of the world (1:29). This reduction of John's duties from bringing the nation back to God to announcing Jesus as the One significantly lightens his load and has to make us question why he needed the power and spirit of Elijah to do that, or why Jesus called him the greatest person ever born.

10. In Matthew and Luke the message is harsh and the time for change is short. In Matthew, the problem is the leaders. in Luke, the problem is the crowd. "The crowd" should possibly be regarded differently from "the people". There were many critics and scoffers, so "the crowd" could be those who taunted and mocked. It is unlikely John would have criticized individuals who were genuinely coming to him for answers. This might be a hint at how truly difficult it was for the individual to step out from the crowd and go stand with John.

11. In Matthew and Luke the nation teeters on the brink of destruction. In Mark and John there is no threat of judgment associated with the work of John the Baptist. In the rest of Mark's Gospel there are few calls to repentance (only 6:12) or warnings of judgment that are not specifically against the leaders or individuals (8:38), and even chapter 13 is not portrayed as a national judgment (God's curse).

In the Gospel of John there is no threat of judgment or call to repentance in John the Baptist's message. Chapter 1 is portrayed in bright, lively terms. Mark paints those same events in slightly more serious tones. In Matthew and Luke the theme is much more somber, even dark.

12. John the Baptist's hot anger at the people using Abraham as a shield against God is recorded by Matthew and Luke.

continued...	Matt	Mark	Luke	John
When the crowds asked what they were to do, he told them to share their coats and food, act fairly, not threaten or falsely accuse, and be satisfied with their wages. [1]			3:10- 14
The people were filled with expectation [2] and were questioning whether he might be the Messiah.			3:15
Said of the Word and the Father's only Son, "He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me." [3]				1:15
​The priest, Levites, and Pharisees were sent from Jerusalem to question John.				1:19, 24
​John answered that he was not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet. [4]				​1:20- 21
John said, "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.' " [5]				1:23
John said that he baptized in water...	3:11	1:8	3:16	1:26
for repentance. [6]	3:11	1:4	​3:3
​Said that one is coming who is more powerful.	3:11	1:7	3:16
​Said "I am not worthy to carry his sandals/untie the strap of his sandals."	3:11	1:7	3:16	1:27​
They questioned him in Bethany across the Jordan [7] where John was baptizing.				​1:28
​Said that the one who is coming will baptize with the Holy Spirit ...	3:11	1:7	3:16	1:34
​and fire. [8]	3:11		3:16
Said that the one who is coming will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn. [9]	3:12		3:17
Proclaimed the good news [2] to the people.			3:18
Jesus came to John at the Jordan to be (and was) baptized by him. [10]	3:13	1:9
John told Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you." [11]	3:14
Jesus told John, "Let it be so now". [12]	3:15
Jesus told John, "it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." [13]	3:15

1. Luke's practical requirements are directed toward the people in their daily lives. The insinuation is that God is satisfied in how they treat one another (the Second Greatest Commandment).

2. Only Luke records the people as regarding this a hopeful thing, or the message as good news.

3. "After", "ahead", "before": Juggling words to get the attention of the reader. Also in v 30. It hints at what is to come in 8:58.

John uses the technique often: three thoughts taking the reader in three different directions to say one thing. Some examples:

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1:3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life.

1:4-5 The life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

1:8-9 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone.

1:10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.

4. John's version of the encounter between the Jewish leaders and John the Baptist has none of the hostility of Matthew and Luke. John answers their questions without accusing them of any ulterior motives or warning them of the judgment to come. They leave without replying to his answer.

5. Matthew, Mark, and Luke—from their later perspective—say that John is the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy but they never say John made that claim himself. In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist identifies himself as the fulfillment of the prophecy.

6. All Gospel writers agree that John baptized in water. John leaves out that it was a baptism for repentance.

7. "Bethany across the Jordan" was not the Bethany near Jerusalem where Mary, Martha, and Lazarus lived. in John 3:26 the disciples of John the Baptist refer to Jesus as "the one who was with you across the Jordan". John 10:40 has Jesus in Jerusalem before he goes "across the Jordan to the place where John first baptized".

Regardless, the point is not that "Bethany across the Jordan" is not Bethany but that it's not the wilderness. Also, "across the Jordan" is across the Jordan, not in the Jordan. John says John the Baptist is the fulfillment of "the voice of one crying out in the wilderness" but never cites a time when he actually lived in the wilderness—or baptized in the Jordan.

Significantly, John also does not have Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness.

8. Mark and John leave out "the fire". In Mark 9:43-49 is a warning of the fire of hell and the statement, "everyone will be salted with fire", but Mark does not associate fire with the message of John the Baptist.

In John 15:6 is this: "Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned." So John does include the concept, just not in connection with John the Baptist.

9. Mark and John leave out the warning that the One who is coming will separate his wheat from the chaff.

The common explanation of how the Gospels came about is that Mark was first and Matthew and Luke came next, using Mark as their starting point. If so, then Matthew and Luke expressly added in these warnings of Judgment after Mark had written, leaving them out.

There is no suggestion John that used the other Gospels as he starting point for his, but he had to have known about them, so he expressly left the warnings out.

10. Only Matthew and Mark record that Jesus was baptized by John.

— Matthew says it in an active voice: "Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him."

— Mark says it in a passive voice: "Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan."

— Luke, also in the passive voice, reports that Jesus, along with others, also had been baptized. Luke does not specifically say Jesus was baptized by John, but it is assumed: there was no one else. Still, saying that Jesus was baptized along with the others lessens the uniqueness of it. Luke also adds "and was praying", which softens the connection a bit: is the dove and voice to be associated with Jesus' baptism or with Jesus' prayer?

— John leaves out the baptism and reports only that he saw the Spirit descend like a dove and remain on Jesus. Strangely, John leaves out the voice from heaven and instead says he was spoken to.

11. John the Baptist's deference to Jesus seems to be a politeness rather than an actual need, but still: if anyone needed to be baptized it certainly was not Jesus, so John's reaction is understandable.

12. "Now" is a key word to understanding what is going on. At that point in time, God had placed John at the head of the path of his work. It was right, and necessary, for Jesus to align himself to the path of God. The path is not John's; it's God's. That Jesus would subordinate himself to "John's baptism" is no less surprising than he would occupy the throne of David, be the King of Judah, or fulfill Old Testament prophecy. God placed all these people in their roles before they were born. Their privilege was to be gifted by God with a name that Jesus would honor by identifying himself with them. All of them had been gifted by God to be part of the revealing of his Son. In no way did that place them above the Son.

This, by the way, is a key concept to us knowing where we stand. 1 Cor 4:7 (rephrased): If it was a gift, why do you act as if did it yourself? The law of Moses, the tribe of Judah, the throne of David, the prophecy of Isaiah: all are gifts from God to people he wanted to honor. None of them did it on their own, and in Judah's case it is astonishing he was honored at all (it was because of Abraham). And so John's baptism is the gift of God to John, to devote his life to and to give his life for, and Jesus honors John by going to him to confirm that John has been placed there, at that time, by God, at the head of the path of God's work, and Jesus would never dishonor John or the path of God by not taking hold of it purposely, publicly, and joyfully.

13. "To fulfill all righteousness" is John and Jesus together in this place at this time to pack full the desire of God. John would not be there later, nor would Jesus. This was the one time where God could make it all happen was he wanted. Baptism without John is as senseless as death without the cross. God designed them all to be done as he wanted. Why he chose baptism and a cross are questions that we are invited to look at, but ultimately the answer is that God wanted it that way.

There is nothing in Scripture that tells us how John's work became identified with baptism. We are simply told he was baptizing, and then that Jesus' disciples were baptizing as well. It's peculiar that a practice with no explanation became the identifying mark of John and the Church. Nevertheless, it did, and with these points for consideration:

— John baptized but was not baptized.

— Jesus was baptized but did not baptize.

— Jesus strengthened the concept by calling his death a baptism.

— Jesus made baptism the identity of the Church by telling his disciples to go into all the world, baptizing in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

— Paul was so keen on baptism that he re-baptized people who had only been baptized into John, yet said he was not called to baptize and was thankful he had not baptized people in Corinth who were causing trouble.

(The list above is according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. John does not say that Jesus was baptized or that he called his death a baptism, or that he sent the disciples into the world to baptize.)

The answers to these are complicated and covered in a long discussion here:

baptism: parts 1-11

We will highlight the basics here though:

— John's baptism was into John. It was not right for him to be baptized into himself.

— Until John was killed, his work was the work. It was right for Jesus to align himself to the path of God. It was not appropriate for him to baptize apart from John because it would have been calling people to a path that didn't yet exist.

— After John was killed, Jesus became the head and identity of the path of God.

— Jesus called his death a baptism because it was his next (and last) step on the path of God.

— Jesus told his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit because baptism had become the symbol of a person taking their first (or next) step on the path of God.

— Paul re-baptized the people into Christ because Christ was the new path and it was important for the people of God to be on the right path.

— Paul said he was not called to baptize because he was angry.

— Paul said he was thankful he did not baptize people in Corinth because he was angry.

— Paul could say these things because baptism is a statement by the believer that he wants to be on the path of God. If the person makes a mockery of the path, Paul is angry they would also make a mockery of baptism. It's because he treasures baptism that he holds it away from people who sully it.

It is possible that John being at the head of the path of the work of God at this time is why Jesus says In Matthew 11:11 that "among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist, yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he." When God placed John at the head of his path, no one could go ahead of him. To do so would have been to usurp the will of God, and we know what happened when people attempted to do that with Moses: God's choice to take his people out of Egypt. Mary was not greater than John, nor any of the Twelve, nor the High Priest, nor Abraham or David or Elijah. They were all at their time and in their way placed by God to be his person for a certain time and for a certain purpose. In the whole span of the plan of God, Abraham has priority (we're leaving Jesus out of this because he was God). There is a new Moses and a new Elijah, but no new Abraham. But, at his point in the work of God, John had been placed at the head and all others, if they wanted to be on the path of God, took their place at least one step behind: even if they are greater.

Later, when God places someone else at the head of his path, John the Baptist happily takes a step back. The path is exhausting. No one really wants to be there. God places people there who take their place reluctantly, but faithfully. It leads to a horrible life and a death that finally releases the person of their wearying obligation. To not correctly honor the place of priority (such as Esau did by selling his birthright) is a dreadful thing.