Comparing...
John 1:33, "And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water, He said to me, He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He who baptizes in the Holy Spirit."
with Matthew 3:11, 13-14, 16, "He who comes after me...will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. Then Jesus came...to John to be baptized by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, It is I who have need of being baptized by You, and You come to me? And having been baptized...He saw the Spirit of God descending...upon Him."
2007-01-01 00:32:17 · 10 answers · asked by timothy_ah 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Excellent question . . . and I will need to do more research, but my first thought is that John must have known that Jesus was important in a spiritual way, but perhaps did not fully realize that he was the one about whom the prophecy about the Spirit descending would be fulfilled.
Why I say that he must have known Jesus was important in a spiritual way, first because, as you pointed out, John said: "It is I who have need of being baptized by You, and You come to me?"
Secondly, because of what is said in Luke 1:41-45 "Well, as Elizabeth" (John's mother, pregnant with him at the time) "heard the greeting of Mary, the infant in her womb leaped; and Elizabeth was filled with holy spirit, and she called out with a loud cry and said: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! So how is it that this [priviledge] is mine, to have the mother of my Lord come to me? For, look! as the sound of your greeting fell upon my ears, the infant in my womb leaped with great gladness. Happy too is she that believed, because there will be a complete performance of those things spoken to her from Jehovah.'"
Again . . . excellent question. I am continuing to mull it over even as I type this. I suppose John knew that great spiritual privileges would come to Jesus, but not that it was he who would baptize in Holy Spirit. At least if I understand correctly.
2007-01-01 00:53:26 · answer #1 · answered by Jessica 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
John the Baptist did not know Jesus is the Son of God by his own personal knowledge but by the revelation of God to him. The subsequent part of John 1:33 confirmed this. Jesus said in Matthew 16:17 that His status as a Son of God was only revealed to Peter by the Father even though Peter was with Him witnessing all He had done.
2007-01-01 09:32:47 · answer #2 · answered by seekfind 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
When Mary came to Elizabeth, the baby (John) leap in her womb at the presence of Christ. (*being filled with the Holy Spirit*) Even Elizabeth knew Mary was carrying the Son of God.
2007-01-01 08:49:10 · answer #3 · answered by Ex Head 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
John would not have prevented Jesus from being baptized. John felt unworthy of the honour, he felt that it should be the other way around. John was a faithful servant of the Lord and would do as he was required to do.
2007-01-01 08:39:11 · answer #4 · answered by angel 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Several of JOhn's disciples became Jesus disciples or Apostles. The word of Christ spread like wildfire throughout the region. Don't you think that John had heard about his cousin by that point in time?
Eds
2007-01-01 08:36:10 · answer #5 · answered by Eds 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
John recognized Jesus by the sign God gave him.
2007-01-01 08:53:45 · answer #6 · answered by Minister 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
John was is cousin and they knew each other. John was speaking of God, of whom he understood Jesus to be the humas form of. In Matthew, John did not feel it necessary to baptize Jesus because Jesus was already devine in his eyes. The meaning of these scriptures goes much deeper. Hope this helped.
2007-01-01 08:36:51 · answer #7 · answered by LINDA G 4 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Let's take a look here;
"How could John prevented Jesus when he did not knew Him in the first place?"
This is your question, you posted this. Are you 8? and retarded as well?
First, learn to complete an actual sentence in English before you come back here ok?
And secondly, quit with the cut-and-paste crap. Learn to think for yourself for once.
2007-01-01 08:36:39 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
the gosples contradict each other throughout. In Acts 10:39 it says Jusus was hung from a tree. I was told that the tree represented the wood they made the croos from tho... It is real hard to tell what is allegory and what is not.
2007-01-01 08:40:36 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
Because it's all a load of crap? lol
The Christian faith is just a rip off of the Egyptian religion. Compare those two and see what you find.
2007-01-01 08:36:47 · answer #10 · answered by Grand Master Flex 3 · 1⤊ 3⤋