Bible Contradiction? Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus as the Son of God?

 

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Did John the Baptist recognize Jesus as the Son of God?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

Yes, he recognized him immediately.

“The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is He on behalf of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’ 31 I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.” 32 John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not recognize [d]Him, but He who sent me to baptize [e]in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes [f]in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”” (John 1:29-34)

No, he still wasn’t sure when he was in prison.

“Now when John, while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples 3 and said to Him, “Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?”” (Matthew 11:2-3)

“Summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Expected One, or do we look for someone else?”” (Luke 7:19)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

 

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. A minor correction: Under “No, he still wasn’t sure when he was in prison,” the second verse on the Skeptic Annotated Bible listed “John 7:19” but its actually incorrect citation; the writer Steve Wells meant not John 7:19 but Luke 7:19.  It does make you wonder about the scholarship of the Skeptic Annotated Bible when such obvious errors aren’t corrected on their website.  Hereafter below we deal with Luke 7:19.
4. The skeptic tries to pit John 1:29-34 against both Matthew 11:2-3 and Luke 7:19.  John 1:29-34 was cited as support for the claim that the Bible taught “John the Baptist immediately recognize Jesus as the Son of God.”  On the other hand both Matthew 11:2-3 and Luke 7:19 were cited as support for the claim that the Bible taught “John the Baptist did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God as he still wasn’t sure when he was in prison.”
5. Even looking at the two claims analytically and granted as true for the sake of the argument there’s not a Bible contradiction.  The claim “John the Baptist did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God as he still wasn’t sure when he was in prison” and the claim “John the Baptist immediately recognize Jesus as the Son of God” are not contradictory because they happened at different times.  The time John the Baptist wasn’t so sure if Jesus was the Son of God is admitted by the skeptic himself as when John the Baptist “was in prison.”
6. While recognizing and not recognizing someone’s identity are opposites are not a contradiction if we understand it happened at different times.  For example you can say “I took a hot shower” and “I ate a cold Ice Cream” and the the aren’t logically contradictory.  There might be different temperature involved that are opposites but both events can take place at different times (and logically speaking its not a contradiction either since technically you can eat a cold ice cream while also taking a hot shower though its not recommended!).  You can even eat hot spicy ramen and eat cold ice cream!  It happens more often than you think!
7. Looking more closely at the passage we do see the skeptic did cite the verses properly to establish their premises (which is not always a given how they twist Scripture so often).  But that goes to show there’s not a Bible contradiction because in context the passages took place at different time.  When John 1:29-34 was cited as support for the claim that the Bible taught “John the Baptist immediately recognize Jesus as the Son of God,” this took place during the early days of Jesus’ ministry when He just got baptized by John the Baptist.  When Matthew 11:2-3 and Luke 7:19 were cited as support for the claim that the Bible taught “John the Baptist did not recognize Jesus as the Son of God as he still wasn’t sure” this was when later in John’s ministry and when John was in prison.
8. Also John the Baptist seem to have recognize Jesus as the Messiah even in the womb; see Luke 1:41, 1:44.
9. Knowing that John the Baptist sent messengers to ask Jesus if He’s the Son of God while John was in prison makes sense; people can be discouraged during prison and confinement.  So that can explain why John the Baptist sent someone to confim if Jesus was the Messianic Son of God.
10. In conclusion there is no Bible contradiction here.
11. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”