Synopsis: Since the time of Jerome, scholars have tried to explain why John the Baptist asks Jesus if he is "the one who is to come" (Matt 11:2-6; Luke 7:18-23) after he had apparently identified him as "the lamb of God" (John 1:29-34). The puzzling question is part of one of the longest fragments of traditional material in the New Testament dealing with the Baptist and Jesus. The present study critically examines the Lukan version of this double tradition normally attributed to Q, which includes John's question as well as Jesus' testimony about the Baptist (7:24-28) and his reproach of the...

Since the patristic era this Lukan passage has attracted the attention of scholars and the interpretation of the question within the context of the passage has influenced the way in which commentators understand the role of John the Baptist, the identity of Jesus, and the relationship between them, including the school of thought that John saw Jesus as an adversary In this book, Roberto Martinez uses narrative criticism from a range of theologians in order to solve the problem. Although this forms the main body of this investigation, the exegesis also takes into account historical-critical...