Note 77 — Chapter I · RELATIONS BETWEEN JESUS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST.

Why then did not the fourth Evangelist attribute those questions likewise to the people, from whom, with a slight alteration, they would have seemed quite natural? Jesus, when addressing the unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem, (John v. 33), appeals to their message to the Baptist, and to the faithful testimony then given by the latter. Had John given his declaration concerning his relation to Jesus before the common people merely, such an appeal would have been impossible; for if Jesus were to refer his enemies to the testimony of John, that testimony must have been delivered before his enemies; if the assertions of the Baptist were to have any diplomatic value, they must have resulted from the official inquiry of a magisterial deputation. Such a remodelling of the facts appears to have been aided by the above-mentioned narrative from the synoptical traditions, wherein the high priests and scribes ask Jesus, by what authority he does such things (as the casting out of the buyers and sellers). Here also Jesus refers to John, asking for their opinion as to the authority of his baptism, only, it is true, with the negative view of repressing their further inquiries (Matt. xxi. 23 ff. parall.); but how easily might this reference be made to take an affirmative sense, and instead of the argument, “If ye know not what powers were entrusted to John, ye need not know whence mine are given,”—the following be substituted: “Since ye know what John has declared concerning me, ye must also know what power and dignity belong to me;” whereupon what was originally a question addressed to Jesus, transformed itself into a message to the Baptist.77