Bible Synapse
Did Jesus go into Galilee and call his first disciples before or after John the Baptist was imprisoned?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 3 of the lists sceptics circulate
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After John is put in prison, Jesus comes into Galilee preaching, and by the lake he calls Simon and Andrew to follow him.
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel. Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
When Jesus hears that John has been imprisoned, he withdraws into Galilee.
Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee;
Andrew brings his brother Simon to Jesus; the next day Jesus decides to go into Galilee and calls Philip.
One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
Jesus and his disciples baptise in Judea while John is still baptising, for John was not yet in prison.
After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. And John also was baptizing in Ænon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison.
The objection
Mark and Matthew say that Jesus went into Galilee and called Peter and Andrew after John the Baptist had been put in prison. John’s Gospel has Jesus meeting Andrew and Peter, going into Galilee and later baptising in Judea while John was still free, and adds, “For John was not yet cast into prison.” Which came first?
The answer
John’s Gospel describes an earlier period that the other three pass over. After his baptism and temptation Jesus spent some time around the Jordan, in Galilee and in Judea while John the Baptist was still free (John 1–3), and in that time Andrew and Peter first met him and believed (1:40–42), though they evidently went back to their fishing afterwards (Mark 1:16). John marks the period off himself: “For John was not yet cast into prison” (3:24), a note that makes most sense if his readers knew that the other Gospels begin Jesus’ Galilean ministry with John’s arrest.
Matthew and Mark begin there. When Jesus heard of the arrest he withdrew into Galilee (Matthew 4:12), probably the journey John records in John 4:1–3, and began preaching publicly. By the lake he called Peter and Andrew, who already knew him, to leave their nets and follow him for good (Mark 1:16–18). So the first meeting came before John’s arrest and the call to follow him full-time came after it. Gill and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown both place the events of John 1–3 before the arrest in this way.
From the classic commentators
Hence it is plain that our Lord’s ministry did not commence with the imprisonment of John, though, but for this, we should have drawn that inference from Mt 4:12 and Mark’s (Mr 1:14) express statement.Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary on John 3:24 (1871)
this circumstance shows, that these things were done before that journey of Christ into Galilee, mentioned in Matthew 4:12.John Gill, Exposition on John 3:24 (1746–1763)
Sources
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: John 3, at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary on John 3, at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary on Matthew 4, at Bible Hub