ABSTRACT
There are three striking literary changes in Luke’s narrative about the public ministry of John in Lk 3:1–20 compared to Mt 3:1–17. This chapter examines how Luke omits “the Baptist” to the name of John and thereby modifies the interpretation of John’s identity. It opens with a survey of the occurrences of the baptizer’s name in Luke and how John’s role as a preacher is accentuated. The chapter discusses to what degree John can be said to be a past figure in Luke-Acts’ overall literary frame. The Lukan double work has 32 occurrences all together of the baptizer’s name as “John”, whereas the figure is called “John the Baptist” only three times, and this is not from the narrator’s perspective. There is, however, an inherent play between character and its action, when the Aristotelian narrative principle that action is prior to the character is applicable to Luke’s portrait of John. Luke develops the preacher’s role and diminishes the baptizer’s role.
