ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses how Luke has diminished John’s role as a baptizer and accentuated the difference between three baptisms: John’s Baptism, Jesus’ unique baptism and the Messianic Baptism. Luke reads Jesus’ baptism as a unique baptism in the sense that the description of the voice from heaven as a theophany is related as something exclusively reserved for Jesus. Luke reads Jesus’ baptism as a unique baptism in the sense that the description of the voice from heaven as a theophany is related as something exclusively reserved for Jesus. Luke’s introduction to John’s ministry serves as a historical reference for a major new departure in the narrative and mimics the opening lines of many of the prophetic books in the Old Testament, such as Hosea, Micah, Joel, Jonah, Zechariah, and Jeremiah. The quality of John, as accentuated in the Lukan work, is his capacity to proclaim an expected figure who shall baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.
