24. The Evangelist has not said a word that could imply that the Baptist was in prison. This remark refers to the Synoptists, and guards us against the inference easily drawn from them (Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14) that John’s imprisonment followed close on the Temptation and preceded the beginning of Christ’s ministry. The whole of John 1-3 precedes Matthew 4:12. In this magisterial interpretation of earlier Gospels we trace the hand of an Apostle writing with sure knowledge and conscious authority.

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Old Testament