The Narrow Path Ministries

Hi there! I have a nagging question that I would like to ask concerning something I ran across in my reading of the Gospels. I'm currently at a loss at trying to explain this seeming "inconsistancy" as it were. I believe the Bible is infallible and know that if something seems to contradict in it, it's probably my fault and not the Scriptures.

In the synoptic Gospels it say that immediatly after the Baptism of Christ, Jesus went into the wilderness to be tempted for 40 days. Now in John's Gospel, it makes no mention of the temptation at all plus it seems as though Jesus comes back to John and picks up two disciples and then starts his ministry. Now to me, this would leave no time whatsoever for his temptation to happen!?

So how should these events be reconciled?

John's gospel—being the last gospel written, and apparently written to supplement the others—consistently omits stories that had been previously well-documented in the synoptic gospels. The temptation of Jesus was a very well-documented story, as all three of the synoptics cover it in more or less detail. There was no compelling reason that John should repeat it. This is no more unusual than the fact that John does not record the institution of the Last Supper, nor the Sermon on the Mount, nor any case of Jesus exorcizing demons, nor any of the miracles (other than the feeding of the 5000) that are recorded in the synoptic gospels.

There is no chronological difficulty here. John's gospel begins the narrative with Jesus showing up after the wilderness temptations (1:29), at which time John points Him out and reports what had earlier happened at His baptism (1:32ff). John's gospel does not record the earlier baptism itself, nor the subsequent temptation. Again, such omissions in John are not particularly unusual.

Thanks Mr. Gregg! I figured that that was probably the case. I was just thrown off by verse 29 saying "the next day" as if it were saying that this happened the day after the baptism.

No, it's referring the the next day after John's conversation with the Jerusalem delegation about who he was and why he was baptizing.