Luke 1:76

1:76 And you, child, ¹  will be called the prophet ²  of the Most High. ³ 

For you will go before ⁴  the Lord to prepare his ways, ⁵ 

Luke 7:26-29

7:26 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more ⁶  than a prophet. 7:27 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, ⁷  who will prepare your way before you.’ ⁸  7:28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater ⁹  than John. ¹⁰  Yet the one who is least ¹¹  in the kingdom of God ¹²  is greater than he is.” 7:29 (Now ¹³  all the people who heard this, even the tax collectors, ¹⁴  acknowledged ¹⁵  God’s justice, because they had been baptized ¹⁶  with John’s baptism.

Matthew 14:5

14:5 Although ¹⁷  Herod ¹⁸  wanted to kill John, ¹⁹  he feared the crowd because they accepted John as a prophet.

Matthew 21:26

21:26 But if we say, ‘From people,’ we fear the crowd, for they all consider John to be a prophet.”

John 10:41

10:41 Many ²⁰  came to him and began to say, “John ²¹  performed ²²  no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man ²³  was true!”

¹ sn Now Zechariah describes his son John (you, child) through v. 77.

² tn Or “a prophet”; but since Greek nouns can be definite without the article, and since in context this is a reference to the eschatological forerunner of the Messiah (cf. John 1:17), the concept is better conveyed to the English reader by the use of the definite article “the.”

³ sn In other words, John is a prophet of God; see 1:32 and 7:22-23, 28.

⁴ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C D L Θ Ψ 0130 Ë^1,13 33 Ï sy), have πρὸ προσώπου κυρίου (pro proswpou kuriou, “before the face of the Lord”), but the translation follows the reading ἐνώπιον κυρίου (enwpion kuriou, “before the Lord”), which has earlier and better ms support (Ì⁴ א B W 0177 pc) and is thus more likely to be authentic.

⁵ tn This term is often translated in the singular, looking specifically to the forerunner role, but the plural suggests the many elements in that salvation.

⁶ tn John the Baptist is “more” because he introduces the one (Jesus) who brings the new era. The term is neuter, but may be understood as masculine in this context (BDAG 806 s.v. περισσότερος b.).

⁷ tn Grk “before your face” (an idiom).

⁸ sn The quotation is primarily from Mal 3:1 with pronouns from Exod 23:20. Here is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people, as the cloud did for Israel in the desert.

⁹ sn In the Greek text greater is at the beginning of the clause in the emphatic position. John the Baptist was the greatest man of the old era.

¹⁰ tc The earliest and best mss read simply ᾿Ιωάννου (Iwannou, “John”) here (Ì⁷⁵ א B L W Ξ Ë¹ 579 pc). Others turn this into “John the Baptist” (K 33 565 al it), “the prophet John the Baptist” (A [D] Θ Ë¹³ Ï lat), or “the prophet John” (Ψ 700 [892 1241] pc). “It appears that προφήτης was inserted by pedantic copyists who wished thereby to exclude Christ from the comparison, while others added τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ, assimilating the text to Mt 11.11” (TCGNT 119).

¹¹ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

¹² sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus’ proclamation. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21. It is not strictly future, though its full manifestation is yet to come. That is why membership in it starts right after John the Baptist.

¹³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the parenthetical nature of the comment by the author.

¹⁴ sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.

¹⁵ tn Or “vindicated God”; Grk “justified God.” This could be expanded to “vindicated and responded to God.” The point is that God’s goodness and grace as evidenced in the invitation to John was justified and responded to by the group one might least expect, tax collector and sinners. They had more spiritual sensitivity than others. The contrastive response is clear from v. 30.

¹⁶ tn The participle βαπτισθέντες (baptisqente") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.

¹⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated.

¹⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Herod) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁹ tn Grk “him” (also in the following phrase, Grk “accepted him”); in both cases the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁰ tn Grk “And many.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

²¹ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

²² tn Grk “did.”

²³ tn Grk “this one.”