I love your site. It is very helpful and is the truth.<\/p>\n
Why was John called “John the Baptist?” I know there is no other religion mentioned in the Bible. Is this where the Baptist organization get its name? Is John the Baptist the same as John the apostle?<\/p>\n\t
Actually, the truth is found only in God’s word (John 17:17). I’m just a teacher of the truth.<\/p>\n
John the Baptist died during Jesus’ ministry on earth (Matthew 14:10). The apostle John was at the cross when Jesus died and later wrote John, I John, II John, III John, and Revelation (Revelation 1:1). So, no they are not the same person.<\/p>\n
When it was possible to confuse two people because they had the same name, people would distinguish people by either adding on a descriptor, such as the name of their father (Simon bar Jonah — Matthew 16:17), the place they were from (Mary Magdalene — Matthew 27:56), the names of their children (Mary, mother of James and Joses — Matthew 27:56), the name of their husband (Mary, the wife of Zebedee), an organization they belonged to (Simon, the Zealot — Luke 6:15), or something well-known about them (Simon the Leper — Matthew 26:6). John the Baptist (or John the Baptizer) was called this in the Scriptures because this is what he was known for doing, it made him unique. “In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea<\/em>” (Matthew 3:1).<\/p>\n The Baptists got their name back in the 16th century. Many people split off from the Roman Catholic church in an attempt to return to Christianity as it was originally given in the New Testament. One large group insisted that adults be baptized by immersion in order to join the church. They were mockingly called re-baptizers (Anabaptists) because Catholics are baptized as infants. As often happens the movement fractured. The more conservative elements became the Mennonites and Amish of our day. The more liberal became the various Baptists organizations. The name Baptist is really just a simplification of the Anabaptist name and reflected the early group’s insistence on baptizing believers for salvation from their sins.<\/p>\n Over the centuries, Baptist beliefs have changed. They no longer emphasize baptism as necessary, insisting instead that salvation is by faith alone. Most still practice baptism, but it is only used to symbolize joining their organization. Its connection with salvation was lost.<\/p>\n The early church used a number of names to refer to itself, such as church of Christ (Romans 16:16) or church of God (Acts 20:28). Baptist was not used as a name for the church or any other organization in the New Testament. Still, you will find many Baptists pointing to John the Baptist as attempted proof that at least their name appears in the Scriptures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I love your site. It is very helpful and is the truth. Why was John called “John the Baptist?” I know there is no other religion mentioned in the Bible. Is this where the Baptist organization get its name? Is John the Baptist the same as John the apostle? Answer: Actually, the truth is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[52,1388,53,396],"class_list":["post-25588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-baptism","tag-baptist-church","tag-faith-alone","tag-john-the-baptist"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":88463,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-wouldnt-have-liked-john-the-baptist-if\/","url_meta":{"origin":25588,"position":0},"title":"You Wouldn\u2019t Have Liked John The Baptist If\u2026","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Diestelkamp via Think on These Things Magazine, Vol. 56 No. 3, July-September 2025 If you struggle to listen to a preacher because of the way he dresses, you wouldn't have liked John the Baptist. His clothing was rough and was neither stylish nor formal (Matthew 3:4; 11:8). If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24543,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-was-john-the-baptist-elijah\/","url_meta":{"origin":25588,"position":1},"title":"How was John the Baptist Elijah?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi! I am wondering if you can please help me understand what the Bible is saying about John the Baptist when it refers to him coming in the spirit of Elijah? In Luke 1:17, it says John the Baptist will come in the \"spirit and power of Elijah.\" In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2115,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-john-the-baptist-the-last-prophet-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":25588,"position":2},"title":"Why is John the Baptist the last prophet in the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 1, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is John the Baptist the last prophet in the Bible? (Luke 16:16) Answer: \"The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it\" (Luke 16:16). \"From the days\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16106,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/of-what-tribes-were-mary-joseph-john-the-baptist-and-his-parents\/","url_meta":{"origin":25588,"position":3},"title":"Of what tribes were Mary, Joseph, John the Baptist, and his parents?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Of what tribe was Mary from? Joseph was of the tribe of Judah, I think, but was Mary also of this tribe? And was there intermarriage between the tribes of Israel? Was John the Baptist a Levite? Was he actually considered to be a priest, or solely a prophet?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37779,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-baptism-commanded-in-the-old-testament-at-the-time-of-john-the-baptist\/","url_meta":{"origin":25588,"position":4},"title":"Was baptism commanded in the Old Testament at the time of John the Baptist?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 10, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was baptism commanded in the Old Covenant at the time of John the Baptist? I thought baptism was not commanded in the Old Testament for salvation. I have always heard that baptism was not commanded in the Old Testament. Am I missing something here? Mark 1:4 mentions John's baptism\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7433,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-was-the-purpose-of-johns-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":25588,"position":5},"title":"What was the purpose of John’s baptism?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 13, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: As part of our mid-week bible study, we have been discussing John the Baptist and how he prepared the way for Christ. I understand John's mission and the importance of baptism, but was it also used to prepare the people for the conversion (burial) into Christ? What was the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}