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Errors of Prophets: When Prophets are Wrong

Prophets are not omniscient. I find it troubling how much weight religions invest in this notion that prophets are somehow infallible. There’s an interesting example in the Gospels of the New Testament involving John the Baptist, who Jesus said was “the greatest among the prophets.” This exalted status as a prophet makes this example all the more interesting.

In Matthew16:14 Peter tells Jesus that some of the people are saying that Jesus is Elijah. A few days later the disciples ask Jesus “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come [before the end]?” The scribes were asking this because there was a prophecy in Malachi 4:5 that said God would send Elijah before the end of the world. Jesus answers:

“Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you, that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands” Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist. Matthew 17:11-13

The text of Matthew clearly indicates that Jesus was implying that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of the Malachi prophecy. According to Jesus in this text John the Baptist was Elijah.

Now, let’s take a look at the Gospel of John where John the Baptist is answering questions about who he is:

And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And he confessed “I am not the Christ.” and they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said “I am not.” John 1:20-21

Obviously there is a conflict here. Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew that John the Baptist is Elijah, while John the Baptist himself declares in the Gospel of John emphatically that he is not Elijah. Who is right? John the Baptist, the “greatest prophet”? Or is Jesus right? For a fundamentalist Christian this text poses a problem where the “greatest prophet” makes a statement that is in direct conflict to an interpretation by Jesus. To a non-fundamentalist this shows that there was a wide range of understanding about Old Testament prophecies among the Apostles. And this raises another question. John the Apostle, according to Matthew’s gospel, was at the event in Matthew 17 where Jesus proclaimed that John the Baptist was Elijah. So why would the apostle John later write in his own Gospel that John the Baptist was not Elijah?

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