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Summary
- Only Luke’s Gospel mentions the family tie, in one verse, Luke 1:36: the angel Gabriel calls Elizabeth, John’s mother, Mary’s “cousin” in the King James Version, and the Greek word, syngenis, means a kinswoman of any degree.
- Elizabeth was “of the daughters of Aaron” (Luke 1:5), while Jesus “sprang out of Juda” (Hebrews 7:14); the tribes could intermarry, and Aaron himself married Elisheba, the sister of a prince of Judah (Exodus 6:23).
- How Mary and Elizabeth were related is unknown; a tradition recorded under the name of Hippolytus makes their mothers sisters, which would make Jesus and John second cousins.
- John was born about six months before Jesus (Luke 1:26, 1:36, 1:56–57), and the Catholic and Orthodox calendars keep his birth on 24 June.
- When Mary visited Elizabeth, “the babe leaped in her womb” (Luke 1:41), and the Catechism of the Catholic Church says John “already from his mother’s womb welcomes the coming of Christ.”
- John baptized Jesus in the Jordan (Matthew 3:13–17) but later said “I knew him not” (John 1:33); John Chrysostom, the Cambridge Bible and Augustine explain those words in three different ways.
- Neither Jesus nor John mentions their kinship in the Gospels, and Josephus, who wrote about John, says nothing of his family.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Holy Bible, King James Version: Exodus 6:23; Numbers 2:3; Matthew 3:1, 13–17; 11:3, 11; 14:10, 12–13; Mark 6:3; Luke 1:5, 24, 26, 36, 39–44, 56–58, 80; 2:39–40, 44; 3:23; John 1:27, 29, 33–34; 3:30; Romans 1:3; Hebrews 7:14. Douay-Rheims Bible (1899 American edition): Luke 1:36. Via BibleGateway.
- Luke 1:36 in parallel translations, including the New International Version, English Standard Version, American Standard Version and New American Bible, Bible Hub.
- Strong’s Greek 4773, syngenes, with Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on syngenis, Bible Hub; Strong’s Greek 1665, Elisabet, Bible Hub; Strong’s Hebrew 472, Elisheba, Bible Hub.
- Douglas Harper, “cousin,” Online Etymology Dictionary, etymonline.com.
- Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (1828), “Cousin,” webstersdictionary1828.com.
- Commentaries on Luke 1:36 (Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers; Jamieson-Fausset-Brown; Matthew Poole; Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible; Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges; Meyer’s NT Commentary), Bible Hub.
- Commentaries on John 1:31 (Barnes’ Notes on the Bible; Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges; Meyer’s NT Commentary), Bible Hub.
- Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Mark 6:3, Bible Hub.
- Augustine of Hippo, The Harmony of the Gospels, Book II, chapter 2, translated by S. D. F. Salmond, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 6, New Advent.
- Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 4 and 5, translated by John Gibb, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 7: Tractate 4; Tractate 5.
- John Chrysostom, Homily 17 on the Gospel of John, translated by Charles Marriott, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 14, New Advent.
- Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea on Luke, chapter 1 (verse 36), translation edited by John Henry Newman, isidore.co.
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 500, 523 and 717, vatican.va (500); vatican.va (523); vatican.va (717).
- Charles Souvay, “St. John the Baptist,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (New York: Robert Appleton, 1910), New Advent.
- Orthodox Church in America, “Nativity of the Holy Glorious Prophet, Forerunner and Baptist, John” (24 June), Lives of the Saints, oca.org.
- Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, chapter 5, section 2, translated by William Whiston, penelope.uchicago.edu.
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