Problem: John the Baptist forgets who Jesus is
Verses: John 1:34, Matthew 11:2-3; Status: Weak

Early in the ministry of Jesus, John the Baptist is well aware of who Jesus is. Here's John, speaking in John 1:34:

And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. (ESV)

Yet later on, he seems to be unsure. This is Matthew 11:2-3:

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?" (ESV)

A similar thing is found at Luke 7:18-19. But this doesn't seem to be a difficult problem. John has been thrown in prison, and is perhaps getting a bit annoyed. He may well have expected the Messiah's appearance on Earth to be more... dramatic. At any rate, he begins to experience doubts and sends a message to Jesus asking for clarification. This strikes me as very human.

Needless to say, there are other possible explanations, some of which are explicitly non-infallibilist. One could say that Matthew and Luke are both reporting a traditional story, in which John has not yet met Jesus. This is plausible enough, but I don't think it's proven by the texts alone.

Updated: 2008-05-30
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