Did Herod think Jesus was John the Baptist risen?
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It is asserted that the Bible states that king Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead but also that Herod did not think that Jesus was John the Baptist.
Matthew 14: 1At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, 2And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
Mark 6: 14And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
Luke 9:9 And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.
There is simply no contradiction at all. The gospels are simply recording different points of Herod’s understanding about who he thought Jesus was. They are in fact not recording the same information.
When we look at the account in Luke in context we will see that Luke records Herod as being perplexed because other people were saying that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead or maybe Elias or another profit risen.
Luke 9:7Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him: and he was perplexed, because that it was said of some, that John was risen from the dead; 8And of some, that Elias had appeared; and of others, that one of the old prophets was risen again.
But Herod was obviously not convinced at this point. He proclaimed that he had beheaded John and so had not yet come to the conclusion that he would later come to regarding the claim others were making that this was John risen. Herod after making the statement that he had beheaded John then asks the question who is this? Herod wanted to see Jesus. Herod at this point had not met Jesus he had only heard about him and the things that he had done.
Luke 9:9 And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him.
However, in the accounts of both Matthew and Mark we have Herod proclaiming that Jesus was John the Baptist risen from the dead. At this point in time, the point of time that Matthew and Mark record, Herod had now heard what others were saying and clearly he had also heard of the mighty works that Jesus did as attested to by both Mark and Matthew, and it was because of these mighty works that he now proclaimed that Jesus was indeed the risen John the Baptist.
Matthew 14:2And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
Mark 6: 14And king Herod heard of him; (for his name was spread abroad:) and he said, That John the Baptist was risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him.
Jesus had been alive at the time that John was alive, there was only 6 months difference between them in age. John was in fact the cousin of Jesus and John had even baptised Jesus. It was therefore very highly unlikely that anyone thought that Jesus was literally the resurrected John.
Mark further records that Herod as stating that John whom he beheaded, had risen from the dead when he heard thereof.
Mark 6: 16But when Herod heard thereof, he said, It is John, whom I beheaded: he is risen from the dead.
What had he heard thereof? The mighty works that Jesus did that showed this was John the baptist.
The two statements of Herod are not biblical contradictions; they are simply different statements that Herod made at different times of his understanding of who he believed Jesus to be.
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