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How old was Jesus when John began his ministry?
Luke: “About thirty years of age” ([iii, 2, 3], [23]).
Matthew: “In those days [when Jesus’ parents brought him out of Egypt and settled in Nazareth, he being then about two years of age] came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea” ([ii, 19–23]; [iii, 1]).
Matthew, it is claimed, was written only ten or twenty years after Jesus’ baptism. If so, the phrase “in those days” clearly implies that he was but a child when John began his ministry. If the phrase was intended to comprehend a period of thirty years this gospel, it must be admitted, was written at least one hundred years after the event described.