[7] The rule of Pontius Pilate in Judea during the reign of Tiberius is well attested in history (for example, Tacitus in Annals book 15, chapter 44, written ca.

[17] The writer Frederic Farrar notes "a remarkable parallel" in Josephus' description of the march of Vespasian in the Wars of the Jews:where he ... says that among his vanguard were "such as were to make the road even and straight, and if it were anywhere rough and hard to be passed over, to plane it, and to cut down the woods that hindered their march ... that the army might not be tired".

[3] Textual variants are found in a few manuscripts (C D 892 1424 it) which have εἰς μετάνοιαν, eis metanoian, "for repentance", after the phrase "baptize you with water".

[23] Nicoll argues that use of the aorist "ought to imply that the bulk of the people had already been baptised before Jesus appeared on the scene, i.e., that John's ministry was drawing to its close",[3] cf.

[26] The Holy Spirit appears in bodily form like a dove and tells him "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased" (cf.

[29] Luke does not state how many years John baptised for, but this is when most date the start of Jesus's ministry, 29 or 30.

They then say that Jesus's great grandfather was named Matthat or Matthan, who could be the same person or, as first suggested by Julius Africanus, brothers.

The list in Luke also differs from Genesis 11:12, which says that Arphaxad was Selah's father, not his grandfather through Cainan.

[b] Methodist commentator Joseph Benson comments,Adam, being descended from no human parents, but formed by the power of a divine creating hand, might with peculiar propriety be called the son of God, having, in his original state, received immediately from God, whatever the sons of Adam receive from their parents, sin and misery excepted.

[35]Paul makes reference to the Greek understanding that "we are [all] the offspring of God" in his speech in the Areopagus in Athens, Acts 17:28-29.