Verses 24-25
Most of the Jews of the dispersion knew of John the Baptist’s ministry. Often the early Christian preachers began the message of Jesus with John the Baptist, who announced and prepared for His coming (cf. Mark 1:2-8). John clarified that he was not the Messiah but was His forerunner (Luke 3:15-18).
"It may be that followers of John the Baptist, believing him to have been the Messiah, and constituting a sect which had spread outwards from Palestine, presented more of a problem to Christian missionaries about this time than the NT evidence would suggest; a hint of this is given in Acts 19:3-5. If such were the case, it would account for Paul’s strong emphasis here on John’s role as merely the herald of the Messiah." [Note: Neil, pp. 158-59.]
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