between these two kinds of baptism tenuous at best and illegitimate at worst. Baptism in the Gospel of Mark6 A significant number of all occurrences of the bapt- word group in Mark’s Gospel are found in Mark 1:4–9.7 Mark’s conflated quotation of Mal 3:1 and Isa 40:3 identifies John the Baptist as God’s messenger sent to “prepare the way for the Lord.” Mark 1:4 immediately adds that, in keeping with these prophetic passages, “John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance
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