Jesus’ answer to John the Baptist’s question about the Coming One (Q 7:22b) whose arrival John expected (3:16) has often been rec­ognized as an authentic saying of his because of its originality. However, the striking parallelism with the Messianic Apocalypse (4Q521) suggests that a messianic tradition existed which asso­ciated miracles with eschatological salvation. Therefore, Q 7:22b cannot be ascribed to Jesus himself, and the whole dialogue (Q 7:18–23) seems to be created in the Q Group after Jesus’ death with the aid of the common tradition at the time. Q 7:18–23 probably intends to proclaim to both John’s disciples and other Jews in contact with the Q Group that Jesus is the messianic figure surpassing the Coming One.

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