Luke 3:2

The Word of God came unto John (egeneto rhma qeou epi Iwanhn). The great epoch marked by egeneto rather than hn. Rhma qeou is some particular utterance of God (Plummer), common in LXX, here alone in the N.T. Then John is introduced as the son of Zacharias according to Chapter 1. Matthew describes him as the Baptist, Mark as the Baptizer. No other Gospel mentions Zacharias. Mark begins his Gospel here, but Matthew and Luke have two Infancy Chapters before. Luke alone tells of the coming of the word to John. All three Synoptics locate him "in the wilderness" (en th erhmwi) as here, Mark 1:4 ; Matthew 3:1 (adding "of Judea").