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They asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No."
Verse Takeaways
1
The Elijah Paradox
Commentators explain that when John denied being Elijah, he was correcting a popular misunderstanding. The Jews literally expected the prophet Elijah to return from heaven. John truthfully denied being this person. However, as Jesus later clarified, John fulfilled the prophecy by coming 'in the spirit and power of Elijah' as the Messiah's forerunner. He was not Elijah in person, but he was Elijah in purpose.
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John
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17
18th Century
Presbyterian
Are you Elias? — This is the Greek way of writing Elijah. The Jews expected that Elijah would appear before the Messiah came. See the note…
And they asked him (κα ηρωτησαν αυτον). Here the paratactic κα is like the transitional ουν (then).
What then?
19th Century
Anglican
What then?—This was not "What art thou then?" but rather an expression of surprise at the answer, followed by an impatient move to…
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Baptist
And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesu…
The suggestion that John the Baptist might be identified with Elijah reflected the Jewish expectation that the return of Elijah would precede the a…
16th Century
Protestant
Are you Elijah? Why do they name Elijah rather than Moses? It was because they learned from the prediction of Malachi ([Reference…
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17th Century
Reformed Baptist
And they asked him, what then? are you Elias ? &c.] Elijah, the prophet; the Tishbite, as Nonnus in his paraphrase e…
John denies being the Christ, who was then expected and waited for. He came in the spirit and power of Elias, but he was not the person of Elias. J…
13th Century
Catholic
Previously, the Evangelist showed how Christ was made known to the apostles through the testimony of John; here, he develops this testimo…
