Joh 1:19-22 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 19 And this is the record of John - He persisted in this assertion, testifying to the Jews that this Jesus was The Christ.

John 1:19-22

Verse 19

And this is the record of John - He persisted in this assertion, testifying to the Jews that this Jesus was The Christ. Verse 20

He confessed, and denied not; but confessed - A common mode of Jewish phraseology. John renounces himself, that Jesus may be all in all. Though God had highly honored him, and favored him with peculiar influence in the discharge of his work, yet he considered he had nothing but what he had received, and therefore, giving all praise to his benefactor, takes care to direct the attention of the people to him alone from whom he had received his mercies. He who makes use of God's gifts to feed and strengthen his pride and vanity will be sure to be stripped of the goods wherein he trusts, and fall down into the condemnation of the devil. We have nothing but what we have received; we deserve nothing of what we possess; and it is only God's infinite mercy which keeps us in the possession of the blessings which we now enjoy. Verse 21

Art thou Elias? - The scribes themselves had taught that Elijah was to come before the Messiah. See Mat 17:10; and this belief of theirs they supported by a literal construction of Mal 4:5.

Art thou that prophet? - the prophet spoken of by Moses, Deu 18:15, Deu 18:18. This text they had also misunderstood: for the prophet or teacher promised by Moses was no other than the Messiah himself. See Act 3:22. But the Jews had a tradition that Jeremiah was to return to life, and restore the pot of manna, the ark of the covenant, etc., which he had hidden that the Babylonians might not get them. Besides this, they had a general expectation that all the prophets should come to life in the days of the Messiah.

I am not - I am not the prophet which you expect, nor Elijah: though he was the Elijah that was to come; for in the spirit and power of that eminent prophet he came, proclaiming the necessity of reformation in Israel. See Mat 11:14; Mat 17:10-13. Verse 22

That we may give an answer to them that sent us - These Pharisees were probably a deputation from the grand Sanhedrin; the members of which, hearing of the success of the Baptist's preaching, were puzzled to know what to make of him, and seriously desired to hear from himself what he professed to be.