Joh 1:31-34 | Abbott | STEP | I knew him not; that is, as the Messiah. It is evident, from , , that Jesus was personally known to John when he came to be baptized; as, in fact, considering the relation subsisting between their mothers, arising out of the circumstances related by Luke, ( ) must almost necessarily have been the case. He knew him, however, only as a devout and holy man, until after the baptismal ceremony was performed; when it was revealed to him that he was the Messiah, in the manner specified in the two following verses.— But that, &c. The meaning is, that he knew only that the Messiah was about to appear.

John 1:31-34

I knew him not; that is, as the Messiah. It is evident, from Matt. 3:14, 15, that Jesus was personally known to John when he came to be baptized; as, in fact, considering the relation subsisting between their mothers, arising out of the circumstances related by Luke, (1: & 2:) must almost necessarily have been the case. He knew him, however, only as a devout and holy man, until after the baptismal ceremony was performed; when it was revealed to him that he was the Messiah, in the manner specified in the two following verses.—But that, &c. The meaning is, that he knew only that the Messiah was about to appear.