The Testimony of John the Baptist

Notes

1. John 1:21 ~ Net Bible Notes:
1. According to the 1st century rabbinic interpretation of 2Ki 2:11, Elijah was still alive. In Mal 4:5 it is said that Elijah would be the precursor of Messiah. How does one reconcile John the Baptist’s denial here (“I am not”) with Jesus’ statements in Mat 11:14 (see also Mark 9:13 and Mat 17:12) that John the Baptist was Elijah? Some have attempted to remove the difficulty by a reconstruction of the text in the Gospel of John which makes the Baptist say that he was Elijah. However, external support for such emendations is lacking. According to Gregory the Great, John was not Elijah, but exercised toward Jesus the function of Elijah by preparing his way. But this avoids the real difficulty, since in John’s Gospel the question of the Jewish authorities to the Baptist concerns precisely his function. It has also been suggested that the author of the Gospel here preserves a historically correct reminiscence–that John the Baptist did not think of himself as Elijah, although Jesus said otherwise. Mark 6:14-16 and Mark 8:28 indicate the people and Herod both distinguished between John and Elijah–probably because he did not see himself as Elijah. But Jesus’ remarks in Mat 11:14; Mark 9:13, and Mat 17:12 indicate that John did perform the function of Elijah–John did for Jesus what Elijah was to have done for the coming of the Lord. C. F. D. Moule pointed out that it is too simple to see a straight contradiction between John’s account and that of the synoptic gospels: “We have to ask by whom the identification is made, and by whom refused. The synoptic gospels represent Jesus as identifying, or comparing, the Baptist with Elijah, while John represents the Baptist as rejecting the identification when it is offered him by his interviewers. Now these two, so far from being incompatible, are psychologically complementary. The Baptist humbly rejects the exalted title, but Jesus, on the contrary, bestows it on him. Why should not the two both be correct?” (The Phenomenon of the New Testament [SBT], 70).
2. The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deu 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief. Act 3:22 identifies Jesus as this prophet.
3. My Personal Note: 
1. It is possible that John simply did not know his ministry was in fulfillment of Elijah.  God does not tell us everything, even about our own ministries:
2. 1 Corinthians 13:9-12

3. 9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. Now we know only a little, and even the gift of prophecy reveals little!

4. 10 But when the end comes, these special gifts will all disappear.

5. 11 It's like this: When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child does. But when I grew up, I put away childish things.

6. 12 Now all we can see of God is like a cloudy picture in a mirror. Later we will see him very clearly, face to face. Now my knowledge is incomplete. Then I will have complete knowledge as God has complete knowledge of me. [←Back]