John 1:21

1:21 So they asked him, “Then who are you? ¹  Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” ²  “Are you the Prophet?” ³  He answered, “No!”

John 1:23

1:23 John ⁴  said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight ⁵  the way for the Lord,’ ⁶  as Isaiah the prophet said.”

John 1:25

1:25 So they asked John, ⁷  “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, ⁸  nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John 6:14

6:14 Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus ⁹  performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet ¹⁰  who is to come into the world.” ¹¹ 

John 6:45

6:45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ ¹²  Everyone who hears and learns from the Father ¹³  comes to me.

John 7:52

7:52 They replied, ¹⁴  “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you? ¹⁵  Investigate carefully and you will see that no prophet ¹⁶  comes from Galilee!”

John 8:53

8:53 You aren’t greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? ¹⁷  And the prophets died too! Who do you claim to be?”

John 9:17

9:17 So again they asked the man who used to be blind, ¹⁸  “What do you say about him, since he caused you to see?” ¹⁹  “He is a prophet,” the man replied. ²⁰ 

John 12:38

12:38 so that the word ²¹  of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled. He said, ²²  “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the Lord ²³  been revealed?” ²⁴ 

[1:21]  ¹ tn Grk “What then?” (an idiom).

[1:21]  ² sn According to the 1st century rabbinic interpretation of 2 Kgs 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 Matt 11:14 (see also Mark 9:13 and Matt 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 Matt 11:14, Mark 9:13, and Matt 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).

[1:21]  ³ sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief. Acts 3:22 identifies Jesus as this prophet.

[1:23]  ⁴ tn Grk “He”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:23]  ⁵ sn This call to “make straight” is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

[1:23]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.

[1:25]  ⁷ tn Grk “And they asked him, and said to him”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the phrase has been simplified in the translation to “So they asked John.”

[1:25]  ⁸ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[6:14]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:14]  ¹¹ sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.

[6:14]  ¹² sn An allusion to Deut 18:15.

[6:45]  ¹³ sn A quotation from Isa 54:13.

[6:45]  ¹⁴ tn Or “listens to the Father and learns.”

[7:52]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[7:52]  ¹⁷ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are you?”).

[7:52]  ¹⁸ tc At least one early and important ms (Ì^66*) places the article before “prophet” (ὁ προφήτης, Jo profhths), making this a reference to the “prophet like Moses” mentioned in Deut 18:15.

[8:53]  ¹⁹ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “are you?”).

[9:17]  ²² tn Grk “the blind man.”

[9:17]  ²³ tn Grk “since he opened your eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:17]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And he said, ‘He is a prophet.’”

[12:38]  ²⁵ tn Or “message.”

[12:38]  ²⁶ tn Grk “who said.”

[12:38]  ²⁷ tn “The arm of the Lord” is an idiom for “God’s great power” (as exemplified through Jesus’ miraculous signs). This response of unbelief is interpreted by the author as a fulfillment of the prophetic words of Isaiah (Isa 53:1). The phrase ὁ βραχίων κυρίου (Jo braciwn kuriou) is a figurative reference to God’s activity and power which has been revealed in the sign-miracles which Jesus has performed (compare the previous verse).

[12:38]  ²⁸ sn A quotation from Isa 53:1.