Bible Study Series: John 1:19-28, John knew his role, his place, in the plan of God. What about you?
Friendly greetings and a warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together how to apply these truths to our lives.
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For the Greek text, click here:
At that link, I provide a lot more commentary.
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 1:19-28
19 This is John’s testimony, when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to him and so that they may ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He proclaimed and did not deny and declared: “I am not the Christ!”
21 They asked him, “What, then? Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the prophet?”
He replied, “No.”
22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? We must give an answer to the ones who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 He said:
I am a voice crying in the wilderness, Make straight the path of the Lord! [Is. 40:3]
“Just as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24 Then there were those commissioned by the Pharisees. 25 They asked him and said to him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet?” 26 In reply, John said, “I baptize you in water; someone stands in our midst whom you do not know, 27 the one coming after me, of whom I am unworthy to unbind the strap of his sandal.
28 These things happened in Bethany beyond the Jordan River, where John was baptizing. (John 1:19-28)
Commentary
19:
Jerusalem was the capital of Israel, where the temple stood. People in the Greco-Roman world knew of it, so John is communicating that these commissioned priests and Levites were from the headquarters or the highest level of religious officialdom. John was making an impact.
Levites served the priests, so the Levites were more numerous. This table was produced in the context of the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke’s Gospel. It still gives an idea of the differences:
| Priests | Levites |
| Offer sacrifices | Perform music accompanying sacrifices |
| Disqualified by impurity and blemish | Disqualified by impurity but not blemish |
| Serve God directly | Serve the priests |
| Guard the Court of the Priests | Guard the non-priestly courts |
| Superintend maintenance of temple complex | Maintain the temple complex |
| Not marry a widow or divorcee | May marry a widow or divorcee |
| May only mourn close relative | May mourn anyone |
| David E. Garland. Luke. Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Zondervan, 2011), p. 442. He gets it from Harrington, Holiness, Rabbinic Judaism, and the Graeco-Roman World. | |
Messianic expectations were high at this point. Many devout and nationalistic Jews yearned for a Messianic figure to throw off the Roman yoke of oppression—oppression as they saw things.
19-20:
The name “the Jews” could refer to citizens of Israel; the title may refer positively to them (salvation is from the Jews in 4:22); Jesus himself was a Jew (4:9). Some Jews believe (11:45; 12:11); others came to faith and then turned away (8:30). In 7:1 the expression is geographical: the people of Judea. However, most often it refers to the Jewish leaders, the Jerusalem establishment, who actively oppose Jesus or fail to understand him and who finally seek his death. However, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea are viewed positively (3:1-15; 7:50; 19:38-42) (Carson, comment on v. 19). Recall that thousands of Jews converted after the ascension and Pentecost (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 6:7 [large number of priests], 21:20).
Bruce insightfully writes of these two verses:
At the time when John commenced his public career as a preacher of repentance in the Jordan valley, there was a widespread sense of expectancy abroad, especially among pious Israelites who were ‘looking for the redemption of Jerusalem’ (Luke 2:38). The sudden appearance of the strange preacher and baptizer, displaying the authentic marks of the prophets of old, made a deep impression on his fellow-Israelites. Less than a century before (63 BC) the native Hasmonean dynasty had fallen and the land of Israel was incorporated in the Roman Empire. This loss of independence and the failures of the hopes that had been pinned to the Hasmonean priest-kings brought about a revival of the ancient hope of a Messiah from the line of David. (comment on vv. 19-20)
“testimony”:
The theme of witness, here introduced, pervades the whole Gospel. The witness to the truth of God’s self-revelation in the Word is manifold: it comprises the witness of the Father (5:32, 37; 8:18), of the Son 8:14, 18), of the Spirit (15:26); the witness of the works of Christ (5:36; 10:25), the witness of the scriptures (5:39), the witness of the disciples (15:27), including the disciple whom Jesus loved (19:35; 21:24).
The purpose of this manifold witness, as of John’s witness, is ‘that all might believe’: it is the purpose for which the Gospel itself was written (20:31)” (Bruce, comment on 1:6-8). The terms “witness” or “testimony” carries a legal meaning “of testifying or bearing witness to the true state of affairs by one who has sufficient knowledge or superior position. (Klink, comment on 1:7)
Morris says there are seven who bear witness to Jesus. (1) Each of the three persons of the Trinity: Father (5:31-32, 34, 37; 8:18); (2) Christ himself (8:14, 18; see 3:11, 32; 8:37); (3) and the Spirit (15:26; 16:14); (4) the works of Jesus bear witness (5:36; 10:25; see 14:11; 15:24); (5) Scripture (5:39; 5:45-46); (6) John the Baptist; (7) the disciples (15:27; see 19:35; 21:24).
Luke 3:15 says that everyone was in expectation and began to wonder whether John might be the Messiah. Then in 3:16 he replied clearly that he was not.
“he proclaimed … “declared” are the same Greek verb, which is often translated as “confess.”
What does the term Christ or Messiah mean? The term means the Anointed One. In Hebrew it is Messiah, and in Greek it is Christ. It means that the Father through the Spirit equipped Jesus with his special calling and the fulness of power to preach and minister to people, healing their diseases and expelling demons (though demon expulsion is not mentioned in John’s Gospel). The Messiah / Christ ushered in the kingdom of God by kingdom preaching and kingdom works.
3. Titles of Jesus: The Son of David and the Messiah
21-22:
One of these Messianic prefigures was Elijah.
5 “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. 6 He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” (Mal. 4:5-6, NIV)
The last clause prophesies destruction, so the people of John’s and Jesus’s generation must be careful of how they evaluate Jesus.
The prophet was predicted by Moses himself:
15The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. (Deut. 18:15)
John plainly said that he was not Elijah (v. 21). However, Matt. 17:10-13 plainly says that he was Elijah, in spirit:
10 And the disciples asked him, saying, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” 11 In reply, he said, “Elijah must come and restore all things. I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they wanted. In this way the Son of Man also is about to suffer by them.” 13 At that moment the disciples understood that he spoke to them about John the Baptist. (Matt. 17:10-13).
So how do we reconcile these competing claims or beliefs? John was not yet fully aware of his ministry. At the time when the priests and Levites asked him their question, he did not believe that he was Elijah. Sometimes we need to grow in our calling. He will say that Jesus was the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, but then in Matt. 11:2, while in prison he asked:
2 When in prison John heard of the works of Christ and sent word through his disciples, 3 he said to Jesus: “Are you the Coming One, or should we expect someone else?” (Matt. 11:2-3)
Yet in Matt. 3:11 John loudly proclaimed that Jesus, the Messiah, will baptize people with the Spirit and fire. Only Jesus was preceptive enough to see that John had come in the spirit of Elijah. John never saw it. Bottom line: John lived a rough life, suffering persecution and imprisonment, and sometimes he was unsure of his calling and who his cousin Jesus was. One or two times he miscalculated. He was, after all, only human.
23:
Isaiah 40 speaks of comfort for God’s oppressed people because warfare has ended. However, John—both the Evangelist and the baptizer—lifted it out of a warfare context and spoke of the Messiah. The baptizer is about to proclaim that Jesus will take away the sin of the whole world (v. 29), so John realized the Messiah would not be a conquering military general.
24:
Verse 24 could be translated as “some who were sent were from the Pharisees.” In other words, some Pharisees were members of the delegation, next to the priests and Levites. But literally the Greek says as I translated it.
You can read about this group here:
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
The Pharisees, and it looks like these particular priests and Levites, were the Watchdogs of Theology and Behavior (David E. Garland, Luke: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Zondervan, 2011], p. 243). The problem which Jesus had with them can be summed up in Eccl. 7:16: “Be not overly righteous.” He did not quote that verse, but to him they were much too enamored with the finer points of the law, while neglecting its spirit (Luke 11:37-52; Matt. 23:1-36). Instead, he quoted this verse from Hos. 6:6: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matt. 9:13; 12:7). Overdoing righteousness damages one’s relationship with God and others.
25-27:
The group commissioned by the Pharisees asked him the same thing, except they added the question why John was baptizing, since he was not the Messiah. His reply was that they did not know who the Messiah was. In first verse of the next pericope (v. 29), John will announce who the Messiah was. See v. 20 for more comments on “Christ.”
Unloosening the straps of sandals was the work of slaves (household servants). John considered himself lower than a household servant (b. Ketub. 96a).
28:
“Bethany beyond the Jordan”:
Carson says that it refers to Batanea (Bashan in the OT), which was not a town or village but an area in the northeast of the country; Jesus withdrew to this area at the end of his ministry when his opponents in Judea were trying to kill him (10:39-40). Over the centuries, these names get tweaked or adjusted (comment in v. 28)
The Gospels have a massive number of agreements in their storylines:
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
Celebrate them
To conclude …..
Mounce writes: “When an ancient dignitary was about to visit a province of the realm, the message would go out to prepare the way by removing all obstacles from the road and making it as smooth as possible. The road that the Messiah would travel was the road into the hearts and lives of the people. Only national repentance could prepare the way for that spiritual journey, and John had come to prepare the nation for the advent [coming] of the Messiah.” Well said.
Grow App for John 1:19-28
1. John knew his role, his place. He knew who he was and who he was not. What is your role in the kingdom?
2. If you don’t know, then one thing is certain: how do you proclaim Jesus, no matter where you are?
RELATED
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
For the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 