John 1:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore they do not say simply, “Are you a prophet?” as meaning one of many prophets. They add, in effect, “Are you that prophet whom Moses foretold?” For this reason he denied, not that he was a prophet, but that he was that very foretold prophet.

For Moses, the sacred guide, foretold to the sons of Israel that the Lord would appear as a prophet. He said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb” (Deut 18:15-16).

Then blessed Isaiah presents to us the Forerunner and Herald as “the voice of one crying in the wilderness,” saying, “Prepare the way of the Lord; make His paths straight” (Is 40:3, cited in Mt 3:3).

With him a third prophet, Malachi, speaks of the Tishbite, that is, Elijah: “Behold, I send you Elijah the Tishbite, who will turn the heart of the father to the son, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, lest I come and strike the earth utterly” (Mal 4:4-5; Lk 1:17).

Therefore, although only three were proclaimed as those who were to come, namely Christ, John, and Elijah, the Jews nevertheless expected the coming of many. Thus they rightly heard, “You err, not knowing the Scriptures” (Mt 22:29).

So, after questioning the blessed Baptist and learning that he was not the Christ, they continue, “What then? Are you Elijah?” When he said, “I am not,” they ought finally to have asked about the Forerunner, since this alone still remained after the questions about Christ and Elijah.

But in ignorance they return to Christ Himself, announced in the Law as a prophet. Observe that, not knowing the writings of Moses, they say, “Are you the prophet?” And “he answered, ‘No,’” since he was not himself the Christ, as he had already affirmed.

When John was conceived, or rather, when he was born, the Holy Spirit prophesied concerning this man: "He will be the Forerunner of the Most High, in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Lk 1:17).

Therefore he was not Elijah, but was in the spirit and power of Elijah. What does this mean, "in the spirit and power of Elijah"? It means in the same Holy Spirit, in the order of Elijah.

Why in the order of Elijah? Because what Elijah will be for the second coming, John was for the first coming.

"And they said to him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?'" (Jn 1:21). He answered, "I am not Elijah." Since Christ was to send Elijah before Himself, John said, "I am not Elijah," and he gave rise to a doubt in us.

Care must be taken lest those who understand this insufficiently suppose that John spoke against what Christ said. In the same place where the Lord Jesus Christ spoke something about Himself in the Gospel, the disciples asked Him: "Why then do the scribes, that is, the experts in the Law, say that Elijah must come first?"

And the Lord said to them: "Elijah has already come, and they did to him whatever they wished; and if you wish to know, he is John the Baptist" (cf. Mt 17:10-13).

The Lord Jesus Christ said: "Elijah has already come; he is John the Baptist." But John, answering the question, acknowledged that he was not Elijah, just as he acknowledged that he was not the Christ.

In any case, he truly acknowledged that he was not the Christ, just as he truly acknowledged that he was not Elijah.

How, then, shall we compare what was said by the herald with what was said by the Judge? It is inadmissible that the herald should lie, for he pronounces what he hears from the Judge.

Why then does he say, "I am not Elijah," while the Lord says, "He is Elijah" (Mt 11:14)? Because the Lord Jesus Christ wished His coming advent to be revealed in him as a type. He wished to say that John was in the spirit of Elijah.

What John was at the first coming, Elijah will be at the second coming. As there must be two comings of the Judge, so there must be two heralds. Yet the Judge is Himself one, and the heralds are two, but there are not two judges.

For the Judge first had to come to be judged. He sent a herald before Himself and called him Elijah, because what Elijah is to be at the second coming, John became at the first.

Indeed, beloved, see how truly I speak. When John was conceived, or rather, when he was born, the Holy Spirit prophesied what was to be fulfilled in this man: "He will be the Forerunner of the Most High, in the spirit and power of Elijah" (cf. Lk 1:17).

Thus he is "not Elijah," but in the spirit and power of Elijah. What does "in the spirit and power of Elijah" mean? It means in the same Holy Spirit, under the form of Elijah.

Why under the form of Elijah? Because what Elijah will be at the second coming, John was at the first.

Therefore John, speaking in the literal sense, gave a correct answer. But the Lord spoke figuratively: "Elijah is John." The other, as I have already said, spoke literally: "I am not Elijah."

If you have in mind the figure of the Forerunner, John is Elijah. For at the first coming he was what Elijah will be at the second. But if you ask about the concrete person, John is John, and Elijah is Elijah.

Therefore the Lord rightly said, in the sense of the type: "He is Elijah." And John rightly said, in the sense of the concrete person: "I am not Elijah." Neither John lied nor the Lord. Neither the herald lied nor the Judge, if you understand this.

And who can understand it? The one who imitates the humility of the herald and grasps the majesty of the Judge. For there is no one more humble than the herald himself.

My brethren, John had no greater merit than this humility. Though he could have lied to men, so that they would think him the Christ and receive him as the Christ, he openly confessed and said: "I am not the Christ."

Such grace rested upon him, and so excellent was he. Yet he confessed openly.

"What then? Are you Elijah?" (cf. Jn 1:20-21). If he had said, "I am Elijah," it would have meant that Christ had already come in His second coming to judge, and had not come in the first to be judged.

He said, "I am not Elijah," as if saying thereby that Elijah is still to come. Behold, then, the humble Christ, before whom John came, and not Christ filled with majesty, before whom Elijah will come.

For the Lord also proclaimed this thus: "He is John the Baptist, who is yet to come."

He came in the form of a type, while in his own person Elijah is still to come. Then Elijah in person will be Elijah; now, according to likeness, he was John.

The two heralds gave their likenesses to each other and preserved their persons. Yet there is one Lord, the Judge, with this or that herald going before Him.

For this reason Elisha came and stood in the middle between John and Elijah. If liars wished to accuse John, Elisha would set himself against them in refutation. He was a reliable guarantor for them, since they believed that he received a double portion of his teacher’s spirit (4 Kgs 2:9).

If that were so, then Elisha would have been taken up into heaven twice and on two chariots, perhaps even to the heaven of heavens. From this it is clear that the power of Elijah was given to Elisha together with his works.

Yet not all the works of Elijah were handed over to him, but only the likeness of the works. Otherwise it would be doubtful whether they were beneficial. However, if Scripture had not said that Elisha received a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, it would not have made clear that he received the greater gift.

By these words Saint Ephrem teaches that the prophecy in which the Savior from David’s seed was promised to David must also be referred to Zerubbabel, who led the people of Israel out of the Babylonian captivity.

That is, to reason as the Jews, the opponents of John, reasoned.

How, then, is he a prophet of Truth, when his words do not agree with this Truth? But if we examine the Truth itself with subtle care, what sounds like contradiction will cease to be contradictory.

For the angel says to Zachariah about John: "He will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Lk 1:17). Therefore John is said to come in the spirit and power of Elijah because, as Elijah will precede the Lord's second coming, so John preceded the first.

As the former will be the Forerunner of the Judge, so the latter was the Forerunner of the Redeemer. Thus John was Elijah in spirit and power, but was not Elijah in person.

Therefore what the Lord affirms concerning the spirit, John denies concerning the person. It had to be so, that the Lord might express to His disciples a spiritual thought about John, while John answered a carnal people concerning the flesh, not the spirit.

Therefore, although what John answered seems contrary to the truth, he did not depart from the path of truth. He denied even the name of prophet precisely because he could not only preach about the Redeemer, but also point Him out.

When John was asked, he answered that he was not a prophet. He who knew that he was more than a prophet said that he was not a prophet. He is said to be more than a prophet because the task of a prophet is to foretell what is coming, not to point it out. John is more than a prophet because with his finger he pointed to Him of whom he spoke at that very time.

And elsewhere the Lord, when asked by the disciples about the coming of Elijah, answered: "Elijah has already come, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished" (Mt 17:12). And if you wish to know, John is Elijah himself.

But John, when asked, says: "I am not Elijah." Yet if one simply seeks the truth itself, one discovers how that which signifies opposites is not opposed. For the angel says to Zachariah about John: "He will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Lk 1:17).

Therefore he is said to come in the spirit and power of Elijah because, as Elijah will anticipate the second coming of the Lord, he anticipated the first. As the one will come as the advance soldier of the Judge, so the other became the advance soldier of the Redeemer.

Thus John was Elijah according to the spirit, but he was not Elijah according to person. Therefore what the Lord says from the Spirit, John decisively denies from the person. This was right, so that the Lord might express to the disciples a spiritual thought about John.

It was also right that John should answer the carnal crowds not from his spirit, but from the body. What John said seems opposed to the truth, yet he did not depart from the way of truth.

John intentionally gives a positive answer to the question of who he is by referring to Isaiah’s prophecy (Is 40:3). This prophecy could not be falsely reinterpreted in the same way as the scribes of that time falsely interpreted the indicated words of Malachi. Their true meaning is explained in Lk 1:17; Mt 11:14; Mt 17:10-12.

But those sent by the Sanhedrin understood Malachi’s prophecy literally and were certain that the prophet Elijah himself had to appear before the coming of the Messiah. For this reason they questioned John: was he Elijah?

John answered, “No.”

“Then are you not the Prophet? Are you not that Prophet of whom Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you, from your brethren. Him you shall hear’ (Deut 18:15)?”

By the Prophet of whom Moses spoke, they always understood the Messiah, the Deliverer, the Christ. Therefore, to the question, “Are you the Prophet?” John answered, “No.” According to Chrysostom, by this answer John denied, not that he was a prophet, but that he was precisely that Prophet foretold by Moses.

“Then who are you? Tell us. We have been sent to find out who you are, and we must give an answer to those who sent us. By what right do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, not Elijah, and not the Prophet?”

If John had been less humble in heart and less inclined to self-abasement, he could have answered that he bore in himself Elijah’s thought, power, and soul. He could have said that he was his reproduction, not materially but spiritually, and he would not have sinned against the truth.

Not satisfied with this answer either, those sent from the Sanhedrin continued to ask further, “Then are you the prophet?”

Popular tradition said that, besides Elijah, another heavenly messenger would appear as herald of the coming kingdom of the Messiah: Enoch, Joshua, or especially Jeremiah. Jeremiah had made the greatest impression on the people’s soul, since his life and activity belonged to the time of the Babylonian captivity that befell the nation.

But John answered this question too: “No.” All these popular notions had no foundation.

“He said, ‘No.’” The Jews, incorrectly interpreting Malachi’s prophecy (Mal 3:1; Mal 4:5), supposed that the ancient Elijah, the Tishbite, would appear in person and descend from heaven before the coming of the Messiah. John answers them in this sense: no.

Thus he rejects the false notion of the Jews, but he does not reject that he is the forerunner of the Messiah, which Elijah was to be. For immediately after this he says that he has come to prepare the way of the Lord (Jn 1:23).

That is, he is the forerunner of the Messiah, and therefore Elijah, but not the ancient Tishbite. He is a man with the spirit and power of Elijah (Lk 1:17), a new Elijah, as the Lord Himself said of him in this sense (Mt 11:14 and parallels).

“The prophet?” The Jews also imagined that Elijah would not appear alone before the coming of the Messiah, but together with Jeremiah or with some other ancient prophet (Mt 16:14). John says “No” in the same sense in which he said he was not Elijah.

That is, he is not the personally risen ancient Jeremiah or any other prophet. Yet this does not deny that he is the forerunner of the Messiah and, at the same time, a prophet, indeed the greatest of the prophets, as Christ called him (Mt 11:11).

It seems that one must understand not a bodily identity of John the Baptist with the prophet Elijah, but a spiritual identity. The angel Gabriel, who announced to Zachariah in the Lord's Temple the birth of his son John, says of him: "He will be great before the Lord," and "he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Lk 1:15, 17).

In the prophet Malachi it is said: "The Lord of hosts says," "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to the children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a curse" (Mal 4:5-6).

On the basis of these words there circulated among the Jews the belief that Elijah must come before the coming of the Messiah. But Holy Scripture nowhere indicated that Elijah would come again in the flesh.

John, however, was in spirit the same sort of accuser of iniquities as Elijah had been in his time. Both burned with love for God, and both were granted great revelations because their souls were near to God.

Perhaps attention should also be paid to the fact that the names Elijah and John are very close in meaning, almost identical. The name Elijah is translated Deus meus est Iehova, "My God is Jehovah." The name John, or Johanan, is translated "whom Jehovah has given," or in shortened form, "gift of Jehovah."

When John denies that he is Elijah, or when he is not conscious that he is Elijah preceding the Lord, he seems above all to reject the Jewish opinion that Elijah would rise or come in the same form and flesh in which he existed under Ahab of Israel.

But this does not abolish his identity with Elijah according to "spirit and power" (Lk 1:17). Moreover, in the Lord's comparison of John with Elijah there is a mystery which we cannot fully comprehend.

To the second question asked by the Jews, "Are you the Prophet?" John again answers with a denial. But it seems that the Jews' question does not refer to the prophetic gift in general, but to the well-known place in Deuteronomy (Deut 18:18).

There it is said concerning the Messiah: "The Lord says: I will raise up for them a Prophet from among their brethren, like you. I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And whoever will not listen to My words which that Prophet shall speak in My name, I will require it of him."

Because John sees their secret thought, he perceives that in essence they are asking him a second time whether he is the Messiah. That is, whether he is that Prophet of whom Moses foretold, who would speak in the name of the Lord.

Therefore he denies it, saying, "No," that is, "I am not that Prophet of whom you are thinking."