John 1:25

And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
asked	ἠρώτησαν ērōtēsan	G2065	to interrogate · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
him	αὐτὸν auton	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
and	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
said	εἶπαν eipan	G2036	to speak or say (by word or writing) · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
him	αὐτῷ· autō	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
Why	τί ti	G5101	an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — accusative singular neuter
thou	βαπτίζεις baptizeis	G907	to immerse · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person singular
then	οὖν oun	G3767	(adverbially) certainly · conjunction
if	εἰ ei	G1487	if · conditional particle
thou	σὺ su	G4771	thou · personal pronoun — 2nd person nominative singular
be	εἶ eî	G1488	thou art
not	οὐκ ouk	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
Christ	χριστὸς christos	G5547	anointed · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
nor	οὔτε oúte	G3777	not too
Elias	Ἠλίας Ēlias	G2243	Helias (i.e. Elijah) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
neither	οὔτε oúte	G3777	not too
prophet	προφήτης; prophētēs	G4396	a foreteller ("prophet") · noun — nominative singular masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them a…
Deuteronomy 18:15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
John 1:20-22 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
Matthew 21:23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what aut…
Acts 5:28 Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and…
Acts 4:5-7 And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers, and elders, and scribes,
Daniel 9:24-26 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make re…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 1:19-28

We have here the testimony of John, which he delivered to the messengers who were sent from Jerusalem to examine him. Observe here, I. Who they were that sent to him, and who they were that were sent. 1. They that sent to him were the Jews at Jerusalem, the great sanhedrim or high-commission court, which sat at Jerusalem, and was the representative of the Jewish church, who took cognizance of all matters relating to religion. One would think that they who were the fountains of learning, and the guides of the church, should have, by books, understood the times so well as to know that the Messiah was at hand, and therefore should presently have known him that was his forerunner, and readily em…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 1:25

Why baptizest thou, if not, &c.--Thinking he disclaimed any special connection with Messiah's kingdom, they demand his right to gather disciples by baptism.

Adam Clarke on John 1:25

Why baptizest thou then? - Baptism was a very common ceremony among the Jews, who never received a proselyte into the full enjoyment of a Jew's privileges, till he was both baptized and circumcised. But such baptisms were never performed except by an ordinance of the Sanhedrin, or in the presence of three magistrates: besides, they never baptized any Jew or Jewess, nor even those who were the children of their proselytes; for, as all these were considered as born in the covenant, they had no need of baptism, which was used only as an introductory rite. Now, as John had, in this respect, altered the common custom so very essentially, admitting to his baptism the Jews in general, the Sanhedrin…

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John Gill on John 1:25

And they asked him, and said unto him,.... They put a question, by saying to him, why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? since he denied that he was the Messiah, or Elias that was to come before the Messiah, according to the expectation of the Jews, or that prophet, or a prophet, they demand by what authority he introduced a new rite and ordinance among them, which they had never been used to; for though there were divers washings or baptisms among them, enjoined by the law of Moses in certain cases, and others which obtained by tradition, as the immersion of themselves after they had been at market, and of cups, pots, brazen vessels, and table…

The Church Fathers

What folly, what insolence, what ill-timed officiousness! Ye were sent to learn who and whence he might be, not to lay down laws for him also. This too was the conduct of men who would compel him to confess himself to be the Christ. Still not even now is he angry, nor does he, as might have been expected, say to them anything of this sort, "Do you give orders and make laws for me?" but again shows great gentleness towards them.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 16

But still those who were sent inquire further: "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" Because this was said not from a desire to learn the truth, but from the malice of pursuing rivalry, the Evangelist silently made known when he added, saying: "And those who had been sent were from the Pharisees." As if he openly said: Those men inquire of John about his actions who do not know how to seek teaching, but only how to envy. But every holy person, even when questioned with a perverse mind, is not changed from his pursuit of goodness. Hence John also responded to the words of envy with proclamations of life.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 7

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Elijah — Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made…
Baptism · General references — General references
Jesus, The Christ · .Testimony of — .Testimony of
John · Mission of — Mission of

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

John 1:25

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 1:19-28

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 1:25

Adam Clarke on John 1:25

John Gill on John 1:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John 1:25

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 1:19-28

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 1:25

Adam Clarke on John 1:25

John Gill on John 1:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on John 1:24-28

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 1:25-26