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John 1:6-8 and 19-28

Good News Translation (GNT)

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  6  God sent his messenger, a man named John,
  7  who came to tell people about the light, so
   that all should hear the message and believe.
  8  He himself was not the light; he came to tell
   about the light.

John the Baptist's Message
19  The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent
   some priests and Levites to John to ask him,
  "Who are you?"
20  John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out
   openly and clearly, saying: "I am not the
   Messiah."
21  "Who are you, then?" they asked. "Are you
   Elijah?" "No, I am not," John answered.
   "Are you the Prophet?" (a) they asked.
   "No," he replied.
22  "Then tell us who you are," they said.
   "We have to take an answer back to those
   who sent us. What do you say about
   yourself?"
23  John answered by quoting the prophet Isaiah:
   "I am 'the voice of someone shouting in the
   desert: Make a straight path for the Lord to
   travel !'"
24  The messengers, who had been sent by the
   Pharisees,
25  then (b) asked John, "If you are not the
   Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, why do
   you baptise?"
26  John answered, "I baptise with water, but
   among you stands the one you do not know.
27  He is coming after me, but I am not good
   enough even to untie his sandals."
28  All this happened in Bethany on the east side
   of the Jordan River, where John was
   baptising.

   Footnotes
   John 1:21 The one who was expected to
   appear and announce the coming of the
   Messiah.

   John 1:25 The messengers, who had been
   sent by the Pharisees, then;
   or
   Those who had been sent were Pharisees;
   they.

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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)

The Testimony of John the Baptist

Here John describes the coming of John the Baptist, who was sent from God, with a specific purpose: namely, to testify concerning the light of Jesus.
John came to prepare men's hearts to receive that light, and witnessed to Jesus, so that through him (John) all men might believe (in Jesus).
"All men" means both Jews and Gentiles.

Christ and John the Baptist
    (1:19-28)

When John the Baptist began to preach, many people came out to hear him and were baptised.

When the Jewish leaders heard about John, they wanted to find out about this new prophet. Therefore, they sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to inquire.

John knew that the Jewish leaders thought that he himself might be the Christ.

All the Jews were expecting the Messiah, to come and deliver them from bondage to the Roman Empire and to re-establish the independent kingdom of Israel.

But John immediately told them that he was not the Christ.

Then the Jewish leaders asked John if he was Elijah.

Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament.

He did not die in an ordinary way, but was carried up to heaven in a whirlwind.

The prophet Malachi prophesied that Elijah would return before the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

The Jews interpreted this prophecy to mean that Elijah himself would return before the Messiah came.

John told them that he was not Elijah.

Then the Jewish leaders asked John if he was the Prophet.

Moses had prophesied that a prophet like himself would rise up from among the Jews.
This prophet was thought by the Jews to be different from Elijah and the Messiah.

Again John the Baptist denied that he was this prophet.

Finally, the priests and Levites asked John, "Who are you?"

And John answered, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, that he was the voice of one calling in the desert.

He was appointed to announce the coming of the real Messiah, Jesus (The Christ.)

Some of the Jews questioning John were Pharisees, the strictest sect of the Jews.

They wanted to know from where John the Baptist got his authority to baptise.

It was a common practice for the Jews to baptise Gentiles who wanted to become followers of the Jewish religion, but nobody baptised Jews.

"We don't need to be baptised," the Jews thought. "We are not sinners like the Gentiles."

Therefore, they wanted to know who was this John, who was baptising Jews.

John did not answer their question directly. He said, "I baptise with water. My baptism is an ordinary baptism.

But there is one here in the crowd who will baptise you with the Holy Spirit."

John's meaning was this: The Jewish leaders shouldn't question John's authority. He was only the announcer of One who had much greater authority.

The Jordan River where John baptised formed the eastern border of Israel; it was about eighteen miles from Jerusalem.

The Bethany mentioned here is not the same Bethany where Mary and Martha lived, which was much closer to Jerusalem
(John 11:1).

Other versions are available here

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