John said he was not a prophet, elijah or Christ. Why did Christ say he was?Was any of them untruthful?

Question

1:21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No...
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?

(King James Bible, John)

17:10 And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? 17:11 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

17:12 But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them.

17:13 Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.

What is the wisdom and truth in the apparent contradiction above.

Answer 1

John was John not Elijah so his answer was correct. Jesus spoke prophetically to those who asked Him, so He was right also. They were both right.

BTW It would help if you gave a book when you gave a reference so we don't have to look in all four gospels to find which one you are using.

Answer 2

John is reporting what John the Baptist said. He does not indicate that John was lying therefore I believe John the Baptist was telling the truth.

Matthew is likewise reporting what he heard Jesus say and he does not indicate that Jesus was not telling the truth therefore I believe Jesus was telling the truth.

Jesus speaks of two separate events, I believe, when he says that Elijah SHALL come first and that Elijah has come already. He must mean that Elijah will come as foretold in Malachi, before the day of judgement --one event yet to happen. In the second event--already happened--that a man LIKE Elijah did come as John the Baptist. Christ new John the Baptist was not Elijah but I believe he was using him as an example of what would happen to Elijah and to Jesus, in a matter of days, at the hands of an unbelieving and sinful Israel nation.

Answer 3

There is a prophetic spirit that both Elijah & John the Baptist had. They both moved in the prophetic. When it comes to Jesus, He rarely focused on the physical, but on the spiritual. Hence, the apparent contradiction is solved.

Answer 4

i've got faith Matthew 11:14 replaced into mentioned interior the spirit of two Kings 2:9, wherein Elijah gave to Elisha a double component to his spirit. interior the comparable way, Jesus replaced into asserting that John the Baptist had come interior the spirit of Elijah, not that he replaced into Elijah. additionally Malachi 3:a million is the only Jesus observed explicitly; Malachi 4:5 is a connection with one in all 2 prophets stated in Revelation 11, so i'm delivered approximately have faith.

Answer 5

If you continued with verse 26 you would have answered your own question. John was a prophet----if Jesus said it, then it is so. For John to openly declare himself to be a prophet (as do many fools of today do) would have been arrogant. John baptized unto repentance, not unto salvation. By his own admission, John came to prepare the way for Jesus---that is what a prophet does, to prepare the way.

Answer 6

John knew Deuteronomy 18:15 "That prophet" refers to the Messiah's coming. These Levites from Jerusalem who were asking these questions knew the Torah. The will of God was to be discovered through a prophet, not a magic worker or spirit.

Deut. 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 (listen).

What did God say to Peter, John and James on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured in front of them with Moses and Elijah? God said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. (listen to Him)

The Bible is a difficult yet easy reading - but you must dig and search and find.

Answer 7

In a nutshell: John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah. It was his mission to bear witness to Jesus as the Messiah, and of course he did not. John got all caught up with a domestic dispute concerning the local royal household and thus forfeited his head. It was a wasted death.

Answer 8

John was truly a Prophet, But they ask him if he was Elijah, & he had the right to say he was not, In flesh, he was not Elijah, In the annointing that God put on him, it was the same annointing that Elijah had in the spiritual realm.

Answer 9

a high priest of advanced childless years with a wife of extreemly advanced [wellbeyond childbearing ]yearage
life long service to the temple
gets a message from the highest angel
next a young virgin 6 mths later gets the same mirricle
the job needed to be done and was
as one wast killed to the next each in thier own time
from adam to noah to mosus john,jesu ,paul/saul/simon all have a part in the great revalation the only god gifted to each nation in thier own time and thier own messanger
how great is this fair ,perfect gracefilled god

john ate od honey thus not taking life
but also of raw grass hopper ,that grass hopper become man ,better than man die but eating a grass hopper you know you have killed /taken eaten a life [thou shalt not kill?]
but i digres
it was because it was the right time and because thus it was written
thy will be done in thy time alone lord.
john wast born onthe first day of the exodus
jesus died the days before
thus was it wrote.