Bible Studies

John 1 Verse 19 through Chapter 4, Part 1 of 6 Parts

by Karl Kemp
11/27/12
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"Scripture Quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1953, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

The original version of this paper was published in August, 2005. It was modified to some extent (a rather limited extent) in 2007 to produce the internet version of the paper. I was able to use footnotes, bold, italics, underlining, etc. in the original paper and in the internet edition. In October, 2012 I am splitting this paper into six parts and putting it in the proper format to put on several Christian article sites. I am making some improvements to this paper at this time, including correcting a few typographical errors, rewriting a few passages, adding a little content, and updating cross-references to my other writings.

All quotations from the Bible were taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1995 edition, unless otherwise noted. Sometimes I will use double brackets [[ ]] or (( )) to make them more obvious.


Contents (and the page numbers of the original and internet versions of this paper for your information):

John 1:19-54..... 1

John Chapter 2..... 9

John Chapter 3..... 14

John Chapter 4..... 28


Other Verses, Topics that Are Discussed in this Paper:

Deuteronomy 18:15-19..... 1

Isaiah 40:3-5..... 1, 2

Malachi 3:1..... 2

Malachi 4:5, 6..... 1, 2

On water baptism, the new birth, and baptism in the Spirit..... 3, 4, 14-17


JOHN 1:19-51.

John 1:1-18, the super-important prologue for the Gospel of John, is discussed verse-by-verse in a paper on my internet site (Google to Karl Kemp Teaching). I also have papers on John chapters 5-8; chapters 10-12 (with 9:35-41); chapters 13-17; and chapters 18-20 on my internet site. All the papers are verse-by-verse studies. John 9:1-5 are discussed on pages 49-52 of my book, "Holiness and Victory Over Sin."

Now we'll start with John 1:19.

"This is the testimony of John [John the Baptist], when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem [John 1:28 shows where John the Baptist was when the priests and Levites came to question him.] to ask him, 'Who are you?' (20) And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, 'I am not the Christ.' [Compare John 1:7, 8, 15; 3:28-30; and Luke 3:15-17.] (21) They asked him, 'What then? Are you Elijah?' And he said, 'I am not.' [[Compare Matt. 16:14. In one sense John the Baptist was Elijah. (His ministry was a partial fulfillment of the prophecy regarding the coming of Elijah the prophet of Mal. 4:5, 6.) Jesus said so (Matt. 11:14; 17:10-13; and Mark 9:11-13). ((I had a footnote: See my paper that includes a verse-by-verse study of Malachi 2:17-4:6 on my internet site. For one thing, I deal there with the fact that the ministry of the two end-time prophets of Rev. 11:3-12 (or at least one of those prophets) will be required to exhaust the fulfillment of the prophecy of Mal. 4:5, 6 (and the prophecy of Isa. 40:3-5). That end-time ministry will take place just before the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, when He comes to judge the world at the end of this age. John the Baptist's ministry helped prepare the way for the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.))

The angel Gabriel told Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, that "[John] will go as a forerunner before Him [God the Son] IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIJAH [my capitalization], 'to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children' ["quoting" from Mal. 4:6], and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord" (Luke 1:17).

God may not have revealed to John the Baptist that he was to fulfill the role of Elijah the prophet of Mal. 4:5, 6, or John may have denied that he was Elijah because the Jews were thinking in terms of the prophet of old coming back in the last days. John wasn't Elijah in that literal sense, but he came IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIJAH and partially fulfilled the prophecy regarding "Elijah the prophet" of Mal. 4:5, 6.]] 'Are you the Prophet?' [[See Deut. 18:15-19; John 1:25; 6:14; and 7:40. I'll quote the paragraph that F. F. Bruce has regarding "the Prophet" here ("Gospel of John" [Eerdmans, 1983], page 48). "These words of Moses [Deut. 18:15-19] were early understood to point to one particular prophet, a second Moses, who would exercise the full mediatorial function that Moses had exercised. ...at the end of the Pentateuch it is recorded that 'there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face' (Deut. 34:10). It came to be believed that the prophet like Moses would not be raised up until the end of the age. In some circles, especially among the Samaritans, the Messiah was envisaged in terms of this coming prophet.... (Bruce has a footnote here, "See comments on John 4:19, 25 (pp. 108, 111). Compare the expectation of an end-time prophet in the Qumran text [Dead Sea Scrolls] quoted in n. 34.") ...."]] And he answered, 'No.' (22) Then they said to him, 'Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?' (23) He said, 'I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, "MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD," as Isaiah the prophet said [in Isa. 40:3].' [[John's call for repentance, his baptism of repentance, and his pointing people to the Lord Jesus Christ was designed to "make straight the way of the Lord" before the Lord comes to save and to judge; he thus partially fulfilled the prophecies of Isa. 40:3-5 and Mal. 4:5, 6. (See under verse 21.) See Matt. 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8; Luke 3:1-18. ((Isaiah 40:3 is quoted in all three passages. Mark 1:2 also quotes from Mal. 3:1. (I had a footnote: Malachi 3:1 is an important prophetic verse dealing with the ministry of John the Baptist and the end-time prophets of Rev. 11:3-12. See under Mal. 3:1 in my paper on Malachi 2:17-4:6.) Luke 3:5, 6 go on to quote most of Isa. 40:4, 5 from the Septuagint version.))]] (24) Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. [[The NIV translates, "Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him." I'll quote part of what D. A. Carson says here ("Gospel According to John" [Eerdmans, 1991], page 144). "By far the best alternative is that of the NEB: 'Some Pharisees who were in the deputation asked him.' "]] (25) They asked him, and said to him, 'Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?' [See John 1:19-21.] (26) John answered them saying, 'I baptize in water [a baptism in water tied to repentance (cf. Matt. 3:1-11; Mark 1:1-5; and Luke 3:1-14)], but among you stands One whom you do not know [referring, as the following words demonstrate, to the Lord Jesus Christ]. (27) It is He who comes after me [[Christ came after John the Baptist in that John was born first by about six months (see Luke 1:5-57, especially verses 26, 36, 56, 57) and in that the ministry of John the Baptist began first, so he could help prepare the way for Christ Jesus through calling the people to repentance and pointing them to Him and His all-important ministry as Savior and Judge.]], the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie [cf. Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:7; and Luke 3:16].' (28) These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. [[There is much uncertainty as to the location of this Bethany (clearly to be distinguished from the village of Bethany very near Jerusalem, where Lazarus, Mary, and Martha lived), but it was beyond (on the east side of) the Jordan River, near the river - John was baptizing in that river (cf. Matt. 3:6, 13; Mark 1:5, 9).]] (29) The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, 'Behold, the Lamb of God [cf. Isa. 53:7; John 1:36; Acts 8:32; 1 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 5:6, 8, 12, 13; and 6:1] who takes away the sin of the world! [As Isa. 52:13-53:12, for example, show, Jesus took away the sin of the world (for all believers) by bearing our sins with the guilt (so we could be forgiven) and with our penalties (so we could get out from under those penalties, especially the penalties of spiritual death and bondage to sin [cf., e.g., Matt. 1:21; 1 Pet. 1:14-20; 2:24, 25; and 1 John 3:5]), not to mention being saved from the lake of fire. Furthermore, He opened the door to eternal glory for us.]] (30) This is He on behalf of whom I said, "After me comes a Man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me [See John 1:15.]." [[See under John 1:27. Christ Jesus existed before John the Baptist in that He was God the Son, who always existed with God the Father and God the Spirit, and through whom all things that were created were created (see John 1:1-3). As I mentioned, my verse-by-verse study of John 1:1-18 is on my internet site. See my papers "The Name Yahweh and God the Father and God the Son