¹⁵John tells the truth about him and cries out, saying, “This is the One I told you about: ‘The One who comes after me is greater than I am, because he was living before me.’ ”

¹⁶Because he was full of grace and truth, from him we all received one gift after another. ¹⁷The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. But God the only Son is very close to the Father, ⁿ and he has shown us what God is like.

John Tells People About Jesus

¹⁹Here is the truth John ⁿ told when the leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰John spoke freely and did not refuse to answer. He said, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” ⁿ

He answered, “No, I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?” ⁿ they asked.

He answered, “No.”

²²Then they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to tell those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³John told them in the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“I am the voice of one

calling out in the desert:

‘Make the road straight for the Lord.’ ”

²⁴Some Pharisees who had been sent asked John: ²⁵“If you are not the Christ or Elijah or the Prophet, why do you baptize people?”

²⁶John answered, “I baptize with water, but there is one here with you that you don’t know about. ²⁷He is the One who comes after me. I am not good enough to untie the strings of his sandals.”

²⁸This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing people.

Read in Logos

John 1:16: And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.

Footnotes

nBut … Father This could be translated, “But the only God is very close to the Father.” Also, some Greek copies read “But the only Son is very close to the Father.”
nJohn John the Baptist, who preached to people about Christ’s coming (Matthew 3, Luke 3).
nElijah A prophet who spoke for God. He lived hundreds of years before Christ and was expected to return before Christ (Malachi 4:5–6).
nProphet They probably meant the prophet that God told Moses he would send (Deuteronomy 18:15–19).