John 1:19–34

John the Baptist Is Not the Christ

¹⁹The Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask John who he was. John gave witness to them. ²⁰He did not try to hide the truth. He spoke to them openly. He said, “I am not the Christ.”

²¹They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet we’ve been expecting?” they asked.

“No,” he answered.

²²They asked one last time, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³John replied, using the words of Isaiah the prophet. John said, “I’m the messenger who is calling out in the desert, ‘Make the way for the Lord straight.’ ”

²⁴Some Pharisees who had been sent ²⁵asked him, “If you are not the Christ, why are you baptizing people? Why are you doing that if you aren’t Elijah or the Prophet we’ve been expecting?”

²⁶“I baptize people with water,” John replied. “But One is standing among you whom you do not know. ²⁷He is the One who comes after me. I am not good enough to untie his sandals.”

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

Jesus Is the Lamb of God

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, “Look! The Lamb of God! He takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is the One I was talking about. I said, ‘A man who comes after me is more important than I am. That’s because he existed before I was born.’ ³¹I did not know him. But God wants to make it clear to Israel who this person is. That’s the reason I came baptizing with water.”

³²Then John told them, “I saw the Holy Spirit come down from heaven like a dove. The Spirit remained on Jesus. ³³I would not have known him. But the One who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and remain on someone. He is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I have seen it happen. I give witness that this is the Son of God.”