This Is The Record Of John

[Ronald Bayfield]

In this anthem John is quizzed by the Levites etc: "Who art thou?" And he answered and denied not "I am not the Christ". So he DID deny. Why does the narrator say he "denied not"?

[Tony Newnham]

In this anthem John is quizzed by the Levites etc: "Who art thou?" And he answered and denied not "I am not the Christ". So he DID deny. Why does the narrator say he "denied not"?

 

Hi

 

This is quotation from the Authorised Version of John 1:20 "And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ."

 

In more modern language (from the NIV) the verse reads:- "20He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ" - and there's a footnote which adds:- "Or Messiah. "The Christ" (Greek) and "the Messiah" (Hebrew) both mean "the Anointed One"; also in verse 25."

 

John is denying that he is the Messiah - but confessing who he is. he AV is virtually a literal translation of the Greek text. The NIV translation perhaps makes the sense a little clearer.

 

Perhaps even clearer is the translation in "The Message" :- "When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. He didn't evade the question. He told the plain truth: "I am not the Messiah.""

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony