John 1:20

John 1:20. And he confessed and denied not. And he confessed, I am not the Christ. The answer of the Baptist is reported with great solemnity. The effect of the double statement, ‘he confessed and denied not' (comp. John 1:3; 1 John 2:4; 1 John 2:27) is to give peculiar impressiveness to the words: St. John thus brings into relief the single-minded faithfulness of the Baptist, and at the same time corrects mistaken opinions as to the character of his mission (see note on John 1:8). In the reply itself the first word is strongly emphatic, ‘It is not I who am the Christ.' The Baptist thus prepares the way for the further statements which he is to make with the view of guiding his hearers to that Christ who is come, and whom with gradually increasing clearness he is to proclaim.