Once John said he was not the Christ, the delegation worked down a list of other figures expected before the Messiah. "What then?" presses for the alternative. "Art thou Elias?" reflects the promise of Malachi 4:5, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet." Barnes says the Jews expected Elijah to appear before the Messiah came and "supposed that it would be the real Elijah returned from heaven." "Art thou that prophet?" may look back to Moses' promise, "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet... like unto me" (Deuteronomy 18:15). Barnes says it is possible the Jews expected Jeremiah to reappear, and notes that some have supposed the question refers to Deuteronomy 18:15. Gill says some Jews thought Jeremiah was the prophet Moses spoke of (compare Matthew 16:14).

John answered each question as briefly as possible. To "Art thou Elias?" he said, "I am not." To "Art thou that prophet?" he "answered, No" (John 1:21). His answers grew shorter each time, from a full confession (John 1:20) to "I am not" to a single "No." The delegation then demanded a positive answer (John 1:22), and John described himself with Isaiah's words as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness" (John 1:23).

Elias is the Greek form of the name Elijah. Barnes explains that John denied being Elijah in the sense the Jews meant, Elijah himself returned, "but he did not deny that he was the Elias or Elijah which the prophet intended." The angel had said John would go "in the spirit and power of Elias" (Luke 1:17, cited by Gill), and Jesus later said, "if ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come" (Matthew 11:14).

In Greek, "that prophet" is ho prophetes, "the prophet," with the article, pointing to one specific expected figure rather than any prophet. Later in John's Gospel, crowds use the same title of Jesus: "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world" (John 6:14; also John 7:40).

These questions show how many hopes Israel carried about what God would do. God had promised both an Elijah and a Prophet like Moses. John was not either one in the way his questioners pictured, yet God was keeping both promises. John came in Elijah's spirit to prepare the way (Luke 1:17), and the Prophet like Moses was already standing among them (John 1:26). Peter later applied Moses' promise directly to Jesus (Acts 3:22).

John's short answers made room for the One who was coming. He refused every title that might draw eyes to himself. God fulfills His word, even when people have the details of it confused.