John 1:25 (YLT)

Passage

and they questioned him and said to him, `Why, then, dost thou baptize, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?'

Nearby Context

John 1:23 He said, `I <FI>am<Fi> a voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.'

John 1:24 And those sent were of the Pharisees,

John 1:25 and they questioned him and said to him, `Why, then, dost thou baptize, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?'

John 1:26 John answered them, saying, `I baptize with water, but in midst of you he hath stood whom ye have not known, this one it is who is coming after me, who hath been before me,

John 1:27 of whom I am not worthy that I may loose the cord of his sandal.'

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "questioned", "said", "dost", "thou", "baptize", "christ", and "elijah". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "questioned" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 24's "And those sent were of the Pharisees..." into verse 26's "John answered them saying I baptize with...", so "questioned" and "said" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "questioned" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.