God & Savior

John 3:28

You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’
John 3:28
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Study notes

John reminds his disciples that he said he was not the Christ but was sent ahead of Him.

Explanation

John points back to his earlier words (1:20, 23). He was never the Messiah. His role was to go ahead and prepare the way.

Original language
  • χριστός (christos): Christ
    Greek · Noun, nominative, singular, masculine · Strong's G5547 · text: NA28 (as recorded in TAGNT)

    Christ: the anointed one, the Messiah.

    Source: STEP Bible (Tyndale House, Cambridge), TAGNT: Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament, STEPBible-Data commit ed476a8, John 3:28, word 12

  • ἀπεσταλμένος (apestalmenos): to send
    Greek · Verb, perfect, passive, participle, nominative, singular, masculine · Strong's G0649 · text: NA28 (as recorded in TAGNT)

    Sent.

    Source: STEP Bible (Tyndale House, Cambridge), TAGNT: Translators Amalgamated Greek New Testament, STEPBible-Data commit ed476a8, John 3:28, word 15

Cross-references
  • John 1:20 · Surrounding passage

    John confessed, "I am not the Christ."

  • Malachi 3:1 · Background

    God promises to send His messenger ahead to prepare the way.

Connected events
  • John the Baptist's last testimony about Jesus
    This verse is part of it

    This verse is part of John's testimony.

    John 3:22-36

Sources

Original language and places

Reference data from open datasets, shown as published by their sources. Word-by-word English is a literal guide, not a translation.

Original language (Greek)

αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς μοι μαρτυρεῖτε ὅτι εἶπον ὅτι· οὐκ εἰμὶ ἐγὼ ὁ χριστός, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι ἀπεσταλμένος εἰμὶ ἔμπροσθεν ἐκείνου.

  1. αὐτοὶautoi“Yourselves”
    Personal pronoun, nominative, plural, masculine · from αὐτός · “he/she/it/self” · Strong's G0846
  2. ὑμεῖςhumeis“you yourselves”
    Personal pronoun, 2nd person, nominative, plural · from σύ · “you” · Strong's G4771
  3. μοιmoi“to me”
    Personal pronoun, 1st person, dative, singular · from ἐγώ · “I/we” · Strong's G3165
  4. μαρτυρεῖτεmartureite“bear witness”
    Verb, present, active, indicative, 2nd person plural · from μαρτυρέω · “to testify” · Strong's G3140
  5. ὅτιhoti“that”
    Conjunction · “that/since” · Strong's G3754G
  6. εἶπονeipon“I said”
    Verb, 2nd aorist, active, indicative, 1st person singular · from ἔπω, ἐρῶ, εἶπον · “to say” · Strong's G2036
  7. ὅτι·hoti“that:”
    Conjunction · from ὅτι · “that/since” · Strong's G3754G
  8. οὐκouk“Not”
    Particle, negative · from οὐ · “no” · Strong's G3756
  9. εἰμὶeimi“am”
    Verb, present, active, indicative, 1st person singular · from εἰμί · “to be” · Strong's G1510
  10. ἐγὼegō“I myself”
    Personal pronoun, 1st person, nominative, singular · from ἐγώ · “I/we” · Strong's G1473
  11. ὁho“the”
    Article, nominative, singular, masculine · “the/this/who” · Strong's G3588
  12. χριστός,christos“Christ,”
    Noun, nominative, singular, masculine · from Χριστός · “Christ” · Strong's G5547
  13. ἀλλ᾽all᾽“but”
    Conjunction · from ἀλλά · “but” · Strong's G0235
  14. ὅτιhoti“for”
    Conjunction · “that/since” · Strong's G3754H
  15. ἀπεσταλμένοςapestalmenos“sent”
    Verb, perfect, passive, participle, nominative, singular, masculine · from ἀποστέλλω · “to send” · Strong's G0649
  16. εἰμὶeimi“I am”
    Verb, present, active, indicative, 1st person singular · from εἰμί · “to be” · Strong's G1510
  17. ἔμπροσθενemprosthen“before”
    Preposition · “before” · Strong's G1715
  18. ἐκείνου.ekeinou“Him.”
    Demonstrative pronoun, genitive, singular, masculine · from ἐκεῖνος · “that” · Strong's G1565
  • Prepared by the God & Savior team. Not yet reviewed by an editor.
  • Greek words: STEP Bible (STEPBible.org), based on work at Tyndale House, Cambridge. CC BY 4.0. Source (version ed476a8)