2 Kings 1 · a question people ask
Jesus said John the Baptizer "is Elijah" (Matthew 11:14). But John said, "I am not" (John 1:21). Which is it?
Malachi had said, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes" (Malachi 4:5). The angel said of John, "He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17). Of John, Jesus said, "If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come" (Matthew 11:14), and later, "Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him" (Matthew 17:12); "Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptizer" (Matthew 17:13). When John was asked, "What then? Are you Elijah?" he said, "I am not" (John 1:21). Christians agree that John came "in the spirit and power of Elijah" (Luke 1:17), and that Jesus spoke of him as the Elijah who was to come (Matthew 11:14). They read how far that goes in two main ways, each resting on verses.
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Malachi's Elijah was John
Those who hold this view read Jesus' words as saying Malachi's promise was kept in John: "this is Elijah, who is to come" (Matthew 11:14), and "Elijah has come already" (Matthew 17:12). They read John's "I am not" (John 1:21) as his answer to whether he was Elijah himself, and note that Luke 1:17 says he would go "in the spirit and power of Elijah".
Matthew 11:14 · Matthew 17:12-13 · John 1:21 · Luke 1:17
John, and a coming still ahead
Those who hold this view note that Jesus began, "If you are willing to receive it" (Matthew 11:14), and that in the same answer where he said Elijah had come, he also said, "Elijah indeed comes first, and will restore all things" (Matthew 17:11). They read John as coming in Elijah's spirit and power (Luke 1:17), and look for Malachi's words to be kept in full before "the great and terrible day of the LORD" (Malachi 4:5).
Matthew 11:14 · Matthew 17:11-12 · Luke 1:17 · Malachi 4:5
The verses
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.”
“He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.””
“If you are willing to receive it, this is Elijah, who is to come.”
“but I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted to. Even so the Son of Man will also suffer by them.” Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the Baptizer.”