From prison, John the baptizer sends disciples to Jesus to ask him the above question. Typically, whenever this passage is discussed in Bible classes there are a variety of possibilities suggested about why such a question would be asked. Was John losing faith in the one he previously described as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)? Was he trying to awaken his disciples to the reality that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and since Jesus “must increase but I must decrease” (John 3:30) his disciples need to leave him and follow Jesus? Were the doubts John seems to have at this point due to the life-threatening situation he faced and he needed assurance that Jesus was the Messiah? In his book, The Practical Use of the Greek New Testament, Kenneth S. Wuest makes the following observations.
“Sometimes the keen distinction observed between two synonyms in the Greek New Testament will solve a problem with a finality that, without a knowledge of the Greek involved, could only receive a provisional and tentative answer based upon conjecture. For instance, what caused John the Baptist to doubt the Messiahship of the Lord Jesus (Matt. 11:3)? It could have been a bad case of prison sickness. Or it could have been the thought that, since Jesus did not get him out of prison, He was helpless to do so, and in that case He would not be the supernatural Messiah the Old Testament predicted. And so one could go on devising reasons for John’s defection, plausible in themselves but not final, since they are based on conjecture and not on what is written.
“A synonym in the Greek text solves the problem easily. John sends two of his disciples with the question, “Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?” The expression, “he that should come” is Jewish, referring to the Messiah whom Israel was expecting in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The particular synonym translated “another,” give us the clue that leads us to the solution of our problem. There are two words in Greek, each meaning another, heteros and allos. Heteros means another of a different kind, allos, another of the same kind.”
[Even though the author does not mention it, both terms show up in Galatians 1:6, 7 where the above definitions validate what he states in his book. With the word John used the question could legitimately be worded ‘…do we look for another of a different kind?’ (JM).] Wuest continues:
“John expected a Messiah of a different kind than Jesus was. He had up to now believed that Jesus was the Messiah. …He had recognized Jesus as Messiah when He had come to him for baptism. He had heard the sign of the Father’s voice from heaven, and had seen the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus. …But now, with all that evidence, he doubted His Messiahship.
“Jesus did not fit John’s picture of Messiah. He had preached a Messiah of judgment (Matt. 3:10-12). Jesus had forgiven sins, cleansed the leper, healed the sick, ministered to the poor. John knew that he had his message from God, and that his description of Messiah had therefore come from the same source. The fact that Jesus did not fit that picture, caused John to doubt His Messiahship. Had John been alive when Jesus gave Jerusalem and Israel over to judgment (Matt. 23:37-39), he would have seen that He [Jesus] did fit that picture. Thus, a simple study of synonyms in the Greek text, has answered a question which is not easily answered by the student of the English Bible.”*
Interesting, is it not, how additional study and utilizing research material and sources can provide answers beyond mere conjecture in striving to answer questions which arise about God’s word. Have a wonderful week in your study of God’s word! (Jim)
*Kenneth S. Wuest, The Practical Use of the Greek New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1946) pp 72-74. [The Greek words in the text of the book have been transliterated to English letters. If you have a Strong’s Concordance at home – you can look up all the occurrences of heteros (#2087) and allos (#243).