What is meant in Matthew 11:14? This is Elias?

Question

Is he talking about John the Baptist or the prophets and the Law?

Matthew 11:14

And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

Answer 1

@Blake said:

I guess my confusion comes from John 1:21. John says he is not Elijah or that prophet. My thinking is that this is one of those plain things I should understand, but I am not... Did he not know he was Elijah? Or is this a reference to the spirit of Elijah and not the person Elijah? The CSB and ESV translate it as he, but the KJV translates it as it.....thus my confusion.

This is an important question. Yes, it is a reference to the spirit of Elijah, as is made clear in Luke 1:17

He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord.

The question as to whether John knew this or not depends on what he learned from his parents. They knew his role as Elijah, but we do not know if they passed this on to him. Being very old, they may have died prior to his being able to understand. But my guess is that if Luke knew the prophecy, then John did too. In any case, from Matthew and the other synoptic gospels, it seems clear that John's denial caused real problems for Jesus, leading him to say "if you are able to bear it, he is Elijah who is do come." The people expected Elijah to come first, and with John in prison or beheaded, the denial stood.

The cleanest way to clear up the confusion is to see John as having erred. Many readers think he corrected this by testifying to Jesus as the Lamb and/or the Son of God. Personally I think that his mistake was serious and he did not adequately correct it, causing him to fail in his mission to "prepare a people fit for the Lord." He also got distracted from his main mission of testifying to Jesus and became entangled in a controversy with Herod Antipas over Herod's marriage, leading to John's arrest and death. Things would have gone much differently if John had declared himself to be Elijah, for Malachi's prediction about this (Mal. 4:4) is the final prophecy in what we call the Old Testament. Jews still pray for Elijah's return each year as part of the Passover liturgy recited in every Jewish home:

Hebrew:

Eliyahu hanavi
Eliyahu hatish'bi
Eliyahu hagil'adi -
Bim'herah (beyameinu) yavo eleinu
im Mashi'ach ben David.

English:

Elijah the prophet
Elijah the Tishbite
Elijah the Giladite -
May he soon (in our days) come to us,
with the messiah son of David.

Answer 2

The text of Matt 11:14 answers the question:

And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.

That is, Jesus is claiming that John the Baptist if the fulfilment of the prophecy found in Mal 4:5, 6 -

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

Jesus claimed that John the Baptist was the fulfilment of the prophecy on several occasions such as:

• Matt 11:9-14 - What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’ Truly I tell you, among those born of women there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been subject to violence, and the violent lay claim to it. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.
• Matt 17:10-14 - The disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus replied, “Elijah does indeed come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him whatever they wished. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that He was speaking to them about John the Baptist. See also Mark 9:12, 13 and Luke 1:17.

Thus, in Matt 11:9-14, Jesus is simply saying that John the Baptist was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Elijah in Mal 4:5, 6.

Answer 3

That Jesus is referring to John the Baptist in Matthew 11:14 is supported by his words and the way they are understood by the disciples in Matthew 17:11-13:

NKJV

¹⁰ And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. ¹² But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

The prophet Elijah did not die but ascended to heaven in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11). As is evident in the question the disciples asked of Jesus in Mt 17:10, the common belief among the Jewish people was that Elijah would return in person to earth to herald the coming of the Messiah.

Ken Casillas, “Was John the Baptist Elijah?”

In their longing for deliverance from oppression and the arrival of God’s kingdom, intertestamental Jews latched onto the hope of passages like Malachi 3 and 4. In particular, they expected that the historic Elijah—the one who had been spared from death and had ascended to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2)—would return to the world as the forerunner of the Messiah...

If this is what first-century Jews were expecting, John the Baptist could not have been Elijah. He was not the original prophet Elijah reappearing on earth. He was a different human being altogether, born through reproduction to Zechariah and Elizabeth. In that sense John was correct to affirm that he was not Elijah.

As Barnes commentary notes, while he denied being the same person as Elijah, John the Baptist confirmed his prophesied role as the one sent to prepare the way of the Messiah.

John 1:22, 23

²² Then they said to him, “Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said: “I am ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Barnes commentary on John 1:21

The Jews expected that Elijah would appear before the Messiah came… They supposed that it would be the real Elijah returned from heaven. In this sense John denied that he was Elijah; but he did not deny that he was the Elias or Elijah which the prophet intended Matthew 3:3, for he immediately proceeds to state John 1:23 that he was sent, as it was predicted that Elijah would be, to prepare the way of the Lord; so that, while he corrected their false notions about Elijah, he so clearly stated to them his true character that they might understand that he was really the one predicted as Elijah.

The OP asks whether Jesus is referring to the spirit of Elijah and not the person Elijah. I believe the answer is yes; the words of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah in Luke 1 provide insight into the meaning of Mal 4:5-6 as as well as Jesus' words in Mt 11:14.

Luke 1:17

“He will also 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 make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Perhaps the most mysterious part of Jesus’ statements about John the Baptist is not that he is Elijah, but that Elijah is he who is coming or is to come, the present tenses of Matthew 11:14 (interlinear) and Matthew 17:11 (interlinear) indicating continued action. While I cannot account for the use of the present tense in these verses, it leaves the door open for interpretation and leads me to an idea found in Jewish Hasidism. Just as Elisha was granted a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit (2 Kings 2:9-15), perhaps we are to understand that the spirit of Elijah still comes to rest on those who continue his mission and zeal.

Daniel Matt, “Who was Elijah and Why Do Jews Open the Door for Him on Passover?”

There’s an idea in Hasidism that each of us has inside ourselves an aspect of Elijah. It's a spark of zeal, a spark of intensity. Wanting to help someone or tell someone good news — that feeling is Elijah working inside you.

Answer 4

Mind the use of verse 15

14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come. 15 Whoever has ears, let them hear. (Matthew 11:14-15 NIV)

Whenever Jesus said "Whoever has ears, let them hear", the message afore that contains hidden meaning. The sentence "if you are willing to accept it" is notable. Did Jesus mean His disciples did not accept John was Elijah? As John the evangelist, who was once a follower of John the Baptist, witnessed John the Baptist denied to the Jewish leaders he was not Elijah (John 1:21).

It should be worth noting how Jesus connected John the Baptist to Elijah;

7 As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 8 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces. 9 Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is the one about whom it is written: “‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ (Matthew 11:7-10 NIV)

The message contains three common grounds;

1. Both Elijah and John were wearing garment made of hairs with leather belt, natural materials not handmade. (2 Kings 1:8 & Matthew 3:4)
2. Both were prophet
3. Both were God's messenger

This does not mean John the Baptist was Elijah, nor the spirit of Elijah was with John as if John did not have his own spirit. Jesus simply meant John's ministry was the fulfillment of Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 4:5.

So John the Baptist denied himself was Elijah is true. He was not Elijah.

Luke described John was working in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luke 1:17) is correct. Luke simply meant John had the same spirit and power to conduct his ministry, not because he was Elijah.

In fact, no departed soul should return to our physical world. The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus provides a subtle hint, although it is not the central message of the parable. In this story, the deceased rich man in Hades initially asked Abraham permit Lazarus to cross over from paradise to Hades, and then he begged Abraham permit Lazarus to visit his still-living brothers (Luke 16:27-28). Abraham (represent The Lord) responded there is a great chasm in place, forbidding such a cross-over. If the spiritual realm has such an insurmountable divide, it becomes evident that entry into the physical world is equally implausible. So John the Baptist cannot be Elijah, rather he carries the same spirit and power of Elijah bestowed upon him by the Lord during his ministry.