For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”

They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing.

You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’

The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”

“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”

Can This Be the Christ?

Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?

And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?

But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”

Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”

Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?

Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”

(His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.)

So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”

And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.