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NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_1:24-28
24Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, and said to him, "Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" 26John answered them saying, "I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. 27"It is He who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." 28These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Joh_1:24 "they had been sent from the Pharisees" This text is ambiguous. It can mean (1) the Pharisees sent John's questioners (cf. Joh_1:19) or (2) the questioners were Pharisees, which is unusual in light of the fact that most priests were Sadducees (cf. Joh_1:9). It seems to refer to another group than Joh_1:19.
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Joh_1:25 "'Why then are you baptizing'" Proselyte baptism was normative in ancient Judaism for those Gentiles wishing to become converts, but it was highly unusual for Jews themselves to be baptized (the sectarian Jews of Qumran practiced self-baptisms and temple worshipers bathed themselves before entering). This text may involve Messianic implications from Isa_52:15; Eze_36:25; Zec_13:1.
▣ "if" This is a first class conditional sentence which is assumed to be true from the author's perspective or for his literary purposes.
▣ "not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet" It is interesting in light of the Dead Sea Scrolls that these three personages represented the Essene view that there would be three different Messianic figures. It is also interesting that some early church leaders believed that Elijah would come physically before the Second Coming of Christ (cf. Chrysostom, Jerome, Gregory, and Augustine).
Joh_1:26 "I baptize in water" The preposition "in" can also mean "with." Whichever option is chosen must match the parallel of Joh_1:33 concerning "the Spirit."
▣ "but among you stands One" There are several textual variants related to the tense of the verb "stands." The UBS4 rates the perfect tense as "B" (almost certain).
Bruce M. Metzger asserts that the perfect tense is characteristic of John and implies a Hebrew idiom of "there is One who has taken his stand in your midst" (p. 199).
Joh_1:27 "the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie" This refers to the slave's task of undoing his master's sandals as he entered his home (considered the lowliest, most menial task a slave could perform). Rabbinical Judaism asserted that the rabbi's disciple should be willing to do everything that a slave was willing to do except untie his shoes. There is also the unstated implication of removing the shoes and taking them to a designated place of storage. This was a metaphor of extreme humility.
Joh_1:28 "Bethany" The King James Version has the name "Bethabara" (MSS à cf8 i2, C2). This was due to the KJV's translators' reliance on Origen's misunderstanding (and allegorization of the place name) of the location of the city. The correct reading is Bethany (Bodmen Papyrus, P66)-not the one southeast of Jerusalem (cf. Joh_11:18), but the town across from Jericho, across the Jordan River (eastern side).