Commenting on Luke 1:17:
Ver. 17. Turn
the hearts of the fathers, &c. The angel applies these words (Malach.
4:6) to S. John the Baptist; telling his father, that he shall convert many of the children of Israel, &c.
by bringing them to the knowledge of Christ. Secondly, that he shall go before him, or be his
precursor and forerunner.—In the spirit
and power of Elias; i.e. S. John shall be the forerunner of Christ’s first
coming to redeem mankind, as Elias shall be the forerunner of Christ’s second
coming to judge the world. Thirdly, that S. John, by converting the Jews,
shall also turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children, &c. (George Leo Haydock, Haydock’s Catholic Bible
Commentary [New York: Edward Dunigan and Brother, 1859], Logos Bible
Software edition)
The Evangelist says: ‘This is the testimony of John, when the Jews
sent Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he
confessed, and did not deny, and confessed, I am not the Christ.’ The Messias
was in the thoughts of all men, and though there was no mention of Him in the
question put to St. John, he was expected either to assert his claim to that
character, or to disown any such pretension. ‘They asked him, What then, art
thou Elias? and he said, I am not.’ The last of the prophets had left on record
that Elias was to come before the Messias, although his prediction literally
and formally referred to the second advent of our Lord—‘Before the great and
terrible day of the Lord,’ and thus the expectation of his coming was general
among the Jews. There was, as we well know from Scripture and our Lord’s own
words, a true sense in which the blessed Forerunner was the Elias, who was to
come, for he was sent, as the Angel announced to his father before his
conception, in the spirit and power of Elias.’ But there was also a sense,
in which the question was asked, referring to the identity of person and not to
the resemblance of office, and in this sense he was not the promised prophet.
And as St. John’s deep humility prompted him always to disclaim every honour
and title of distinction, he denied that he was Elias, although it might even
have seemed to be for the service of religion that he should have asserted it.
(Henry James Coleridge, The
Ministry of St. John Baptist, The Life of Our Life [London: Burns and
Oates, 1882], 91-92)
John was not the literal Elias. This we are compelled to admit, or
else he did not tell the truth; for when the priests and Levites asked him, “Art thou Elias?” he answered, “I am not.”
(John 1:21.) And this clear and positive denial is further sustained by the
facts (1) that he did not restore all things as was predicted of Elias, and (2)
that the great and terrible day, which was to be ushered in immediately upon
the finishing of the Elijah ministry, did not succeed the ministry of John, but
is even yet future. Whilst, therefore, there is a sense of much importance in
which John was Elias, there is
another, more literal, and equally important sense, in which he was not Elias, and in which Elias is still
to be expected, according to the Saviour’s own word.
There was a twofold ministry embraced in the ancient promise to send
Elijah, just as there was a twofold advent in the predictions concerning the
Messiah. In neither case did the Old Testament clearly distinguish between
these two, but viewed them both as if they were but one. And as the two Messiah-comings are widely separated in
time, though belonging to one and the same work; so there are two Elijah-comings, equally separated in
time, and equally comprehended in the predictions. Hence John, as the
forerunner of Christ in the first advent, was Elias; that is, he filled the
Elijah place, operated in the Elijah spirit and energy, did for that occasion
the Elijah work, and so far fulfilled the Elijah promise. As the angel said
of him before he was born, he went before Christ “in the spirit and power of Elias” (Luke 1:15–17); which implies
that he was not Elias himself self. The Saviour could, therefore, truly say of
him while living, “If ye will receive it, this is Elias which was for to come;”
and so likewise after he was dead, “Elias is come already, and they knew him
not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.” John the Baptist operated
in the spirit and energy of Elias, and performed the Elijah mission for the
first advent, and so far “was Elias,”
but, according to the word of the angel, only the virtual, and not the literal
Elias. He could accordingly answer the Jews, who had in mind the literal Elias,
that he was not Elias, while yet, in
another respect, he was Elias. In him
the prediction in Malachi concerning the sending of Elijah had a true and real
fulfilment, but only a partial, germinant, preliminary fulfilment, whilst the
highest and ultimate fulfilment respects another advent of the Messiah, and the
coming of the literal Elijah as the herald of it. (J. A. Seiss, The
Apocalypse: A Series of Special Lectures on the Revelation of Jesus Christ with
Revised Text, 2 vols. [8th ed.; New York: C. Cook, 1901],
2:189-91)
