John 1:20

He confessed – he did not deny but confessed – “I am not the Christ!” ¹ 

He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ."

And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ."

He flatly denied it. "I am not the Messiah," he said.

He didn't evade the question. He told the plain truth: "I am not the Messiah."

He said quite openly and straightforwardly, I am not the Christ.

He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, "I am not the Messiah."

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

He confessed – he did not deny but confessed – “I am not the Christ!” ¹ 

¹ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

sn “I am not the Christ.” A 3rd century work, the pseudo-Clementine Recognitions (1.54 and 1.60 in the Latin text; the statement is not as clear in the Syriac version) records that John’s followers proclaimed him to be the Messiah. There is no clear evidence that they did so in the 1st century, however – but Luke 3:15 indicates some wondered. Concerning the Christ, the term χριστός (cristos) was originally an adjective (“anointed”), developing in LXX into a substantive (“an anointed one”), then developing still further into a technical generic term (“the anointed one”). In the intertestamental period it developed further into a technical term referring to the hoped-for anointed one, that is, a specific individual. In the NT the development starts there (technical-specific), is so used in the gospels, and then develops in Paul to mean virtually Jesus’ last name.