Paragraph 3:15–18
The people who listened to John began to think that John himself might be the Christ/Messiah. But John made it clear that the Messiah was a different person who would come after him. The Messiah would have much greater authority and power than John had.
3:15a
The people were waiting expectantly: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as waiting expectantly means “to wait for,” “to look for,” or “to expect” something. The things that John had been saying had made the Jewish people excited. They expected that the Messiah would soon make his identity publicly known.
In some languages it may be necessary to say what the people were waiting for. The next part of the verse indicates that they were waiting for the Christ. Here are some ways to translate this:
Everyone was expecting the Messiah to come soon (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
The people were hoping to see ⌊the Christ/Messiah⌋
3:15b
and were all wondering in their hearts if John could be the Christ: In some languages it may be natural to start a new sentence here. It may also be natural to use direct speech. For example:
They were all wondering, “Is John perhaps the Christ?”
wondering in their hearts: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as wondering in their hearts is an idiom. It indicates here that they were “asking themselves” or simply “wondering.” The Jewish people were all thinking about John and trying to decide whether John was the Messiah. Other ways to translate this are:
considering
-or-
pondering
-or-
thinking about
the Christ: Here the word Christ is used as a title. It is not just one of Jesus’ names. The Jews used this title to refer to the person whom God had appointed and promised to send as king and savior. The title Christ is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” and the two words have the same meaning.
Some ways to translate Christ are:
• Use a title or a descriptive phrase in your language that has the same meaning as Christ. For example:
Messiah
-or-
Promised Deliverer
-or-
the Rescuer-King whom God appointed
• Transliterate Christ and include a phrase that explains the meaning. For example:
Christ, the appointed one
-or-
Cristo, the Savior whom God promised to send
-or-
the Christ who comes from God
• Transliterate Christ and indicate in some way that it is a title. For example:
the Christ
-or-
the Kirisita
If you do not indicate the meaning of Christ in the text, you may want to include a footnote to explain it. Or you may want to explain the meaning in a glossary. For example:
The word/title “Christ” refers to the king and savior whom God had promised to send.
See also Christ in the Glossary. The word Christ was also used in 2:11b.
General Comment on 3:15a–b
In some languages it may be helpful to indicate the connection between the parts of this verse in a more explicit way. For example:
15aSince the people were hoping for the Christ to come, 15bthey wondered if John might be the one. (New Century Version)
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