In Matthew only. And if ye will receive it. Our Lord gives the information plainly, but doubts if it will be of any use to them. Will ( θέλετε). For the reception of a truth depends upon the attitude of the will In this case to acknowledge John as Elijah would mean to accept the present consequences of that reformation which Elijah was to bring about (Malachi 4:6).
But "the human will has a natural disinclination to cultivate and sharpen the conscience in combination with the knowledge of the law, has no desire to look into this mirror, and men as a rule desire to have quite a different picture of themselves from that which conscience shows them".
It. My statement. Not him, i.e. John, with Revised Version margin. This ( αὐτός). He and no other (John 1:21). Is Elias. In spiritual work, not in identity of person (John 1:21). (On the Jewish expectation of the return of Elijah, see Lightfoot, 'Hor.
Hebr.,' on Matthew 17:10.) Which was for to come; which is to come (Revised Version). The phrase ὁμέλλων ἔρχεσθαι) is perhaps best understood, not as an independent remark by our Lord about Elijah, but as a current saying, representing the popular expectation of him, and adopted by our Lord, who gave it his own interpretation.
It can hardly point also to a yet future coming of the prophet. But compare Bishop Westcott, on John 1:21, and Schurer, II. 2:156.