“Et interrogabant eum, dicentes : Quid ergo dicunt pharisæi et scribæ, quia Eliam oportet venire primum ?”
“And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.”
“So they kept this matter to themselves, discussing what it meant to rise from the dead.”
“They kept this saying to themselves, questioning what the “rising from the dead” meant.”
“And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean.”
The Jews here confound the two comings of Jesus Christ. The Baptist, in the spirit of Elias, will precede the first, and Elias in person, the second coming of Christ.
Verses 1-13 Here is a prediction of the near approach Christ's kingdom. A glimpse of that kingdom was given in the transfiguration of Christ. It is good to be away from the world, and alone with Christ: and how good to be with Christ glorified in heaven with all the saints! But when it is well with us, we are apt not to care for others, and in the fulness of our enjoyments, we forget the many wants of our brethren. God owns Jesus, and accepts him as his beloved Son, and is ready to accept us in him. Therefore we must own and accept him as our beloved Saviour, and must give up ourselves to be ruled by him. Christ does not leave the soul, when joys and comforts leave it. Jesus explained to the disciples the prophecy about Elias. This was very suitable to the ill usage of John Baptist.