Who is "the Prophet" mention in John 1:19-23?

The questioning of a person’s identity is a common theme throughout the gospels of the New Testament. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to see a group of people questioning John the Baptist about his true identity in the opening chapter of the Gospel of John (John 1:19-23). Apparently, the Jews have suspicions about who John the Baptist is, and they send priests to interrogate him on their behalf. The priests assume John will claim to be the Messiah, “the Prophet”, or Elijah; however, John denies each one of these identities with simple, negative responses. The responses of John the Baptist are not exactly what caught my eye; instead, the questions asked by the priests raised a question of my own. The priests ask John if he is Christ, Elijah, or “the Prophet”. Knowing who Christ and Elijah are, my curiosity was raised by the identity of “the Prophet” mentioned by the priests. 

Many Christians believe the prophet mentioned in this conversation is in reference to the Messiah whose coming Moses foretells in Deuteronomy 18:15. If this is true, Christ and “the Prophet” would be one and the same. After all, Jesus solidifies the idea that he is the prophet Moses is talking about (John 5:46). If this idea is true, John is basically answering the same question twice. The word “Christ” serves more than one purpose in the New Testament. Obviously it can be used in regards to the name of Jesus Christ, the character, but it can also be used as a synonym for “messiah”. Christos, the Greek derivative of the word “Christ” is equated to mashiach, the Hebrew derivative of the word “messiah”. Therefore, the first thing John tells the priests is that he is not the Messiah, so to me, it would not make sense for the priests to ask him again if he is the savior that has been predicted. 

Another theory suggests that “the Prophet” mentioned in this inquiry could be the prophet Jeremiah. It could be that the Jews of that time thought Jeremiah would appear before the Messiah ever came. This is ironic, because the story reveals that John the Baptist is actually the prophet who is preceding the Messiah. However, this theory also seems a bit flawed to me.  Most Jews believe, according to Old Testament prophecy, that Elijah would be the prophet to precede the coming of the Messiah. As such, the priests ask John if he is Elijah, and he tells them he is not. So, it is unlikely they are still questioning if he is the prophet who is to precede the coming of the Messiah. However, this raises even more questions than I started with. If “the Prophet” in question is not the Messiah or Elijah (or even Jeremiah), then who is he?

The only other theory that seems to hold much weight is the theory presented by the Islamic faith. According to Wikipedia, Muhammad is considered in Islam to be a messenger and prophet sent by God to guide humanity to the right way. When looking to the Bible to find evidence of this prophet, many Muslims find the evidence in this passage of John. Some Muslims insist that Muhammad is “the Prophet” while Jesus is the Christ who is mentioned in this line of questioning. However, not all Muslims hold to this belief about this passage. Many believe the three people mentioned by the priests have nothing to do with the prophet Muhammad. 

It is very possible that there is no differentiation between “Christ” and “the Prophet” or between “Elijah” and “the Prophet”. For instance, the priests could have been desperately trying to categorize John the Baptist, just as the tried to categorize Jesus throughout the Gospels, and were frantically reaching for questions through which they could arrive at an answer they liked. They could have been emphasizing the same question with different words in order to persuade John to answer in a different fashion. The endless possibilities only serve to bolster the Bible’s appeal as a book that can be read over and over while eliciting a different response each time.