And he confessed, and denied not. Perhaps the double form of statement, or rather the introduction of the clause, "he denied not," before the repetition of the confession with its contents, was adopted to, indicate that John might have been tempted to "deny" that he was not the Christ.
If he had hesitated at all, he would have denied the real Christ, the Son of God, who had been revealed to him by special means. I for my part—very emphatic—am £ not the Christ. This implies, not only that the supposition over which they are brooding is unfounded, not only that he is not the Christ, but that he knows more, and that he knows another to be the Christ.
If this reading of the text is correct, the Baptist, by his negative reply, gave to the priests more than they asked.