This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man who is become before me: for he was before me.

He it is of whom I said, A man comes after me who takes a place before me, because he was before me;

this is he concerning whom I said, After me doth come a man, who hath come before me, because he was before me:

This is He about whom I said, 'After me is to come One who has been put before me, because He was before me.'

This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.'

This is the one about whom I said, 'After me arrives a man, who has been placed ahead of me, because he existed before me.'

I was taking about him when I said 'After me there is coming a man who ranks ahead of me, because before I was born he already was.'

This is he of whom I said. He comprehends every thing in a few words, when he declares that Christ is the person who, he said, was to be preferred to him; for hence it follows that John is nothing more than a herald sent on his account; and hence again it is evident that Christ is the Messiah. Three things are here stated; for when he says that a man cometh after him, he means that he himself was before him in the order of time, to prepare the way for Christ, according to the testimony of Malachi, Behold, I send my messenger before my face, (Malachi 3:1.) Again, when he says that he was preferred to himself, this relates to the glory with which God adorned his Son, when he came into the world to fulfill the office of a Redeemer. At last, the reason is added, which is, that Christ is far superior in dignity to John the Baptist. That honor, therefore, which the Father bestowed upon him was not accidental, but was due to his eternal majesty. But of this expression, he was preferred to me, because he was before me, I have already Spoken. [1]

Footnotes

1 - See [4]page 49.

This is he, of whom it is said,.... Either the day before, as in John 1:27, or some time before that, John 1:15, when he first began to baptize, even before Christ came to be baptized by him, and before he personally knew him; see Matthew 3:11.
After me cometh a man; not a mere man, but the man God's fellow: and this is said, not because he was now a grown man, or to show the truth of his human nature; but seems to be a common Hebraism, and is all one as if it had been said, "after me cometh one", or a certain person: for the sense of this phrase, and what follows; see Gill on John 1:15.

This is he of whom I said. See John 1:27.
Was before. Existed before I was born.