And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? Art thou he that should come - Ο ερχομενος, he that cometh, seems to have been a proper name of the Messiah; to save or deliver is necessarily implied. See on Luke 7:19 (note).
There is some difficulty in what is here spoken of John. Some have thought he was utterly ignorant of our Lord's Divine mission, and that he sent merely for his own information; but this is certainly inconsistent with his own declaration, Luke 3:15, etc.; John 1:15, John 1:26, John 1:33, John 3:28, etc. Others suppose he sent the message merely for the instruction of his disciples; that, as he saw his end approaching, he wished them to have the fullest conviction that Jesus was the Messiah, that they might attach themselves to him.
A third opinion takes a middle course between the two former, and states that, though John was at first perfectly convinced that Jesus was the Christ, yet, entertaining some hopes that he would erect a secular kingdom in Judea, wished to know whether this was likely to take place speedily. It is very probable that John now began, through the length of his confinement, to entertain doubts, relative to his kingdom, which perplexed and harassed his mind; and he took the most reasonable way to get rid of them at once, viz. by applying to Christ himself.
Two of his disciples - Instead of δυο, two, several excellent MSS., with both the Syriac, Armenian, Gothic, and one copy of the Itala, have δια, by; he sent by his disciples.