Luke 9v19

They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again.

In this verse the disciples are answering the question of Jesus in the previous verse: “Whom say the people that I am?” This verse is similar to the previous verses we have already seen in Matthew 16v14 {12 } and Mark 8v28 {25 }.

Here again it is interesting to find that the people were not saying that Jesus is the Christ, Messiah, or Son of God. They could however see the link between Jesus and resurrection, misinterpreting this as proof that He was a resurrected prophet. All of the debate among the people seemed to be centred on which of the prophets had been resurrected. This shows that they already could see and believed that:

Jesus is a prophet
Resurrection and Jesus are closely associated
Jesus was not bringing anything new, just re-emphasising what the prophets had already revealed
Jesus was the finalising and fulfilment of an as-yet incomplete ministry of a prophet (which one was the debating point)

Perhaps sections of the Jews were expecting the resurrection of multiple prophets as forerunners to the final arrival of the Messiah or Christ, in addition to the return of Elijah, as prophesied in Malachi 4v5.