Yohanes 1:41-46

1:41 He first ¹  found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” ²  (which is translated Christ). ³  1:42 Andrew brought Simon ⁴  to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of John. ⁵  You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter). ⁶ 

The Calling of More Disciples

1:43 On the next day Jesus ⁷  wanted to set out for Galilee. ⁸  He ⁹  found Philip and said ¹⁰  to him, “Follow me.” 1:44 (Now Philip was from Bethsaida, ¹¹  the town of ¹²  Andrew and Peter.) 1:45 Philip found Nathanael ¹³  and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also ¹⁴  wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 1:46 Nathanael ¹⁵  replied, ¹⁶  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” ¹⁷  Philip replied, ¹⁸  “Come and see.”

Yohanes 1:49

1:49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king ¹⁹  of Israel!” ²⁰ 

Yohanes 15:27

15:27 and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Yohanes 17:20

Jesus Prays for Believers Everywhere

17:20 “I am not praying ²¹  only on their behalf, but also on behalf of those who believe ²²  in me through their testimony, ²³ 

Yohanes 20:24-25

The Response of Thomas

20:24 Now Thomas (called Didymus), ²⁴  one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 20:25 The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, ²⁵  “Unless I see the wounds ²⁶  from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!” ²⁷ 

Yohanes 20:28

20:28 Thomas replied to him, ²⁸  “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ 

[1:41]  ¹ tc Most witnesses (א* L W^s Ï) read πρῶτος (prwtos) here instead of πρῶτον (prwton). The former reading would be a predicate adjective and suggest that Andrew “was the first” person to proselytize another regarding Jesus. The reading preferred, however, is the neuter πρῶτον, used as an adverb (BDAG 893 s.v. πρῶτος 1.a.β.), and it suggests that the first thing that Andrew did was to proselytize Peter. The evidence for this reading is early and weighty: Ì^66,75 א² A B Θ Ψ 083 Ë^1,13 892 al lat.

[1:41]  ² sn Naturally part of Andrew’s concept of the Messiah would have been learned from John the Baptist (v. 40). However, there were a number of different messianic expectations in 1st century Palestine (see the note on “Who are you?” in v. 19), and it would be wrong to assume that what Andrew meant here is the same thing the author means in the purpose statement at the end of the Fourth Gospel, 20:31. The issue here is not whether the disciples’ initial faith in Jesus as Messiah was genuine or not, but whether their concept of who Jesus was grew and developed progressively as they spent time following him, until finally after his resurrection it is affirmed in the climactic statement of John’s Gospel, the affirmation of Thomas in 20:28.

[1:41]  ³ tn Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “the one who has been anointed.”

[1:41]  sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. See the note on Christ in 1:20.

[1:42]  ⁴ tn Grk “He brought him”; both referents (Andrew, Simon) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:42]  ⁵ tc The reading “Simon, son of John” is well attested in Ì^66,75,106 א B* L 33 pc it co. The majority of mss (A B² Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï) read “Simon, the son of Jonah” here instead, but that is perhaps an assimilation to Matt 16:17.

[1:42]  ⁶ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. The change of name from Simon to Cephas is indicative of the future role he will play. Only John among the gospel writers gives the Greek transliteration (Κηφᾶς, Khfas) of Simon’s new name, Qéphâ (which is Galilean Aramaic). Neither Πέτρος (Petros) in Greek nor Qéphâ in Aramaic is a normal proper name; it is more like a nickname.

[1:43]  ⁷ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Jesus is best taken as the subject of εὑρίσκει (Jeuriskei), since Peter would scarcely have wanted to go to Galilee.

[1:43]  ⁸ sn No explanation is given for why Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee, but probably he wanted to go to the wedding at Cana (about a two day trip).

[1:43]  ⁹ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:43]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and Jesus said.”

[1:44]  ¹¹ sn Although the author thought of the town as in Galilee (12:21), Bethsaida technically was in Gaulanitis (Philip the Tetrarch’s territory) across from Herod’s Galilee. There may have been two places called Bethsaida, or this may merely reflect popular imprecision – locally it was considered part of Galilee, even though it was just east of the Jordan river. This territory was heavily Gentile (which may explain why Andrew and Philip both have Gentile names).

[1:44]  ¹² tn Probably ἀπό (apo) indicates “originally from” in the sense of birthplace rather than current residence; Mark 1:21, 29 seems to locate the home of Andrew and Peter at Capernaum. The entire remark (v. 44) amounts to a parenthetical comment by the author.

[1:45]  ¹³ sn Nathanael is traditionally identified with Bartholomew (although John never describes him as such). He appears here after Philip, while in all lists of the twelve except in Acts 1:13, Bartholomew follows Philip. Also, the Aramaic Bar-tolmai means “son of Tolmai,” the surname; the man almost certainly had another name.

[1:45]  ¹⁴ tn “Also” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[1:46]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And Nathanael.”

[1:46]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “said to him.”

[1:46]  ¹⁷ sn Can anything good come out of Nazareth? may be a local proverb expressing jealousy among the towns.

[1:46]  map For location see Map1 D3; Map2 C2; Map3 D5; Map4 C1; Map5 G3.

[1:46]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “And Philip said to him.”

[1:49]  ¹⁹ tn Although βασιλεύς (basileus) lacks the article it is definite due to contextual and syntactical considerations. See ExSyn 263.

[1:49]  ²⁰ sn Nathanael’s confession – You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel – is best understood as a confession of Jesus’ messiahship. It has strong allusions to Ps 2:6-7, a well-known messianic psalm. What Nathanael’s exact understanding was at this point is hard to determine, but “son of God” was a designation for the Davidic king in the OT, and Nathanael parallels it with King of Israel here.

[17:20]  ²¹ tn Or “I do not pray.”

[17:20]  ²² tn Although πιστευόντων (pisteuontwn) is a present participle, it must in context carry futuristic force. The disciples whom Jesus is leaving behind will carry on his ministry and in doing so will see others come to trust in him. This will include not only Jewish Christians, but other Gentile Christians who are “not of this fold” (10:16), and thus Jesus’ prayer for unity is especially appropriate in light of the probability that most of the readers of the Gospel are Gentiles (much as Paul stresses unity between Jewish and Gentile Christians in Eph 2:10-22).

[17:20]  ²³ tn Grk “their word.”

[20:24]  ²⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author; Didymus means “the twin” in Greek.

[20:25]  ²⁵ tn Grk “but he said to them.”

[20:25]  ²⁶ tn Or “marks.”

[20:25]  ²⁷ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context. The use of “it” here as direct object of the verb πιστεύσω (pisteusw) specifies exactly what Thomas was refusing to believe: that Jesus had risen from the dead, as reported by his fellow disciples. Otherwise the English reader may be left with the impression Thomas was refusing to “believe in” Jesus, or “believe Jesus to be the Christ.” The dramatic tension in this narrative is heightened when Thomas, on seeing for himself the risen Christ, believes more than just the resurrection (see John 20:28).

[20:28]  ²⁸ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[20:28]  ²⁹ sn Should Thomas’ exclamation be understood as two subjects with the rest of the sentence omitted (“My Lord and my God has truly risen from the dead”), as predicate nominatives (“You are my Lord and my God”), or as vocatives (“My Lord and my God!”)? Probably the most likely is something between the second and third alternatives. It seems that the second is slightly more likely here, because the context appears confessional. Thomas’ statement, while it may have been an exclamation, does in fact confess the faith which he had previously lacked, and Jesus responds to Thomas’ statement in the following verse as if it were a confession. With the proclamation by Thomas here, it is difficult to see how any more profound analysis of Jesus’ person could be given. It echoes 1:1 and 1:14 together: The Word was God, and the Word became flesh (Jesus of Nazareth). The Fourth Gospel opened with many other titles for Jesus: the Lamb of God (1:29, 36); the Son of God (1:34, 49); Rabbi (1:38); Messiah (1:41); the King of Israel (1:49); the Son of Man (1:51). Now the climax is reached with the proclamation by Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” and the reader has come full circle from 1:1, where the author had introduced him to who Jesus was, to 20:28, where the last of the disciples has come to the full realization of who Jesus was. What Jesus had predicted in John 8:28 had come to pass: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he” (Grk “I am”). By being lifted up in crucifixion (which led in turn to his death, resurrection, and exaltation with the Father) Jesus has revealed his true identity as both Lord (κύριος [kurios], used by the LXX to translate Yahweh) and God (θεός [qeos], used by the LXX to translate Elohim).