John 1:43Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Do you see what an earnest soul he had? Do you see how often he reflected on what Moses had written, and how he awaited Christ's coming? The word found shows people who are constantly seeking.

He calls no one to Himself before that person joins himself to Him. He does this not simply, but according to His own wisdom and understanding.

If no one came to Him voluntarily, and He Himself drew each one to Himself, perhaps afterward they would leave Him. But since they themselves resolved on this, they remained firm in their intention.

He calls Philip as one known to Him more than the others. Born and raised in Galilee, Philip certainly knew Christ more than the others.

Thus, having gained some disciples, Christ goes to catch others and draws Philip and Nathanael to Himself.

Therefore Philip probably followed Christ after seeing Peter's companions and after hearing about Christ from John. It is also likely that Christ's voice had its effect in him.

Christ knew who would be useful for Him. But the Evangelist passes all this over. Philip knew that Christ was to come. Yet he did not know that Christ was Jesus. I think he heard this either from Peter or from John.

Thus, having gained some disciples, Christ goes to catch others and draws Philip and Nathanael to Himself.

Nathanael's conversion to Christ is not so marvelous, because the report about Jesus had spread through all Syria; see Mt 4:24. More marvelous is the conversion of Peter, James, and Philip.

This is not only because they believed before they had seen the miracles of Jesus Christ, but also because they were from Galilee. From there no prophet had come, and nothing good could be expected.

For the Galileans were an uneducated, wild, and rough people. Yet here Christ showed His power, choosing from a land that bore no fruit the most worthy disciples.

Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest, that He may send forth laborers into His harvest (Mt 9:37-38; Lk 10:2). By harvest He means nothing other than those who, like ears of grain, grow in piety through faith in Him.

And who can be Lord of such as these, if not the God of all? Paul also entreats those who are still heirs of the promises to be joined to Him through repentance, crying: We beseech you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20).

Therefore, since God is the only Lord of the harvest, because He is Master and Creator of all, the Savior said that it belongs to Him alone to appoint workers.

Then, having Himself done this, He is seen to be God from this authority of His. For He commands Philip to follow Him. Therefore He is true God, since He is manifestly the Lord of the harvest and has revealed Himself through this.

How should this be understood, brethren? Not as some pronounce it. For it is usually pronounced: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Especially since Philip's words follow: Come and see (Jn 1:46).

These words of Philip can follow either statement. Either you pronounce the phrase as an affirmation: From Nazareth something good can come, and the other answers, Come and see.

Or you pronounce it as doubting and asking: Can anything good come out of Nazareth? and the other answers, Come and see. Whether it is pronounced one way or the other, the following words will not contradict it.

We, however, must examine how these words are more correctly understood.

What kind of man this Nathanael was we learn from what follows. Listen to what kind of man he was. The Lord Himself bears witness about him.

As the great Lord was revealed through the testimony of John the Baptist, so blessed Nathanael was revealed through the testimony of the Truth.

Yet even if the Lord had not been witnessed to by John, He Himself would have borne witness to Himself, because the Truth is sufficient as His own witness.

But because men could not find the truth, they sought it with the help of a lamp. Therefore John was sent, so that through him the Lord might be revealed.

But both the means by which Jesus Christ called Philip and Philip's complete obedience to Jesus Christ are worthy of wonder. Jesus said to him only one word: Follow Me. Without delay he left everything and went after Him.

From this it is evident that Philip had either already been taught about Jesus Christ by his countrymen, Andrew and Peter, or that the most mighty power of Jesus Christ's word disposed his good will in a wondrous way. Or both did so.

How often Christ also calls us by the Gospel voice, that we may reject vanity and follow Him. Yet we do not obey His divine voice at all, but remain unbending and unchanged in our fleshly desires.

That Philip not only immediately followed Christ who called him, but also showed great zeal that others might follow Him, is evident from the following Gospel words.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, wrote: Jesus, the son of Joseph, who is from Nazareth (Jn 1:45).

In their blindness, they dreamed that this conqueror would subject all nations of the earth to Israel. Philip's friend Nathanael strengthens us in this supposition.

Nathanael had not heard John's testimony concerning Jesus. Therefore he did not immediately believe that Jesus of Nazareth could be the Messiah.

However it may have been, Philip followed Jesus. After conversing with Him, he became finally convinced of Him. Meeting Nathanael, he told him with rapture that Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth, is the One of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote.

Calling Jesus the son of Joseph from Nazareth, Philip of course did not know that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem and was not Joseph's son. In speaking this way, he repeated the commonly accepted opinion of that time concerning Jesus' origin.

Nathanael belonged to the kind of people who try first to be convinced of the truth of what they are asked to believe. Knowing that the inhabitants of Nazareth did not enjoy a good reputation, he doubted the truth of Philip's words.

He said, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip did not begin to argue with him, but left him to be convinced for himself that Jesus of Nazareth is truly the promised Messiah.

Come and see, Philip said to him.

This easily explains why the Greeks who, in the last week of Christ's life, wished to see Him, turned precisely to him and not to some other Apostle.

At the single authoritative word, Follow Me, Philip followed Christ and became His permanent disciple.

The first Evangelists are silent about this, and only John speaks of it.

He finds Philip: not yet on the way to Galilee, but only when He had formed the intention to set out. It seems this happened there, on the banks of the Jordan.

Was Philip perhaps even a disciple of John the Baptist? At least he was from Bethsaida, from the same city as Andrew, who had been a disciple of the Baptist and now followed the Lord Jesus.

Peter was also from there, and his brother Andrew had likewise drawn him to Christ. Was it not through these two new disciples of His that the Lord found this new disciple too?

Follow Me: this was not yet the calling to apostolic ministry, which, according to the first three Evangelists, took place later (Mt 10:1 and note, and parallels).

Rather, it was the Lord's preliminary acquaintance with His future disciple, as with the others mentioned in this chapter. They all follow the Lord together into Galilee, where soon they were all at the wedding in Cana (Jn 2:2, 11).

Perhaps all these Galileans were disciples of the Baptist. Now, having become acquainted with the Lord, they followed Him to their homeland, Galilee, where He had now intended to go.

The Knower of hearts saw that Philip's soul, prepared by conversation with his fellow citizens, was ready to follow Him. Therefore He offers Philip neither instruction nor exhortation, but only says, Follow Me. And Philip went.

What Philip then heard from Jesus justified his expectations.

After the death of Herod I, Emperor Augustus divided his possessions among his three sons according to his will. Archelaus, with the title of ethnarch, received Judea, Samaria, and Idumea.

Philip received Trachonitis, Iturea, Batanea, and Auranitis. Galilee and Perea were allotted to Herod Antipas. Philip and Herod bore the title of tetrarchs.

The cruelty of Archelaus caused his exile to Gaul in the tenth year of his reign. For this reason Judea was governed by a Roman procurator.

This border ran along the valley of Jezreel, about half a degree, or about fifty versts, north of Bethabara.

The Lord does not meet Philip by chance, but finds him. The Lord Himself chooses the disciples (Jn 15:16). The Father gave them to the Son (Jn 17:6).

We do not know where the Lord finds Philip. It may even have been already within the borders of Galilee, where the Lord was going with Andrew, Simon, John, and perhaps James.

Nor do we know Philip's origin. Yet one cannot fail to notice that his name is certainly Greek. It is remarkable that the Greeks who wished to see the Lord addressed their request precisely to him (Jn 12:20-21).

Perhaps Philip was by blood half-Jew and half-Greek. We shall see below, however, that some persons, such as Nathanael, are called by their surnames rather than their names.

Concerning Bethsaida, the homeland of Philip and of Peter and Andrew, it must be noted that there were two Bethsaidas. One was Galilean, of which this passage speaks.

The other was Bethsaida Julias, on the border of Galilee and Perea, more precisely Gaulanitis, north of the Sea of Galilee or Tiberias.

This latter Bethsaida, Bethsaida Julia, became a city only under the tetrarch Philip, as Flavius Josephus indicates. This latter Bethsaida was named Julias by the tetrarch Philip in honor of Augustus's daughter.

Apparently it did not lie right on the shore, although the name Bethsaida means house of fish. The Lord's miracle of multiplying the loaves and fish was performed near this second Bethsaida Julias.

This is clear from comparing Mk 6:31-53, especially verse 45, with Lk 9:10. See also Jn 6:17 and Mt 14:14-34.

For after this miracle the Lord's disciples get into a boat to cross the sea and return home to Capernaum (Jn 6 and others).

Galilean Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter, from which Philip also came, was on the western shore of the lake near Capernaum.

Undoubtedly this house of fish was the older of the two settlements of the same name. It was called Bethsaida because its whole population was engaged in fishing.