5 - The First Disciples

Summary

We have seen that this passage sets out, in verses 35–7, to illustrate the theme that it was through the ‘testimony’ of the Baptist that men came to believe in Jesus. The direct treatment, however, of this theme is exhausted by the end of verse 37, where the words, ἠκολούθησαν τῷ ʾ|ησοῦ, form the appropriate close to a pericopé of this kind, though the effects of the testimony are perpetuated in a kind of chain-reaction: Andrew is brought to Christ by John, Philip by Andrew (?) and Nathaniel by Philip. But in fact the interest has by this time shifted to a different theme. The main purpose of the passage, from verse 40 onwards, is to deploy a series of ‘testimonies’ supplementary to that of John, and these are so arranged that the several persons summoned as witnesses assign to Jesus, one after another, various titles of dignity: Andrew names him Messiah, Philip describes him as the Fulfiller of law and prophets, Nathaniel acclaims him as Son of God and King of Israel. The passage works up to a climax in which Jesus himself takes up the theme and in mysterious terms speaks of the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man, thus completing the series of messianic titles by the addition of the one which in all the gospels alike is used by him alone.