John 1:43

(43) The day following, that is, the fourth day from the inquiry by the Sanhedrin (see Joh_1:29; Joh_1:35; Joh_1:43).

Findeth Philip.—Just as he was going forth from his lodging of the previous night (Joh_1:39). Philip is mentioned in the other Gospels only in the lists of the Twelve. The touches of character are all found in St. John. (Comp. Joh_6:5; Joh_12:21; Joh_14:8.)

Follow me.—This command, so full of meaning, is never used in the Gospels except as spoken by our Lord Himself, and is addressed to but one outside the circle of the Apostles, the rich young man whom Jesus loved (Mat_19:21; Mar_10:21). In other parts of the New Testament it is used but once, in the words of the angel to Peter (Act_12:8). We cannot, therefore, limit the words to an invitation to accompany Him on that day’s walk, though this is included, and in that walk from Bethania to Bethsaida there came the revelation which made the “Follow Me” a power binding for the whole of life. (Comp. Mat_8:22.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_1:43-44

Jesus … findeth Phillip

I.

THE SEEKING CHRIST. This is a chapter of seeking and finding. Christ asks Andrew and John, Whom seek ye? Andrew findeth his own brother and saith unto him, We have found. Then, again, Jesus finds Philip, and Philip Nathaniel, and both the Messias. There are two kinds of finding: a casual stumbling on the thing we were not looking for, and that which is the result of seeking. Thus Jesus found Philip, who was un-expectant and undesirous. That is what Christ often does. There are men, like the merchantman seeking goodly pearls, seeking what they want in a hundred different places, and then, when expectancy has died down into despair and apathy, the veil is withdrawn and Jesus seen there beside them. But there are others, like Paul and like Matthew, on whom Christ lays a sudden hand and blesses without their seeking. And so in this story He will welcome Andrew and John when they come seeking. But when these are won, there remains that other way by which He drew Philip to His heart by the sudden revelation of His love.

1. Whether we seek Him or no, Christ is seeking every man. The Son of Man is come to seek, etc.

2. He seeks us each in a thousand ways--by the motion of His spirit-stirring conviction; by our restlessness and dissatisfaction; by disappointment and losses; by the brightness and goodness of earthly providences.

II. THE WORD OF AUTHORITY. Sheep follow a shepherd, travellers a guide, soldiers their captains. This is a call to accept Him as a teacher, but the whole context shows that they recognized Him as the Messiah. So it is more: it is a call to

1. Faith.

2. Obedience.

3. Imitation.

4. Communion.

III. THE SILENTLY AND SWIFTLY OBEDIENT DISCIPLE. Philip says nothing, but he yields.

1. How quickly a soul may be won or lost. Philips decision was trembling in the balance. It might have gone the other way. A moment settled it. Objections to instantaneous conversions are unphilosophical. Hesitations may be long, but decisions are matters of an instant.

2. Why people are kept back from yielding to Christs invitation.

(1) Other duties which seem more important.

(2) The non-conviction of the need of a guide.

These are excuses, not reasons, manufactured to cover a decision which has been taken before on grounds which it is not convenient to bring up to the service. Follow Christ.

This is

1. Safe.

2. Right.

3. Blessed. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Moral imitation

I. MANS MORAL CHARACTER DETERMINES HIS DESTINY. As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he in his

1. Experience, whether happy or miserable.

2. Prospects, whether terrific or inviting.

3. Influence, whether useful or pernicious.

4. Relations.

(1) To God, whether approved or condemned.

(2) To the universe, whether a blessing or a curse.

II. MANS MORAL CHARACTER IS FORMED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF IMITATION. This is seen in children, and the Romans, recognizing this, placed in their vestibules the busts of great men, so that the young might be reminded of their virtues. The seed of a childs action is not teaching, but deeds.

III. THE FORMATION OF A GOOD CHARACTER REQUIRES A PERFECT MODEL. Sir Joshua Reynolds found after years of study that he had been imitating, not Titian, whom he desired to make his model, but a forger. After this he resolved to make nature his model, and thus became a great master of his art. According to his model, so will a man be. One reason why human character is so depraved is because the perfect model is little known and less appreciated.

IV. THE ONLY PERFECT MODEL IS JESUS CHRIST. Who is the most imitable character?

1. He who has the strongest power to command admiration.

2. He who is most transparent in character.

3. He who is most unchangeable in the spirit which animates him.

Conclusion: Follow Me.

1. This is an epitome of the moral laws of God.

2. Herein is mans life and perfection.

3. Imitate Christ by inbreathing His moral spirit. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The call of St. Philip

No trumpet summoned the soldiers of the Cross to the battle-field; no hand like that at Belshazzars feast came forth to beckon him; no miracle made them take up a distinctive post. And, yet, what a call this was! how noble, singular, useful, profitable I Such a call came to Judas, and he sold it.

I. THE ORIGIN OF THIS CALL WAS THE WILL OF CHRIST. Jesus goes forth in search of every sinner. But the mere going forth of Christ is not enough. There must be an exercise of His secret power. This power is pervasive, leavening, and so works upon mans free-will that it comes into union with the heavenly will. Without this there can be no discipleship.

II. THE POSITION IN WHICH THIS CALL PLACES THE PERSON BY WHOM IT IS RECOGNIZED AND OBEYED. It makes him follower, and when man becomes a follower

1. He abridges his right over himself, his property, time, etc.

2. He sets aside his own wisdom, and accepts that of His Master.

3. He follows always, even unto the end.

III. IN THIS CALL THERE IS

1. Exclusiveness, jealous refusal to admit of any division of the heart.

2. Mystery.

(1) It separates us from the nothingness and delusions of the world.

(2) It joins us to the invisible and heavenly.

(3) It opens up new hopes, scenes, and sources of immeasurable wealth. (P. B. Power, M. A.)

Delaying Christian profession

The command is for instant obedience. A common objection is, I have no confidence in my future strength. I must wait until I am stronger before I profess to have devoted my whole life to Christ. Reply

I. YOU ARE LIVING ONLY IN THE PRESENT. The future is not. For you there may be no earthly future, for you may die to-night. Your responsibility is for the now.

II. DUTIES WILL COME NOT IN THE MASS, BUT ONE BY ONE. Strength for each is all you will need.

III. YOU WILL GROW STRONG FOR COMING DUTIES ONLY AS YOU PERFORM PRESENT ONES. No one can step to the top of the pyramids; but he can climb one block; and from that he can reach another. Says Robert Browning: I see a duty and do it not, and therefore see no higher.

IV. GODS GRACE IS PROMISED ONLY FOR TIME OF NEED. No man to-day can be prepared for tomorrows duties.

V. GODS STRENGTH IS OUR ONLY STRENGTH, AND THAT IS PLEDGED. I will be with you even to the end of the world. He will not suffer you to be tempted beyond that you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape. (Homiletic Monthly.)

The motive for following Christ

It is related in the annals Of the Ottoman Empire that when Amurath

II. died, which was very suddenly, his son and destined successor, Mohammed, was about a days journey distant in Asia Minor. Every day of interregnum in that fierce and turbulent monarchy is attended with peril. The death of the deceased Sultan was therefore concealed, and a secret message despatched to the prince to hasten at once to the capital. On receiving the message he leaped on a powerful Arab charger, and turning to his attendants, said, Let him who loves me, follow! This prince afterwards became one of the most powerful sovereigns of the Ottoman line. Those who approved their courage and loyalty by following him in this critical moment of his fortunes, were magnificently rewarded. There is another Prince--the Prince of peace--who says to those around Him, Let him who loves Me, follow.

The method of following Christ

Faith includes works; loyalty involves service; love carries devotedness. It is not merely that, if we have trust in another, we ought to conform our conduct to the directions or suggestions or wishes or example of the trusted one; but it is that, if our trust is a reality, it will show itself in our conduct. It is folly for a child to tell of his love for his mother if he has no regard to her wishes; it is folly for a patient to say that he believes in his physician if he pays no attention to that physicians prescription; it is folly for a soldier to say that he is devoted to a commander whom he will not obey in the heat of a campaign; it is folly for a man to say he has faith in Jesus if he does not seek to follow Jesus. Jesus says, If ye love Me, keep My commandments. (H. G.Trumbull, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 1:43-44. The day following — The next to that last mentioned, on which he met with Peter; Jesus would go forth into Galilee — And there enter on his public ministry; and findeth Philip — Whom he intended to choose to be one of his apostles; and saith to him, Follow me — Which he accordingly did, being secretly influenced by Christ’s grace. When we consider how suddenly some of Christ’s disciples left their stated employments to follow him, it seems reasonable to allow some singular kind of impression on their minds, as there was in the calling of Elisha, (1Ki 19:19-21,) which, though for the present it superseded the necessity of arguments, yet it did not exclude their attending to that afterward, which might be necessary to defend their conduct to others. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew — “As it appears from the subsequent part of the history, Philip was already acquainted with our Lord’s character, and believed on him, this observation is made by the evangelist, to show by what means he was brought to Jesus; his townsmen, Andrew and Peter, had done him this favour.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John

THE FIRST DISCIPLES: III. PHILIP

Joh 1:43.

‘The day following’-we have a diary in this chapter and the next, extending from the day when John the Baptist gives his official testimony to Jesus, up till our Lord’s first journey to Jerusalem. The order of events is this. The deputation from the Sanhedrim to John occupied the first day. On the second Jesus comes back to John after His temptation, and receives his solemn attestation. On the third day, John repeats his testimony, and three disciples, probably four, make the nucleus of the Church. These are the two pairs of brothers, James and John, Andrew and Peter, who stand first in every catalogue of the Apostles, and were evidently nearest to Christ.

‘The day following’ of our text is the fourth day. On it our Lord determines to return to Galilee. His objects in His visit to John were accomplished-to receive his public attestation, and to gather the first little knot of His followers. Thus launched upon His course, He desired to return to His native district.

These events had occurred where John was baptising, in a place called in the English version Bethabara, which means ‘The house of crossing,’ or as we might say, Ferry-house. The traditional site for John’s baptism is near Jericho, but the next chapter {Joh 2:1} shows that it was only a day’s journey from Cana of Galilee, and must therefore have been much further north than Jericho. A ford, still bearing the name Abarah, a few miles south of the lake of Gennesaret, has lately been discovered. Our Lord, then, and His disciples had a day’s walking to take them back to Galilee. But apparently before they set out on that morning, Philip and Nathanael were added to the little band. So these two days saw six disciples gathered round Jesus.

Andrew and John sought Christ and found Him. To them He revealed Himself as very willing to be approached, and glad to welcome any to His side. Peter, who comes next, was brought to Christ by his brother, and to him Christ revealed Himself as reading his heart, and promising and giving him higher functions and a more noble character.

Now we come to the third case, ‘Jesus findeth Philip,’ who was not seeking Jesus, and who was brought by no one. To him Christ reveals Himself as drawing near to many a heart that has not thought of Him, and laying a masterful hand of gracious authority on the springs of life and character in that autocratic word ‘Follow Me.’ So we have a gradually heightening revelation of the Master’s graciousness to all souls, to them that seek and to them that seek Him not. It is only to the working out of these simple thoughts that I ask your attention now.

I. First, then, let us deal with the revelation that is given us here of the seeking Christ.

Every one who reads this chapter with even the slightest attention must observe how ‘seeking’ and ‘finding’ are repeated over and over again. Christ turns to Andrew and John with the question, ‘What seek ye?’ Andrew, as the narrative says, ‘findeth his own brother, Simon, and saith unto him, “We have found the Messias!”‘ Then again, Jesus finds Philip; and again, Philip, as soon as he has been won to Jesus, goes off to find Nathanael; and his glad word to him is, once more, ‘We have found the Messias.’ It is a reciprocal play of finding and seeking all through these verses.

There are two kinds of finding. There is a casual stumbling upon a thing that you were not looking for, and there is a finding as the result of seeking. It is the latter which is here. Christ did not casually stumble upon Philip, upon that morning, before they departed from the fords of the Jordan on their short journey to Cana of Galilee. He went to look for this other Galilean, one who was connected with Andrew and Peter, a native of the same little village. He went and found him; and whilst Philip was all unexpectant and undesirous, the Master came to him and laid His hand upon him, and drew him to Himself.

Now that is what Christ often does. There are men like the merchantman who went all over the world seeking goodly pearls, who with some eager longing to possess light, or truth, or goodness, or rest, search up and down and find it nowhere, because they are looking for it in a hundred different places. They are expecting to find a little here and a little there, and to piece all together to make of the fragments one all-sufficing restfulness. Then when they are most eager in their search, or when, perhaps, it has all died down into despair and apathy, the veil seems to be withdrawn, and they see Him whom they have been seeking all the time and knew not that He was there beside them. All, and more than all, that they sought for in the many pearls is stored for them in the one Pearl of great price. The ancient covenant stands firm to-day as for ever. ‘Seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.’

But then there are others, like Paul on the road to Damascus or like Matthew the publican, sitting at the receipt of custom, on whom there is laid a sudden hand, to whom there comes a sudden conviction, on whose eyes, not looking to the East, there dawns the light of Christ’s presence. Such cases occur all through the ages, for He is not to be confined, bless His name! within the narrow limits of answering seeking souls, or of showing Himself to people that are brought to Him by human instrumentality; but far beyond these bounds He goes, and many a time discloses His beauty and His sweetness to hearts that wist not of Him, and who can only say, ‘Lo! God was in this place, and I knew it not.’ ‘Thou wast found of them that sought Thee not.’

As it was in His miracles upon earth, so it has been in the sweet and gracious works of His grace ever since. Sometimes He healed in response to the yearning desire that looked out of sick eyes, or that spoke from parched lips, and no man that ever came to Him and said ‘Heal me!’ was sent away beggared of His blessing. Sometimes He healed in response to the beseeching of those who, with loving hearts, carried their dear ones and laid them at His feet. But sometimes, to magnify the spontaneity and the completeness of His own love, and to show us that He is bound and limited by no human co-operation, and that He is His own motive, He reached out the blessing to a hand that was not extended to grasp it; and by His question, ‘Wilt thou be made whole?’ kindled desires that else had lain dormant for ever.

And so in this story before us; He will welcome and over-answer Andrew and John when they come seeking; He will turn round to them with a smile on His face, that converts the question, ‘What seek ye?’ into an invitation, ‘Come and see.’ And when Andrew brings his brother to Him, He will go more than halfway to meet him. But when these are won, there still remains another way by which He will have disciples brought into His Kingdom, and that is by Himself going out and laying His hand on the man and drawing him to His heart by the revelation of His love. But further, and in a deeper sense, He really seeks us all, and, unasked, bestows His love upon us.

Whether we seek Him or no, there is no heart upon earth which Christ does not desire; and no man or woman within the sound of His gospel whom He is not in a very real sense seeking that He may draw them to Himself. His own word is a wonderful one: ‘The Father seeketh such to worship Him’; as if God went all up and down the world looking for hearts to love Him and to turn to Him with reverent thankfulness. And as the Father, so the Son-who is for us the revelation of the Father: ‘The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.’ No one on earth wanted Him, or dreamed of His coming. When He bowed the heavens and gathered Himself into the narrow space of the manger in Bethlehem, and took upon Him the limitations and the burdens and the weaknesses of manhood, it was not in response to any petition, it was in reply to no seeking; but He came spontaneously, unmoved, obeying but the impulse of His own heart, and because He would have mercy. He who is the Beginning, and will be First in all things, was first in this, that before they called He answered, and came upon earth unbesought and unexpected, because His own infinite love brought Him hither. Christ’s mercy to a world does not come like water in a well that has to be pumped up, by our petitions, by our search, but like water in some fountain, rising sparkling into the sunlight by its own inward impulse. He is His own motive; and came to a forgetful and careless world, like a shepherd who goes after his flock in the wilderness, not because they bleat for him, while they crop the herbage which tempts them ever further from the fold and remember him and it no more, but because he cannot have them lost. Men are not conscious of needing Christ till He comes. The supply creates the demand. He is like the ‘dew which tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.’

But not only does Christ seek us all, inasmuch as the whole conception and execution of His great work are independent of man’s desires, but He seeks us each in a thousand ways. He longs to have each of us for His disciples. He seeks each of us for His disciples, by the motion of His Spirit on our spirits, by stirring conviction in our consciences, by pricking us often with a sense of our own evil, by all our restlessness and dissatisfaction, by the disappointments and the losses, as by the brightnesses and the goodness of earthly providences, and often through such agencies as my lips and the lips of other men. The Master Himself, who seeks all mankind, has sought and is seeking you at this moment. Oh! yield to His search. The shepherd goes out on the mountain side, for all the storm and the snow, and wades knee-deep through the drifts until he finds the sheep. And your Shepherd, who is also your Brother, has come looking for you, and at this moment is putting out His hand and laying hold of some of you through my poor words, and saying to you, as He said to Philip, ‘Follow Me!’

II. And now let us next consider that word of authority which, spoken to the one man in our text, is really spoken to us all.

‘Jesus findeth Philip, and saith unto him, “Follow Me!”‘ No doubt a great deal more passed, but no doubt what more passed was less significant and less important for the development of faith in this man than what is recorded. The word of authority, the invitation which was a demand, the demand which was an invitation, and the personal impression which He produced upon Philip’s heart, were the things that bound him to Jesus Christ for ever. ‘Follow Me,’ spoken at the beginning of the journey of Christ and His disciples back to Galilee, might have meant merely, on the surface, ‘Come back with us.’ But the words have, of course, a much deeper meaning. They mean-be My disciple. Think what is implied in them, and ask yourself whether the demand that Christ makes in these words is an unreasonable one, and then ask yourselves whether you have yielded to it or not.

We lose the force of the image by much repetition. Sheep follow a shepherd. Travellers follow a guide. Here is a man upon some dangerous cornice of the Alps, with a ledge of limestone as broad as the palm of your hand, and perhaps a couple of feet of snow above that, for him to walk upon, a precipice on either side; and his guide says, as he ropes himself to him, ‘Now, tread where I tread!’ Travellers follow their guides. Soldiers follow their commanders. There is the hell of the battlefield; here a line of wavering, timid, raw recruits. Their commander rushes to the front and throws himself upon the advancing enemy with the one word, ‘Follow’ and the coward becomes a hero. Soldiers follow their captains. Your Shepherd comes to you and calls, ‘Follow Me.’ Your Captain and Commander comes to you and calls, ‘Follow Me.’ In all the dreary wilderness, in all the difficult contingencies and conjunctions, in all the conflicts of life, this Man strides in front of us and proposes Himself to us as Guide, Example, Consoler, Friend, Companion, everything; and gathers up all duty, all blessedness, in the majestic and simple words, ‘Follow Me.’

It is a call at the least to accept Him as a Teacher, but the whole gist of the context here is to show us that from the beginning Christ’s disciples did not look upon Him as a Rabbi’s disciples did, as being simply a teacher, but recognised Him as the Messias, the Son of God, the King of Israel. So that they were called upon by this command to accept His teaching in a very special way, not merely as Hillel or Gamaliel asked their disciples to accept theirs. Do you do that? Do you take Him as your illumination about all matters of theoretical truth, and of practical wisdom? Is His declaration of God your theology? Is His declaration of His own Person your creed? Do you think about His Cross as He did when He elected to be remembered in all the world by the broken body and the shed blood, which were the symbols of His reconciling death? Is His teaching, that the Son of Man comes to ‘give His life a ransom for many,’ the ground of your hope? Do you follow Him in your belief, and following Him in your belief, do you accept Him as, by His death and passion, the Saviour of your soul? That is the first step-to follow Him, to trust Him wholly for what He is, the Incarnate Son of God, the Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, and therefore for your sins and mine. This is a call to faith.

It is also a call to obedience. ‘Follow Me’ certainly means ‘Do as I bid you,’ but softens all the harshness of that command. Sedulously plant your tremulous feet in His firm footsteps. Where you see His track going across the bog be not afraid to walk after Him, though it may seem to lead you into the deepest and the blackest of it. ‘Follow Him’ and you will be right. ‘Follow Him’ and you will be blessed. Do as Christ did, or as according to the best of your judgment it seems to you that Christ would have done if He had been in your circumstances; and you will not go far wrong. ‘The Imitation of Christ,’ which Thomas a Kempis wrote his book about, is the sum of all practical Christianity. ‘Follow Me!’ makes discipleship to be something more than intellectual acceptance of His teaching, something more than even reliance for my salvation upon His work. It makes discipleship-springing out of these two-the acceptance of His teaching and the consequent reliance, by faith, upon His word-to be a practical reproduction of His character and conduct in mine.

It is a call to communion. If a man follows Christ he will walk close behind Him, and near enough to Him to hear Him speak, and to be ‘guided by His eye.’ He will be separated from other people, and from other paths. In these four things, then-Faith, Obedience, Imitation, Communion-lies the essence of discipleship. No man is a Christian who has not in some measure all four. Have you got them?

What right has Jesus Christ to ask me to follow Him? Why should I? Who is He that He should set Himself up as being the perfect Example and the Guide for all the world? What has He done to bind me to Him, that I should take Him for my Master, and yield myself to Him in a subjection that I refuse to the mightiest names in literature, and thought, and practical benevolence? Who is this that assumes thus to dominate over us all? Ah! brethren, there is only one answer. ‘This is none other than the Son of God who has given Himself a ransom for me, and therefore has the right, and only therefore has the right, to say to me, “Follow Me.”‘

III. And now one last word. Think for a moment about this silently and swiftly obedient disciple.

Philip says nothing. Of course the narrative is mere sketchy outline. He is silent, but he yields. Ah, brethren, how quickly a soul may be won or lost! That moment, when Philip’s decision was trembling in the balance, was but a moment. It might have gone the other way, for Christ has no pressed men in His army; they are all volunteers. It might have gone the other way. A moment may settle for you whether you will be His disciple or not. People tell us that the belief in instantaneous conversions is unphilosophical. It seems to me that the objections to them are unphilosophical. All decisions are matters of an instant. Hesitation may be long, weighing and balancing may be a protracted process, but the decision is always a moment’s work, a knife-edge. And there is no reason whatever why any one listening to me may not now, if he or she will, do as this man Philip did on the spot, and when Christ says ‘Follow Me,’ turn to Him and answer, ‘I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest.’

There is an old church tradition which says that the disciple who at a subsequent period answered Christ, ‘Lord! suffer me first to go and bury my father,’ was this same Apostle. I do not think that at all likely, but the tradition suggests to us one last thought about the reasons why people are kept back from yielding this obedience to Christ’s invitation. Many of you are kept back, as that procrastinating follower was, because there are some other duties which you feel, or make to be, more important. ‘I will think about Christianity and turning religious when this, that, or the other thing has been got over. I have my position in life to make. I have a great many things to do that must be done at once, and really, I have not time to think about it.’

Then there are some of you that are kept from following Christ because you have never yet found out that you need a guide at all. Then there are some of you that are kept back because you like very much better to go your own way, and to follow your own inclination, and dislike the idea of following the will of another. There are a host of other reasons that I do not need to deal with now; but oh! brethren, none of them is worth pleading. They are excuses, they are not reasons. ‘They all with one consent began to make excuse’-excuses, not reasons; and manufactured excuses, in order to cover a decision which has been taken before, and on other grounds altogether, which it is not convenient to bring up to the surface. I am not going to deal with these in detail, but I beseech you, do not let what I venture to call Christ’s seeking of you once more, even by my poor words now, be in vain.

Follow Him. Trust, obey, imitate, hold fellowship with Him. You will always have a Companion, you will always have a Protector. ‘He that followeth Me,’ saith He, ‘shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.’ And if you will listen to the Shepherd’s voice and follow Him, that sweet old promise will be true, in its divinest and sweetest sense, about your life, in time; and about your life in the moment of death, the isthmus between two worlds, and about your life in eternity-’They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the sun nor heat smite them; for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them.’ ‘Follow thou Me.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Subdivision 4. (Joh 1:43-51).

The earthly gathering.

We have a new day, and the Lord meaning to go forth into Galilee, which we have seen elsewhere to be the typical place of blessing for Israel (see p. 69 notes) where her ruin is most manifest. And now, instead of a continuation of the former gathering by the testimony of disciples, there is a new beginning, and the work of the Lord Himself, who calls Philip. Now the disciples, work begins again: Philip calls Nathanael with a new testimony; "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets wrote, Jesus the son of Joseph, who is from Nazareth." The being the (titular) son of Joseph, which sounds strange as the voice of faith in John’s Gospel, gives Him yet His apparent legal title to the throne. Exceptional in this Gospel it plainly is, but the King of Israel is manifestly intended to be now before us: in principle it is an Israelitish gathering that is begun. Nathanael shows also at first the Jewish unbelief: "Can anything good be out of Nazareth?" And yet the Lord testifies of him, "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." Notice that it is as an "Israelite" he is presented to us. "Whence knowest thou me?" he asks in surprise. "Before Philip called thee," the Lord answers, "when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee." Doubtless there had been some special exercise of heart, -something in which he had been seeking God, -that Christ refers to. And with the true remnant of Israel in the last days, we know that the exercises through which they will pass will be as overshadowed by the fig-tree, which is the figure of a remnant of the nation returned to the land, but not returned to God (Luk 13:6-9), and who will receive Antichrist. The Psalms enter largely into these trials and sorrows; and in them God has provided for them beforehand that which will sustain their faith through that unequalled tribulation through which they will have to pass. In them, when they come to see Him face to face they will find how the Christ they have been seeking has been already with them.

Nathanael at once owns him, as the people will, and in the way in which (as we have seen in the other Gospels) He must be owned, to have blessing from Him: "Rabbi, Thou art the Son or God; Thou art, the King of Israel." As Son of God, they rejected Him in the high priest’s court; as King of Israel, before Pilate. Here plainly Nathanael shows himself as representing the faith of the nation in the day to come; and in that character the Lord answers him: "Because I said, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Henceforth ye shall see heaven opened. and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." If the "henceforth" here is to be accepted, then it would seem even plainer that the Lord anticipates the time when the nation converted to God will make their own the confession of this new disciple. From that time heaven will indeed be opened to them, and they will see the angels its inhabitants attendant upon One who will be manifestly "Son of man." This will be indeed a marvellous and blessed thing to see; and the title "Son of man," we have seen constantly connected by the Lord with His appearing in the clouds of heaven, with the glory of the angels. Doubtless it was also the title He loved to take during His life-time upon earth, as bringing near to those among whom He was the grace of His incarnation but the whole connection as we have traced it, and the full meaning of the words themselves, seem to forbid more than a partial reference of them to the time of His earth-sojourn. Israel on the other hand will in millennial days undoubtedly stand under the glory of the heavens opened; but thus still be in a position short of theirs who will go in where He abides, and abide with Him. The two companies, the heavenly and the earthly, are thus in marked contrast, yet in connection with one another; and we see the Lord in His place as the Centre of each. How suited, we may again say, that after His manifestation in the fulness of His grace, as the evangelist has shown Him, we should see the effect of this in the two circles of blessing which now we see around Him, and which are but the types of those who shall fill heaven and earth and eternity with their joy and praise.

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1:43-44 Galilee was the region of northern Israel around the Sea of Galilee. • Bethsaida (“house of fishing”) was a village on Galilee’s north shore and the home of Peter, Andrew, and Philip. Later, Peter and Andrew moved to Capernaum, a village west of Bethsaida (Mark 1:21, 29).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 1:43. Ἠθέλησεν ἐξελθεῖν, would go forth) and He did go forth, which ch. Joh 2:1 implies. By comparing with this ch. 2, especially the 11th verse, “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth His glory,” etc., it is evident that the word for going forth is significant. He went forth to action, to the carrying on of His work.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 1:43 . καὶ ἤγαγεν αὐτὸν πρὸς τὸν Ἰησοῦν . He was not content to allow his report to work in his brother’s mind, but induced him there and then, though probably on the following day, as now it must have been late, to go to Jesus. ἐμβλέψας … Πέτρος . Jesus may have known Simon previously, or may have been told his name by Andrew. “Thou art Simon, Jonah’s son, or better, John’s son. Thou shalt be called Kephas.” This name, Kephas or Peter, stone or mass of rock, Simon did receive at Caesarea Philippi on his confession of Jesus as the Christ (Mat 16:17-18 ); a confession prompted not by “flesh and blood,” that is, by his brother’s experience, but by his own inwrought and home-grown conviction. The reason of this utterance to Simon is understood when it is considered that the name he as yet bore, Simon Barjona, was identified with a character full of impulsiveness; which might well lead him to suppose he would only bring mischief to the Messiah’s kingdom. But, says Christ, thou shalt be called Rock. Those who enter Christ’s kingdom believing in Him receive a character fitting them to be of service.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

We have here the call of Philip and Nathanael.

I. Philip was called immediately by Christ himself, not as Andrew, who was directed to Christ by John, or Peter, who was invited by his brother. God has various methods of bringing his chosen ones home to himself. But, whatever means he uses, he is not tied to any. 1. Philip was called in a preventing was: Jesus findeth Philip. Christ sought us, and found us, before we made any enquiries after him. The name Philip is of Greek origin, and much used among the Gentiles, which some make an instance of the degeneracy of the Jewish church at this time, and their conformity to the nations; yet Christ changed not his name. 2. He was called the day following. See how closely Christ applied himself to his business. When work is to be done for God, we must not lose a day. Yet observe, Christ now called one or two a day; but, after the Spirit was poured out, there were thousands a day effectually called, in which was fulfilled Joh 14:12. 3. Jesus would go forth into Galilee to call him. Christ will find out all those that are given to him, wherever they are, and none of them shall be lost. 4. Philip was brought to be a disciple by the power of Christ going along with that word, Follow me. See the nature of true Christianity; it is following Christ, devoting ourselves to his converse and conduct, attending his movements, and treading in his steps. See the efficacy of the grace of it is the rod of his strength. 5. We are told that Philip was of Bethsaida, and Andrew and Peter were so too, Joh 1:44. These eminent disciples received not honour from the place of their nativity, but reflected honour upon it. Bethsaida signifies the house of nets, because inhabited mostly by fishermen; thence Christ chose disciples, who were to be furnished with extraordinary gifts, and therefore needed not the ordinary advantages of learning. Bethsaida was a wicked place (Mat 11:21), yet even there was a remnant, according to the election of grace.

II. Nathanael was invited to Christ by Philip, and much is said concerning him. In which we may observe,

1. What passed between Philip and Nathanael, in which appears an observable mixture of pious zeal with weakness, such as is usually found in beginners, that are yet but asking the way to Zion. Here is,

(1.) The joyful news that Philip brought to Nathanael, Joh 1:45. As Andrew before, so Philip here, having got some knowledge of Christ himself, rests not till he has made manifest the savour of that knowledge. Philip, though newly come to an acquaintance with Christ himself, yet steps aside to seek Nathanael. Note, When we have the fairest opportunities of getting good to our own souls, yet ever then we must seek opportunities of doing good to the souls of others, remembering the words of Christ, It is more blessed to give than to receive, Act 20:35. O, saith Philip, we have found him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, Observe here, [1.] What a transport of joy Philip was in, upon this new acquaintance with Christ: "We have found him whom we have so often talked of, so long wished and waited for; at last, he is come he is come, and we have found him!" [2.] What an advantage it was to him that he was so well acquainted with the scriptures of the Old Testament, which prepared his mind for the reception of evangelical light, and made the entrance of it much the more easy: Him of whom Moses and the prophets did write. What was written entirely and from eternity in the book of the divine counsels was in part, at sundry times and in divers manners, copied out into the book of the divine revelations. Glorious things were written there concerning the Seed of the woman, the Seed of Abraham, Shiloh, the prophet like Moses, the Son of David, Emmanuel, the Man, the Branch, Messiah the Prince. Philip had studied these things, and was full of them, which made him readily welcome Christ. [3.] What mistakes and weaknesses he laboured under: he called Christ Jesus of Nazareth, whereas he was of Bethlehem; and the Son of Joseph, whereas he as but his supposed Son. Young beginners in religion are subject to mistakes, which time and the grace of God will rectify. It was his weakness to say, We have found him, for Christ found them before they found Christ. He did not yet apprehend, as Paul did, how he was apprehended of Christ Jesus, Phi 3:12.

(2.) The objection which Nathanael made against this, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? Joh 1:46. Here, [1.] His caution was commendable, that he did not lightly assent to every thing that was said, but took it into examination; our rule is, Prove all things. But, [2.] His objection arose from Ignorance. If he meant that no good thing could come out of Nazareth it was owing to his ignorance of the divine grace, as if that were less affected to one place than another, or tied itself to men's foolish and ill-natured observations. If he meant that the Messiah, that great good thing, could not come out of Nazareth, so far he was right (Moses, in the law, said that he should come out of Judah, and the prophets had assigned Bethlehem for the place of his nativity); but then he was ignorant of the matter of fact, that this Jesus was born at Bethlehem; so that the blunder Philip made, in calling him Jesus of Nazareth, occasioned this objection. Note, The mistakes of preachers often give rise to the prejudices of hearers.

(3.) The short reply which Philip gave to this objection: Come and see. [1.] It was his weakness that he could not give a satisfactory answer to it; yet it is the common case of young beginners in religion. We may know enough to satisfy ourselves, and yet not be able to say enough to silence the cavils of a subtle adversary. [2.] It was his wisdom and zeal that, when he could not answer the objection himself, he would have him go to one that could: Come and see. Let us not stand arguing here, and raising difficulties to ourselves which we cannot get over; let us go and converse with Christ himself, and these difficulties will all vanish presently. Note, It is folly to spend that time in doubtful disputation which might be better spent, and to much better purpose, in the exercises of piety and devotion. Come and see; not, Go and see, but, "Come, and I will go along with thee;" as Isa 2:3; Jer 1:5. From this parley between Philip and Nathanael, we may observe, First, That many people are kept from the ways of religion by the unreasonable prejudices they have conceived against religion, upon the account of some foreign circumstances which do not at all touch the merits of the case. Secondly, The best way to remove the prejudices they have entertained against religion is to prove themselves, and make trial of it. Let us not answer this matter before we hear it.

2. What passed between Nathanael and our Lord Jesus. He came and saw, not in vain.

(1.) Our Lord Jesus bore a very honourable testimony to Nathanael's integrity: Jesus saw him coming, and met him with favourable encouragement; he said of him to those about him, Nathanael himself being within hearing, Behold an Israelite indeed. Observe,

[1.] That he commended him; not to flatter him, or puff him up with a good conceit of himself, but perhaps because he knew him to be a modest man, if not a melancholy man, one that had hard and mean thoughts of himself, was ready to doubt his own sincerity; and Christ by this testimony put the matter out of doubt. Nathanael had, more than any of the candidates, objected against Christ; but Christ hereby showed that he excused it, and was not extreme to mark what he had said amiss, because he knew his heart was upright. He did not retort upon him, Can any good thing come out of Cana (Joh 21:2), an obscure town in Galilee? But kindly gives him this character, to encourage us to hope for acceptance with Christ, notwithstanding our weakness, and to teach us to speak honourably of those who without cause have spoken slightly of us, and to give them their due praise.

[2.] That he commended him for his integrity. First, Behold an Israelite indeed. It is Christ's prerogative to know what men are indeed; we can but hope the best. The whole nation were Israelites in name, but all are not Israel that are of Israel (Rom 9:6); here, however, was an Israelite indeed. 1. A sincere follower of the good example of Israel, whose character it was that he was a plain man, in opposition to Esau's character of a cunning man. He was a genuine son of honest Jacob, not only of his seed, but of his spirit. 2. A sincere professor of the faith of Israel; he was true to the religion he professed, and lived up to it: he was really as good as he seemed, and his practice was of a piece with his profession. He is the Jew that is one inwardly (Rom 2:29), so is he the Christian. Secondly, He is one in whom is no guile - that is the character of an Israelite indeed, a Christian indeed: no guile towards men; a man without trick or design; a man that one may trust; no guile towards God, that is, sincere in his repentance for sin; sincere in his covenanting with God; in whose spirit is no guile, Psa 32:2. He does not say without guilt, but without guile. Though in many things he is foolish and forgetful, yet in nothing false, nor wickedly departing from God: there is no allowed approved guilt in him; not painted, though he have his spots: "Behold this Israelite indeed." 1. "Take notice of him, that you may learn his way, and do like him." 2. "Admire him; behold, and wonder." The hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees had so leavened the Jewish church and nation, and their religion was so degenerated into formality or state-policy, that an Israelite indeed was a man wondered at, a miracle of divine grace, like Job, Job 1:8.

(2.) Nathanael is much surprised at this, upon which Christ gives him a further proof of his omnisciency, and a kind memorial of his former devotion.

[1.] Here is Nathanael's modesty, in that he was soon put out of countenance at the kind notice Christ was pleased to take of him: "Whence knowest thou me, me that am unworthy of thy cognizance? who am I, O Lord God?" Sa2 7:18. This was an evidence of his sincerity, that he did not catch at the praise he met with, but declined it. Christ knows us better than we know ourselves; we know not what is in a man's heart by looking in his face, but all things are naked and open before Christ, Heb 4:12, Heb 4:13. Doth Christ know us? Let us covet to know him.

[2.] Here is Christ's further manifestation of himself to him: Before Philip called thee, I saw thee. First, He gives him to understand that he knew him, and so manifests his divinity. It is God's prerogative infallibly to know all persons and all things; by this Christ proved himself to be God upon many occasions. It was prophesied concerning the Messiah that he should be of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, that is, in judging the sincerity and degree of the fear of God in others, and that he should not judge after the sight of his eyes, Isa 11:2, Isa 11:3. Here he answers that prediction. See Ti2 2:19. Secondly, That before Philip called him he saw him under the fig-tree; this manifests a particular kindness for him. 1. His eye was towards him before Philip called him, which was the first time that ever Nathanael was acquainted with Christ. Christ has knowledge of us before we have any knowledge of him; see Isa 45:4; Gal 4:9. 2. His eye was upon him when he as under the fig-tree; this was a private token which nobody understood but Nathanael: "When thou wast retired under the fig-tree in thy garden, and thoughtest that no eye saw thee, I have then my eye upon thee, and saw that which was very acceptable." It is most probable that Nathanael under the fig-tree was employed, as Isaac in the field, in meditation, and prayer, and communion with God. Perhaps then and there it was that he solemnly joined himself to the Lord in an inviolable covenant. Christ saw in secret, and by this public notice of it did in part reward him openly. Sitting under the fig-tree denotes quietness and composedness of spirit, which much befriend communion with God. See Mic 4:4; Zac 3:10. Nathanael herein was an Israelite indeed, that, like Israel, he wrestled with God alone (Gen 32:24), prayed not like the hypocrites, in the corners of the streets, but under the fig-tree.

(3.) Nathanael hereby obtained a full assurance of faith in Jesus Christ, expressed in that noble acknowledgment (Joh 1:49): Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the king of Israel; that is, in short, thou art the true Messiah. Observe here, [1.] How firmly he believed with the heart. Though he had lately laboured under some prejudices concerning Christ, they had now all vanished. Note, The grace of God, in working faith, casts down imaginations. Now he asks no more, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? For he believes Jesus of Nazareth to be the chief good, and embraces him accordingly. [2.] How freely he confessed with the mouth. His confession is made in form of an adoration, directed to our Lord Jesus himself, which is a proper way of confessing our faith. First, He confesses Christ's prophetical office, in calling him Rabbi, a title which the Jews commonly gave to their teachers. Christ is the great rabbi, at whose feet we must all be brought up. Secondly, He confesses his divine nature and mission, in calling him the Son of God (that Son of God spoken of Psa 2:7); though he had but a human form and aspect, yet having a divine knowledge, the knowledge of the heart, and of things distant and secret, Nathanael thence concludes him to be the Son of God. Thirdly, He confesses, "Thou art the king of Israel; that king of Israel whom we have been long waiting for." If he be the Son of God, he is king of the Israel of God. Nathanael hereby proves himself an Israelite indeed that he so readily owns and submits to the king of Israel.

(4.) Christ hereupon raises the hopes and expectations of Nathanael to something further and greater than all this, Joh 1:50, Joh 1:51. Christ is very tender of young converts, and will encourage good beginnings, though weak, Mat 12:20.

[1.] He here signifies his acceptance, and (it should seem) his admiration, of the ready faith of Nathanael: Because I said, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? He wonders that such a small indication of Christ's divine knowledge should have such an effect; it was a sign that Nathanael's heart was prepared beforehand, else the work had not been done so suddenly. Note, It is much for the honour of Christ and his grace, when the heart is surrendered to him at the first summons.

[2.] He promises him much greater helps for the confirmation and increase of his faith than he had had for the first production of it.

First, In general: "Thou shalt see greater things than these, stronger proofs of my being the Messiah;" the miracles of Christ, and his resurrection. Note, 1. To him that hath, and maketh good use of what he hath, more shall be given. 2. Those who truly believe the gospel will find its evidences grow upon them, and will see more and more cause to believe it. 3. Whatever discoveries Christ is pleased to make of himself to his people while they are here in this world, he hath still greater things than these to make known to them; a glory yet further to be revealed.

Secondly, In particular: "Not thou only, but you, all you my disciples, whose faith this is intended for the confirmation of, you shall see heaven opened;" this is more than telling Nathanael of his being under the fig-tree. This is introduced with a solemn preface, Verily, verily I say unto you, which commands both a fixed attention to what is said as very weighty, and a full assent to it as undoubtedly true: "I say it, whose word you may rely upon, amen, amen." None used this word at the beginning of a sentence but Christ, though the Jews often used it at the close of a prayer, and sometimes doubled it. It is a solemn asseveration. Christ is called the Amen (Rev 3:14), and so some take it here, I the Amen, the Amen, say unto you. I the faithful witness. Note, The assurances we have of the glory to be revealed are built upon the word of Christ. Now see what it is that Christ assures them of: Hereafter, or within awhile, or ere long, or henceforth, ye shall see heaven opened.

a. It is a mean title that Christ here takes to himself: The Son of man; a title frequently applied to him in the gospel, but always by himself. Nathanael had called him the Son of God and king of Israel: he calls himself Son of man, (1.) To express his humility in the midst of the honours done him. (b.) To teach his humanity, which is to be believed as well as his divinity. (c.) To intimate his present state of humiliation, that Nathanael might not expect this king of Israel to appear in external pomp.

b. Yet they are great things which he here foretels: You shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. (a.) Some understand it literally, as pointing at some particular event. Either, [a.] There was some vision of Christ's glory, in which this was exactly fulfilled, which Nathanael was an eye-witness of, as Peter, and James, and John were of his transfiguration. There were many things which Christ did, and those in the presence of his disciples, which were not written (Joh 20:30), and why not this? Or, [b.] It was fulfilled in the many ministrations of the angels to our Lord Jesus, especially that at his ascension, when heaven was opened to receive him, and the angels ascended and descended, to attend him and to do him honour, and this in the sight of the disciples. Christ's ascension was the great proof of his mission, and much confirmed the faith of his disciples, Joh 6:62. Or, [c.] It may refer to Christ's second coming, to judge the world, when the heavens shall be open, and every eye shall see him, and the angels of God shall ascend and descend about him, as attendants on him, every one employed; and a busy day it will be. See Th2 1:10. (b.) Others take it figuratively, as speaking of a state or series of things to commence from henceforth; and so we may understand it, [a.] Of Christ's miracles. Nathanael believed, because Christ, as the prophets of old, could tell him things secret; but what is this? Christ is now beginning a dispensation of miracles, much more great and strange than this, as if heaven were opened; and such a power shall be exerted by the Son of man as if the angels, which excel in strength, were continually attending his orders. Immediately after this, Christ began to work miracles, Joh 2:11. Or, [b.] Of his mediation, and that blessed intercourse which he hath settled between heaven and earth, which his disciples should be degrees be let into the mystery of. First, By Christ, as Mediator, they shall see heaven opened, that we may enter into the holiest by his blood (Heb 10:19, Heb 10:20); heaven opened, that by faith we may look in, and at length may go in; may now behold the glory of the Lord, and hereafter enter into the joy of our Lord. And, Secondly, They shall see angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man. Through Christ we have communion with and benefit by the holy angels, and things in heaven and things on earth are reconciled and gathered together. Christ is to us as Jacob's ladder (Gen 28:12), by whom angels continually ascend and descend for the good of the saints.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

would go . . . into Galilee--for from His baptism He had sojourned in Judea (showing that the calling at the Sea of Galilee [Mat 4:18] was a subsequent one, see on Luk 5:1).

Follow me--the first express call given, the former three having come to Him spontaneously.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 43. Philip] This apostle was a native of Bethsaida in Galilee. Eusebius says he was a married man, and had several daughters. Clemens Alexandrinus mentions it as a thing universally acknowledged that it was this apostle who, when commanded by our Lord to follow him, said, Let me first go and bury my father, Mat 8:21-22. Theodoret says he preached in the two Phrygias; and Eusebius says he was buried in Phrygia Pacatiana. He must not be confounded with Philip the deacon, spoken of Ac 6:5.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

43. Follow me. When Philip was inflamed by this single word to follow Christ, we infer from it how great is the efficacy of the word of God; but it does not appear indiscriminately in all, for God addresses many without any advantage, just as if he struck their ears with a sound which vanished into air. So then the external preaching of the word is in itself unfruitful, except that it inflicts a deadly wound on the reprobate, so as to render them inexcusable before God. But when the secret grace of God quickens it, all the senses must be affected in such a manner that men will be prepared to follow wherever God calls them. We ought, therefore, to pray to Christ that he may display in us the same power of the Gospel. In the case of Philip, there was no doubt a peculiarity about his following Christ; for he is commanded to follow, not like one of us, but as a domestic, and as a familiar companion. But still the calling of all of us is illustrated by this calling of Philip.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

43. The day following] Better, as in Joh_1:29; Joh_1:35, The next day: the Greek is the same in all three verses. We thus have four days accurately marked, (1) Joh_1:19; (2) Joh_1:29; (3) Joh_1:35; (4) Joh_1:44. A writer of fiction would not have cared for such minute details; they might entangle him in discrepancies. They are thoroughly natural as coming from an eyewitness. See on Joh_2:1.

Follow me] In the Gospels these words seem always to be the call to become a disciple. Mat_8:22; Mat_9:9; Mat_19:21; Mar_2:14; Mar_10:21; Luk_5:27; Luk_9:59; Joh_21:19. With two exceptions they are always addressed to those who afterwards became Apostles.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The day following,.... Not the day after John had pointed out Christ, as the Lamb of God, to two of his disciples; but the day after Simon had been with him, being brought by Andrew:

Jesus would go forth into Galilee; from whence he came to Jordan, to John, to be baptized by him; and which being done, and his temptations in the wilderness over, it was his will, resolution, and determination, to return to Galilee, the place of his education and conversation, till this time; and therefore chose to begin his ministry, and miracles, there, both to give honour to it, and to fulfil a prophecy in Isa 9:1; and besides this, he had doubtless another end in going thither: which was to call some other disciples that dwelt there:

and findeth Philip; as he was going to Galilee, or rather when in it; not by hap or chance; but knowing where he was, as the shepherd and bishop of souls, looked him up and found him out, and called him by his grace, and to be a disciple of his; See Gill on Mat 10:3,

and saith unto him, follow me; leave thy friends, thy calling, and business, and become a disciple of mine: and such power went along with these words, that he at once left all, and followed Christ; as the other disciples, Peter, and Andrew, James, and John, and Matthew did, as is recorded of them, though not of this; but the following history makes it appear he did.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.

Ver. 43. Follow me] Together with Christ’s word there went out a power. His words are operative and efficacious. This Porphyry the atheist, and Julian the Apostate, understood not; and therefore lighting upon this and the like places of the Gospel, they blasphemously affirmed that either the evangelists were liars or the apostles fools, that with one word only of our Saviour would be drawn to follow him. So the Papists blaspheme assurance, which they have not, as if it bred security and looseness. They may as well say the sea burns or fire cools.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Would go forth - Was about to go.

Into Galilee - He was now in Judea, where he went to be baptized by John. He was now about to return to his native country.

Findeth Philip - This does not refer to his calling these disciples to be “apostles,” for that took place at the Sea of Tiberias Mat 4:18, but it refers to their being. convinced that he was the Christ. This is the object of this evangelist, to show how and when they were convinced of this. Matthew states the time and occasion in which they were called to be “apostles;” John, the time in which they first became acquainted with Jesus, and were convinced that he was the Messiah. There is, therefore, no contradiction in the evangelists.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

All this while Christ seemeth to have been in Judea, which was the most famous province. The day after Peter had thus been with him, he had a mind to go into Galilee; out of that he designed to choose his disciples; and that being the country where he had been educated, he designed in a more special manner to honour it with the first fruit of his public ministry. There findeth Philip (the name signifieth, a lover of horses). He calleth him to be his disciple.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

43. The day following—The fourth day. See Joh_1:19; Joh_1:29; Joh_1:35.

Would go forth into Galilee—Probably on his way home after his baptism and temptation.

And findeth Philip—Before he goes into Galilee he finds the entire complement of five disciples; the narration of which finding extends to the close of this chapter.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 43, 44. On the morrowi.e. on the fourth day after the deputation from the Sanhedrinhe willed or was mindedto go forth into Galilee, to commence his homeward journey. Whether this implies an actual beginning of his route, or suggests, before any step was taken in that direction, that the following incidents occurred, cannot be determined, though commentators take opposite sides, as though something important depended upon it. The former supposition is, however, in keeping with the considerable distance, on any hypothesis of the site of Bethany, between it and Cana. And he (the Lord himself "finds;" the two earliest disciples had sought and found him) findeth Philip; very probably on the route from the scene of John"s baptism to the Bethsaida on the western shore of the Lake of Galilee. And Jesus saith to him, Follow me; become one of my akolouyoi . The arguments, the reasons, which weighed with him are not given at first, but we find that he soon learned the same great lesson as that which the other disciples had acquired, and he clothes them in memorable words. Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. This is a remark of the evangelist, who did not consider it necessary to say from what city or neighbourhood he had himself issued. This town has utterly perished, (Mat_11:20) although some travellers (Robinson, 3:359; Wilson and Warren) believe that indications were found north of Khan Minyeh, and others have identified it with Tell-Hum. Some writers ("Picturesque Palestine," vol. 2:74, 81, etc.) discover it in Ain et Tabighah, where some remains of a fountain reservoir and other buildings are found. It was identified by Thomson with Abu-Zany, on the west of the entrance of Jordan into the lake. The two pairs of brothers must have been familiar with Philip. Some interesting hints of character are attainable from Joh_6:5, in which an incident occurs where Philip revealed a practical wisdom and confident purpose, and again in Joh_12:21, Joh_12:22, where Andrew and Philip are made the confidants of the Greeks, and Philip is the one who seems able and willing to introduce them to Jesus. In Joh_14:8 Philip uttered one of the great longings of the human heart a passionate desire to solve all mysteries, by the vision of the Father; but he lets out the fact that be had not seen all that he might have seen and known in Jesus himself. Subsequent history shows that Philip was one of the "great lights of Asia," and was held in the highest esteem (Eusebius, "Hist. Ec:," 3:31). He must not be confounded with Philip the evangelist, whose daughters prophesied. (Ac 8 Act_21:8)

Vers. 43, 44. The calling of Philip.

Jesus was now leaving Bethany beyond Jordan for Galilee; and as he was about to set out, he summoned Philip, a Galilaean, to discipleship.

I THE CALL OF CHRIST TO PHILIP. "He findeth Philip, and Jesus saith unto him, Follow me.

1. The birthplace of Philip. He was a native of the district of Beth-saida, and belonged to the city of Andrew and Peter, and must therefore have been acquainted with them. Probably through them was he first brought within the sphere of Christ"s influence. It was natural that our Lord should seek his first disciples from the district which was to become the scene of his fullest ministry. Philip is a Jew, though he bears a Greek name.

2. Mark in what different ways our Lord draws disciples to himself. While Peter was drawn to him by Andrew, Philip was "found" by Christ himself without any human intervention, just as he finds all who are honestly seeking after the way of life.

3. The command of Christ is urgent. "Follow me." There is no preface, or promise, or explanation. The command implies:

(1) That Philip was to throw in his lot with Christ, as Ruth did with Naomi.

(2) That he was to follow him as a servant obeys a master, "doing his will from the heart," as a learner follows a teacher; like Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus.

(3) That he was to walk in his steps and conform to his example.

II PHILIP"S ANSWER TO THE CALL.

1. There is no recorded answer in words. But his obedience was very prompt. There was a slowness of apprehension in Philip observable in later times, which shows that he needed a prompt and sudden call.

2. His response to the call is implied in the words he addresses immediately after to Nathanael. "We have found him, of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph.

(1) This implies that he was a habitual student of the Old Testament, for he quite understood that the Redeemer was foretold by Moses and the prophets. "They are they," says Jesus himself, "which testify of me." We ought not to despise the Old Testament, for there is much of Christ in it.

(2) It implies that he had some personal knowledge of Christ, for, as a native of the Bethsaida district, he must have known Nazareth, and, perhaps, had often seen "the Son of Joseph.

(3) It was the instinct of grace that led him to bring Nathanael to Christ. Perhaps Nathanael was a relative; he was at least a neighbour, for Cana was near to the city of Andrew and Peter.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Happenings of the fourth day:

v. 43. The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me.

v. 44. Now Philip was of Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.

v. 45. Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

v. 46. And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

On the fourth day of the events which are here so carefully chronicled, Jesus had planned to begin His journey up to Galilee. But as He was about to leave, He finds, by design and intention, Philip of Bethsaida. In this case, the simple command: Follow Me, was sufficient. The call of Jesus determined Philip to become a disciple of Jesus. And the call of Christ in the Gospel has at all times the power to influence men in the same way. Only we must not grow weary in sounding it forth at all times. There were now three men of Bethsaida among the four followers of Jesus. And all of them had been decided by the call of Jesus. It is not man’s own free will that decides his fate with regard to Jesus, but the call of the Lord. And he that gives heed to that call, that makes his decision by the power of God in the Gospel, will ever after be in blessed communion with Jesus, in a wonderful discipleship. Philip, in turn, driven by the joy of his new discovery, of the faith of his heart, feels urged to tell his friend Nathanael (or Bartholomew) of his happiness. His words gush forth in a joyful stream: Of whom Moses wrote in the Law and the prophets, Him have we found. He had the right understanding, His faith was firmly based upon Jesus, known as the son of Joseph, of Nazareth, as the promised Messiah. Philip was well versed in the Old Testament prophecies. He referred to Moses and the prophets as having given a clear picture, in unmistakable prophecies, of Christ. And the antitype, the fulfillment of the prophecies, Philip found in Jesus of Nazareth. His knowledge was not yet perfect, but was fully sufficient for his purpose, that of bringing another man to his Master. Nathanael was skeptical. His Biblical knowledge told him that the Messiah was to hail from Bethlehem. Galilee was considered by the pure Jews as a half-heathen country, and Nazareth could not hope to produce anything good. But his dubious attitude and his slighting remark cannot overcome the faith of Philip. Instead of arguing the matter at great length, Philip simply issues his invitation: "Come and see!" Such a simple, repeated invitation and summons is often the best way of overcoming preconceived notions and opinions. If men are only led into the Scriptures and to the preaching of Christ, the rest will follow. The Word of Christ overcomes the weakness and objections of man. "He who candidly examines the evidences of the religion of Christ will infallibly become a believer. No history ever published among men has so many external and internal proofs of authenticity as this has. A man should judge of nothing by first appearances or human prejudices. Who are they who cry out, The Bible is a fable? Those who have never read it, or read it only with the fixed purpose to gainsay it. God has mercy on those whose ignorance leads them to form prejudices against the truth; but He confounds those who take them up through envy and malice, and endeavor to communicate them to others."

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

43. Findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me. This is the first recorded instance of the Savior calling a disciple to follow him. Philip, it must be borne in mind, is not Philip, “one of the seven,” but “one of the Twelve,” a citizen of Bethsaida of Galilee, and a fellow-townsman of Andrew and Peter.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter

This is background information about Philip. (See: Background Information)

translationWords

Jesus

Galilee

Philip, the apostle

Moses

law

prophet

Joseph (NT)

Nazareth

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

43. Ἰωάννου or Ἰωάνου (אBL, Lat. vet., Memph.) for Ἰωνᾶ (AB2), which is a correction from Mat 16:17.

43. ἐμβλέψας. Comp. Joh 1:36 and Luk 22:61: what follows shews that Christ’s look penetrated to his heart and read his character.

Ἰωάννου. This, and not Ἰωνᾶ, seems to be the true reading here and Joh 21:15-17: but Ἰωνᾶ might represent two Hebrew names, Jonah and Johanan = John. Tradition gives his mother’s name as Johanna. Andrew probably had mentioned his name and parentage.

Κηφᾶς. This Aramaic form occurs elsewhere in N.T. only 1Co 1:12; 1Co 3:22; 1Co 9:5; 1Co 15:5; Gal 1:18; Gal 2:9; Gal 2:11; Gal 2:14. The second Adam, like (Gen 2:19) the first, gives names to those brought to Him. The new name, as in the case of Abraham, Sarah, and Israel, indicates his new position rather than his character; for he was ‘unstable as water’ (Joh 18:25; Gal 2:11-12): Simon is designated for a new office. Mat 16:18 presupposes the incident recorded here: here Simon shall be called, there he is, Peter.

Πέτρος. Translate, Peter, with ‘a stone,’ or ‘a mass of rock,’ in the margin.—It is quite clear from this narrative that S. Peter was not called first among the Apostles.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

43.] This is evidently the first bestowal of the new name on Simon: and it is done from our Lord’s prophetic knowledge of his future character: see note on Mat 16:18.

Κηφᾶς = כֵּיפָא Aramaic, כֵּף Hebrew, a stone. The Greek name Peter became the prevalent one in the apostolic Church very soon: Paul uses both names indiscriminately.

I own I cannot but think with Bengel, Paulus, and Strauss, that the knowledge of Simon shewn by the Lord is intended to be miraculous. So also Stier, i. 31 f. edn. 2, “I know who and what thou art from thy birth till thy present coming to me.… I name thee, I give thee a new name, I know what I will make of thee in thy following of Me and for my Kingdom.” The emphatic use of ἐμβλέψας here (it is not so emphatic in ver. 36, but still even there may imply fixed contemplation, in the power of the Spirit, who suggested the testimony) is hardly accountable except on this explanation of supernatural knowledge. Similarly Abram, Sara, Jacob, received new names in reference to the covenant and promises of God to them.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

43. τῇ ἐπαύριον, i.e. on Day v. of this eventful week (see on v. 9), Jesus resolved to go forth into Galilee; for ἐξελθεῖν εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν cf. 4:43 and note that Jesus is now on the E. side of Jordan. Either as He was starting, or on the way, He found Philip, who was a Galilxan like Andrew and Peter, and who was probably brought into touch with Him by their means.

The rec. text adds ὁ Ἰησοῦεν, after ἠθέλησεν, omitting the name after αὐτῷ, but the better reading (אABWΘ) omits it after ἠθέλησεν and inserts it after αὐτῷ.

Thus, we might suppose from the order of the words that the subject of ἠθέλησεν and εὑρίσκει is not ὁ Ἰησοῦς, but Πέτρος, who has been mentioned immediately before. Then we should have the attractive sequence: Andrew finds Peter, Peter finds Philip, Philip (in his turn) finds Nathanael (v. 45), all being fellow-Galilæans and friends. But if Πέτρος is the subject of εὑρίσκει, it must also be the subject of ἠθέλησεν.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ver. 43. “And he brought him to Jesus. Jesus, looking upon him fixedly, saith, Thou art Simon, son of Jonas, thou shalt be called Cephas (which means: Peter).”

The pres. he finds and he says (Joh 1:42) were descriptive; the aor. he brought indicates the transition to the following act: the presentation of Peter. The word ἐμβλέπεινdenotes a penetrating glance which reaches to the very centre of the individuality. This word serves to explain the following apostrophe; for the latter is precisely the consequence of the way in which Jesus had penetrated the character of Simon, and had discovered in him, at the first look, the elements of the future Peter. It is not necessary to suppose that Jesus in a miraculous way knew the names of Simon and his father; Andrew, in presenting his brother, must have named him to Jesus. Instead of Jona, the three principal Alexandrian authorities read John. The received reading is, perhaps, a correction according to Mat 16:17 (son of Jonas), where there is no variation of reading and where the name Jonas might be itself an abbreviation of ᾿Ιωάννου (John), as Weiss supposes. A change of name generally marks a change of life or of position. Gen 17:5 : “Thy name shall be no more Abram (exalted father), but Abraham (father of a multitude).” Gen 32:28 : “Thy name shall be no more Jacob (supplanter), but Israel (conqueror of God, in honorable combat).” The Aramaic word Kepha (Hebrew, Keph), denotes a piece of rock. By this name, Jesus characterizes Simon as a person courageous enough and decided enough to become the principal support of the new society which He is about to found. There was surely in the physiognomy of this young fisherman, accustomed to brave the dangers of his profession, the expression of a masculine energy and of an originating power. In designating him by this new name, Jesus takes possession of him and consecrates him, with all his natural qualities, to the work which He is going to entrust to him.

Baur regards this story as a fictitious anticipation of that in Mat 16:18; the author, from his dogmatic standpoint hastens to show forth in Jesus the omniscience of the Logos. But the ἐμβλέψας, having regarded him fixedly, is by no means consistent with such an intention; and as for the expression:

“Thou art Peter,” Matthew 16, it implies precisely a previous expression in which Jesus had already conferred this surname upon him. Jesus starts, in each case, from that which is, to announce that which is to be; here: “Thou artSimon; thou shalt be Peter;” in Matthew: thou art Peter; thou shalt really become what this name declares. Availing himself of the fact that Peter is mentioned here third, Hilgenfeld draws up his argument as prosecutor against the author, and says: “Peter is thus deprived by him of the position of the first- called!” And he finds here a proof of the evangelist’s ill will towards this apostle. Reuss says, with the same idea, “Peter is here very expressly put in the second place.” But the designation of Andrew as Peter’s brother (Joh 1:41), before the latter has appeared on the scene, and the magnificent surname which Jesus confers upon him at first sight, while no similar honor had been paid to his two predecessors—are there not here, in our narrative, so many points designed to exalt Simon Peter to the rank of the principal personage among all those who formed the original company, who surrounded Jesus? And if this narrative had been invented with the purpose of depreciating Peter, in order to give the first place to John, why make Andrew so prominent and place him even before the latter? And besides, of what consequence is the order of arrival here? Does not every unprejudiced reader feel that the narrative is what it is, simply because the event happened thus. Comp., moreover, Joh 6:68 and Joh 21:15-19 for the part ascribed to Peter in this Gospel.

A contradiction has been found between this account and that of the calling of the same disciples in Galilee, after the miraculous draught of fishes (Mat 4:18-22; Mar 1:16-20; Luk 5:1-11). De Wette, Bruckner, Meyerhimself, regard any reconciliation as impossible, and give preference to the narrative of the fourth Gospel. To the view of Baur, on the contrary, it is our narrative which is an invention of the author. Lucke thinks that the two narratives can be harmonized; that of John having reference to the call of the disciples to faith, that of the Synoptics, to their calling as preachers of the Gospel, in conformity with the words: “I will make you fishers of men.” The first view cannot positively explain how the Synoptical narrative could arise from the facts related here by John and altered by the oral tradition. Everything is too completely different in the two scenes; the place: here, Judea; there, Galilee; the time: here, the first days of Jesus’ ministry; there, a period already farther on; the persons: in the Synoptics, there is no reference either to Philip or Nathanael; on the other hand, James, who is not named here, is there expressly mentioned; the situation: here, a simple meeting; there, a fishing; finally, the mode: here, a spontaneous attachment; there, an imperative summons.

The view of Baur, on the other hand, cannot explain how the author of the fourth Gospel, in the face of the Synoptical tradition received throughout the whole Church, could attempt to create a new history in all points of the calling of the principal apostles, and a history which positively glorifies Jesus much less than that of the Synoptics. For instead of gaining His disciples by the manifestation of His power, He simply receives them from John the Baptist. The view of Lucke is the only admissible one (see alsoWeiss, Keil and Westcott). Having returned to Galilee (Joh 1:44), Jesus went back for a time to the bosom of His own family, which transferred its residence, probably in order to accompany Him, to Capernaum (Mat 4:13; Joh 2:12; comp. Mar 3:31). In these circumstances, He naturally left His disciples also to return to the bosom of their families (Peter was married); and He called them again, afterwards, in a complete and decisive manner when the necessities of His work and of their spiritual education for their future task required it. The very readiness with which these young fishermen followed His call at that time (Synoptic account),—leaving, at His first word, their family and their work to unite themselves with Him, implies that they had already sustained earlier relations to Him. Thus the account of the Synoptics, far from excluding that of John, implies it. Let us remember that the Synoptic narratives had for their essential object the public ministry of Jesus, and that, consequently, these writings could not omit a fact of such capital importance as the calling of the earliest disciples to the office of preachers. The fourth Gospel, on the contrary, having as its aim to describe the development of apostolic faith, was obliged to set in relief the scene which had been the starting point of this faith. We shall prove in many other cases this reciprocal relation between the two writings, which is explained by their different points of view and aims.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.