There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the [sons] of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
2. There were together ] Probably all seven belonged to the neighbourhood; we know this of four of them.
Thomas ] See on Joh 11:16, Joh 14:5, Joh 20:24. All particulars about him are given by S. John [4].
Nathanael ] See on Joh 1:45: the descriptive addition ‘of Cana of Galilee’ occurs here only. S. John alone mentions Nathanael [5].
the sons of Zebedee ] If one of the sons of Zebedee were not the writer, they would have been placed first after S. Peter, instead of last of those named [6]. The omission of their names also is in harmony with S. John’s reserve about all closely connected with himself [7].
two other ] Some conjecture Andrew and Philip; but if so, why are the names not given? More probably these nameless disciples are not Apostles.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There were together – Probably residing in the same place. While they were waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit, they still found it proper to be usefully employed. Their Master had been taken away by death, and the promised Spirit had not descended on them. In the interval – before the promised Spirit was poured upon them – they chose not to be idle, and therefore returned to their former employment. It is to be remarked, also, that they had no other means of support. While with Jesus, they were commonly supplied by the kindness of the people; but now, when the Saviour had died, they were cut off from this means of support, and returned to the honest labor of their early lives. Moreover, they had been directed by the Saviour to repair to a mountain in Galilee, where he would meet them, Mat 28:10. This was probably not far from Lake Galilee, so that, until he came to them, they would naturally be engaged in their old employment. Ministers of the gospel should be willing to labor, if necessary, for their own support, and should not esteem such labor dishonorable. God has made employment indispensable to man, and if the field of labor is not open in one way, they should seek it in another. If at any time the people withhold the supply of their needs, they should be able and willing to seek support in some other honest occupation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
All the disciples were either there in several places, or going thither, according to Christs direction before mentioned: but either these seven were there before the rest; or else they lodged together, or near one another; so as these only are here mentioned as being together at this time, and so witnesses of this miracle which followeth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Nathanael(See on Mt10:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
There were together,…. In one place, in one house, in some town, or city of Galilee, not far from the sea of Tiberias; nor, as very likely, far from the mountain where Christ had promised to meet them. Simon Peter, who though he had denied his Lord, dearly loved him, and truly believed in him, kept with the rest of his disciples, and was waiting for another interview with him:
and Thomas, called Didymus; who, though for a while an unbeliever with respect to the resurrection of Christ, was now fully assured of it, and, for the future, was unwilling to lose any opportunity of meeting with his risen Lord.
And Nathanael of Cana in Galilee; an Israelite indeed, in whom there was no guile. Dr. Lightfoot thinks he is the same with Bartholomew, and so one of the eleven. The Syriac version reads it, “Cotne”, and the Persic, Catneh of Galilee; no doubt the same place is meant, where Jesus turned water into wine, of which Nathanael was an inhabitant:
and the sons of Zebedee; who were James, whom Herod killed with the sword, and John, the writer of this Gospel:
and two other of his disciples; who are thought to be Andrew and Philip; which is very likely, since they were both of Bethsaida, Joh 1:44 a city in Galilee, and not far from the sea of Tiberias. Andrew is particularly mentioned by Nonnus: so that here were seven of them in all; four of them, according to this account, being wanting; who must be James the less, the brother of our Lord, Judas called Lebbaeus, and surnamed Thaddaeus, Simon the Canaanite, or Zealot, and Matthew the publican.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There were together ( ). These seven (Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee, and two others). We know that the sons of Zebedee were James and John (Mt 4:21), mentioned by name nowhere in John’s Gospel, apparently because John is the author. We do not know who the “two others of his disciples” were, possibly Andrew and Philip. It seems to me to be crass criticism in spite of Harnack and Bernard to identify the incident here with that in Lu 5:1-11. There are a few points of similarity, but the differences are too great for such identification even with a hypothetical common source.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “There were together,” (esan homou) “There were together,” in company with one another, a group of seven of the disciples, on a fishing trip, by the seaside, having returned to their old business until the Comforter should come.
2) “Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus,” (Simon Petros kai Thomas ho legomenos Didymus) “Simon Peter and Thomas who was called a twin,” two of the twelve apostles, Mat 10:2-3; Joh 11:16.
3) “And Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee,” (kai Nathanael ho apo Kana tes Galilaias) “And Nathaniel who was of Cana of Galilee,” a Galileean, Joh 1:45-49.
4) “And the sons of Zebedee,” (kai hois Zebedaiou) “And the sons of Zebedee, James, and John,” who were fishers by trade, Mat 4:21-22, who also were two of the twelve apostles, Mat 10:2.
5) “And two other of his disciples.” (kai alloi ek ton matheton autou duo) “And two other out of the number of the disciples,” whose names are not given.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(2) There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus.It is most probable that we have here the names of all in the group of seven who were Apostles, and that the two unnamed persons were disciples in the wider sense in which the word is often used by St. John (Joh. 6:60; Joh. 6:66; Joh. 7:3; Joh. 8:31; Joh. 18:19). If they were Andrew and Philip, which has been supposed from Joh. 1:40; Joh. 1:43, it is not easy to understand their position in the list, or the absence of their names.
Thomas is not named by the other Evangelists, except in the lists of the Apostles. (Comp. Joh. 11:16; Joh. 14:5; Joh. 20:24 et seq.)
Nathanael is named only by St. John. (Comp. Notes on Joh. 1:45 et seq.) He is probably to be identified with the Bartholomew of the earlier Gospels; this latter name being a patronymic. (Comp. Note on Mat. 10:3-4.) The descriptive note of Cana in Galilee is added here only.
The sons of Zebedee are not elsewhere given by St. John as a description of himself and his brother, but this is the only place in which he names himself and his brother in a list with others. In St. Lukes account of the earlier draught of fishes, the sons of Zebedee are named as partners with Simon (Joh. 5:10). Their position here agrees with the Johannine authorship of the chapter. In the lists in the other Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, James and John are uniformly prominent in the first group.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
(2) The mistake having been made, the obvious correction after St. Johns death would have been simply to record that event. The correction of the text would place these words within his lifetime.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. The sons of Zebedee Some have supposed that it was mainly to give his view of the Lord’s expression, in Joh 21:22, touching the Evangelist’s own destiny, that John added this chapter. But it is plain, to our own view, from the modest manner in which he here introduces himself, simply as one of the sons of Zebedee, that John had other and less personal reasons.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus (‘the twin’), and Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee and two other of his disciples. Simon Peter says to them, “I am going fishing.” They say to him, “We are also coming with you.” They went out and boarded the boat, and that night they took nothing.’
The disciples clearly saw this as a waiting period as they were wondering what to do after Jesus had first appeared to them. The seven days of Passover and Unleavened Bread having passed they had left Jerusalem and moved up to Galilee as indeed Jesus had commanded (Mat 28:10). There Peter decided he would spend a night fishing. This may have been because of a need for food, or it may just have been a desire to get into a boat again after some time away, giving them something to do. He may also have felt that he had to get his hand in at fishing once again because he had forfeited his right to be a fisher of men. That he still felt that his future was doubtful, in view of his denials of Jesus, comes out in the fact that Jesus calls him again to “Follow Me” (Joh 21:19).
‘That night they took nothing.’ This was not unknown to fishermen on the Sea of Galilee (Luk 5:5). John, however, almost certainly sees it as illustrative of what happens when the power of Jesus is absent. In whatever they do they are dependent on Him. The indication is that Peter and the others have no future in fishing for fish. On the other hand by the power of Jesus they will be able to fish for men successfully.
‘Simon Peter’ is a typically Johannine name for Peter. It occurs once in Matthew, once in Luke (both at times of transition) but twelve times in John 1-20. Thomas may be mentioned because he was prominent in chapter 20 and Nathaniel because he was prominent in chapter 1. Reference to ‘those of Zebedee’ can be interpreted in one of two ways, either as a deliberate attempt to avoid mentioning the names of James and John in line with the reticence of the remainder of the Gospel, supporting the case for the Johannine authorship of this chapter, or as an unexpected reference to them indicating difference of authorship. In view of the detail given of Thomas and Nathaniel the first idea is probably to be supported, otherwise we would have expected their names to be mentioned, especially by a disciple of John. ‘Those of Zebedee’ catches the spirit of anonymity while conveying necessary information. The fact that apart from them there were also two ‘other disciples’ (the usual way John had of referring to himself) explains why the vague reference is given.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 21:2. Nathanael of Cana There seems to be no doubt that this Nathanael is the person mentioned ch. Joh 1:45. It is uncertain who the other two disciples were: Dr. Lightfoot conjectures that they were Andrew and Philip; which is not improbable, as they were both inhabitants of Bethsaida, near the sea of Tiberias. See ch. Joh 1:44.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
There were together, Simon Peter, and Thomas, called Didymus, and Nathanael, of Cana, in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
If the Reader counts over the number here said to be together, he will find it to be seven. No doubt, all upon the lookout for the renewed visits of the Lord Jesus. And as those here spoken of, were now at the borders of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias, see Joh 6:1 it is evident that they were come here from Jerusalem in obedience to Christ’s commands, and as the Lord had promised, to see him. Mat 28:16Mat 28:16 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
Ver. 2. There were met together Simon, &c. ] When good and godly men meet, when chaste and honest people assemble together, it is not to be called a faction, but a court rather, saith Tertullian. a Those are a faction, that conspire against good men. The society of such is like the slime and filth that is congealed where many toads and other vermin join together. God dwells in the assembly of saints; shall we, like stoics, confine ourselves, and not daily run into their company? He that comes when ointments and sweet spices are stirring, doth carry away some of the sweet savour, though he think not of it: so here. See Pro 13:10 .
a Cum boni, cum probi coeunt, cum pii, cum casti congregantur, non est factio dicenda sed curia, et e contrario illis nomen factionis accommodandum. Tert. Apol. adver. Gent. 39.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2. ] Nathanael is named by John only , see ch. Joh 1:46 ff.: Thomas also by John only , except in the catalogues of the Apostles.
The junction of with a proper name is in John’s style: see ch. Joh 1:45 ; Joh 11:1 ; Joh 19:38 .
. are no where else named by John; they may however be here mentioned as in reminiscence of the draught of fishes which occurred before: see Luk 5:1 ff.
. . ] The same words occur ch. Joh 1:35 , with reference to John the Baptist. Who these were does not appear. Probably (as Luthardt) some two not named in the Gospel, and therefore not specified in its appendix.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 21:2 . , seven of the disciples had kept together, Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, further designated as , not to remind us of the miracles wrought there (Reynolds), nor “without any special design” (Meyer), but to emphasise the by showing that even though not belonging to the lake-side Nathanael remained with the rest. John indicates his own presence with his usual reserve, .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
John
AN ELOQUENT CATALOGUE
Joh 21:2
This chapter, containing the infinitely significant and pathetic account of our Lord’s appearance to these disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, is evidently an appendix to the Gospel of John. The design of that Gospel is complete with the previous chapter, and there is a formal close, as of the whole book, at the end thereof. But whilst obviously an appendix, this chapter is as obviously the work of the same hand as wrote the Gospel. There are many minute points of identity between the style of it and of the rest of the work, so that there can be no difficulty or doubt as to whence it came. This enumeration of these seven disciples, regarded as being the work of John himself, seems to me to be significant, and to contain a good many lessons. And I desire to turn to these now.
I. First of all, the fact that they were together is significant.
So, then, the fact of the group is itself significant, and we may claim it as being a morsel of evidence for the historical veracity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
II. Then the composition of this group is significant.
So, then, I think, the fair inference from the list before us is that we have here the original nucleus again, the first five, with a couple more, and the couple more are ‘Thomas, who is called Didymus’-and we shall see the reason for his presence in a moment-and the brother of John, one of the first pair.
Thus, then, to the original little group that had gathered round Him at the first, and to whom He had been so often manifested in this very scene where they were standing now, He is revealed again. There, along the beach, is the place where James and John and Simon and Andrew were called from their nets three short years ago. Across yonder, on the other side of the lake, is the bit of green grass where the thousands were fed. Behind it is the steep slope down which the devil-possessed herd rushed. There, over the shoulder of the hill, is the road that leads up to Cana of Galilee, which they had trod together on that never-to-be-forgotten first morning, and from which little village one of the group came. They who had companied with Him all the time of His too short fellowship, and had seen all His manifestations, were fittingly chosen to be the recipients of this last appearance, which was to be full of instruction as to the work of the Church, its difficulties, its discouragements, its rewards, its final success, and His benediction of it until the very end of time. It was not for nothing that they who were gathered together were that first nucleus of the Church, who received again from their Master the charge to be ‘fishers of men.’
And then, if we look at the list, having regard to the history of those that make it up, it seems to me that that also brings us some valuable considerations. Foremost stand, as receiving this great manifestation of Jesus Christ, the two greatest sinners of the whole band, ‘Simon Peter, and Thomas, which is called Didymus,’ the denier and the doubter. Singularly contrasted these two men were in much of their disposition; and yet alike in the fact that the Crucifixion had been too much for their faith. The one of them was impetuous, the other of them slow. The one was always ready to say more than he meant; the other always ready to do more than he said. The one was naturally despondent, disposed to look ahead and to see the gloomiest side of everything-’Let us also go that we may die with Him’-the other never looking an inch beyond his nose, and always yielding himself up to the impulse of the moment. And yet both of them were united in this, that the one, from a sudden wave of cowardice which swept him away from his deepest convictions and made him for an hour untrue to his warmest love, and the other, from giving way to his constitutional tendency to despondency, and to taking the blackest possible view of everything-they had both of them failed in their faith, the one turning out a denier and the other turning out a doubter. And yet here they are, foremost upon the list of those who saw the Risen Christ.
Well, there are two lessons there, and the one is this-let us Christian people learn with what open hearts and hands we should welcome a penitent when he comes back. The other is,-let us learn who they are to whom Jesus Christ deigns to manifest Himself-not immaculate monsters, but men that, having fallen, have learned humility and caution, and by penitence have risen to a securer standing, and have turned even their transgressions into steps in the ladder that lifts them to Christ. It was something that the first to whom the risen Saviour appeared when He came victorious and calm from the grave, was the woman ‘out of whom He had cast seven devils,’ and the blessed truth which that teaches is the same as that which is to be drawn from this list of those whom He regarded, and whom we regard, as then constituting the true nucleus of His Church-a list which is headed by the blackest denier and the most obstinate and captious sceptic in the whole company. ‘There were together Simon Peter and Thomas, which is called Didymus,’ and the little group was glad to have them, and welcomed them, as it becomes us to welcome brethren who have fallen, and who come again saying, ‘I repent.’
Well, then, take the next: he was ‘Nathanael, of Cana in Galilee’; a guileless ‘Israelite indeed,’ so swift to believe, so ready with his confession, so childlike in his wonder, so ardent in his love and faith. The only thing that Christ is recorded as having said to him is this: ‘Because I said. . . believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these.’ A promise of growing clearness of vision and growing fullness of manifestation was made to this man, who never appears anywhere else in Scripture but in these two scenes, and so may stand to us as the type of the opposite kind of Christian experience from that stormy one of the doubter and the denier-viz. that of persistent, quiet, continuous growth, which is marked by faithful use of the present amount of illumination, and is rewarded by a continual increase of the same. If the keynote to the two former lives is, that sin confessed helps a man to climb, the keynote to this man’s is the other truth, that they are still more blessed who, with no interruptions, backslidings, inconsistencies, or denials, by patient continuousness in well-doing, widen the horizon of their Christian vision and purge their eyesight for daily larger knowledge. To these, as to the others, there is granted the vision of the risen Lord, and to them also is entrusted the care of His sheep and His lambs. We do not need to go away into the depths and the darkness in order to realise the warmth and the blessedness of the light. There is no necessity that any Christian man’s career should be broken by denials like Peter’s or by doubts like Thomas’s, but we may ‘grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour.’ ‘So is the kingdom of heaven, first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.’
Then, still further, there were here ‘the two sons of Zebedee.’ These were the men of whom the Master said that they were ‘sons of thunder,’ who, by natural disposition, in so far as they resembled one another which they seem to have done, were eager, energetic, somewhat bigoted, ready with passionate rebukes, and not unwilling to invoke destructive vengeance, all for the love of Him. They were also touched with some human ambition which led them to desire a place at His right hand and His left, but the ambition, too, was touched with love towards Him, which half redeemed it. But by dwelling with Him one of them, at least, had become of all the group the likest his Master. And the old monastic painters taught a very deep truth when, in their pictures of the apostles, they made John’s almost a copy of the Master’s face. To him, too, there was granted in like manner a place amongst this blessed company, and it is surely a trace of his hand that his place should seem so humble. Any other but himself would certainly have put James and John in their natural place beside Peter. It must have been himself who slipped himself and his brother into so inconspicuous a position in the list, and further veiled his personality under the patronymic, ‘the sons of Zebedee.’
Last of all come ‘two other of His disciples,’ not worth naming. Probably, as I have said, they were the missing two out of the five of the first chapter; but possibly they were only ‘disciples’ in the wider sense, and not of the Apostolic group at all. Nobody can tell. What does it matter? The lesson to be gathered from their presence in this group is one that most of us may very well take to heart. There is a place for commonplace, undistinguished people, whose names are not worth repeating in any record; there is a place for us one-talented folk, in Christ’s Church, and we, too, have a share in the manifestation of His love. We do not need to be brilliant, we do not need to be clever, we do not need to be influential, we do not need to be energetic, we do not need to be anything but quiet, waiting souls, in order to have Christ showing Himself to us, as we toil wearily through the darkness of the night. Undistinguished disciples have a place in His heart, a sphere and a function in His Church, and a share in His revelation of Himself.
III. The last point that I touch is this, that the purpose of this group is significant.
What sent them back? Not doubt or despair; because they had seen Jesus Christ up in Jerusalem, and had come down to Galilee at His command on purpose to meet Him. ‘There shall ye see Him, lo! I have told you,’ was ringing in their ears, and they went back in full confidence of His appearance there. It is very like Peter that he should have been the one to suggest filling an hour of the waiting time with manual labour. The time would be hanging heavily on his hands. John could have ‘sat still in the house,’ like Mary, the heart all the busier, because the hands lay quietly in the lap. But that was not Peter’s way, and John was ready to keep him company. Peter thought that the best thing they could do, till Jesus chose to come, was to get back to their work, and he was sensible and right. The best preparation for Christ’s appearance, and the best attitude to be found in by Him, is doing our daily work, however secular and small it may be. A dirty, wet fishing boat, all slimy with scales, was a strange place in which to wait for the manifestation of a risen Saviour. But it was the right place, righter than if they had been wandering about amongst the fancied sanctities of the synagogues.
They went out to do their work; and to them was fulfilled the old saying, ‘I, being in the way, the Lord met me.’ Jesus Christ will come to you and me in the street if we carry the waiting heart there, and in the shop, and the factory, and the counting-house, and the kitchen, and the nursery, and the study, or wherever we may be. For all things are sacred when done with a hallowed heart, and He chooses to make Himself known to us amidst the dusty commonplaces of daily life.
He had said to them before the Crucifixion: ‘When I sent you forth without purse or scrip, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing.’ And then He said, as changing the conditions: ‘But now he that hath a purse or scrip, let him take it.’ As long as He was with them they were absolved from these common tasks. Now that He had left them the obligation recurred. And the order of things for His servants in all time coming was therein declared to be: no shirking of daily tasks on the plea of wanting divine communications; keep at your work, and if it last all night, stick to it; and if there are no fish in the net, never mind; out with it again. And be sure that sooner or later you will see Him standing on the beach, and hear His voice, and be blessed by His smile.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
of = from. Greek. apo. App-104.
other. Greek allos. App-124.
of = out of. Greek. ek. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
2.] Nathanael is named by John only, see ch. Joh 1:46 ff.: Thomas also by John only, except in the catalogues of the Apostles.
The junction of with a proper name is in Johns style: see ch. Joh 1:45; Joh 11:1; Joh 19:38.
. are no where else named by John;-they may however be here mentioned as in reminiscence of the draught of fishes which occurred before: see Luk 5:1 ff.
. . ] The same words occur ch. Joh 1:35, with reference to John the Baptist. Who these were does not appear. Probably (as Luthardt) some two not named in the Gospel, and therefore not specified in its appendix.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 21:2. , together) in the one place, in the house, seven in all.-, Thomas) who was now the less absent than formerly (ch. Joh 20:24), and was the more confirmed and to be confirmed.-, Nathanael) ch. Joh 1:46, note. His name here occurring in the midst of names of apostles, makes it likely he was the same as Bartholomew.- , the sons of Zebedee) John therefore wrote this book; for had any one else written it, he would have named John with his brother, immediately after Peter. Also he takes it for granted as a thing known from the other Evangelists, who were the sons of Zebedee, as well as who was Zebedee.- , of the disciples) apostles or others.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 21:2
Joh 21:2
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.-Five apostles are mentioned by name, and two others not named who may have been other than apostles.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Thomas: Joh 20:28
Nathanael: Joh 1:45-51
Cana: Joh 2:1, Joh 2:11, Joh 4:46, Jos 19:28, Kanah
the sons: Mat 4:21, Mat 4:22
Reciprocal: Mat 10:2 – James Mat 10:3 – Thomas Mar 3:17 – James Mar 3:18 – Thomas Joh 1:42 – A stone Joh 11:16 – Thomas Joh 20:24 – Thomas Act 1:13 – Thomas
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2
Among the men named as disciples was Nathanael, the same man who figured in the interesting conversation of chapter 1:45-51. (See the notes at that place.) The other name for him was Bartholomew, which may be learned from the lists given by the Gospel records. Matthew 10, Mark 3 and Luke 6, name twelve apostles including Bartholomew, but never mention Nathanael; while John mentions Nathanael six times, but never refers to Bartholomew by name one time. The verse merely states that these disciples were together, but does not tell the exact spot where they were nor what they were doing; the next verse will give us that information.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples.
[Simon Peter, and Thomas, etc.] here are seven of the disciples mentioned, and but five of them named. Those two whose names are not recited probably were Philip and Andrew; as the four that were absent at the time were the sons of Alpheus, Matthew, Judas, Simeon, and James. Compare those that are mentioned, John_1; and you may reasonably suppose the person not named there, Joh 1:37; Joh 1:40; might be Thomas.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Joh 21:2. There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and Nathanael of Cane of Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two other of his disciples. It is doubtful whether the seven persons here referred to are arranged, as is often supposed, in two groups, one consisting of three, and the other of four members. There may be significance in the mention of Thomas as now (after chap. 20) completely at one with his brother Apostles, and in the fact that Nathanael (comp. chap. Joh 1:51) is associated with the miracle.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, that after Christ was crucified, the disciples returned for a time to their trade and employment of fishing; though they were called to be fishers of men, yet churches not being gathered and constituted at present, nor being able to maintain them, they labour with their hands to supply their present necessities.
Afterwards, when at the feast of Pentecost they had received those visible gifts of the Holy Ghost, which did furnish them for preaching the gospel to all nations, and they went forth to plant and propagate the gospel, we may believe they then gave over the labour of their secular callings, and applied themselves wholly to the work of the ministry. That may be done (Ecclesia constituenda) in a church which is constituting, or about to be constituted.
Observe farther, how Peter, with the rest, toil all night, and catch nothing; but no sooner is Christ come among them, but they inclose a multitude of fishes.
Thereby teaching us, that all human labours and endeavours are in vain, unless Christ by his presence and blessing crown them with success.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 21:2. There were together Namely, in one house; Simon Peter, and Thomas, &c. Doubtless they often met and conversed together about the great things which they had seen and heard during the three years in which they had attended on Christ as his disciples, and especially concerning the late events of which they had been eye-witnesses, namely, the death and resurrection of their Master. And Christ chose to manifest himself to them when they were assembled; not only to countenance Christian society, but that they might be joint witnesses of the same matters of fact, and so might corroborate one anothers testimony. Here were seven together, to attest what follows. One of these was Thomas, who is named next to Peter, as if he now kept closer to the meetings of the apostles than ever, in consequence of the rebuke and advice he had received from Christ. Another was Nathanael, whom we have not met with since we considered the first chapter of this gospel. Some, however, think he was the same with Bartholomew, one of the twelve. The two not named are supposed to be Philip of Bethsaida, and Andrew of Capernaum.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
John evidently identified all the disciples who were present on this occasion, five of them by name or patronym and two others anonymously. Simon Peter was the disciples’ leader even after his denial of Jesus. Thomas was obviously a believer (Joh 20:28) perhaps suggesting that what follows has special importance for believing disciples. John mentioned Nathanael earlier (Joh 1:45-51), but here alone he identified this disciple as from Cana in Galilee. Perhaps he did so to remind the reader of Jesus’ early signs that happened in Cana (Joh 2:1-11; Joh 4:46-54) since Jesus was about to perform another miracle. Zebedee’s sons were James and John, though John did not identify them this way before. Perhaps this was John’s way of hinting at his own presence as an eyewitness of what follows without drawing too much attention to himself. The two unnamed disciples brought the total to seven.
The exact number may be another detail designed to add credibility to the account, or John may have been hinting that a complete number of disciples was present. Seven was a number that symbolized completeness to the Jews (cf. Gen 2:2-3; et al.). He may have been implying that the lesson that Jesus taught here was applicable to the full complement of disciples.