Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 1:50
Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
50. believest thou? ] Or possibly, thou believest. Comp. Joh 16:31, Joh 20:29. The interrogative form is here best: He who marvelled at the unbelief of the people of Nazareth here expresses joyous surprise at the ready belief of the guileless Israelite of Cana.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Greater things – Fuller proof of his Messiahship, particularly what is mentioned in the following verse.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 1:50-51
Greater things than these
I.
THIS FAVOURED MAN.
1. He was a man who honestly made inquiries which fairly suggested themselves. He did not invent doubts and raise questions. When Philip said Nazareth his mind went to the prophecy about Bethlehem; hence his question. When Christ read him he naturally asked for the sources of Christs knowledge.
2. A man who honestly yielded to the force of truth. Christs omniscient knowledge he felt to be an irresistible proof of His Messiahship.
3. A man who in simple honesty believes much upon the evidence of one assured fact. Prom Christs knowledge he infers His teachership; His Divine Sonship; His sovereignty. Such is the man who obtains the blessing of the text.
II. THE GRACIOUS REWARD. The words imply
1. That his perceptions would be more vivid. Believest thou thou shalt see. Faith develops into experience, experience into actual vision.
2. That other truths should be discovered.
(1) More of Christs Godhead. From omniscience to omnipotence; from knowledge of the heart to power to change the heart.
(2) Christs human sonship. Godhead not half so wonderful as when it comes to be united to humanity.
(3) An opened heaven. He who knew the secrets of his heart would establish relations between his heart and heaven. These blessings are for guileless believers only. Christ cannot do mighty works because of unbelief.
III. THE SPECIAL SIGHT. Intercourse between earth and heaven by way of the Mediator.
1. The angels ascend first to carry Christs upward messages and our prayers and praises.
2. Angels descend with blessings to man through Christ. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The first promise
Notice this incident
I. AS A GLORIOUS END WHICH MERGES INTO A STILL MORE GLORIOUS BEGINNING.
1. The Lord who receives His disciples. He first appears as walking alone, waiting for the Fathers first gift. The preparations for the kingdom are complete, but as yet He is without an avowed disciple. How will He win them?
(1) The first announcement which sent men to Christ was Behold the Lamb of God. This is the sovereign secret of our Lords attraction all through time.
(2) But He who takes away our sins also seeks. Two disciples follow Him, but find Him not till He turns with the searching question: then He finds Philip.
2. Those who come to Him.
(1) They are representatives of the devout in Israel waiting for His coming.
(2) They represent those who are prepared by repentance and faith.
(3) They illustrate the manner in which His disciples come to Him. Two by the preaching of another. Two seek their fellows and communicate the glad tidings. One is directly sought by Himself.
3. The communion between Christ and His disciples that day begun. It was reserved for the last to declare on behalf of all what Jesus was to their devotion: Divine Son, Supreme Lord. This, however, to them was but the beginning of joys, and the Redeemer promises greater things.
II. THIS FIRST PROMISE is an encouragement to the faith of these humble disciples, and a prologue to all the wonders of redemption.
1. Our Lord here utters in figurative language the mystery of His mediation between heaven and earth. Christ here gives us in His first exposition of those Scriptures which testify of Him the meaning of Jacobs vision. The disciples were to see the Son of Man opening heaven and earth.
2. But though the Son of Man is the great word here, the angels have their specific meaning, viz., that heaven is always open to earth, that abundant blessing answers to abundant prayer, and that Christs servants have all heaven ministering to their good. Both worlds are thus made one, and earth to us, as to Jacob, becomes the gate of heaven. What an encouragement to expect larger communications! We need not make the angels the bearers of our prayer: that office Christ appropriates We need not make them bearers of the Divine response that office the Holy Spirit appropriates. They are nevertheless the symbols and instruments of the providence of God. Their ministry to Christ he has transferred to us.
3. This glorious introductory saying which passed from prophecy to promise now returns to pure prophecy again, and our Lord fore-announces the day when heaven and earth shall in the fullest sense be made one. (W. B. Pope, D. D.)
Believing and seeing
I. OUR LORDS PROMISE TO HIS NEW DISCIPLES. The words may be translated either as a question or an affirmation. In either case they are a solemn and glad recognition of Nathanaels belief. Here is the first time that Christ uses the word. It was the epoch in history when Christ first claimed and then accepted a mans faith. The greater things have a proper fuifilment in the gradual manifestation of Christs person and character which lay all unrevealed yet. If you continue to trust in Me, you shall see unrolled before your eyes the great facts which will make the manifestation of God to the world. Light is here thrown upon
1. The relation between faith and discipleship.
(1) The two terms are synonymous.
(2) Our Lord uses the word without any definition of what they were to believe: He Himself, and not thoughts about Him, is the true object of faith.
(3) Nathanaels creed was widely different from ours, and yet his faith and ours are identical.
2. The connection between faith and sight. There is a great deal about seeing in the context. A double antithesis:
(1) I saw thee–thou shalt see Me.
(2) Thou believest–thou shalt see; i.e, in the loftiest region of spiritual experience you must believe first in order that you may see.
(a) Unless we trust Christ and take our illumination from Him, we shall never behold a whole set of truths which when once we trust Him are all plain to us: God, man, yourselves, duty, destiny.
(b) If we trust Him we get light on things which are mist and darkness except to faith. The world says,Seeing is believing,–which is true in regard to outward things. Believing is seeing in regard to God and spiritual truth.
3. The connection between faith and progress. Christ like a wise Teacher stimulates His disciples with the promise of greater things. Here is something which will give you ever new powers and acquirements, and ensure you against stagnation. Everything else gets worn out sooner or later.
II. OUR LORDS WITNESS TO HIMSELF. Mark how with superbly autocratic lips He bases this great utterance upon nothing else but His own word. From henceforth, i.e, from the first hour of His official work. The promise is that in no vision of the night like Jacob, hut in practical, working reality ye shall see that ladder again, and the angels moving upon it in their errands of mercy. The ladder is Christ; He is the sole medium of communication between earth and heaven, the ladder with its foot on the earth, in His humanity, and its top in the heavens.
(1) Christ is the medium of all revelation. (.2) In Him the sense and reality of separation between heaven and earth through sin are swept away.
(3) By Him all Divine blessings angel-like descend.
(4) By Him prayers and desires rise to God.
(5) If we ever enter heaven at all we shall enter it through Him alone. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The glory of the Mediator
I. THE OMNISCIENCE OF HIS INTELLECT.
II. THE WONDERFULNESS OF HIS DISCLOSURES.
1. The heavenly world.
2. This world in connection with angelic agency.
3. This angelic agency is rendered through His mediation.
III. THE PROGRESSIVENESS OF HIS CAUSE. Hereafter, etc. Because
1. Time develops prophetic truth concerning Him.
2. Time affords opportunity to execute the mighty plan on which every victory is sketched.
3. It is future time that must and will unfold the results of His great undertaking. (J. H. Hill.)
The dawn of faith and its consummation
Christianity is not a mere set of doctrines, but a life of faith in and through Christ. This is well illustrated in this chapter. These early disciples differed in temperament and in their methods of reaching Christ, but they had one faith in common. Men have been ever asking, How does this faith begin? To what does it lead? These questions are answered here.
I. THE DAWN OF FAITH. Christs words imply the great fact of experience from which faith rises.
1. What was that fact?
(1) Not the proof of Christs miraculous power contained in the fact that Christ saw him although unseen. This might prove Christ to be a teacher sent from God, but no such miracle could prove Him to be the Redeemer and object of saving trust. Christ rejected belief founded exclusively on miracles. Miracles were imperative in the case of the Jews.
(2) But the fact that Christ saw into him and penetrated the deep necessities of his heart. Nathanael had probably been praying under the fig-tree. Prayer unveiling the soul before the heartsearching glance of God reveals the real man. Nathanael knew therefore at once that Christ was acquainted with his doubts, sorrows, aspirations. He therefore who thus knew him could deliver him. The same heart-searching glance rests upon us. Here, then, faith begins. Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou art the Son of God.
2. That fact is the dawning of a faith that must continually grow. Two things necessary to the strengthening of belief.
(1) Its evidence must be certain. Faith in Christ rests upon the deepest of all kinds of certainty–experimental evidence. The evidence of testimony may fail, the certainty of reasoning may be destroyed. But when we know whom we have believed nothing can overturn our conviction. Here is the only cure for doubt.
(2) Its power must advance with advancing life. When faith in Christ as the only satisfier of the souls need is reached, every new experience in life brings new proofs of its power.
II. THE CONSUMMATION OF FAITH. Christ declares Jacobs dream to be fulfilled in Him. The greater things are those which Jacob dimly realized.
1. The felt presence of God.
2. The sacredness of life. How dreadful is this place! etc.
3. Union with the angelic world. (E. L. Hull, B. A.)
Israel and the Israelite
I. THE NARRATIVE IN EVERY LINE THROWS US BACK ON NATHANAELS GREAT ANCESTOR
1. We may learn how hard it is for a life to get rid of moral stain. Jacobs life was purified by hard afflictions ere it was changed to Israel, the prince that prevailed with God.
2. A character may be so cleansed from moral stain that opposite virtues may be associated with the life. Jacob the supplanter was recovered from his guile.
3. The reflection cast upon the old patriarchal life is full of grace when one is welcomed to the love of Christ by the words, Behold an Israelite indeed.
II. NATHANAEL.
1. His requirements. We are apt to have no great thoughts of a simple guileless life. We associate it with a kind of weakness, and think of it as likely to be imposed upon and led astray. No doubt there is danger. This, like every other grace, wants cultivating; pruning as well as developing. And Christ expects cultivating in this disciple just as in the zealous Peter, the ambitious James, the thoughtful Andrew and Philip.
2. The promise that met that requirement. How helpful the vision was to Jacob! The reality was still more helpful to Nathanael.
(1) Literally it was fulfilled at the baptism, after the temptation, in the agony, and at the resurrection and ascension.
(2) Morally it was fulfilled in the establishment of relations with heaven through the Lamb of God.
3. Circumstantially it was fulfilled in the fruits of Nathanaels missionary life. (T. Gasquoine, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 50. Because I said – I saw thee, &c.] As thou hast credited my Divine mission on this simple proof, that I saw thee when and where no human eye, placed where mine was, could see thee, thy faith shall not rest merely upon this, for thou shalt see greater things than these – more numerous and express proofs of my eternal power and Godhead.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Christ encourages the beginnings of faith in the souls of his people, and magnifies Nathanaels faith from the revelation which he had, which was but imperfect; for Christ had said no more, than that he had seen him under the fig tree before Philip called him. He tells him that he should
see greater things than these. To him that hath, shall be given. What those greater things are, which our Lord here meaneth, he telleth him, in part at least, Joh 1:51.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
50, 51. Because I said, &c.”Soquickly convinced, and on this evidence only?”an expressionof admiration.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Jesus answered and said unto him,…. Not as reproving him for his faith, as if he was too credulous, and too easily gave into the belief of Christ, as the Son of God, and true Messiah, upon these single expressions of his; but as approving of it, and surprised at it:
because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? some read the words, not by way of interrogation, but as an assertion; “thou believest”, or “hast believed”, as the Vulgate Latin, Arabic, and Persic versions:
thou shall see greater things than these; meaning that he should have larger discoveries of his person, nature, and perfections, and should see things done by him, much more surprising than any thing he had seen yet; referring to the miracles of raising the dead, casting out devils, and healing all manner of diseases.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Answered and said ( ). This redundant use of both verbs (cf. 1:26) occurs in the Synoptics also and in the LXX also. It is Aramaic also and vernacular. It is not proof of an Aramaic original as Burney argues (Aramaic Origin, etc., p. 53).
Because (). Causal use of at beginning of the sentence as in John 14:19; John 15:19; John 16:6. The second before (I saw) is either declarative (that) or merely recitative (either makes sense here).
Thou shalt see greater things than these ( ). Perhaps volitive future middle indicative of (though merely futuristic is possible as with in 51) ablative case of after the comparative adjective . The wonder of Nathanael no doubt grew as Jesus went on.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Jesus answered and said unto him,” (apekrithe lesous kai eipen auto) “Jesus responded and said unto him,” to strengthen his faith and courage.
2) “Because I said unto thee,” (hoti eipon soi) “Because I told you,” and you accepted what I told you, expressing it by embracing me as your Messiah and coming king, Joh 1:49; Rom 10:8-13.
3) “I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou?” (hoti eidon se hupokato tes sukes pisteueis) “That I saw you beneath the fig tree, do you believe?” You believe, don’t you? You believe I am the Divine one of whom David spoke, Psa 94:11; Psa 139:1-11. Apparently Nathanael was in prayer, in privacy, under the fig tree meditating of the prophecy of Isaiah and Malachi that John the Baptist had been preaching, Mat 1:8, Isa 40:3; Mal 3:1.
4) “Thou shalt see greater things than these.” (meizo touton opse) “You will see greater things than these,” greater proofs of evidence of His Divinity, in the prophecies that He fulfilled, the teachings and preaching He did, and the miracles-He performed, Joh 20:30-31. The testimony of Philip and Jesus had led him to Jesus, and greater evidences and testimony of Jesus would strengthen him, supply all his future need to which he had been called, Eph 2:10; Php_4:13; Php_4:19.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
50. Jesus answered. He does not reprove Nathanael as if he had been too easy of belief, but rather approving of his faith, promises to him and to others that he will confirm it by stronger arguments. Besides, it was peculiar to one man that he was seen under a fig-tree by Christ, when absent and at a distance from him; but now Christ brings forward a proof which would be common to all, and thus — as if he had broken off from what he originally intended — instead of addressing one man, he turns to address all.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(50) Believest thou.This is not necessarily a question, and a fuller sense is obtained by taking it as an assertion. (Comp. the same word in Joh. 16:31; Joh. 20:29.) On this evidence thou believest; the use of the faith-faculty strengthens it. Thou shalt see greater things than these.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
50. Greater things than these Greater than this, the Lord’s knowledge of his secret prayer. That should be but the beginning of wonders.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Jesus answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” And he says to him, “In very truth I say to you, you will see the Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man”.’
Jesus reply is, ‘Does your faith rest on the fact that I saw you under the fig tree?’ (‘and knew what you were thinking’ is implied). Then he tells him that more wonderful things are yet in store for him, beyond what he could even have conceived. ‘You will see Heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’.
Jesus probably did not mean this to be taken literally. It is rather a reference back to Jacob’s dream at Bethel (Gen 28:12) which had indicted that he was the chosen of God and under God’s protection. Perhaps this had been included in Nathaniel’s earlier thoughts under the fig tree, as he pondered Jacob’s experience and connected it with his guile (Gen 27:35), and as therefore in contrast with the man without guile pictured in Psa 32:2. Now he is learning that a greater than Jacob is here Who can read all his thoughts.
Jacob had received his vision when he had left home and was about to enter a strange and foreign land. It had been a confirmation that God was with him and was watching over him wherever he went, and that world events were under heavenly control. The message Jesus is conveying is that He too is leaving home, aware of the period of hardship that lies ahead, and that He too will know the presence of His Father watching over Him, and will have special heavenly connections. It will be a period that will stress the closeness of His relationship with the Father, and will result in a new period of fulfilment of the promises of God, and He is indicating that Nathaniel will have a part in that future, and will come to recognise Jesus’ unique relationship with the Father, and share in its blessing.
Notice again Jesus’ reference to Himself as the Son of Man. This is the title under which he constantly reveals Himself. Others have declared Him ‘the Lamb of God’, ‘the Son of God’, the King of Israel’, ‘the Messiah’, the ‘Drencher with the Holy Spirit’, but He wishes to link Himself closely with mankind as the Son of Man. However, what Jesus says here suggests that He already thought in terms of the ‘son of man’ in Dan 7:13-14 who approaches the throne of God in order to receive kingship and glory. It was a suitable term by which to indicate His Messiahship, whilst at the same time avoiding the suggestion that He had in mind an earthly conflict.
This depiction of Jesus as using the term ‘son of man’ rather than any other is in line with the other Gospels, and a further confirmation that the writer does not seek to alter the tradition. He does, however, certainly select those sayings which reflect the Son of Man’s heavenly glory. He wants it to convey the idea both of genuine Messiahship and of heavenly connections and authority. In order to see this we will look at the passages where the Son of Man is mentioned:
3:13 ‘And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended out of heaven, even the Son of man. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, so that whoever believes may in Him have eternal life.’ Here Jesus sees the Son of Man in terms of a figure who ascends to Heaven, as the Son of Man did in Dan 7:13-14. But Jesus adds here the thought that this indicated that he had first descended from Heaven. The thought may be His own, or it may be that He saw the descent of the Son of Man from Heaven as is in accordance with Jewish tradition (the idea of a glorious son of man appears in Jewish apocalyptic literature). Thus His connection with Heaven is being made clear. Yet He is also as the Son of Man to be lifted up (on the cross) in order that those who believe in Him may have eternal life. We see here both His humiliation and His glory, and His mission to give eternal life to those who believe in Him.
5:26 ‘For as the Father has life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself, and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is a son of man.’ Note here the equating of ‘the Son’ with the Son of Man. Here it is as the Son of Man that He is given authority to exercise judgment, a clear indication that He will have taken His position on His heavenly throne (Dan 7:14).
6:27 ‘Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you, for Him the Father, even God, has sealed.’ Here the Son of Man is seen as a figure sealed by God for the purpose of giving eternal life to those who work the works of God, which includes believing in Him Whom He has sent (Joh 6:29). He is God’s chosen One, and once again He is connected with the giving of eternal life.
6:53 ‘Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have not life in yourselves.’ Here life is to be found by, having crucified Him (eaten His flesh and drunk His blood in accordance with Jewish idiom), coming to and believing (see Joh 6:35) in the Son of Man as the One Who has died for them (see on chapter 6). Thereby they will ‘have life in themselves’. Here the Son of Man is clearly a substantial figure, for it is by partaking of Him that people will find life.
6:62 ‘What then if you should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before?’ This ties in with Joh 3:13-14 and confirms both His pre-existence in Heaven and the certainty of His return there.
8:28 ‘Jesus therefore said, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then will you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things.’ Here the Son of Man must be ‘lifted up’ as in Joh 3:14. The reference is clearly to the cross where the people of the world will kill Him as in Joh 6:53. It may also include the thought of His resurrection.
9:35 ‘Jesus heard that they had cast him (the blind man who had been healed) out, and finding him, he said, Do you believe on the Son of God (or ‘the Son of Man’)?’ The text here is not certain so we have included it as a reference to the Son of Man. The point here is that the Son of Man is important enough to be ‘believed in’, and Jesus then immediately indicates that He is the Son of Man.
12:23-24 ‘And Jesus answers them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abides by itself alone, but if it die, it bears much fruit.’ Here the glorification of the Son of Man is connected with falling into the ground and dying. In Daniel 7 the son of man also comes out of suffering in order to be glorified.
12:34 ‘The crowd therefore answered him, We have heard out of the Law that the Christ abides for ever: and how do you say, The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man?’ Here the crowds have picked up on the fact that the Son of Man must be lifted up, and it makes them want to know Who Jesus is talking about.
13:31 ‘When therefore he (Judas) was gone out, Jesus says, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him, and God will glorify him in himself, and immediately will he glorify him.’ As with the ‘lifting up’ so the glorification of the Son of Man includes both His being glorified on the cross and His being glorified at His ascension, the latter in line with Dan 7:14.
It is clear from these verses that Jesus depicts the Son of Man as a heavenly figure who descends from Heaven to earth, is lifted up on the cross so as to become a giver of eternal life to those who believe in Him, and is raised again and ascends into Heaven from where He will judge the world, having received the glory due to Him. These ideas are built on, but go far beyond, the picture drawn in Dan 7:13-14. In this designation Jesus is seen as both Messiah and Son of God.
Someone may still ask, how does what is spoken of in Joh 1:19 onwards fit in with the later calling of the disciples as described in the other Gospels? The answer is that this was an initial connection made with these disciples who were, however, in the main still disciples of John. As we have seen it is only to Philip, who had not been following John, that He says ‘follow me’ at this point. Others who are disciples of John will be called to follow later, but Jesus ever has in mind a desire not to push John to one side (see Joh 4:1-3). Once they have left John and returned home to their businesses, and John is in prison, it will be a different matter. Once more we are impressed with the accuracy of John’s writing.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 1:50. Because I said unto thee, I saw thee “You believe, because I told you that I had seen you under the fig-tree: You shall see greater things than these.” It is supposed that, under the fig-tree, Nathanael had some revelation or divine impression upon his mind concerning the Messiah, to which our Lord here alludes. Schoettgenius proves that it was then the hour of prayer. See the preceding no
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 1:50 . The double designation is uttered in the excitement of joyful certainty. The simple faith in the Messiah, expressed in Joh 1:41 , is here intensified, not as to its subject-matter, but in its outward expression. Comp. Luthardt, p. 344. The second designation is the more definite of the two; and therefore the first, in the sense in which Nathanael used it, is not as yet to be apprehended metaphysically (against Hengstenberg) in John’s sense, but is simply theocratic, presupposing the national view (Psa 2:7 ; Joh 11:27 ) of the promised and expected theocratic King (comp. Riehm in the Stud. u. Krit . 1865, p. 63 ff.), and not perhaps implying the teaching of the Baptist (Olshausen). The early occurrence of such confessions therefore conflicts the less with that later one of Peter’s in Mat 16:3 , which implies, however, a consciousness of the higher import of the words (against Strauss).
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
49 Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
50 Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.
Ver. 50. Thou shalt see greater things ] Strange sights, marvellous light, matchless mysteries, multifarious wisdom, even the wisdom of God in a mystery: heaven opened, and angels of God ascending and descending, Joh 1:51 , and curiously prying 1Pe 1:12 into that great mystery of godliness, God manifested in the flesh, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Joh 1:50 . , he exclaims, , . Nathanael had been praying for the manifestation of the Messiah: now he exclaims Thou art He. That Nathanael used both expressions, Son of God, and King of Israel, we may well believe, for he found both in the second Psalm. And it is probable that he used both as identifying Jesus with the Messiah (see chap. Joh 11:27 , Joh 12:13-15 ). It is not likely that he would pass from a higher designation to a lower; more probable that by the second title he means more closely to define the former. Thou art the Son of God, fulfilling the ideal of sonship and actually realising all that prophecy has uttered regarding the Son of God: Thou art the ideal, long-expected King of Israel, in whom God’s reign and kingdom are realised on earth. “The words are an echo of the testimony of the Baptist. Nothing can be more natural than to suppose that the language of John had created strange questionings in the hearts of some whom it had reached, and that it was with such thoughts Nathanael was busied when the Lord ‘saw’ him. If this were so, the confession of Nathanael may be an answer to his own doubts” (Westcott).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
John
THE FIRST DISCIPLES: V. BELIEVING AND SEEING
Joh 1:50 – Joh 1:51
Here we have the end of the narrative of the gathering together of the first disciples, which has occupied several sermons. We have had occasion to point out how each incident in the series has thrown some fresh light upon two main subjects, namely, upon some phase or other of the character and work of Jesus Christ, or upon the various ways by which faith, which is the condition of discipleship, is kindled in men’s souls. These closing words may be taken as the crowning thoughts on both these matters.
Our Lord recognises and accepts the faith of Nathanael and his fellows, but, like a wise Teacher, lets His pupils at the very beginning get a glimpse of how much lies ahead for them to learn; and in the act of accepting the faith gives just one hint of the great tract of yet uncomprehended knowledge of Him which lies before them; ‘Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.’ He accepts Nathanael’s confession and the confession of his fellows. Human lips have given Him many great and wonderful titles in this chapter. John called Him ‘the Lamb of God’; the first disciples hailed Him as the ‘Messias, which is the Christ’; Nathanael fell before Him with the rapturous exclamation, ‘Thou art the Son of God; Thou art the King of Israel!’ All these crowns had been put on His head by human hands, but here He crowns Himself. He makes a mightier claim than any that they had dreamed of, and proclaims Himself to be the medium of all communication and intercourse between heaven and earth: ‘Hereafter ye shall see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
So, then, there are two great principles that lie in these verses, and are contained in, first, our Lord’s mighty promise to His new disciples, and second, in our Lord’s witness to Himself. Let me say a word or two about each of these.
I. Our Lord’s promise to His new disciples.
Here is the first time that that word ‘belief’ came from Christ’s lips; and when we remember all the importance that has been attached to it in the subsequent history of the Church, and the revolution in human thought which followed upon our Lord’s demand of our faith, there is an interest in noticing the first appearance of the word. It was an epoch in the history of the world when Christ first claimed and accepted a man’s faith.
Of course the second part of this verse, ‘Thou shalt see greater things than these,’ has its proper fulfilment in the gradual manifestation of His person and character, which followed through the events recorded in the Gospels. His life of service, His words of wisdom, His deeds of power and of pity, His death of shame and of glory, His Resurrection and His Ascension, these are the ‘greater things’ which Nathanael is promised. They all lay unrevealed yet, and what our Lord means is simply this: ‘If you will continue to trust in Me, as you have trusted Me, and stand beside Me, you will see unrolled before your eyes and comprehended by your faith the great facts which will make the manifestation of God to the world.’ But though that be the original application of the words, yet I think we may fairly draw from them some lessons that are of importance to ourselves; and I ask you to look at the hint that they give us about three things,-faith and discipleship, faith and sight, faith and progress. ‘Believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.’
First, here is light thrown upon the relation between faith and discipleship. It is clear that our Lord here uses the word for the first time in the full Christian sense, that He regards the exercise of faith as being practically synonymous with being a disciple, that from the very first, believers were disciples, and disciples were believers.
Then, notice still further that our Lord here employs the word ‘belief’ without any definition of what or whom it is that they were to believe. He Himself, and not certain thoughts about Him, is the true object of a man’s faith. We may believe a proposition, but faith must grasp a person. Even when the person is made known to us by a proposition which we have to believe before we can trust the person, still the essence of faith is not the intellectual process of laying hold upon a certain thought, and acquiescing in it, but the moral process of casting myself in full confidence upon the Being that is revealed to me by the thought,-of laying my hand, and leaning my weight, on the Man about whom it tells me. And so faith, which is discipleship, has in it for its very essence the personal element of trust in Jesus Christ.
Then, further, notice how widely different from our creed was Nathanael’s creed, and yet how identical with our faith, if we are Christians, was Nathanael’s faith. He knew nothing about the very heart of Christ’s work, His atoning death. He knew nothing about the highest glory of Christ’s person, His divine Sonship, in its unique and lofty sense. These lay unrevealed, and were amongst the greater things which he was yet to see; but though thus his knowledge was imperfect, and his creed incomplete as compared with ours, his faith was the very same. He laid hold upon Christ, he clave to Him with all his heart, he was ready to accept His teaching, he was willing to do His will, and as for the rest-’Thou shalt see greater things than these.’ So, dear brethren, from these words of my text here, from the unhesitating attribution of the lofty notion of faith to this man, from the way in which our Lord uses the word, are gathered these three points that I beseech you to ponder: there is no discipleship without faith; faith is the personal grasp of Christ Himself; the contents of creeds may differ whilst the element of faith remains the same. I beseech you let Christ come to you with the question of my text, and as He looks you in the eyes, hear Him say to you, ‘Believest thou?’
Secondly, notice how in this great promise to the new disciples there is light thrown upon another subject, viz. the connection between faith and sight. There is a great deal about seeing in this context. Christ said to the first two that followed Him, ‘Come and see.’ Philip met Nathanael’s thin film of prejudice with the same words, ‘Come and see.’ Christ greeted the approaching Nathanael with ‘When thou wast under the fig tree I saw thee.’ And now His promise is cast into the same metaphor: ‘Thou shalt see greater things than these.’
There is a double antithesis here. ‘I saw thee,’ ‘Thou shalt see Me.’ ‘Thou wast convinced because thou didst feel that thou wert the passive object of My vision. Thou shalt be still more convinced when illuminated by Me. Thou shalt see even as thou art seen. I saw thee, and that bound thee to Me; thou shalt see Me, and that will confirm the bond.’
There is another antithesis, namely-between believing and seeing. ‘Thou believest-that is thy present; thou shalt see, that is thy hope for the future.’ Now I have already explained that, in the proper primary meaning and application of the words, the sight which is here promised is simply the observance with the outward eye of the historical facts of our Lord’s life which were yet to be learned. But still we may gather a truth from this antithesis which will be of use to us. ‘Thou believest-thou shalt see’; that is to say, in the loftiest region of spiritual experience you must believe first, in order that you may see.
I do not mean, as is sometimes meant, by that statement that a man has to try to force his understanding into the attitude of accepting religious truth, in order that he may have an experience which will convince him that it is true. I mean a very much simpler thing than that, and a very much truer one, viz. this, that unless we trust to Christ and take our illumination from Him, we shall never behold a whole set of truths which, when once we trust Him, are all plain and clear to us. It is no mysticism to say that. What do you know about God?-I put emphasis upon the word ‘know’-What do you know about Him, however much you may argue and speculate and think probable, and fear, and hope, and question, about Him? What do you know about Him apart from Jesus Christ? What do you know about human duty, apart from Him? What do you know of all that dim region that lies beyond the grave, apart from Him? If you trust Him, if you fall at His feet and say ‘Rabbi! Thou art my Teacher and mine illumination,’ then you will see. You will see God, man, yourselves, duty; you will see light upon a thousand complications and perplexities; and you will have a brightness above that of the noonday sun, streaming into the thickest darkness of death and the grave and the awful hereafter. Christ is the Light. In that ‘Light shall we see light.’ And just as it needs the sun to rise in order that my eye may behold the outer world, so it needs that I shall have Christ shining in my heaven to illuminate the whole universe, in order that I may see clearly. ‘Believe and thou shalt see.’ For only when we trust Him do the mightiest truths that affect humanity stand plain and clear before us.
And besides that, if we trust Christ, we get a living experience of a multitude of facts and principles which are all mist and darkness to men except through their faith; an experience which is so vivid and brings such certitude as that it may well be called vision. The world says, ‘Seeing is believing.’ So it is about the coarse things that you can handle, but about everything that is higher than these invert the proverb, and you get the truth. ‘Seeing is believing.’ Yes, in regard to outward things. Believing is seeing in regard to God and spiritual truth. ‘Believest thou? thou shalt see.’
Then, thirdly, there is light here about another matter, the connection between faith and progress. ‘Thou shalt see greater things than these.’ A wise teacher stimulates his scholars from the beginning, by giving them glimpses of how much there is ahead to be learnt. That does not drive them to despair; it braces all their powers. And so Christ, as His first lesson to these men, substantially says, ‘You have learnt nothing yet, you are only beginning.’ That is true about us all. Faith at first, both in regard to its contents and its quality, is very rudimentary and infantile. A man when he is first converted-perhaps suddenly-knows after a fashion that he himself is a very sinful, wretched, poor creature, and he knows that Jesus Christ has died for him, and is his Saviour, and his heart goes out to Him, in confidence and love and obedience. But he is only standing at the door and peeping in as yet. He has only mastered the alphabet. He is but on the frontier of the promised land. His faith has brought him into contact with infinite power, and what will be the end of that? He will indefinitely grow. His faith has started him on a course to which there is no natural end. As long as it keeps alive he will be growing and growing, and getting nearer and nearer to the great centre of all.
So here is a grand possibility opened out in these simple words, a possibility which alone meets what you need, and what you are craving for, whether you know it or not, namely, something that will give you ever new powers and acquirements; something which will ensure your closer and ever closer approach to an absolute object of joy and truth; something that will ensure you against stagnation and guarantee unceasing progress. Everything else gets worn out, sooner or later; if not in this world, then in another. There is one course on which a man can enter with the certainty that there is no end to it, that it will open out, and out, and out as he advances-with the certainty that, come life, come death, it is all the same.
When the plant grows too tall for the greenhouse they lift the roof, and it grows higher still. Whether you have your growth in this lower world, or whether you have your top up in the brightness and the blue of heaven, the growth is in one direction. There is a way that secures endless progress, and here lies the secret of it: ‘Thou believest! thou shalt see greater things than these.’
Now, brethren, that is a grand possibility, and it is a solemn lesson for some of you. You professing Christian people, are you any taller than you were when you were born? Have you grown at all? Are you growing now? Have you seen any further into the depths of Jesus Christ than you did on that first day when you fell at His feet and said, ‘Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel’? His promise to you then was, ‘Thou believest, thou shalt see greater things.’ If you have not seen greater things it is because your faith has broken down, if it has not expired.
II. Now let me turn to the second thought which lies in these great words.
‘Hereafter.’ A word which is possibly not genuine, and is omitted, as you will observe, in the Revised Version. If it is to be retained it must be translated, not ‘hereafter,’ as if it were pointing to some indefinite period in the future, but ‘from henceforth,’ as if asserting that the opening heavens and the descending angels began to be manifested from that first hour of His official work. ‘Ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending.’ That is an allusion from the story of Jacob at Bethel. We have found reference to Jacob’s history already in the conversation with Nathanael, ‘An Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.’ And here is an unmistakable reference to that story, when the fugitive, with his head on the stony pillow, and the violet Syrian sky, with all its stars, rounding itself above him, beheld the ladder on which the angels of God ascended and descended. ‘So,’ says Christ, ‘you shall see, in no vision of the night, in no transitory appearance, but in a practical waking reality, that ladder come down again, and the angels of God moving upon it in their errands of mercy.’
And who, or what, is this ladder? Christ. Do not read these words as meaning that the angels of God were to come down on Him to help, and to honour, and to succour Him as they did once or twice in His life, but as meaning that they are to ascend and descend by Him for the help and blessing of the whole world.
That is to say, to put it into plain words, Christ is the sole medium of communication between heaven and earth, the ladder with its foot upon the earth in His humanity, and its top in the heavens. ‘No man hath ascended up into heaven save He which came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven.’
My time will not allow me to expand these thoughts as I would have done; let me put them in the briefest outline. Christ is the medium of all communication between heaven and earth, inasmuch as He is the medium of all revelation. I have spoken incidentally about that in the former part of this sermon, so I do not dwell on it now. Christ is the ladder between heaven and earth, inasmuch as in Him the sense of separation, and the reality of separation, are swept away. Sin has shut heaven; there comes down from it many a blessing upon unthankful heads, but between it in its purity and the earth in its muddy foulness ‘there is a great gulf fixed.’ It is not because God is great and I am small, or because He is Infinite and I am a mere pin-point as against a great continent, it is not because He lives for ever, and my life is but a hand-breadth, it is not because of the difference between His Omniscience and my ignorance, His strength and my weakness, that I am parted from Him. ‘Your sins have separated between you and your God,’ and no man, build he Babels ever so high, can reach thither. There is one means by which the separation is at an end, and by which all objective hindrances to union, and all subjective hindrances, are alike swept away. Christ has come, and in Him the heavens have bended down to touch, and touching to bless, this low earth, and man and God are at one once more.
He is the ladder, or sole medium of communication, inasmuch as by Him all divine blessings, grace, helps, and favours, come down angel-like, into our weak and needy hearts. Every strength, every mercy, every spiritual power, consolation in every sorrow, fitness for duty, illumination in darkness, all gifts that any of us can need, come to us down on that one shining way, the mediation and the work of the Divine-Human Christ, the Lord.
He is the ladder, the sole medium of communication between heaven and earth, inasmuch as by Him my poor desires and prayers and intercessions, my wishes, my sighs, my confessions rise to God. ‘No man cometh to the Father but by Me.’ He is the ladder, the means of all communication between heaven and earth, inasmuch as at the last, if ever we enter there at all, we shall enter through Him and through Him alone, who is ‘the Way, the Truth, and the Life.’
Ah, dear brethren! men are telling us now that there is no connection between earth and heaven except such as telescopes and spectroscopes can make out. We are told that there is no ladder, that there are no angels, that possibly there is no God, or if that there be, we have nothing to do with Him nor He with us; that our prayers cannot get to His ears, if He have ears, nor His hand be stretched out to help us, if He have a hand. I do not know how this cultivated generation is to he brought back again to faith in God and delivered from that ghastly doubt which empties heaven and saddens earth to its victims, but by giving heed to the word which Christ spoke to the whole race while He addressed Nathanael, ‘Ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’ If He be the Son of God, then all these heavenly messengers reach the earth by Him. If He be the Son of Man, then every man may share in the gifts which through Him are brought into the world, and His Manhood, which evermore dwelt in heaven, even while on earth, and was ever girt about by angel presences, is at once the measure of what each of us may become, and the power by which we may become it.
One thing is needful for this wonderful consummation, even our faith. And oh! how blessed it will be if in waste solitudes we can see the open heaven, and in the blackest night the blaze of the glory of a present Christ, and hear the soft rustle of angels’ wings filling the air, and find in every place ‘a house of God and a gate of heaven,’ because He is there. All that may be yours on one condition: ‘Believest thou? Thou shalt see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
under = down beneath. Not the same word as in Joh 1:48.
believest. App-160. See Joh 1:7.
see. App-133.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Joh 1:50. , I saw) The repetition confirms [the assertion]: as at ch. Joh 4:17-18.-) Others read it without the interrogation, which however the succeeding sentence, as being without the particle or any other such like particle, requires, . The same figure [the interrogation expressing surprise, rather than a query] occurs, Luk 22:52. At the same time the admiration of the Lord at the prompt faith of Nathanael is expressed; as in Mat 8:10, at the faith of the centurion; and the Lord shows by a new proof, that Nathanael is intimately known to Him, and He [thereby] confirms his faith.-, greater things) concerning which [see what is contained] in the following verse, and in ch. Joh 21:25 [There are also many other things, which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written]. [To him that hath it is given. There is a perpetual (principle of) increase (in the case) of Divine gifts, works, and testimonies: ch. Joh 5:20; Joh 5:35 (The Father showeth Him all things, that Himself doeth: and He will show Him greater works than these:-John was a burning and a shining light, etc., But I have greater witness than that of John). Ch. Joh 14:12 He that believeth on Me, the works that I do, shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. Avail yourself of the means which first offer themselves: if you do not so, you are wanting to yourself by delaying.-V. g.]-, thou shah see) In this word is contained [the assurance of] Nathanaels staying with Jesus.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 1:50
Joh 1:50
Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee underneath the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.-Jesus complimented him on his ready faith in this testimony and assured him that he should see greater things than these.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Because: Joh 20:29, Luk 1:45, Luk 7:9
thou shalt: Joh 11:40, Mat 13:12, Mat 25:29
Reciprocal: Mat 26:64 – Hereafter Joh 2:11 – did Joh 9:35 – Dost Joh 20:8 – and he
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
0
Jesus made a remark about Nathanael’s belief in Him, based on the incident of relating an experience he thought no one knew. He then notified him that he was destined to see greater things than such circumstances.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 1:50. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. An intimation of that growth of divine revelation which this Gospel teaches us shall be made the portion of all,-of some to an ever-increasing fulness of blessing, of others to an ever-increasing fulness of judgment. For the one, see chap. Joh 14:12; for the other, chap. Joh 5:20. These greater things are more particularly mentioned in the next verse.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Ver. 50. Nathanael answered and said to him:Master, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.
By the title Son of God, he expresses the thrilling impression which was made within his mind by the intimate relation between Jesus and God, of which he had himself just had experience. Lucke, Meyer, and most others maintain that this title is here equivalent to that of Messiah. They regard this as proved by the following expression:the King of Israel.
But it is precisely this juxtaposition which implies a difference of meaning. At all events, if the two titles had exactly the same sense, the second would be joined to the first as a simple apposition, while the repetition of the pronoun , thou, and of the verb , art, before the second title, absolutely excludes this synonymy. Besides, the title which Nathanael here gives must be the vivid and fresh expression of the moral agitation which he has just experienced, and not, like that of Messiah, the result of reflection. If the latter is added afterwards, it is to do justice to the affirmation of Philip (Joh 1:46); but still, it can only come in the second place. In general, we believe that the equivalence of the term, Son of God, with that of Messiah, even in the form in which Weiss makes it out, who understands by Son of God the man well-beloved of God, never wholly corresponds with reality. In this passage, in particular, the title Son of God, can only be connected with the proof of supernatural knowledge which Jesus has just given, and consequently, it contains the feeling of an exceptional relation between Jesus and God. Undoubtedly, it is a vague impression; but it is, nevertheless, rich and full, as is everything which is a matter of feeling, even more than if it were already reduced to a dogmatic formula.
As Luthardt observes: Nathanael’s faith will never possess more than that which it embraces at this moment (the living person of Jesus), it will only be able to possess it more distinctly. The seeker for gold puts his hand on an ingot; when he has coined it he has it better, but not more. The two titles complete each other: Son of God bears on the relation of Jesus to God; King of Israel on His relation to the chosen people. The second title is the logical consequence of the first. The personage who lives in so intimate a relation with God can only be the King of Israel.This title is undoubtedly the response to that of true Israelite, with which Jesus had saluted Nathanael. The faithful subject has recognized and salutes his King. Jesus feels indeed, that he has just taken the first step in a new careerthat of miraculous signs, of which His life had been completely destitute up to this time; and His answer breathes the most elevated feeling of the grandeur of the moment.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Jesus replied that Nathanael had not seen anything yet. This demonstration of supernatural knowledge was small compared to what Nathanael would see if he continued to follow Jesus as his rabbi (Joh 1:49). This straightforward Jew had believed that Jesus was the Messiah because of very little evidence. Jesus would give him a more solid basis for his faith in the future (cf. Joh 20:29). John did the same for his readers by recording several of these "greater things" in the chapters that follow.