John 1:47-51
New English Translation
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed,[a] “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”[b] 48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied,[c] “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree,[d] I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king[e] of Israel!”[f] 50 Jesus said to him,[g] “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”[h] 51 He continued,[i] “I tell all of you the solemn truth[j]—you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”[k]
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- John 1:47 tn Grk “said about him.”
- John 1:47 tn Or “treachery.”sn An allusion to Ps 32:2.
- John 1:48 tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation to “replied.”
- John 1:48 sn Many have speculated about what Nathanael was doing under the fig tree. Meditating on the Messiah who was to come? A good possibility, since the fig tree was used as shade for teaching or studying by the later rabbis (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 5:11). Also, the fig tree was symbolic for messianic peace and plenty (Mic 4:4, Zech 3:10.)
- John 1:49 tn Although βασιλεύς (basileus) lacks the article it is definite due to contextual and syntactical considerations. See ExSyn 263.
- John 1:49 sn Nathanael’s confession—You are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel—is best understood as a confession of Jesus’ messiahship. It has strong allusions to Ps 2:6-7, a well-known messianic psalm. What Nathanael’s exact understanding was at this point is hard to determine, but “son of God” was a designation for the Davidic king in the OT, and Nathanael parallels it with King of Israel here.
- John 1:50 tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “said to him.”
- John 1:50 sn What are the greater things Jesus had in mind? In the narrative this forms an excellent foreshadowing of the miraculous signs which began at Cana of Galilee.
- John 1:51 tn Grk “and he said to him.”
- John 1:51 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
- John 1:51 sn The title Son of Man appears 13 times in John’s Gospel. It is associated especially with the themes of crucifixion (3:14; 8:28), revelation (6:27; 6:53), and eschatological authority (5:27; 9:35). The title as used in John’s Gospel has for its background the son of man figure who appears in Dan 7:13-14 and is granted universal regal authority. Thus for the author, the emphasis in this title is not on Jesus’ humanity, but on his heavenly origin and divine authority.
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