John 1:48-51
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
48 [a](A)Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God;[b] you are the King of Israel.”(B) 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?[c] You will see greater things than this.” 51 And he said to him, “Amen, amen,[d] I say to you, you will see the sky opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”(C)
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- 1:48 Under the fig tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf. Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10).
- 1:49 Son of God: this title is used in the Old Testament, among other ways, as a title of adoption for the Davidic king (2 Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7; 89:27), and thus here, with King of Israel, in a messianic sense. For the evangelist, Son of God also points to Jesus’ divinity (cf. Jn 20:28).
- 1:50 Possibly a statement: “You [singular] believe because I saw you under the fig tree.”
- 1:51 The double “Amen” is characteristic of John. You is plural in Greek. The allusion is to Jacob’s ladder (Gn 28:12).
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