John 1:48-51

Context
1:48 Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” Jesus replied,¹ “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree,² I saw you.” 1:49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king³ of Israel!”⁴ 1:50 Jesus said to him,⁵ “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”⁶ 1:51 He continued,⁷ “I tell all of you the solemn truth⁸ – you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”⁹

[1:48] ¹tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This is somewhat redundant in English and has been simplified in the translation to “replied.”

[1:48] ²sn 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.)

[1:49] ³tn Although βασιλεύς (basileus) lacks the article it is definite due to contextual and syntactical considerations. See ExSyn 263.

[1:49] ⁴sn 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.

[1:50] ⁵tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “said to him.”

[1:50] ⁶sn 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.

[1:51] ⁷tn Grk “and he said to him.”

[1:51] ⁸tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[1:51] ⁹sn 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.