II. Second Group: John 1:44-51.

The following narrative seems to be contrived for the purpose of driving to despair, by its conciseness, the one who attempts to account for the facts from an external point of view. Does John 1:44 express merely the intention of setting out for Galilee? Or does it indicate an actual departure? Where and how did Jesus find Philip and Nathanael? Were they also in Judea among the disciples of John the Baptist? Or did He meet them on His arrival in Galilee?

Evidently, a narrative like this could proceed only from a man pre- occupied above all with the spiritual element in the history which he relates, and who, in consequence, simply sketches as slightly as possible the external side of the facts related. This is the general character of the narrative of the fourth Gospel.

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Old Testament

New Testament