John 1:41 - Printer Friendly

ESV: He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ).

NIV: The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ).

NASB: He first *found his own brother Simon and *said to him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which translated means Christ).

CSB: He first found his own brother Simon and told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated "the Christ"),

NLT: Andrew went to find his brother, Simon, and told him, 'We have found the Messiah' (which means 'Christ' ).

KJV: He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

NKJV: He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ).

Bringing people to Jesus seems to be Andrew's (John 1:40) default response to every problem or new development. When Jesus feeds thousands of people, it's Andrew who brings the boy with bread and fish (John 6:8–9). When some Greek men asked another disciple, Philip, about seeing Jesus, Philip told Andrew, who took Philip with him to tell Jesus (John 12:20–22).

The first person Andrew introduces to Jesus is Andrew's own brother, Simon. Jesus will soon rename this man "Peter" (John 1:42; Luke 6:14). This is from an Aramaic word transliterated into Greek as Kēphas and translated into Greek as Petros, both meaning "stone." Peter proves to be an emotional, volatile man in the New Testament. It's safe to assume he already had that reputation when he met Jesus for the first time. There's divine humor in Jesus naming a volatile, emotional, unstable person "Rock."

Andrew tells Simon—Peter—that Jesus is "the Messiah." John often explains Jewish customs and words to his readers, and he translates this word as "Anointed One." Hebrew writing (Daniel 9:25) uses the word Mashiyach. In Greek, the term is translated as Christos, from which we get the English title "Christ."

John 1:29–42 describes more conversations, these between John the Baptist, his disciples, and Jesus. It includes the moment Jesus recruits His first two disciples. Jesus is identified as "the Lamb of God," and "the Son of God." The Baptist describes his vision of the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, landing on Jesus. This confirms that He is the Messiah. The Baptist seems to tell John and Andrew to go and follow Jesus. They, in turn, introduce Jesus to Peter.

The first chapter of John introduces Jesus as "the Word," from the Greek logos. This chapter clearly describes Jesus as God. After this prologue, the chapter describes Jesus recruiting the first of His disciples, as well as a conversation between John the Baptist and the Pharisees. There are seven names or titles for Christ in this chapter, including "the Son of God," "the Word," and "the King of Israel."

The first chapter of the gospel of John equates Christ with God and introduces John the Baptist. The Baptist specifically points to Jesus as the Promised One. Jesus collects the first five of His disciples. In this chapter, Jesus is given seven descriptive names, including "the Word," "the Son of God," and "the King of Israel." This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the gospel, by giving the reader a sense of who Jesus truly is, and why He has come. The rest of the gospel is an exploration of the claims made in this initial passage.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.