John 1:35-42 The first disciples

John 1:35-42 The first thing that happens after John testifies that Jesus is the Lamb of God is that two of his own disciples leave him to follow Jesus. One of these is Andrew, who immediately goes to find his brother Simon and tell him that Messiah has come! He brings Simon to Jesus who immediately gives him a new name, Cephas or Peter, which means in English, rock or stone. John the apostle is very careful here to provide translations for the reader between Aramaic and Greek. Messiah in Hebrew is translated as Christ in Greek which means 'the anointed one'. In Jewish culture they had been waiting for the promised Messiah for centuries. In the Greek New Testament the word has a more generic meeting, especially as appears in reference to the latter times (Matthew 24:24, Mark 13:22) as a reference to false Christs. Rabbi is the Hebrew word which is translated as teacher (Greek didaskale).

          John the apostle apparently felt it necessary to explain that Andrew was the brother of Simon Peter. Perhaps this is because although Andrew is mentioned several times in the gospels, he is only mentioned once in the book of the Acts, so his role was obviously eclipsed by his brother by the time that John wrote the gospel.

          In Matthew 4:18 and Mark 1:16 we find that Jesus found Simon and Andrew fishing on the Sea of Galilee and called them to follow Him. Since John records that Andrew and Simon met Jesus as a direct result of Jesus' baptism and John the Baptist's identification of Him as the Lamb of God, Jesus' call to them beside the Sea of Galilee must have been later. And Luke 6:12 records that Jesus spent the whole night in prayer before He actually named His twelve apostles. (Luke 6:13-16) So there was a progressive development of the relationship between Jesus and Simon and Andrew. It appears that they followed Him and spent time with Him, but there were also apparently others who hung out with Him, some of whom He did not name as apostles. The progression begins with an invitation to spend some time, followed by a call to follow Him and become disciples (students, learners), followed by a subsequent call to a subset of those who were His pupils to become 'sent ones', or apostles.

          John records here the very first introduction of Simon Peter to Jesus, through the agency of his brother Andrew.