THE KING’S BUSINESS
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disciple afterwards found his brother. That the unnamed disciple was John is still further evident from the fact that these four, Andrew, Peter, John and James, are always associated as the first four disciples. Andrew and John, who belonged to the same part of Galilee, had been attracted by the rumors that reached them concerning John the Baptist; and Andrew, ac companied by his brother, Simon, and John,, probably accompanied by his brother James, had gone to see and had become disciples of this new teacher. The incident recorded here is not the same as the calling of the disciples mentioned in the synoptic Gospels (Matt. 4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5 :1-11). This incident occurred some time before that and prepared the way for the definite calling of the disciples at that time. Their official appoint ment as apostles came later still (Luke 6:12-16). The words “on the mor row” are an illustration of the pre cision as to dates which is a very marked characteristic of John’s Gospel. The Greek word translated “looking upon” in verse 36, means literally “looking in” and describes a penetrating look. John had looked upon Jesus with fixed appreciative at tention, had seen Him as He really was, and thus was led to give his testi mony to Him. It is the same word that is translated “behold” in verse 42, and these are the only two places where the word is found in the writ ings of John. It is the same word that is used in the Gospel of Luke of our Lord’s look at Peter when Peter denied Him (Luke 22:61). John the Baptist’s testimony at this time to Jesus was in substance the same as he had given the day before, but less detailed, and it was this testimony here repeated that pointed the first two of our Lord’s disciples to Him.
2. The Testimony of the First Disciples to thè Lord Jesus. 1:35-39. (1) John the Baptize/s testi mony accepted by two of his disciples, 35-39. Vs. 35, 36. " Again the next day (rather, “on the morrow”) John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon (rather, “having looked on”) Jesus as He walked, he saith, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The date of this occurrence was shortly before the Passover (ch. 2:1, 12, 13) and, closely in accordance with this, a very early tradition fixed the beginning of Christ’s ministry at the spring equi nox. Seemingly John the Baptist was standing with the expectation of see ing Jesus. In the 29th verse where he gave a similar testimony, Jesus was coming to him ; now He was tak ing His final departure from him (v. 37 and following verses). The two disciples standing with him were Andrew (v. 41) and John.1 That the unnamed one of the two was John is evident from the fact that, while the names of all the other persons in this section are given, those of John and his brother James are not given. All through this Gospel, the Apostle John mentions neither himself nor his brother by name. That John was the other one is also evident from the fact that the whole story of the incident was evidently written by an eye wit ness. It bears the unmistakable marks of having been written by one who was there for whom each smallest de tail had a vivid memory. So we see that John, must have been the other one of these two disciples. There is also a hint that the unnamed disciple was John in the 41st verse, where it is said that Andrew, who is named, “First findeth his own brother,” which clearly suggests that the other
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