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Quotes & Notes on:
John 1:46
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John Wesley's Notes:
Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?-How cautiously should we guard
against popular prejudices? When these had once possessed so honest a
heart as that of Nathanael, they led him to suspect the blessed Jesus
himself for an impostor, because he had been brought up at Nazareth. But
his integrity prevailed over that foolish bias, and laid him open to the
force of evidence, which a candid inquirer will always be glad to admit,
even when it brings the most unexpected discoveries.
Can any good thing-That is, have we ground from Scripture to expect the
Messiah, or any eminent prophet from Nazareth?
Philip saith, Come and see-The same answer which he had received himself
from our Lord the day before.
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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge:
* Can. Joh 7:41,42,52; Lu 4:28,29
* Come. Joh 4:29; Lu 12:57; 1Th 5:21
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Adam Clarke's Commentary:
Can there any good thing come out of
Nazareth?] Bp. Pearce supposes that the
 of the evangelist has some
particular force in it: for, in Jer 33:14, God says, I will perform that
good thing which I promised, &c.; and this, in Jer 33:15 is explained to
mean, his causing the branch of righteousness (i.e. the Messiah) to grow
up unto David, from whom Jesus was descended: in this view, Nathanael's
question seems to imply, that not Nazareth, but Bethlehem, was to be the
birth-place of the Messiah, according to what the chief priests and
scribes had determined, Mt 2:4-6. If this conjecture be not thought
solid, we may suppose that Nazareth, at this time, was become so
abandoned that no good could be expected from any of those who dwelt in
it, and that its wickedness had passed into a proverb: Can any thing
good be found in Nazareth? Or, that the question is illiberal, and full
of national prejudice.
Come and see.] He who candidly examines the evidences of the religion of
Christ will infallibly become a believer. No history ever published
among men has so many external and internal proofs of authenticity as
this has. A man should judge of nothing by first appearances, or human
prejudices. Who are they who cry out, The Bible is a fable? Those who
have never read it, or read it only with the fixed purpose to gainsay
it. I once met with a person who professed to disbelieve every tittle of
the New Testament, a chapter of which, he acknowledged, he had never
read. I asked him, had he ever read the Old? He answered, No! And yet
this man had the assurance to reject the whole as an imposture! God has
mercy on those whose ignorance leads them to form prejudices against the
truth; but he confounds those who take them up through envy and malice,
and endeavour to communicate them to others.
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Family Bible Notes:
(No comment on this verse).
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1599 Geneva Bible Notes:
We must especially take heed of false presumptions, which prevent us
from entrance to Christ.
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People's New Testament Commentary:
Come and see. That is the best answer to the skeptic.
Bring him to Christ, let him consider him, and what he has done for
mankind. The strongest proof that Jesus is the Christ is Jesus himself.
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Robertson's Word Pictures:
Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? (Ek Nazaret dunatai
ti agathon einai;). Literally, "Out of Nazareth can anything good be."
There is a tinge of scorn in the question as if Nazareth (note position
at beginning of sentence) had a bad name. Town rivalry may account to
some extent for it since Cana (home of Nathanael) was near Nazareth.
Clearly he had never heard of Jesus. The best thing in all the world
came out of Nazareth, but Philip does not argue the point. A saying had
arisen that no prophet comes out of Galilee (Joh 7:52), untrue like many
such sayings. Come and see (erchou kai ide). Present middle imperative
(come on) and second active imperative (and see at once). Philip
followed the method of Jesus with Andrew and John (verse Joh 1:39),
probably without knowing it. Wise is the one who knows how to deal with
the sceptic.
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Albert Barnes' Commentary:
Can any good thing, &c. The character of Nazareth was
proverbially bad. To be a Galilean or a Nazarene was an expression of
decided contempt, Joh 7:52. See Barnes for Mt 2:23. Nathanael asked,
therefore, whether it was possible that the Messiah should come from a
place proverbially wicked. This was a mode of judging in the case not
uncommon. It is not by examining evidence, but by prejudice. Many
persons suffer their minds to be filled with prejudice against religion,
and then pronounce at once without examination. They refuse to examine
the subject, for they have set it down that it cannot be true. It
matters not where a teacher comes from, or what is the place of his
birth, provided he be authorized of God and qualified for his work.
Come and see. This was the best way to answer Nathanael. He did not sit
down to reason with him, or speculate about the possibility that a good
thing could come from Nazareth; but he asked him to go and examine for
himself, to see the Lord Jesus, to hear him converse, to lay aside his
prejudice, and to judge from a fair and candid personal inquiry. So we
should beseech sinners to lay aside their prejudices against religion,
and to be Christians, and thus make trial for themselves. If men can be
persuaded to come to Jesus, all their petty and foolish objections
against religion will vanish. They will be satisfied from their own
experience that it is true, and in this way only will they ever be
satisfied.
{m} "Can there be any good thing" Joh 7:41
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Jamieson-Faussett Brown:
any good out of Nazareth--remembering Bethlehem, perhaps, as Messiah's
predicted birthplace, and Nazareth having no express prophetic place at
all, besides being in no repute. The question sprang from mere dread of
mistake in a matter so vital.
Come and see--Noble remedy against preconceived opinions [BENGEL].
Philip, though he could not perhaps solve his difficulty, could show him
how to get rid of it. (See on JFB for Joh 6:68).
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Spurgeon Commentary:
Nathanael who is elsewhere called Bartholomew.
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William Burkitt's Notes:
(No comment on this verse).
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Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary:
(No comment on this verse).
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The Fourfold Gospel:
And Nathanael said unto him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Because of their want of culture, their rude dialect, and their contact
with Gentiles, the Galileans were lightly esteemed by the inhabitants of
Judaea (Joh 7:52). But here Nathanael, a Galilean himself, speaks
slightingly of Nazareth. Some think that Nazareth was no worse than the
rest of Galilee, and that Nathanael speaks thus disparagingly because he
dwelt in the neighboring town of Cana, and felt that jealousy which
often exists between rival villages. The guileless Nathanael had no such
jealousy, and the persistency with which the enemies of Jesus called him
the Nazarene indicates that there was more than a local odium attached
to the name Nazareth. Moreover, it was the first city to offer violence
to Christ and was ready on one day's acquaintance with his preaching to
put him to death.
Philip saith to him, Come and see. So said afterward the woman of
Samaria (Joh 4:29). Investigation removes prejudice.
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