Tractates on the Gospel of John (continued)
TRACTATE 7 169 good come out of Nazareth?" For the words of Philip follow and say, "Come and see."
(2) But that phrase can follow both expressions, whether you express it as if asserting "Something good can come out of Nazareth," and he, "Come and see." Or whether [you express it] thus, as if in doubt and wholly questioning, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Come and see." And so, since whether it were expressed this way or that, the following words would not be incompatible, it is our task to find out which expression we should preferably understand in these words.
16. What sort of man Nathanael was we demonstrate in the following [verses]. Hear what he was, for the Lord himself bears witness. Great [is] the Lord, acknowledged by the witness of John; blessed [is] Nathanael, acknowledged by the witness of truth. For, even if the Lord were not commended by the witness of John, he himself bore witness for himself; for the truth suffices for itself for its own witness. But because men were not able to grasp the truth, they sought the truth through a lamp; and therefore John, through whom the Lord would be pointed out, was sent.^" (2) Hear the Lord bearing witness to Nathanael: "And Nathanael said to him, 'Something good can come out of Nazareth.' Philip says to him, 'Come and see.' And Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says to him, 'Behold, truly an Israelite in wRom there is no guile.'" Great witness! This was said neither to Andrew, nor was it said to Peter, nor to Philip, what was said to Nathanael. "Behold, truly an Israelite in whom there is no guile."
17. What do we make of it then, brothers? Ought he to have been first among the Apostles? Not only is he not found to
46. Here again, as in Jn 1.3—4, arises an ambiguity from the lack of systematic punctuation in ancient manuscripts; see Tractate 1.16 and note 38. The same position on the punctuation of this sentence and the same interpretation of this section of John's Gospel are found in En in Ps 65.4 (CCL 39-841)- 47. Cf. Tractate 2.5-7.