The Life of Christ

Jn. 1:37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

These two disciples were John and Andrew (Jn. 1:40).

• John the disciple never identifies himself but leaves behind a trail of obvious clues.

• The one exception to John identifying himself is found in the Book of Revelation, where he clearly declares himself the author of the book to help prevent people from reading false accounts of the end times.

• Andrew and John had already been loyal followers of John the Baptist before meeting Jesus.

Jn. 1:38-39 And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and *said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” 39 He *said to them, “Come , and you will see.” They came therefore and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

In Bible days various teachers would come into town, and men would go and live with them so that they could fully absorb all they had to offer.

• By agreeing to come, they were committing themselves to also travel with Jesus.

Jn. 1:40-42 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

Jesus does something quite radical.

• He doesn’t refer to Simon as Simon, the son of John (John was his father), but instead changes his name to Cephas, which means Peter.

• Mk. 3:16 reads, "And Simon He gave the name Peter."

Peter means rock, which will better illustrate his developing new nature.

• Simon means “hearing” which Simon didn’t always do so well.

• Throughout the Gospels whenever Jesus addressed him as Simon, it usually pointed toward his weak side. When Jesus called him Peter, it often showed his stronger side.

Jesus began choosing His disciples from among common men.

• This was a major difference in how the acclaimed Pharisees would gather their disciples.

• Among the latter, they would have already proven themselves by acquiring an impressive formal education.

Jn. 1:43-46 The next day He purposed to go forth into Galilee, and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow Me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law

46