Talk:John 1:46-51

Guile (v. 47)

I think this is a very interesting question. Raymond Brown in the Anchor Bible suggests that the "can anything good come from Nazareth" might've been a "local proverb reflecting jealousy between Nathanael's town of Cana and nearby Nazareth" (p. 83). The Word Biblical Commentary wonders if the "no deceit" line is a reference to Ps 32:2, which I think is interesting b/c there (in verse 1) it seems there is a notion of forgiveness. That is, the statement "no guile" might be explicitly stated precisely b/c the remark about Nazareth could be taken as disparaging. But, in contrast to the Jews in John 7:15, 27 and 41, Nathanael ends up believing in Jesus. Brown writes, "Because of Nathanael's willingness to come to the light, Jesus hails him as one truly representative of Israel. Here John may be close to the distinction that Paul makes in Rom 9:6: 'Not all who are escended from Israel [Jacob] belong to Israel"; the true Israelite believes in Jesus." I like the focus on change that this reading of guile suggests: one without guile is one who has a child-like innocence and willingness to change, submit, convert, etc. --RobertC 18:29, 8 Jan 2007 (UTC)