02 — Philip in the Gospels
The canonical core of the collection: the three Johannine scenes in which Philip speaks and acts. He is called with “Follow me” and calls Nathanael with “Come and see” (John 1:43–46); he is tested by the Lord before the feeding of the five thousand and answers by counting the cost (John 6:5–7); and at the Supper he says “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us,” drawing from Christ the central word of the Gospel’s Christology — “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:8–9). These files exegete those scenes from the canonical text and the patristic tradition.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle)
Of the Twelve, Philip is among the very few the Fourth Gospel allows to speak, and in each scene his words are not incidental: they are the human occasion of a divine answer. He is the realist who reckons two hundred denarii against five thousand hungry men; he is the seeker who, having found the Messiah, immediately goes to find another; and he is the disciple whose longing — “show us the Father” — opens the way to the Lord’s clearest self-disclosure as the image of the Father. The Greeks-at-the-feast scene (John 12:20–22), in which Philip is again the one approached, is so substantial that it is given its own section (03); here the focus is the call, the feeding, and the Supper.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| Come and See | The call of Philip (John 1:43, “Follow me”), his finding of Nathanael (John 1:45), and the great evangelistic word “Come and see” (John 1:46); Philip as the disciple who, once found, finds another; with the testing before the feeding of the five thousand (John 6:5–7) — Philip the reckoner. |
| Show Us the Father | The Supper-exchange: “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us” (John 14:8) and the Lord’s answer, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9) — a key Christological and Trinitarian text on the vision of the Father in the Son, exegeted from the canonical text and the Fathers. |
See Also
- The Greeks at the Feast — the fourth Johannine scene, the Greeks who came to Philip
- Philip of Bethsaida — the apostle whose voice these scenes preserve
- Patristic Reception — the Fathers on John 14 and the vision of God
- Christology — the Son as the image and revelation of the Father
- The Holy Trinity — the Father–Son relation in the John 14 exchange
References
- The Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version and Revised Standard Version. (John 1:43–46; 6:5–7; 14:8–9.)
- John Chrysostom. Homilies on the Gospel of St. John. Trans. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 14. (Homilies 18–20 on John 1; 42–43 on John 6; 74 on John 14.)
- Augustine of Hippo. Tractates on the Gospel of John. Trans. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 7. (Tractate 70 on John 14:8–9.)