The Identity of John's Nathanael

Abstract

The paper argues that the first known identification of Nathanael outside of John's Gospel equates him with James the son of Alphaeus (Ep. Apost. 2). It is then observed that the several allusions to the Jacob narrative of Genesis found in the story of Jesus' encounter with Nathanael (Jn 1.45-51) would be poignantly explained by the supposition that Nathanael was also known by the name of Jacob/James. Because John does not explicitly use the name of James for Nathanael, however, we cannot be sure that he assumes it. Yet we find that he and his readers are acquainted with considerable information about the original disciples of Jesus which are not known from any other Gospel materials, and so the possibility cannot be ruled out. The paper concludes that (1) the author of the Epistula Apostolorum identified Nathanael as James son of Alphaeus, (2) this identification may have been supported through an exegesis of Jn 1.45-51, (3) it may also have rested on Asian tradition, and (4) less probably but still possibly, this identity for Nathanael was understood by the author of the Fourth Gospel himself.