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Bartholomew And Nathanael : A Philosopher

Decent Essays

Bartholomew was one of the lesser known disciples. It doesn’t help that John wrote about him under a different name. In the Gospel of John, there are several mentions to Nathanael but none to Bartholomew. And in the other Gospels, there are no references to a man name Nathanael to be found. Because of this, scholars deduced that Bartholomew and Nathanael are one and the same person. Bartholomew can also be translated to son of Tolmai, so some people believe that Nathanael is his first or personal name while Bartholomew is more of a last name. Before he was called to be a disciple, Bartholomew was already a loyal follower of John the Baptist and most likely a good friend of Philip, one of the other disciples and apostles. There is an account of him meeting Jesus for the first time in the Gospel of John where Jesus says, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” (John 1:47) Showing that Jesus sees a great righteousness and honesty in Nathanael. Other than this account, there is no real significant references to Bartholomew, or Nathanael, in the Bible. The Apostolic Acts of Abdias gives a physical description of him though. The account describes him as about a medium height which meant not much higher than five feet. It is recorded that he had a fair complexion compared to the Indians describing him, and curly black hair that contrasted against a gray beard. He also had a long nose and a powerful, booming voice. After becoming an apostle, Bartholomew traveled to

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