<p>1:48- see on Mk. 7:29.</p><p><em>Nathanael said to him: How is it you know me?- </em>The Lord had not mentioned Nathanael's name; instead He had imputed righteousness to him (see on :47) and called him a man in whom is no guile, i.e. He had used a Messianic title (1 Pet. 2:22) about a man. So by asking &quot;How is it you know me?&quot;, I suggest Nathanael is questioning how this man from Nazareth could talk of him in such exalted terms.&nbsp;</p><p><em>Jesus answered: Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you</em>- An Israelite dwelling under his fig tree is the language of Israel at peace with God, especially in the future Messianic Kingdom of God on earth (Mic. 4:4). The Lord is saying that even before Nathanael had been called to the Gospel, he had been foreknown and had been imagined as in the future Kingdom, written in the book of the redeemed from the foundation of the world. This predestination is an aspect of God's grace, as Paul explains in Romans 8. As noted above, the Lord had imputed righteousness to Nathanael, and asks him to respond to the fact that he had been chosen for the Kingdom from the beginning.</p>