Charles Ellicott Commentary John 1:41

"He findeth first his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, Christ)." — John 1:41 (ASV)

He first findeth his own brother.—The probable explanation of this verse, and the only one which gives an adequate meaning to “first” and “his own,” is that each of the two disciples, in the fullness of his fresh joy, went to seek his own brother; that Andrew found Peter first; and that John records this. By the form in which he does so, John implies, but does not state, that he himself found James. To have stated this would have been to break through the personal reserve which he imposed upon himself. (Mark 1:16–19; Luke 5:1–10.)

We have found.—Implying a previous seeking, and that both were under the impulse of the general movement leading people to expect the Messiah. It is implied, too, that Simon was near, and therefore probably a hearer of the Baptist.

Messias.—The Hebrew form of the name occurs in the New Testament only here and in John 4:25, in both cases in a vivid picture of events fixed in the memory. Elsewhere, John, as the other sacred writers, uses the LXX. translation, “Christ,” and even here he adds it (compare, e.g., in this Gospel, John 1:20; John 1:25). Both words mean “anointed” .