Metaphysical meaning of Nathanael (mbd)
Nathanael, nå-than'-å-el (Gk. fr. Heb.) --given of God; gift of God; yielding of God; grace of God; honor to God; instructed of God; requited of God; rewarded by God.
One whom Philip brought to Jesus (John 1:45-49). He is believed to be the same person as the apostle Bartholomew, since, in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Philip and Bartholomew are always mentioned together when the names of the Twelve Apostles are given, and Nathanael is not mentioned. John says nothing of Bartholomew, but mentions Nathanael in connection with Philip. Bartholomew is thought to have been Nathanael's surname. His home was in Cana of Galilee (John 21:2).
Meta. The imaging power of the mind, the faculty of imagination. In the realm of the real (Israel) it is guileless--innocent of error images; it is open and receptive to the beauty and perfection of Being. This faculty makes the great artist, when the soul is lifted up with spiritual fervor. The guileless innocence of the Nathanael state of mind causes the religious enthusiast to believe all things about Spirit and the world invisible. Exercised without the Christ understanding, it is personal credulity. It is the image maker in the psychic, and the clairvoyant may be deceived to any extent by its conjuring power. It is not in itself error, but may, like all the other faculties, be used in erroneous ways. When the mind of Spirit uses it, as Jesus used it in discerning Nathanael when he was concealed under the fig tree, it is without guile. In the communication of God with man this faculty plays an important part. It receives divine ideas and reflects them in images into the soul in dreams and visions. This is the meaning of the passage, "Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels [thoughts] of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."
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