There were together Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus. — It is most probable that we have here the names of all in the group of seven who were Apostles, and that the two unnamed persons were disciples in the wider sense in which the word is often used by St. John (John 6:60; John 6:66; John 7:3; John 8:31; John 18:19). If they were Andrew and Philip, which has been supposed from John 1:40; John 1:43, it is not easy to understand their position in the list, or the absence of their names.
Thomas is not named by the other Evangelists, except in the lists of the Apostles. (Comp. John 11:16; John 14:5; John 20:24 et seq.)
Nathanael is named only by St. John. (Comp. Notes on John 1:45 et seq.) He is probably to be identified with the “Bartholomew” of the earlier Gospels; this latter name being a patronymic. (Comp. Note on Matthew 10:3-4.) The descriptive note “of Cana in Galilee” is added here only.
The sons of Zebedee are not elsewhere given by St. John as a description of himself and his brother, but this is the only place in which he names himself and his brother in a list with others. In St. Luke’s account of the earlier draught of fishes, the “sons of Zebedee” are named as partners with “Simon” (John 5:10). Their position here agrees with the Johannine authorship of the chapter. In the lists in the other Gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, James and John are uniformly prominent in the first group.
(2) The mistake having been made, the obvious correction after St. John’s death would have been simply to record that event. The correction of the text would place these words within his lifetime.