In John 21:15-19, Jesus asks Peter if he loves him three times and Peter responds three times that he does in fact love him. Three times Jesus tells Peter to take care of his sheep. Since the question, answer and commission is repeated three times with slightly different vocabulary, it is worth wondering whether John meant anything by varying his report of this conversation.
This is an issue that is has been addressed ad nauseum in commentaries and blogs, yet there is still a great deal of confusion in popular preaching and teaching on this passage to merit yet another attempt to defuse this exegetical mistake. (Here is an excellent post on the topic from Gerald Manning’s now-dormant Eutychus blog.)
Frequently pastors will make a great deal of the difference between the two words for love in this passage, Jesus asks the question used the verb ἀγαπάω, Peter responds with the verb φιλέω. As it is usually taught, Jesus is using the verb which means “God’s self-sacrificial love” and Peter responds with the more mundane “I love you like I love ice cream” word. When Jesus asks the third time, he uses φιλέω, allegedly toning down his language so Peter can agree with him. (Here is a video on YouTube that makes too much of the difference, although they do not apply this distinction to John 21). I suppose that C. S. Lewis is ultimately to blame for this, since many people read his Four Loves and try to apply that sort of thing to John 21. One of my earliest memories of a sermon was a speaker who made this distinction and then challenged me to “agape” Jesus, not “phileo” him.
But if this distinction between the two types of love is really in the background of the conversation between Jesus and Peter, then I cannot imagine a more insulting way for Peter to respond to Jesus! Peter is sitting with the risen Lord Jesus Christ who asks him “do you love me,” and Peter responds “I am really quite fond of you.” Peter is in a sense saying that he is not willing to die for Jesus, despite the fact that Jesus is sitting next to him with scars from the nails which held him to the cross!
By way of analogy, imagine a married couple, and the wife asks the husband, “do you love me?” and he responds “you know I like you.” In English, “I love you” and “I like you” are quite different, and the wife would not miss the insult of the husband’s words. (In fact I cannot imagine a wife giving the husband another chance to respond!) Imagine that the husband says this in front of a number of friends, in a public place for all to hear. It is hard to imagine a more stinging insult that this.
The difference between the two verbs was minimal in the first century, to the point that they can be used interchangeably. For example, in John 3:19 people love the darkness, using ἀγαπάω, the verb allegedly reserved for God’s self-sacrificial love. This is also the case in John 12:43, where the Pharisees love glory from other men more than the glory which comes from God. On the other hand, John 5:20 uses φιλέω to describe God’s love for the Son, and in 16:27 the verb is used for the love God has for the disciples. The bottom line here is that there is little difference between the two verbs, John varies them to keep from repeating the same verb six times in a few lines.
In fact, this passage has a number of words which mean essentially the same thing but are varied. Peter says “you know” three times, in v. 15 and 16 he uses οιδα, in v. 17 he uses γινώσκω. Jesus tells Peter to “feed” his sheep, in v. 15 and 17 he uses βόσκω but in 16 he uses ποιμαίνω, usually translated “tend.” Even the words used for the flock vary; v. 15 has ἀρνίον, in v. 16 and 17 he uses πρόβατον. Earlier in the chapter there are two words used for the same boat (πλοιον in v. 3 and 6, and πλοιάριον in v. 8). Morris comments that there are not two boats, John simply loves to vary his vocabulary (John, 865, n. 20). The fact is that it is John’s style to vary similar vocabulary without any difference in meaning.
It is not that Jesus wants Peter to love him in a way he cannot (or will not), rather he is re-confirming Peter as a disciple. He is confirming his love for Peter even though Peter has failed him, and giving him the opportunity of to confess his love for Jesus in front of witnesses.
People (and unfortunately some pastors) so often want to put the emphasis of this passage on the different uses of the “love” verbs, and the potential meaning behind it. In so doing they miss what is in my opinion the most important part: that of the the parallel of Peter’s three denials with Peter’s subsequent three affirmations of his love for Christ… Great post Phil.
Another helpful and corrective post on this issue. I wrote about this a few months ago on my blog and included Carson’s commentary on the four loves from his Exegetical Fallacies book. It is hard to reason with pastors about this because: 1. Tradition, 2. It preaches so well!
Thanks for posting this!
Phil, this helps a lot, after hearing so many sermons over working these words, as you explain. Preachers beat these words to death, and miss the huge outpouring of grace that is going on here. In fact right now I’m listening to an excellent song by Aaron Keyes that is made for Peter (and me!) … “Not Guilty Anymore” Thanks!
Phil,
Thanks. I regularly bring this topic up with my Greek students. Sometimes you will here people say that agape is the “God kind of love”. I then point them to John 3:19 that says “people loved darkness more than light.” The word there is agape, which means they have the “God kind of Love” for sin? LOL
I’m one of those pastors who thinks and teaches that two different words for love are being used here. Now I don’t flog it as alleged in your post but I believe is certainly for a reason.
I’m not a Greek scholar by any stretch, but I know people like Peter — in fact I’m impetuous and impulsive like Peter and I say the wrong things sometimes. I have had a regular diet of foot in my life.
Here’s my thought: Jesus asks if Peter loves him (with the self-sacrificing love that agape implies) but Peter, having screwed up back when he insisted that he would NEVER deny Jesus, is cautious in his response — “Lord, you know I’m fond of you.”
I think it’s pretty clear, Peter isn’t being insulting — he’s being careful. He remembers the look Jesus gave him in those terrifying morning hours. He had left his Lord down once before with his gushy words, and so, for once, he’s going to think a bit before he blurts out what might or might not be true this time. He wept bitter tears the first time, the remorse will prevent him from overdoing it this time. These words are here for good reason.
Thanks Keith, I think that much of what you say here is good (go and preach this!) I will point out, however, that over-emphasizing the difference in vocabulary sometimes misses the point of Peter’s restoration, three denials, three restorations.
I completely agree. The restoration and the beautiful way Jesus does it is the point.
Phil, you’re right on! Thanks!
This text is clearly about the restoration of Peter. But the words used are very important. Context analysis and Content analysis is important here to see the point. It is no accident that Jesus used agape love the first two times and philo love the third. John MacAuthor has a wonderful sermon on this text. He discusses both, the restoration of Peter and the use of the agape and philo words in the text. It is entitled “Peter, Do you love me.” Great message, worth your time.
We can all agree that God’s complexity and depth, are far beyond our complete understanding; and will remain a mystery. Perhaps the verses are a restoration of Peter, in the parallelism of iterations. Possibly they are a call to not only feed, but also to tend the flock. And maybe, just maybe, it is Peter’s confessional of his inability to love divinely – to which Jesus reassures him that he can – with “follow me”.
That is very interesting about the Greek translation in verse 16 of ποιμαίνω as the word tend. I always thought it was just to feed and take care of His sheep. To tend means to move in a particular direction. This is a cool idea to ponder on that when we are believers in Jesus, we are to feed others, take care of others and to tend people with love and care. To give someone direction, means that we are to encourage them with their walk with God. We encourage them to seek God and His leading in their life. God’s direction may look different for someone else in their walk than it is for us and ours. So let us lead others by asking them questions with how they are following the Lord. Let us truly pray for them and walk with them with humility and strength.
John 15:13 says that, “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” (NIV). We talk about this love through Jesus and peter’s interaction. Jesus is trying to pull out of Peter the words of “I love you” that actually mean something. Mean something enough to say that he would lay down his life for Jesus, even though earlier he had denied knowing Jesus three times. Peter may never understand what love really is, but love really is laying down ones life for another. There is no greater love. It is one of the greatest commandments to love you neighbor as yourself and it something that God calls us to do. As Kostenberger puts it, “supreme love for an loyalty to Jesus is the prerequisite for significant service to our Lord,” (Kostenberger, 184). This means that without love, we cannot serve God. We are not his followers, not his disciples, not his friend if we do not love. Peter seems to miss this significantly which can be seen throughout John’s Gospel. So, hopefully before Peter was crucified upside down, that he finally understood what love means. Love is Jesus, laying down his life for something greater. We should all do the same as we lay down our lives for others. This is especially important for spouses. No greater love than to devote ones life to the other.
I had never thought about Peter’s response relating to the fact that he wasn’t willing to die for him. At first, I thought, “Of course Peter was willing to die for Jesus! Otherwise he wouldn’t have cut off the servant’s ear when they were outnumbered when Jesus was betrayed or wept bitterly after denying Him”. However, the more I thought about it, I recalled Peter’s fear when he denied Jesus three times that same day. It is very possible to love someone deeply, but still not be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for them. I think Peter was very afraid of death and Jesus addresses this in verse 18 when He says that “when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone will tie you and carry you where you don’t want to go” which was a prophecy about Peter’s death by crucifixion (John 21:18, HCSB). However, though Peter was afraid, I love how my Bible captions this particular passage as “Jesus’s Threefold Restoration of Peter” because Jesus was restoring Peter after his denial of Him (HCSB). I loved this sentence in the post that said that Jesus “is confirming his love for Peter even though Peter has failed him, and giving him the opportunity of to confess his love for Jesus in front of witnesses” (Phillip Long). I initially thought that Peter and Jesus were alone when they had this conversation, but it makes sense that it would be in front of all the disciples since it says “When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter” (John 21:15, HCSB). I think that this public confirmation of Peter is more meaningful than if he was just forgiven in private. It gives him the opportunity to “undo” the three times he denied Jesus publicly by accepting Him three times openly. Jesus’s mercy and grace are endless and it was no less with Peter though he screwed up, he was given a second chance and later did die a death that was glorifying to God.
I think Peter really likes ice cream. I have heard this teaching of the two types of love but did not think about it very deep. Looking at the way Peter responds to Jesus would have been insulting to Jesus. It is interesting to look at the modern conversation that would take place through this expression. We also look at John’s writing and the fact that he uses many different verbs to not be so repetitive. Jesus is not trying to get Peter to change his mind, but rather reconfirming Peter’s thoughts. It would be really interesting to see Peter’s thought process here and even after. I question Peter and where he was at, he gave up his normal life to follow Jesus but lacks the commitment and deeper love for Jesus. I cannot imagine the situation and thoughts he was having. The point is Jesus knows Peter will deny Him, but He is giving Peter the opportunity to confess. Jesus loves Peter in the deeper sacrificial way and will show this in the coming days when He dies on the cross.
As I read through this post, I thought to myself, “How often do I respond to Jesus like Peter did?”. As much as I am abundantly blessed to know the Lord and have a relationship with Him, I am still human. There are times when “Jesus, I love You” rolls off of my tongue as easy as “Good morning” in quick passing. I love how Long ended this post by mentioning Jesus’ re-confirmation of Peter as his disciple. This sets a perfect picture for us as believers today. Whether we like to admit it or not, we all follow in Peter’s footsteps here and there. Even though I have failed the Lord in so many ways, just like Peter, Jesus continues to confirm His love for me time and time again. To be completely honest, I got kind of lost in the whole vocab/different word use/meaning aspect of it all, but what I did take away from that was definitely reflective of my own love toward the Lord. It’s easy to fall into the ‘I love you like I love ice cream’ kind of heart posture, yet I pray that as I grow closer to the Lord I learn more of what loving Him truly means. I would say I believe that John included this in his gospel to not only account for the fleshliness of Peter, but to also account for and emphasize the grace and love Jesus has for His children.
Reading the textbook and this blog post, I recognize the varied uses of the terms of “love” that Peter and I can see the significance of them. Initially, my reaction to this was how Peter was demonstrated to being like a human, and how he failed sometimes and was still shown grace. Peter denied Christ three times, and lacked faith occasionally, and Jesus still forgave him and showed love to Peter. The last line of this blog post actually affirms my reaction of this. It says, “He is confirming his love for Peter even though Peter has failed him, and giving him the opportunity of to confess his love for Jesus in front of witnesses” (Long, 2012). Jesus knew of the witnesses nearby, and allowed Peter to have the opportunity to be redeemed. Jesus asked Peter, three times, if he loved Him (John 21:15-17, ESV). The textbook actually gave multiple different possible reasons to why this may be, but ultimately it stated that, “Jesus wants Peter to love him more than he loves other people” (Köstenberger, p. 184). This entire encounter is a great example for Christians and how we should love Jesus. We should love Jesus more than anything else on this earth.
Reading through this blog post and the readings of the textbook gave me a better understanding about the term love in a spiritual sense, and how Peter loved Jesus. I believe Peter believed that he really loved Jesus like how Jesus loved him. Whenever I take a look into scripture that refers to Jesus’ love for us I am reminded that we can never love Jesus how he loves us. Jesus has a sacrificial love for us and has taken all of our sins with him to the cross. I like what P. Long said in his blog post that Peter’s love for Jesus is like his love for ice cream. If Peter didn’t deny Jesus as many times as he did or deny him at all then I would disagree with the statement about Peter’s love for Jesus. We have gone through situations in life that regards fear and being afraid. It is something that no one wants to go through. How would we as christians act if we were in the footsteps of Peter in that situation? I believe that we would have probably done the same thing or similar to the situation. I believe if someone was to ask if we were in a situation like that would we lay down our life for Christ. Honestly most of us would say “yes” because we are not really in that situation. I think this was Peter until the situation came about where he was confronted, and then fear came upon him which then he denied Jesus.
I have heard so many sermons about this event in the past, and if I were to be completely honest, until now, I believed that there was a significance in the different words. I mean why not? The Bible has a lot of hidden meanings that maybe we aren’t supposed to understand. However, P Long’s way of describing this is like one I have never heard before. I appreciated this post greatly. I find it so interesting to read that not only was there different words for love, there are also many instances in which John uses different words in this passage and other passages. I now believe that the focus should not be so much on John’s literary style, but rather on the importance of Peter’s restoration from the denial. Peter no doubt would be afraid of condemnation. He messed up when he cut the guys ear off. He messed up when He denied Jesus 3 times. I would have been deathly afraid of judgement. This situation was to prove that Jesus was forgiving. He offered redemption to Peter even after denying him. This brings to mind Ephesians 2. Verses 1-10 show us that even though we are sinners, walking in our death, God offers salvation. What a beautiful thing that is!
The way you explained this is perfect. I like how you mentioned the situation with the wife and husband, with the husband replying to “I love you” with “I like you too” because we all know that would sting a little, however like you mentioned “The difference between the two verbs was minimal in the first century, to the point that they can be used interchangeably” (Long) You also mentioned that this passage has uses a lot words that essentially mean the same thing like “you know.” I don’t think Peter was trying to be insulting to Jesus I just think that Peter is being careful with what he says to Jesus because Peter has disappointed Jesus before and doesn’t want to do that again. In the last paragraph of this blog post it’s mentioned that Jesus is just trying to confirm that Peter is in fact a disciple and give him a chance to confess his love for Jesus in front of people. This situation between Peter and Jesus is eye opening. How many times has Jesus given us a chance to confess our love for him in front of someone, whether that’s an unbeliever or just a friend and we missed that opportunity. I think that we should try and share our love for Jesus as much as we can because that can ultimately bring someone closer to God.
This is an interesting story in the sense of the number of times where Jesus asks Peter if he loves Him. It is even more fascinating that Jesus would ask the first two times with a more self-sacrificial love, agapaō, and then to a more human love, phileō (Long, p159). While as for Peter he responds with phileō kind of love to all three times. Though in John 12:43 religious leaders loved, agapaō, acclimation from men more than to praise from God (Kōstenberger, p193). With this, agapaō does not necessarily refer to a divine love. Nevertheless Jesus still loves Peter, and Peter still loves Jesus and accepts Him. I think also the reason why Jesus would ask Peter three times if he loves Him, was to give the opportunity of making up the denials before as well in front of witnesses. Jesus also reinstates Peter as a disciple and gives him commission, in which to take care of His flock (Long, p160).
Overall it is pretty amazing how merciful and loving Jesus was. In another human perspective it would be hard to forgive someone who betrayed you when before it seems they would follow you to your death. I also really like the repeated scene where Jesus recreates the scene of when He first met Peter when the disciples went back to their fishing jobs after the resurrection.
Oddly enough, I have never heard any sermon given on this particular passage in the Gospel of John. It is interesting that many interpretations have developed surrounding the usage of the verbs for the term love. Although I personally do not understand the intention for the author of the Gospel of John having used the two different verbs for the term love, I agree with Philip Long that the intention must have been in order to create variation among the phrases to avoid repetition of the same verb (Long). Aside from this agreement to the statement Philip Long made, I do wonder if the only reason that Peter never used the verb for the term love that Jesus Christ used which was agape was because since Peter was only a human, it would have been impossible for either him or any human being to be able to express the type of love (agape) that Jesus Christ is able to express towards humanity.
In addition to the passage of John 21:15-19, it never ceases to amaze me at how faithful the Lord is even when we as believers fail to maintain our faith in Him. Although Peter denied having known Jesus Christ three times after the arrest, Jesus Christ was still faithful in wanting to restore Peter’s willing faithfulness towards Jesus Christ by asking three times if Peter loved Him (Kostenberger, 183).
This particular situation between Peter and Jesus is eye opening for us all. There has been countless times Jesus has given us a chance to confess our love for him in front of someone, whether that is an unbeliever or just a friend. In that, we missed that opportunity by choosing other things to worship or love.. I think that we should try and share our love for Jesus as much as we can because that can bring us closer to God and living in his name and carrying it out in our day to day lives.
The repetition of three makes me wonder Jesus’ reason for it. There appears to be an importance for the repetition. Perhaps it is because he rose three days later? Or to prove his denial in later chapters. The breakdown of the two types of love in the original language is interesting. Jesus’ love appears to be more genuine while Peter’s is surface level love. Perhaps this is the reason he asks him three times to see if Peter will change his response. If this is the case Peter is not getting the hint. This is another example of us as humans not being able to be at the same level Jesus is at. After Peter denies Jesus three times in the later chapters, he weeps. Perhaps this is also because he realized he cannot truly love Jesus the way Jesus loves him. I think this can also be referred to all humans. The love we give to God is not nearly the same as the love God shows us.
The distinction between the two different loves read in this passage is very interesting in the sense that it opens up new full interpretations of scriptures. If Peter really was meaning the kind of love that is like my love for brownies, how could we really understand and know Peter to be as good of a follower as we think today. Sitting before Jesus with the scars in his hands from the nails he previously died with how can Peter sit there and say as mentioned in this blog “I am quite fond of you.” This is a wild thought in my mind to think Peter is that blunt and dumbed down in his faith where he could sit face to face with Jesus AFTER the fact that Jesus has risen from the dead and speak to him in this way. But, historically as you mentioned this is discredited likely with John not wanting to use the same word over and over in his writings. This is a deep thoughtful passage that Jesus is reaffirming Peter as a disciple even though Peter failed Him before His death drastically denying him. This is a good showing of Jesus’ forgiveness and how He still loves us despite our mistakes. Matthew 18:21-22 before Jesus’ crucifixion, Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive somebody. Jesus answers “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times .” This is in my eyes a little foreshadow of Jesus’ forgiveness to Peter showing him He still loves him despite the past and would like for Peter to still be a disciple.
I think that it is interesting to think about the position that Peter was put in. I think that Peter really did love Jesus, or else he wouldn’t have done all the things he did like cut off the servant’s ear. I think it is interesting that when Jesus asked Peter after he had risen if he loved him and peter responded that he was very fond of Jesus, I can see how this can be insulting. I think that Peter did care about Jesus however he was basically stating that he didn’t love him enough to give his life for Jesus. I really like the analogy used I think it helps understand the situation and how it was offensive. I couldn’t imagine being married and asking my significant other if they loved me and they replied with “well I like you.” I think that Jesus asked Peter if he loved him after Peter denied Jesus three times is because Jesus is trying to see if Peter will tell him where he stands. “John 15:13 says that, “greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends,” (NIV) This verse and the interaction between Jesus and Peter shows that Peter’s love for Jesus wasn’t strong enough. I think this interaction can be a huge lesson for us we should picture ourselves in Peter’s position and think about what we would say or do.
Understanding the context behind this exchange between Jesus and Peter brings an entire new meaning to this conversation. Rather than looking it as Peter telling Jesus that he was not fully devoted to him, and that he did not share the true “agape” love for him, we see a deeply relational and meaningful encounter between two friends. It would be difficult to believe that Peter did not love Jesus deeply, as we see Peter engage in radical behaviors for Jesus’ sake, i.e. jumping from the boat when he recognizes Jesus on the shore. Although Peter did deny Jesus, he regretted it deeply, and it was still evident how much Jesus meant to Peter. Here, as Jesus is giving Peter a second chance to profess his love for him, it would be incredibly bewildering for Peter to respond in a casual manner, especially considering his bitter, remorseful weeping after his denial. When Peter responds to Jesus, it is with deep love and affection. It would be even harder to believe that Peter told Jesus that he didn’t love him deeply after he was crucified upside down for Jesus’ sake. It would also make sense that Peter’s response to Jesus was adequate when considering Jesus’ next line to Peter, where he tells him to take care of his sheep. Jesus would not pass such an important duty to a casual friend- as the Shepherd, Jesus is leaving Peter in charge of the care of his flock. This is no trivial delegation, and one that would only be given to someone who could share the love and devotion of the sheep that Jesus had- which evidently is Peter.
Before reading this and also reading Kostenberger, I did not realize there was a distinction between the love Jesus mentions the first 2 times and the love Peter responds with all 3 times. I think in our generation, and maybe in the past too, it is easy to allegorize everything in the sense that everything is not as it seems and has to mean something deeper. Of course, this is the case with some prophecies and parables in the Bible; but it would not make sense to believe that the whole Bible says one thing and means another. I say this because we all think differently; I will interpret it in a way that makes sense to me (possibly in a way that is beneficial to me) while others may do the same. This would defeat the purpose of the Bible, in my opinion. But, in John 21, the blog emphasizes how the difference in the use of ἀγαπάω (agape ) and φιλέω (phileo) should not be our main focus. In fact, that is probably different from the message John is trying to convey when he includes this incident. Kostenberger suggests that the use of these two words was used to mean both divine and human love and the variation was just a stylistic move(Kostenberger, 338). Therefore, instead of focusing on the three words, I think it is more important to focus on the whole story and what is conveying.
I picked this one because as a kid my dad would always sing a song called “Peter do you love me”, so I was interested in what this passage was actually talking about, the conversation that is between Peter and Jesus, and Jesus is expressing his love towards Peter. And Jesus is wondering if Peter does truly love him or not, and it’s interesting looking into the translation and how the different kind of love can really signify how much someone really loves you or how much they like you. Both kinds of love can really mean something different. But this passage is less about how much Jesus wants to know if Peter loves him but it is Jesus confirming his love to Peter, even with Peter failing Jesus, he want Peter know the amount of love he still has for him. God responds with a love that is so deep but the translation for Peter’s love is almost a more less love. It’s crazy to me that all these worlds mean love but they can mean a different thing