Chapter 21
Verses 1-14, the third resurrection appearance to the disciples. Jesus made seventeen resurrection appearances during the early days of the Church Age and prior to the Church Age which are recorded in the scripture.
Verse 1 – the location of the appearance. “After these things” means after the events of the previous chapter in which are described not only the appearance to Mary Magdalene but also the first two appearances to the disciples. The appearances up to this point were in Jerusalem in the province of Judea, but this apperance is unique in that it occurs in Galilee. During our Lord’s ministry He spent a great deal of time in Galilee.
“Jesus” emphasises His humanity; it also emphasises His hypostatic union, with this difference: starting now the name Jesus refers to the resurrected body of the Lord Jesus.
“shewed himself” – aorist active indicative of fanhrow, which means to make a manifestation. Specifically it is to reveal Himself in resurrection body so that He is recognisable. The word himself is a reflexive pronoun here, emphasising the fact that He did it all by Himself as a part of His own plan; “again” indicates He has previously showed Himself.
“at the sea of Tiberias” – this helps us to date the Gospel of John. This is John’s name for the sea of Galilee. It is called the sea of Galilee by Matthew, Mark and Luke. The Roman changed the name. When it became a Roman province they named it after the second emperor, Tiberias. There was a city founded on the sea of Galilee in 20 A.D. by Herod Antipas, and he named the city Tiberias and the sea Tiberias. John wrote at the time when the Roman empire was hitting a very strong peak and therefore he uses Roman names, and he also uses Roman time. Many times people think that contradictions exist between the synoptic gospels and the Gospel of John, but sometimes it must be understood that John wrote about 95 A.D. and therefore at a time when the Roman empire had peaked out and Roman names were generally used.
Verse 2 – a roster of the disciples present. There were seven of them. “There were” means there kept on being, they were there during the whole time.
“Simon Peter” – he is obviously the leader, mentioned first after the resurrection. He has the leadership authority but notice that he is the one who failed so miserably. Obviously he is restored at this point, back in fellowship; but even more obvious is the principle of grace. During the time of his great failure, the denying of the Lord Jesus Christ, he did not lose his authority and there is a principle of grace there. God does not quickly remove authority from those to whom He gives it. Simon Peter does not lose his authority because of his failure.
“Thomas” is the next person mentioned, the doubter. It is interesting that Thomas should be mentioned next after his great failure in the previous chapter. Again, this is the grace of God. The point here is that these were doubters but they retained their same authority and position. So Simon Peter the denier of the Lord, and Thomas the doubter of the resurrection, and then Nathanael who was another doubter. It was Nathanael who doubted that any good thing could come out of Nazareth.
“of Cana in Galilee” – this is where the Lord Jesus Christ turned the water into wine, and Galilee is where the last miracle will be performed prior to the ascension. The fact that Nathanael was from Cana of Galilee emphasises that all of the believing disciples were from the north country. The only one from the south, from Judah, was Judas Iscariot and he is out of the picture. Nathanael is the same as Bartholomew.
1. John mentions Nathanael twice, but never Bartholomew—John 1:45-59; 21:2.
2. The synoptic writers all speak of Bartholomew but never Nathanael, as illustrated by Matthew 10:3; Mark 3:18; Luke 6:14. The conclusion is simple. Nathanael is the proper name while Bartholomew is the Aramaic for son of Thomai.
“the sons of Zebedee” – James and John. Zebedee was a fisherman of Galilee but he was a man of great prominence and wealth. John is mentioned as having
hired servants in Mark 1:20. John’s mother is said to be wealthy, Luke 8:3. John had several homes—in Bethsaida, Luke 5:10; John 1:44; in Jerusalem, John 19:27. He was acquainted with Caiaphas the high priest, John 18:15.
“and two other of his disciples” – the word for other is a)lloj, other of the same kind; they were all believers. So we have seven believing disciples all involved here. These two other disciples are probably Philip and Andrew because of their association with Galilee, as per John 1:40, 43.
Verse 3 -- When a person gets bored and his name is Simon Peter, he has to do something. The disciples were supposed to meet Jesus there and Simon Peter got fidgety because He didn’t show up. In a sense Peter has already judged the Lord. He is not going to hang around and wait for the Lord, he is going to go out and do something.
“I go” – present active indicative of u(pagw. It means to go in a certain direction with a goal in mind. His goal in mind is to get over the fidgets and to do something about his boredom; “a fishing” – present active infinitive, and it should be translated “I go to fish.”
“We also go” – but they don’t use u(pagw because they have no goal in mind. The word is e)rxomai, they were going to “come along.”
Peter goes fishing
and “we come too”
1. Peter leads the pack in a wrong move. They had an appointment with the Lord—Matthew 26:32; 28:10.
2. This appointment was to meet the Lord in a mountain and not on the sea of Galilee.
3. Furthermore, the Lord told them to fish for men—Matthew 4:19.
4. The Lord’s promise to meet them demands that they stand still—no action.
5. Therefore the all-night fishing illustrates the fallacy of service in the energy of the flesh. They fished all night and didn’t get a bite.
6. There is not one part of the plan of God that calls for human good. Human good is excluded from the plan of God.
7. Fishing on the sea of Galilee is an illustration of the energy of the flesh, the operation of human good.
8. No fish caught illustrates God’s attitude toward human good.
“they went forth” – they launched out, they embarked; “entered” means to go aboard; “and immediately that night they caught nothing.”
Verse 4 – the Lord Jesus Christ appears. “But when the morning was come” means early in the morning. The word now is “already.” They are working so
hard that the dawn sneaks up on them; “was come’ is the present middle participle of ginomai and it means “was coming on.”
“Jesus stood on the shore” – He stood on the land, He never gets on the water. He stood where they were to meet Him, He didn’t go out to meet them. The word stood is in the aorist tense, point of time when it was light.
“but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus” – they were so busy working they didn’t even know He was there; “they knew not” is a pluperfect of o)ida and it carries the weight of an imperfect tense, they kept on not knowing that it was Jesus.
Four problems as
about their failure to know He was there
1. Since the dawn was slowly moving into the picture the poor light made identification difficult.
2. Vocal identification was possible but they are busy and not expecting Jesus. When people get busy with sublimation they never realise when a spiritual blessing is coming their way or when a spiritual principle in involved.
3. Soul identification was the best possibility … if they had believed the promises of Matthew 26:32 & 28:10. This soul identification is out because they have not believed the promises that Jesus made.
4. Hence, the problem is really spiritual. There is the malfunction of faith-rest, the malfunction of GAP, and disorientation to grace. They were blinded by the function of human good. Identification is not easy where GAP fails, and their problem is strictly one of GAP.
Verses 5 & 6, the grace dialogue.
Verse 5 – “Children”. This is not the word children at all, He uses the word boys.
“have ye any meat?” – prosfagion, [proj – face to face; fagion = eating] means that He is saying in effect, ‘Are you face to face with the prospect of
eating anything.’ To translate the idiom correctly it would be, “Boys, you have no fish.”
“They answered him, No” – aorist passive indicative of a)pokrinomai, they had received an answer—no fish. They had received an answer all night.
Verse 6 – “Cast the net on the right side.” This was a command, ballw in the aorist active imperative. The aorist tense means now. Active voice: they have to do it of their own volition. Imperative mood: an order.
“and ye shall find” – future active indicative of e(uriskw, which means to discover. Only God knows where the fish are located, and that is true with human fish when it comes to witnessing. This is why people have to be led of the Lord geographically when it comes to witnessing.
“They cast therefore” – immediate response. They did exactly what the Lord told them to do: “and now they were not able to draw for the multitude of the fishes.” The Greek says, “they kept on being no longer able to drag it in.” They no longer had the strength for it.
Principle
1. Everything depends on the power of God. This is the concept of grace.
2. Human power and human ability is no substitute for divine dynamics.
3. It is God’s power we must use in God’s service.
4. You cannot win with legalism; you cannot lose with grace.
5. Legalism is a lot of work and no production.
6. Grace is no work with all production.
7. No believer can promote himself in God’s service. Only God can promote.
Verse 7 – men of thought; men of action. John thinks; Peter acts.
“Therefore that disciple whom Jesus [kept on loving] loved” – the word disciple [maqhthj] who learns doctrine. John was the ideal disciple. Jesus is regarded
here as a teacher and under a)gapaw He has a relaxed mental attitude. Jesus always had a very relaxed attitude with regard to John—imperfect tense. Why? Because John was a good student or maqhthj. He learned, he concentrated, he understood the value of what he was learning.
“saith unto Peter” – John speaks to Peter, and John is the first one to identify here: “It is the Lord” – kurioj. John identifies the resurrected Christ on the shore. John does the thinking; Peter does the acting.
“Now when Simon Peter heard” – he didn’t see, he heard from John. This is an aorist active participle, “having heard” … “that is kept on being the Lord.”
“he girt his fisher’s coat unto him (for he was naked)” – the reason he was naked is because he was working hard. The night before when they were standing there waiting for the Lord he had his good clothes on. When he went fishing he took his clothes off because he didn’t want to sweat-it-up. When he went to meet the Lord he wouldn’t think of going to Him naked so he put his clothes back on.
Actually, this is a typical scene between John and Peter. John thinks and Peter acts. John has the discernment of mind; Peter has the impulsive energy if action. John recognises grace immediately and Peter moves in the direction of grace.[1]
Verses 8 & 9, the boat returns to shore.
Verse 8 – they are out fishing on a boat; now they are going ashore on a small boat: “little ship.”
“not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits” – about 100 yards; “dragging the net with fishes” – dragging here is a present active participle. The word for fish is i)xquj. There is an acrostic from this. The Christians of the early church used to draw a fish and this was their recognition signal during times of persecution:
I = I)hsouj, Jesus
x = Xristoj, Christ
q = Qeoj, God
u = U(ioj, Son
j = Swthr, Saviour
Two principles from verse 8: The difference in action between Peter and John indicates the difference between two communicating spiritual gifts, evangelism and pastor-teacher. Peter lands the fish and takes off. John stays with the fish.
Verse 9 – “come to land” means to disembark from the boat. The verb is a)pobainw.
“they saw” – blepw, the glanced; “fire of coals there, and fish laid on” – roasted fish. Each item here has an analogy to some part of God’s provision for the believer in time. The fire of coals is a picture of the cross and represent the fact that Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree, God’s provision for salvation. The roasted fish are a great delicacy; they represent the many delicacies of grace—GAP, the ECS, perfect happiness, etc. The bread represents doctrine presented categorically—“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The believer becomes aware of God’s grace and God’s plan. God always provides the needs of every believer in phase two.
Verse 10 – “Bring of the fish which ye have now caught.” These are not the same as the ones on the fire. The principle here is that the Lord in grace provided the fish for the empty net. God’s timing is perfect. The school of fish arrived on the starboard side at the moment that God gave the command, as it were. Jesus now commands that they bring the contents of the net to Him.
Analogies:
1. In personal evangelism we must make the issue clear.
2. There is a sense in which the life of every believer is like an empty net, life has no meaning or purpose or definition. It is the Lord who fills the net of our lives with the fish of doctrine. So as we bring the fish to Him (exhale of doctrine) our lives begin to have meaning and purpose and happiness. This is category #1 love, our capacity to love God based on Bible doctrine.
“Bring of the fish” is literally “Bring some of the fish.” The command is ferw, aorist active imperative.
The Lord provides the fish. He provides doctrine, blessing. It is the Lord who fills the nets of our lives with the fish of doctrine, and as we bring the fish to Him [exhaling of doctrine from e)pignwsij] our lives have meaning and purpose.
Verse 11 – “Simon Peter went up,” aorist active indicative of a)nabainw. It means here to go aboard the boat; “and drew” – aorist active indicative of e)lkuw. Peter hauled that net in all by himself. Note verse 6, they were not able to drag it because of the multitude of fish. Now Peter drags the net in by himself. First of all the fished all night, and nothing happened. Then at one grace command they get a great haul. Next they can’t even pull the net into the ship, so they get out in the skiff and start rolling it in. Then Peter walks out into the water up to his waist and hauls the net in all by himself with all the fish in it. There is a principle here. What seven men are not able to do in their human strength and ability one man is able to do with divine strength and ability. This is the dynamics of God’s grace.[2]
“full” means replete, with large fish; “broken” – sxizw, from which we get schizophrenia. It means the net was not torn apart, not split. Notice that grace produces the miracle. One man pulling the large number of fish in the net remains intact. One man pulls it in. Both of those are miracles. Both the production and the means of production is a matter of grace.
1. The Church Age represents the intensified stage of the angelic conflict.
2. Since Christ is absent from the earth He is represented by every believer on the earth.
3. Every believer is therefore in full time Christian service, as illustrated by his priesthood and his ambassadorship.
4. Since the Christian way of life is a supernatural way of life it demands a supernatural provision and a supernatural means of execution. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the Church Age.
5. The work of the Spirit is illustrated by the fact that Peter could by himself draw the net to the shore, whereas previously seven men could not haul the net aboard. This is the difference between human ability and God’s grace.
6. The fish illustrates categories of doctrine which are absorbed under GAP. The net is the Bible but the fish must be drawn to the individual believer. In other words, the ability to comprehend doctrine depends on the filling of the Spirit.
7. The fish also represent the unsaved segment of the human race. The principle there is that soul winning depends on the ministry of the Spirit—Acts 1:8.
8. The ability to serve God in time depends on the capacity to love God. This anticipates verses 15-17.
9. The unbroken net represents the preservation of the canon of scripture throughout all generations of the Church Age.
Verses 12-14, the breakfast party. The disciples don’t deserve anything for breakfast, yet they are going to have the greatest breakfast of their life.
Verse 12 – the grace of God at a party. “Come” is not really a verb, it is a particle of exhortation—deuth. In other words, He uses a rough tone. They are tone
oriented to the resurrected Christ and when He opens His mouth and sort of barks at them they cringe for a minute.
“and dine” – that’s grace. The Lord didn’t leave them hanging long; just for an instant. The word dine is an aorist active imperative of a)ristaw [from which
we get the word aristocrat, someone who could afford breakfast]. It means to have breakfast, to take the first meal of the day. And Jesus has prepared all the food. All that the disciples brought to the breakfast table was their positive volition.
“durst” – imperfect active indicative of tolmaw which means to have courage. Imperfect tense: they kept on not having the courage to ask Him.
“ask” – literally, interrogate. This is the strongest word for interrogation, e)cetazw, which means to grill. They wanted to interrogate Him but they didn’t have the courage to do so. The interrogation was very simple: “Who art thou?”
“knowing that it was the Lord” – they already knew it was the Lord, but none of them speak about it. Why? Because the hardest thing in the world to adjust to is grace. We now have, as it were, seven hang-dog disciples slinking to the breakfast table, looking at food they had not prepared, not deserved. They were out of it! It is so hard for us to adjust to the grace of God, that’s all.
Verse 13 – the provision. Jesus came to them. “Cometh” – e)rxomai. The present tense is dramatic. Grace is always dramatic. Active voice: Jesus of His own volition went to them with bread.
“and taketh bread, and giveth them” – the bread actually represents what the Lord Jesus Christ provided by way of salvation. In the upper room when He gean the Eucharist, and He took the bread and broke it, the taking of the bread spoke of Christ dying for our sins. But here He gives them the bread without breaking it. Why? Because He has risen. Provision of the resurrected Christ. Broken bread: Christ dying for our sins. When we accept Christ He provides everything. So the bread not being broken is exactly the same as “My grace is sufficient for thee.” Present active indicative: He kept on giving to them.
“and the fish also” – and the fish refers to doctrine categorically, after salvation. It also refers to evangelism.
Summary
1. Every verb in this verse is a verb of action, and Jesus produces the action.
2. This is the basic concept of grace—God produces the action, in this case God the Son.
3. Jesus Christ provided everything for the breakfast. That’s grace.
4. Every disciple present merely provided his own presence. This was an act of volition without merit.
5. Jesus provided everything; this is the principle of grace.
6. The bread is the grace provision of the cross; the fish is the grace provision of phase two through doctrine.
7. Jesus did not feed them. You have to eat your own bread—faith in Christ. No one else can do it for you. And you have to eat your own fish—daily function of GAP.
Verse 14 – there is no verb here, it is simply, “This already.”
“the third time” – not the third appearance but the third appearance to the disciples. He appeared to the ten disciples in Mark 16:14; John 20:19-23. He appeared to the eleven disciples [Thomas is added]—John 20:26-29. He appears this time to seven disciples—John 21.
“to his disciples” – maqhthj, ones who are about to learn doctrine.
“after that he was risen from the dead” – e)geirw refers to a literal, physical, bodily resurrection. Aorist tense: He rose in a point of time. Passive voice: He received resurrection. This is a participle. The action of the aorist participle precedes the action of the main verb. He rose from the dead before He showed Himself.
“from” is e)k, meaning out from. A clear, physical, bodily resurrection from the dead.
Verses 15-19 indicate how Peter will fill the empty nets of the soul with the fish of Bible doctrine. Just as the Lord provided fish for the empty nets of the disciples, Peter as an apostle, as a pastor, will feed the sheep or provide doctrine for the souls and the spirits of believers. This is divided into three dialogues, the first of which is in verse 15.
Verse 15 – “So when they had dined,” aorist active indicative of a)ristaw, which means to have breakfast. The aorist tense means they are not only finished dining but they have had complete satisfaction from the food. That is important. Not only have they had breakfast but they have enjoyed it. Eating bread and fish is analogous to the believer in phase two functioning under GAP.
“Jesus said” – present active indicative of legw. Jesus speaks to Simon who will have a special responsibility in the days to come. Notice that this question is only addressed to Simon Peter.
“Simon, son of
Jonas, lovest thou me” – present active indicative of a)gapaw. For the moment this word simply refers to mental attitude love. It
is a very broad term and refers to an absence of mental attitude sins. Right
from the start Peter is insulted. He resents the use of such a general term.
The present tense is linear aktionsart, “Do you keep on loving me?’
“more than these” – pleon toutwn. Pleon is the comparative of poluj. And we have the ablative plural of touton. Touton is the ablative of o(utoj. This is the word “these” and is a reference to the six disciples who are with Simon Peter and have been obeying his commands all night while fishing. The real issue here is, What is the most important? the details of life or the Lord? The Lord is using category #3 love as a detail. Peter doesn’t appreciate this, he needs more than a)gapaw to put the Lord first. He wants the Lord to give him the question which is really in his soul. The question is based on the word filew and this is the word the Lord does not choose to use. That’s why Peter is insulted and has a righteous indignation, because filew is a total soul love.
“Yea, Lord” – nai, kurie. When the Lord asks the question He uses a)gapaw, but when Peter answers he uses filew. Peter is insulted by the use of a)gapaw and he refuses to let it rest there.[3]
Now we get to the first command which says in effect, “If you love me, fill those empty nets.”
“Feed my lambs” – the word for feed is the present active imperative of boskw. It means to feed as a shepherd, with faithfulness and a true sense of responsibility. Actually, it is the first stage of GAP. How is Peter going to fill those empty nets? He is going to teach doctrine. Imperative mood: Peter is ordered to teach. The word lambs is a)rnoin—new believers. They need basic doctrine. This emphasises the importance of teaching new believers under GAP.
Verse 16 – the second dialogue.
“lovest thou me” – again, the present active indicative of a)gapaw. He repeats it even though He knows that Peter is exasperated.
1. Peter’s three denials indicate a weak mental type love. He was not relaxed at all, he was up tight.
2. Jesus implies that it was confined to the left lobe only.
3. By repeating the verb of the first question Jesus warns us that the words “I love you” formed in the mind are not sufficient.
4. To say “I love you” and not mean it is love without essence, words without meaning.
5. Peter had previously declared his love in words, but words are no stronger than the character or essence of the person who utters them.
“Yea, Lord; thou knowest” – o)ida. He is saying in effect, ‘You always knew this.’ O)ida is the perfect used as a present to indicate that Peter has the
doctrine in his human spirit, that his fourth floor of the ECS is under construction, and therefore he has the capacity to love the Lord. And he sticks by his guns, he will not go to a)gapaw, he uses filew, present active indicative, “I keep on loving you.”
“He saith to him, Feed my sheep” –poimainw which means to shepherd. It is the pastor-shepherd communicating doctrine. There are two ways a shepherd can feed his sheep. He can lead them into beautiful pastures and feed them, or he can beat their tails into green pastures and feed them; probation. These are hard-headed sheep. This means these are adult sheep, they go astray easily and they must feel the rod of rebuke and exhortation.
Verse 17 – the third dialogue.
“lovest thou me” – now He goes to filew. This is in contrast to what He asked before and Peter is upset because He asked the third time.
“Peter was grieved” – aorist passive indicative of lupew, which means to be upset, the be grieved
, aggravated, distressed, in mental pain. Peter has already said twice, “I filew,” and so then the Lord says, “Alright, do you really?”
“thou knowest all things” – o)ida again, but he adds “all things.” This is a direct appeal to His omniscience.
“thou knowest that I love thee” – ginwskw, to know from observation. How can the Lord know from observation that Peter loves Him? Because Peter is so put out with Him! The word “that” is o(ti used as a result clause. Now he gets the third command.
“Feed my sheep” – probaton, present active imperative. This time he doesn’t have to use a club on them, they are mature believers. Peter passes this same commandment on with regard to the adult sheep in 1 Peter 5:2. Peter’s life is going to be to feed, and in all three categories.
Verses 18 & 19, the prophecy of Peter’s death.
Verse 18 – “unto thee” is dative of advantage; “thou wast” is the beginning of four verbs, all in the imperfect tense—imperfect active indicative of e)imi. Peter was young up to the resurrection and now he is old. “When you were young” – and He is going to give three things about when Peter was young. The word for young is newteroj and it means more youthful.
“thou girdest thyself” – he put on his own clothes, imperfect active indicative of zwnnuw, which means to put on the basic garments. Peter dressed himself.
“thou wouldst” – imperfect of qelw. ‘Anywhere you desired, you went.’ The verbs are all in the imperfect tense and they describe the power, the vigour, and the independent attitude of Peter as a young man. In short, in his youth Peter was very dynamic.
“but” – here is the contrast, de; “when” – o(tan, which means on the occasion of.
“thou shalt be old” – aorist active subjunctive of ghraskw which means he hasn’t quite arrived yet. It means to grow old and the aorist tense means it creeps up on you.
“thou shalt stretch forth” – the future tense. This means to extend; “thy hands” – he will have to ask someone for help.
“and another” – another of the same kind means another believer; “shall gird thee” – in other words, Peter is so weak that he cannot even dress himself. But, so what! All of this will orient him to the principle of grace and the importance of Bible doctrine. The older he gets the more helpless he will become, and the more he is going to fill nets with the fish of doctrine. All of this weakness will bring out the great emphasis of his dying moments. The emphasis of the importance of the Word is found in 2 Peter 1:12-21. So in his old age he is going to be weak. As he was strong physically in youth he will be weak in his old age. As he didn’t depend on anyone in his youth he will be totally dependent in his old age. And that isn’t all, he is going to die the death of weakness.
“and carry thee whither thou wouldest not” – this is going to be his death. The word carry is ferw, future tense. This is a reference to Peter being carried to his death. He is going to die by crucifixion but he is too weak to get there.
1. Peter will remain in the world until his work is finished.
2. Rebound causes restoration to fellowship which makes it possible for Peter to continue in the plan of grace.
3. Rebound makes it possible for Peter to take in doctrine and to exhale doctrine under GAP.
4. Therefore Peter’s denial of the Lord does not result in the sin unto death. 1 John 5:16.
5. Peter has greater failures to come – Galatians 2. Peter will continue his life even though other failures do occur.
6. Peter personally remembered what the Lord said because he mentions this prophecy in 2 Peter 1:14.
7. Peter knew that he would shortly die when he became totally helpless physically. When that time came he had an ECS and the best perspective of life a believer priest can possess.
Verse 19 – “This” is a reference to the previous verse, the prophecy of Jesus; “spake he signifying” – shmainw, specify or make known.
“by what [manner of] death he should glorify God.”
1. The work is finished–2 Tim. 4:7.
2. Glorification of God—John 21:19.
3. Maximum divine discipline—1 John 5:16.
4. The superimposition of human over divine volition—suicide.
5. The uniqueness of the person of Christ. As He was unique His physical death was unique. He superimposed human volition at the same time as divine volition. The volition of the Father and the volition of the Son coincided. He dismissed His spirit by an act of volition which coincided with the Father’s will.
“and when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me” – present active imperative. Before you can feed my lambs, feed the hard-heads, feed the mature,
you must first of all follow me—a)kolouqew, keep on following me as a student.
Peter following
as a student
1. Peter is challenged to keep on functioning under the principle of GAP.
2. By the time Peter reaches death he will have had (for a long time) an ECS.
3. When Peter dies his ECS will go with him to heaven because it is a part of his soul.
During the period between death and resurrection body of Peter he will be naked (of soul) – 2 Corinthians 5:3. But his nakedness will be very beautiful. A naked soul is very beautiful when it has an ECS because the ECS is the reflected glory of God.
Summary of the
command to follow
1. Peter is challenged to keep on functioning under the principle of GAP.
2. By the time Peter reaches death he will not only have an ECS but will have utilised his ECS in the communication of doctrine.
3. When Peter died he took his ECS along to heaven.
4. During the period between the death of Peter and the resurrection (Rapture) his soul will be naked –2 Corinthians 5:3. But the nakedness of the soul is very beautiful with the reflected glory of the ECS.
5. Peter understands that the only way to follow Jesus is through the daily function of GAP. Following Jesus is not a course of action, it is a course of learning.
6. Peter understood the3 importance of spiritual IQ, which is doctrine in the human spirit. This is illustrated by his use of e)pignwsij in 2 Peter 1:2,3. In both of those verses e)pignwsij is translated by the word knowledge.
7. Therefore the present active imperative of a)kolouqew can only be fulfilled by the daily function of GAP. Jeremiah 15:16; Matthew 4:4; 1 John 1:4; John 13:17; 17:13, 17.
Verses 20-25, Peter’s question regarding John.
Verse 20 – “Then Peter, turning about.” The word turning about means to turn around and stare. Two verbs here, the first is the aorist passive participle of e)pistrefw—‘having been turned around.’ The aorist tense means it is in a point of time. The passive voice is important because under the passive voice the subject receives the action of the verb. In this case he receives turning around. What cause him to turn around? He is competing in his mind. Mental attitude sins destroy privacy! Peter was turned around by his mental attitude.
“seeth” – present active indicative of blepw; “the disciple” – the noun maqhthj, which means someone who learns under academic discipline, who accepts the authority of the teacher. A)kolouqew means to follow as a student; maqhthj is the result—to accept the authority and the academic discipline of the teacher. John calls himself a disciple because he always accepted the authority of Jesus Christ and because he was doing what Peter was told to do.
“whom Jesus loved” – imperfect active indicative of a)gapaw. This simply indicates John. John was the object of His love; so were the other disciples.
“following” – present active participle of a)kolouqew. Jesus doesn’t command John to follow Him, He commands Peter to follow Him as a student. Why? Because Peter was out of line and needed to recognise the importance of GAP; John was in line and recognised it.
1. Notice this is a present active participle, which means he was constantly following, this was a way of life.
2. John heard the entire dialogue between Peter and the Lord Jesus.
3. John is already obeying the command given to Peter.
4. This is because John has his eyes on the Lord, but Peter has his eyes on John.
5. Peter is relieved because he is restored to fellowship. Peter’s restoration to fellowship is established and as soon as it is he begins to stick his nose into John’s business.
6. The Lord Jesus Christ is the bestower of grace, therefore Peter needs to keep his eyes on Christ, not on John—importance of occupation with Christ.
“which” is the relative pronoun who, referring to John in John 13:25; “who also leaned on his breast” – which is not what it says at all, it should be “having
reclined at the table near his chest.”
Verse 21 – Peter violates John’s privacy.
“Peter seeing” – in the last verse the word was blepw. That was the first glance. But this time he is staring at John—o(raw, from which we get the word horizon, aorist active participle.
“saith, what shall this man do?” – o(utoj de ti. There is no verb there. It means literally, “but this one, what.” This is an idiom which means, “What about this one?” He doesn’t even mention John by name.
Summary
1. This is an intrusion upon the privacy of John.
2. John’s destiny and future is not Peter’s business, it is the Lord’s.
3. This phrase is elliptical to indicate how Peter has his eyes on John.
4. Peter is guilty of minding someone else’s business.
5. This is because of mental attitude sins, because Peter was competing with John.
6. If the Lord had not stopped it in this verse Peter would be judging John.[4]
Verse 22 – Peter is told to mind his own business.
“If” is a 3rd class condition, e)an plus the subjunctive mood of the verb; “I will” – qelw, which means a wish, a desire or design. Design is the meaning here.
God designed our life. (We can get away from His design). This is a present active subjunctive. The present tense is dramatic—God has designed the best for us. Whether we get the best or not depends on our attitude toward doctrine. Active voice: God Himself did the designing. Subjunctive mood is potential. The potentiality here is whether he is going to live until the Rapture or not.
“ so that he tarry” – the word tarry is menw, which means to remain, remain on the earth, stay alive. “If I design it [maybe I will and maybe I won’t—3rd class condition] so that he will remain until I come [Rapture].”
“what is that to thee?” – ti proj se, what face to face you? Again, notice this is an elliptical phrase, there is no verb. Is an idiom for, “What business is it of yours?” It is none of Peter’s business. Every believer is a priest and must live his own life as unto the Lord. This precludes interference from others, with the following exceptions: a) the exercise of divine discipline; b) pastoral exhortations from the Word; c) parents having authority over their children during minority. Since God has a plan for the life of John it is none of Peter’s business.
Then Jesus repeats the command. Peter still needs doctrine: “follow thou me” – present active imperative of a)kolouqew, keep following me as a student. The command is repeated to remind Peter that the only way he could fulfil His command is to function under GAP. In other words, where do you learn to mind your own business? By coming to Bible class and listening to the teaching of the Word.
Verse 23 – “Then went this saying abroad among the brethren.” It had to be from one of the other five, not Peter or John. One of the others was a rumour monger; “this saying” refers to maybe John will live to the Rapture.
“that the disciple should not die” – present active indicative of a)poqnhskw and it means physical death here; plus the very strong negative o)uk—“should never die.”
1. This is the failure to take cognisance of the 3rd class condition and its implication.
2. The 3rd class condition presents a hypothetical supposition to remind Peter to mind his own business.
3. While John would outlive the other disciples he would not survive until the Rapture.
4. But again we see the old principle: people hear what they want to hear.
5. People superimpose preconceived notions on the Word rather than letting the Word speak to them.
6. Generally speaking, apart from those who are positive toward doctrine, people are just poor listeners.
7. Jesus Christ was clear in His communication but people distorted it into something not intended.
“yet Jesus said not unto him” – John is clarifying the truth. John was still alive at the end of the century and this rumour had been going around that he was
going to live until the Rapture; :that he will not die; but, If I design it so that he remain until I come, what business is it of yours?”
Verse 24 – the identification of the human author of this book. “This is” – e)imi, present linear aktionsart.
“the disciple which testifieth of these things” – John. The word testify is marturew which means to make a deposition. It is going to be used here in connection with the doctrine of inspiration. This is a present active participle: “This is the disciple who made the deposition [correcting the situation].”
“of these things, and write these things” – aorist active participle of grafw, called an epistolary aorist for the writing of the scripture.
“we know” refers to John speaking from doctrine in the human spirit; “his testimony is true” – under the doctrine of inspiration the human author under the ministry of the Holy Spirit is recording with accuracy.[5]
Verse 25 – the selectivity of John’s Gospel. What John recorded was only selective. The Holy Spirit did not lead him to record everything he knew about the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.
“And there are” – present active indicative of e)imi, “And there keep on being.”
“many other things which Jesus did” – poiew in the aorist tense, point of time when He was on earth.
“the which, if they should be written” – present passive subjunctive of grafw. Present tense: many, many things that could be written. Passive voice: they would receive writing. Subjunctive mood: but they are not. Hypothetical. The third class condition introduces a hypothetical situation.
“every one” is literally, “one by one.”
“I suppose” is literally, “I think [or, expect].”
“the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” – there aren’t enough books in the world to cover it.