Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – Simon Peter

The Gospel of John

• What does a DEATH have to do with GOOD NEWS?

Read any obituary of a famous teacher, even a celebrity leader of men and you will discover one thing: They left behind everything. Now the legacy of this body buried or scattered to the dust of the earth must decay.

We memorialize men and women, especially the same many idolize in life. Those who loved any breathing soul speak of the dead in the past. Some ask, ‘IF there is a God, what hope does this departed soul have now?‘

The Apostle John answers these deep longings of the souls of mortal man.

More specifically, the LORD GOD reveals the only Good News about death and life is through the Lord Jesus Christ – born of man, buried like all who must suffer death.

By His words we have hope, but by His death we have redemption from sin and judgment.

For by Jesus’ RESURRECTION in BODY and SPIRIT, followers of the Way of Jesus in life will follow Him to certain resurrection of the body and of our soul.

Do you desire an eternal after-life in the Presence of the LORD our GOD? Find it in the Good News of Christ Jesus.

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Witnesses to Jesus’ Resurrection

In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The Good News of John 1:4-5 NASB

John presents man as either belonging to one of two things: the darkness or the light. There is no in between. The darkness is associated with death, while the light is associated with life. – BlueLetterBible intro to John

No Gospel addresses ‘LIFE’ more than John and no book of the Bible more than the 150 Psalms.

Roger Harned – talk of Jesus .com

We now return to John’s witness of Jesus in a third appearance to Disciples along the shore of the Sea of Tiberias after His resurrection.

Trusting that you read Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven, a Passing Witness, recall the 1st. century A.D. events disciples of the Way of Jesus encountered even before John wrote his Gospel — after A.D. 85 & before A.D. 100.

Remember to see John’s Gospel with eyes of a 1st. century believer who already knows that Peter was martyred for Christ perhaps decades earlier.

Peter’s witness of Jesus’ Resurrection

No Disciple of Jesus impacts the Church more than Simon Peter. After paying little attention to interactions between Peter and Jesus, today we will look closer into this loving relationship of discipleship.

Previously in Witnesses to Jesus Risen! – the Eleven, a Passing Witness. the Apostles had seen Jesus in the flesh twice, except Thomas only once, in Jerusalem. John names five present now and mentions two others, but not by name.

Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” – John 21:3

It’s now close to daylight after a night catching no fish.

John 21:

7 The disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!”

Peter and John who humbly refers to himself as ‘the disciple Jesus loved’, along with his older brother James have been Jesus’ three closest Disciples. During three years of the Lord’s earthly teaching Jesus had often shared understanding He does not reveal to others.

In his Gospel the beloved Disciple speaks of their close friend Simon Peter who has already been martyred for Christ with loving compassion; not eulogizing or elevating Peter in any way, but giving honest witness to Peter’s actions and failings in life.

John’s empathy for Peter’s heart after denying the Lord is clearly evident. The Disciples remembered how Jesus had prophesied Peter’s denials before the cock crowed at dawn that fateful evening prior to His arrest. Peter of course had denied that it could ever happen.

Peter, now with his former boldness, dives into Lake Tiberius and swims to shore (just two hundred cubits, about 100 yd. or 90 m.) away from Jesus who is broiling fish over a fire.

The other six Disciples return in small boats with the catch of ‘the multitude of fishes’ [KJV], which they then account as a total of 153 large fish filling a net that remains untorn by the huge catch.

Three Questions of Restoration

Remember, John witnesses this to Christians after Peter’s faithful death for the Lord Jesus Christ. Here is what John testifies:

15 Now when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”

(We will examine Peter’s answers separately.)

16 He said to him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”

The common language of the Apostles in addition to their local Aramaic is Greek. English translations lack subtle detail connecting context in these scriptures.

Simon son of Jonas – Σίμων Ἰωνᾶ

Andrew and Simon’s father is John, or Jonas.

• John, Peter’s other friend of Jesus’ inner circle besides his own brother James, calls him Simon Peter or simply Peter.
• however Jesus calls him only Simon or the Lord addresses John & James‘ friend rather formally as: Simon son of Jonas.
  • Could Jesus also be reminding the Disciples of His many prophesies connecting His Resurrection to the Prophet Jonah?

Note what Jesus asks Simon, yet note subtle differences in Simon’s responses which show the depth of wounds of Peter’s guilt before he understands Jesus’ tender requests.

(Again recall that John tells this to readers who already know that Peter has died for his faith in Jesus.)

Jesus’ questions to Simon Peter

English also clouds our understanding of overlapping Greek meanings of love.

1. “Simon, son of John, do you [e] love Me more than these?”
2. “Simon, son of John, do you [g] love Me?”
3. “Simon, son of John, do you [i] love Me?”

[notes] Here is an instance where NASB & other notes may help.
See the Greek text referenced below.

1. ἀγαπάω – agapaō – Strong’s G25
   • egō polys hoytos
2. ἀγαπάω – agapaō – Strong’s G25
   • egō
3. φιλεῖς – phileō – Strong’s G5368
   • egō

Three similar questions to Simon from Jesus in John 21: v.15, v.16 & v.17, but not quite the same.

• Do you agapaō me more than these?
• Do you agapaō me? (No comparison this time to the six Disciples who came to shore in the boat with the fish.)
• Do you phileō me?

Is your, “yes Lord” really your “yes?”

Let's move on to Simon's responses. (Will his responses match?)

1. “Yes, Lord; You know that I [phileō] love You.”
   • Jesus had asked, “Do you agapaō Me more than these?”
   • Do you [love] Me more than these (six) Disciples love Me?
   • Simon only confirms his phileō for Jesus.
2. “Yes, Lord; You know that I [phileō] love You.”
   • Jesus now focuses on Simon asking simply, “Do you agapaō me?”
   • Simon simply repeats his previous response of “I [phileō] You.”
3. “Lord, You know all things; You know that I [phileō] love You.”
   • Jesus has already asked Simon, “Do you [agapaō] me?”
   • Simon had twice responded, “I [phileō] You.”
   • Perhaps to contrast Simon’s answers to His other two questions the Lord now asks him, “Do you [phileō] me?

What does Jesus mean by “love?”

Having some understanding of the Greek words for LOVE is a pre-requisite for our 21st century understanding.

Let’s begin with Simon Peter’s answer to Jesus.

phileō love:

It is the verb meaning:

• to approve of, like, sanction, treat affectionately or kindly,
• to welcome, befriend

Are you only this to Jesus?

To your fellow followers of Christ who also call Him Lord is your witness mere approval of Jesus?

‘What a ‘friend’ we have in Jesus,‘ we once sang.

• Is that what the Lord asks of Simon Peter?
• Is Christ not so much more than ‘a friend’ to those who follow Him?

‘..All our sins and griefs to bear!” continues the old hymn proclaiming Jesus a friend, but urging us to take everything to God in prayer.

Simon has just witnessed Jesus’ Sacrifice for our sins on the Cross.

• What friend can bear your sins other than Jesus?

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13 KJV – Jesus proclaiming His own death to the Disciples, of agapē love

Simon Peter, once again emboldened by Jesus resurrection, offers no rock of confidence in his measured response to His Lord and Savior.

Jesus was not asking Simon Peter for his renewed friendship. So what was the Lord asking him?

agapē love:

It is the noun for:

• affection, good will, benevolence, brotherly love,
• charity or a feast of charitability (like a generous family meal of Thanksgiving),

All active, rather than passive acceptance of another. Jesus first question asks Peter to stand firm in His love of their friends.

Jesus asks in effect,

“Do you think (Simon), that because you greeted Me first (perhaps with an expected kiss of phileō just as Judas Iscariot had in Gethsemane), — do you therefore believe that you agapē Me more that those who did not jump from your boat to reach Me first?

(And recall what John had witnessed of Peter when they first ran to the empty tomb.) Peter lost that physical race with John, but it did not matter who was first or who came to Jesus last. What did matter was the Lord’s commands.

On the night in which He was betrayed Jesus gave them a new command.

John 13:

33 “Little children, I am still with you a little longer…

(It is this same endearing greeting of their Master the Disciples have just heard from Peter’s boat.)

34 “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

• Which LOVE do you suppose Jesus uses in this NEW COMMANDMENT to the Disciples?

agapaō:

It is the verb root of agapē love. Yet its own root may also share in actions associated with the verb phileō. (We won’t take time to dwell on this.)

• of persons
  • to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly
• of things
  • to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing

Three times Jesus uses agapaō in His New Commandment to the Apostles and then the Lord continues by applying agapē love as evidence to others that these are His disciples.

“By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”

John 13:35 – The New Command of Jesus – agapē

Jesus’ New Commands to Simon Peter

We have examined with some detail the context of Jesus’ questions to Simon that John witnesses in his Good News to believers long after Peter’s own death.

NEXT: We will continue in John 21 with the Lord’s Commands to Peter and hear John’s empathy for Peter shared with saints of the 1st century A.D. Church.

To be continued...