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Joh 21:15. Ὅτε, when) During their eating there had been more than usual silence. Silence at the beginning of a feast is not only the part of politeness, but even of modesty and self-control.-ὁ Ἰησοῦς) The Byz. and Lat. formerly omitted these words, as is evident from Augustine. Nor were they in the cod. Reutlingensis “manu primâ.”[404]-ἀγαπᾷς με, lovest [amas] thou Me?) Thrice the Lord asks a question: Lovest thou Me more than these? Lovest thou Me? φιλεῖς [diligis?], dost thou esteem Me? Thrice Peter answers, I do esteem Thee. Ἀγαπᾶν, amare, is the part of relationship and affection: φιλεῖν, diligere, is the act of the judgment. Others make this distinction, that ἀγαπᾶν is simply to love; φιλεῖν, to love in such a way as that we should evince our love by kissing one: and this is the distinction which Eustathius upholds; but Peter, to the question of the Lord ἀγαπᾷς με, does not seem to have been likely to answer ἐμφατικώτερον, more emphatically, than was the expression in the question, φιλῶ. Where the difference is not expressed, the one is included in the signification of the other.[405] Jesus, now that Peter’s faith was established, questions him about his love: and this is the distinguishing characteristic of the Shepherd. On this condition of love depend the things which are mentioned in Joh 21:15, etc., and Joh 21:18-19.-πλεῖον τούτων) more than these, viz. thy fellow-disciples. So οὗτος, this man, occurs in Joh 21:21. Previously Peter had said that he would show more fidelity than these (his fellow-disciples): Mat 26:33, “Though all[406] shall be offended because of Thee, yet will I never be offended:” but now he simply says, I love Thee: he does not add, more than these. Yet he had lately shown himself most eagerly desirous of the Lord, in Joh 21:7 [“He cast himself into the sea,” to reach Him the sooner].-σὺ οἶδας, Thou knowest) Peter had given a proof of the contrary by his late denial of Jesus: now, instead of argument, he makes his appeal to the knowledge and omniscience of Jesus.-βόσκε, feed) The words, more than these, serve to indicate that Peter is here restored to his place, which he had lost by his denial of Jesus; and at the same time that a something is assigned to him peculiarly, as compared with the other disciples, but nothing from which the others are to be excluded: for in truth they also loved Jesus, ch. Joh 16:27. Let the Pope, in the name of truth, cease, under the pretext of the succession to Peter, to claim violently this privilege to himself, and himself alone, seeing that he is one who does not either love or feed the sheep, but on the contrary feeds upon them. Rome can no more claim Peter as her own, than Jerusalem or Antioch, or any other place where Peter acted as an apostle: nay, Rome, as being the capital of the Gentiles, can least of all claim him. For Peter was one of the apostles of the circumcision. There is one feature peculiar to Rome, that the blood of the apostles, including even Peter, is to be ‘found’ in her: Rev 18:20; Rev 18:24.-τὰ ἀρνία μου, My lambs) Jesus is the Lord of the sheep and of the lambs. He loves His flock, and commits it to him that loves Him.
[404] But ABDabc and best MSS. of Vulg. support the words.-E. and T.
[405] The Vulg. differs from Bengel, and rightly gives the reverse explanation to ἀγαπᾶς and φιλεῖς respectively; “diligis, diligis,” twice, to represent the twice repeated ἀγαπᾶς, the love of choice and judgment, esteem; and “amo, amo,” to represent φιλῶ, the love of affection and impulse. The word ἀγαπᾶς sounds too cold to the ear of Peter, who was now burning with love. He therefore substitutes in his answer the word of affection, φιλῶ. At the third time Peter has gained his point: for the Lord now, instead of ἀγαπᾶς, gratifies Peter by using φιλεῖς. See Trench, Syn. New Testament-E. and T.
[406] Viz. of the disciples: not “all men,” as Engl. Vers.-E. and T.