Berean Break
August 31, 2003 broadcast
Do You Love Me More Than These?
by George Sinkie

     Good Morning and welcome to this edition of the Berean Break.  My name is George Sinkie and I am honored and glad that you are with me this morning.  As always we are going to study the Bible this morning and check out the things that we believe and teach.  Let’s begin with a word of prayer and then we will be looking into John chapter 21.  Let’s pray:

Great God in heaven, Thank You for this day in our lives.  Thank You for this new week that You have given to us.  We pray that each person joining us in this study will open their hearts to Your will.  Help us to avoid the man-made creeds and catechisms of this world.  Dear God, help us to see how they distort Your will to a destructive end.  Thank You for Jesus and Your written word that we can know You.  Help us now as we study Your truth to obey that truth.  In Jesus’ name, we pray!!  AMEN!!


     Let’s turn over to John 21 and we are going to read a discussion that Jesus has with Peter.  This is one passage where the precision and accuracy of the Koine` Greek is hard to retain when the Bible is translated into English.  We will look at this in a little bit, but first let’s read John 21:15-17,

   15 So when they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?”  He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”  He said to him, “Tend My lambs.
   16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”  He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”  He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.
   17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love Me?”  Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, “Do you love Me?”  And he said to Him, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You.”  Jesus said to him, “Tend My sheep.”

After Jesus has fed the disciples breakfast He speaks to Peter and asks, “do you love Me more than these?”  Perhaps Jesus here is referring to Peter’s love for fish and fishing.  Jesus, if you remember, had called Peter from the fishing business and called him to be a fisher of men.  Matthew writes in Matthew 4:18-20

   18 And walking by the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon who was called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea;  for they were fishermen.
   19 And He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
   20 And they immediately left the nets, and followed Him.

For about three years Peter has followed Jesus and Jesus may be helping Peter to see that just because He has died, been buried, and was resurrected, and that He is soon going to ascend back to the Father, does not end this call of Jesus to be a fisher of men.
     Another couple of possibilities are that Jesus is asking if Peter has a greater love for Him than the other men here or if he loves Him more than he loves these other men.
     As I mentioned earlier, this section has been a hard one to translate into English and convey the full meaning of the words.  The hard part is not what does Jesus mean by “these” as we have been looking at, but comes in the question of “love” that Jesus asks Peter.  As you read through John 21:15-17 in most major translations you get the idea that Jesus asks Peter the same question three times and that Peter answers Jesus that yes he loves Him.  As we are going to see today, from the Greek words that are used, this is not the case at all.  Jesus asks two very distinct questions and Peter in his answer in a sense avoids Jesus question.
     In the Koine` Greek language there are several words that can be translated by our English word “love.”  We are only going to be concerned today with the two that are used in this passage.  The first Greek word is agapao.  Perhaps you have heard the noun form of this word which is agape`.  This is the self-sacrificing kind of love that God had for every person in the world.  In John 3:16, Jesus says,

   16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Paul also wrote in Romans 5:8, concerning this love that God had for all people,

   8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

This agape` love is a love that is decided in the mind and is not dependent upon the object to which that love is directed.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-47,

   43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’
   44 But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you
   45 in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven;  for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
   46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?  Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same?
   47 And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?  Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

The follower of God cannot allow his emotional feelings for his enemy to influence his love for that enemy.  He still must want the very best for that enemy and be willing to sacrifice himself for the good of that enemy.
     Jesus wants to know if Peter will give Him total commitment.  The confusion comes when Peter answers and the translators, give his answer as, “
You know that I love You.”  Peter is not in this answer agreeing with Jesus because he uses a different Greek word that is translated “love” in English.  The word that Peter uses is phileo, and means tender affection or to like.  This love is based upon the feelings that a person has for the object of that love.  God did not send Jesus to provide the way of salvation for all men because He
liked us.  Because we had sinned, we were repulsive in the sight of God.  But God chose to love us anyway.  There is a vast difference between these two types of Love.
     Perhaps Peter is being cautious.  Remember, in that upper room where Peter said, “I’ll never deny You, Jesus, even if I have to die with You.”  That statement shows the self-sacrificing love meant by agape` and yet Peter denied Jesus three times before the cock crowed the next morning.  Peter was bold in words but weak in actions.  Now Jesus is questioning Peter’s commitment and Peter says “I like You.”  Jesus asks the same question the second time and Peter gives the same response.  In Jesus’ third question though, He asks Peter “do you phileo Me?”  In a sense, Jesus is saying, “Peter, have I done enough good things for you that you will be My friend and like me?”  Can you see why Peter was grieved?  It is because Jesus has lowered the question that He asks to a very simple level that grieves Peter.
     Some of the better study Bibles will footnote these two different words and from that we can see that there is a difference in what Jesus asks and what Peter answers in this discussion.  While I do not recommend the Living Bible as a good translation of the Scriptures, because it was translated by only one man, Kenneth Taylor, and there are times when he put in his own religious beliefs rather than the true teaching of God, Kenneth does do a pretty good job of conveying the truth here in John 21: 15-17 though.  He writes,

     After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?”  “Yes,” Peter replied, “You know I am your friend.”  “Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.  Jesus repeated the question: “Simon, son of John, do you really love me?”  “Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I am your friend.”  “Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.  Once more he asked him, “Simon, son of John, are you even my friend?”  Peter was grieved at the way Jesus asked the question this third time.  “Lord, you know my heart; you know I am,” he said.

     I don’t want to leave you with the impression that Peter did not love Jesus though.  While Peter was not so bold as to proclaim his love and then fail to live it out, we can see very clearly from the life that Peter lived that he did have this agape` form of love for Jesus.
     What about our love for Jesus?  Is it real or superficial?  Do we love Jesus?  How do we know that we really love Jesus?  Consider what it says in John 14:15

   15 If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

     One way that we know whether our love is real is whether or not we keep His commandments.  Like in Mark 16:16 when Jesus says that the one who believes the gospel and is immersed shall be saved, do we keep that commandment?  I have in my life.  There are many who reject it and teach that a person can be saved without being immersed in water for the forgiveness of sins.  They teach that all you have to do is believe in Jesus and you will be saved.  They reject the commands of Jesus and therefore based on the Scriptures we can tell that they really do not love Jesus.  Is your love for Jesus obedient to His will or do you reject His will?  If I can help you in anyway to know and obey God’s will, I hope that you will contact me.  I would also like to know any questions or topics that you would like to have covered on the Berean Break.



      © George Sinkie; used by permission.
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      Unless otherwise noted, “Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission.” or from the “New American Standard Bible. 1986 (electronic edition.) La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.”
      This article’s presentation in Exploring God's Word ©2005 David G. Churchill.
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