From: Dmitriy Reznik (reznik1@juno.com)
Date: Sat Jan 06 2001 - 12:38:44 EST
Hi Steve:
I think we mustn't forget that original conversation was not in Greek but
in Hebrew or Aramaic. I doubt Jesus could make in those languages that
distinction you point to. For example syraic Peshittah uses same word for
"to love" three times.
Dmitriy Reznik
On Fri, 5 Jan 2001 22:26:52 -0500 "Steve Godfrey" <sgodfrey@irk.ru>
writes:
> My thanks to Carl Conrad for responding to my previous posting on
> John
> 21:15 and ff., and for pointing me toward previous postings
> regarding John
> 21, AGAPAO, and PHILEO. He asked insightfully, "What about the
> other
> synonyms?" After browsing through some of the previous postings,
> and then
> reflecting further on the text, I would like to offer the following
> in
> reply:
>
> Many argue that if there is to be a distinction made between AGAPAO
> and
> PHILEO that one must also hold out for a distinction between the
> other
> pairs of synomymns: OIDA/GINOSKO, VOSKO/POIMANO, ARNIOV/ PROBATON.
> There
> is a distinction between these terms that brings the emotional
> significance of this entire exchange into full relief.
>
> Jesus puts his first question to Peter in the simplest possible
> terms.
> Feeding lambs is not difficult. One need only be able to hold a
> bottle of
> milk while cradling the little beast. And yet, to this simple
> requirement, Peter hedges in reply, by using a synonym for 'love'
> that by
> implication falls short of the full love Jesus has in mind. The
> reason
> Peter hedges is that he is ashamed of the way that he denied Christ
> previously. He considers himself damaged goods, never again to be
> as
> useful to his master as he was before his great fall.
>
> Jesus understands, and therefore graciously raises the stakes of
> what he
> has in mind in the second round. He repeats the question unchanged,
> insisting on his own term: Peter, do you AGAPAO me? Again Peter
> hedges
> with PHILEO, stubbornly refusing to take Jesus on the Jesus' own
> terms.
>
> So the third time, to show Peter just how much he is loved, and just
> how
> valuable he remains to the kingdom of God, Jesus switches to Peter's
> term
> of preference. "Okay, Peter, do you PHILEO me?" Peter was hurt
> both
> because his second response wasn't considered sufficient, and
> because
> Jesus had now lowered the standard, and was seeming to question
> Peter's
> integrity even at this reduced level of love. So Peter answers,
> "Lord you
> know all things, you know innately (GINOSKO) that I love you."
> Peter here
> appends a synonym to OIDA for passionate emotional emphasis. Jesus
> then
> grants affirmation and grace in how he phrases his third charge. He
> switches back from "shepherd" to "feed", while keeping "sheep"
> instead of
> "lambs". It is to say, "Peter, what I am asking you to do you can
> do,
> because you do love me, and because sheperding my sheep involves
> little
> more than feeding them. In the most poetic language possible, the
> author
> (John) has Jesus saying to Peter, "My dear son, I believe in you."
> And
> in so doing, Jesus has affirmed Peter the same number of times that
> Peter
> had denied Christ. The grace of Christ is sufficient to cover even
> our
> most egregious sins.
>
> Those who doubt must be able to justify their view by reading the
> passage
> out loud in Greek. The biblical text is not a lab rat to be cut up
> and
> analyzed word by word. It is literature, and literature can only be
> understood when viewed in totality. One does not understand Van
> Gogh by
> comparing one brush stroke to another, but rather by taking in the
> glorious combinations of subtle stroking and shading in composition.
> In
> John 21, we are given a portrait of the restoring grace of Christ.
>
> Conclusion
> A distinction between PHILEO and AGAPAO is intended. However, the
> distinction is not grounded in the innate meanings of the words,
> which are
> indeed very close synonyms. The distinction is in how Peter was
> responding to Jesus, with a term other than the one Jesus used in
> his
> question. Whatever term Peter might have used in the actual Aramaic
> is
> not germane: the point is that John, the author, has something
> important
> to say in Greek. John wants to say that while we may shirk from the
> perfect love of Jesus, the Lamb of God is nevertheless gracious
> enough to
> come to us and to restore us beginning at the level of love of which
> we
> are currently capable.
>
> Steve Godfrey
>
> ---
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