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The Life Driven Purpose, part II

24 April 2004 3 Comments

While my pastor was preaching from Galatians, I was reading my Bible and came across John 21:15-20 which reads:

15 So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah,[1] do you love Me more than these?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Feed My lambs.”
16He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah,[2] do you love Me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I love You.”
He said to him, “Tend My sheep.”
17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah,[3] 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, “Feed My sheep. 18Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.” 19This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, “Follow Me.”

We see Simon Peter and Jesus eat breakfast after the 153 fish were caught. It was at this time that Jesus ask three questions:

Do you love me?

It looks like the same question. However, the first two times Jesus asks the question in verses 15 and 16, the Greek word “agapao” which refers to love as ‘commitment’ and ‘a social and moral sense’. The third time in verse 17, the Greek word ‘phileo’ is use implying a brotherly love.

When Simon Peter responded, he used the Greek word ‘phileo’ as of a brotherly love in all three answers. I find this interesting that Peter denied Jesus three times but Jesus restored and reaffirmed Simon Peter three times with the commandments:

Feed my Lambs, Tend (Shepherd) My Sheep, Feed My Sheep

From here, we see the risen Jesus who is the way, truth, and the life give Simon Peter the driven mandate to go out to Feed my Lambs, Tend My Sheep, and Feed My Sheep in order to fulfill his calling and purpose of going to the nations to fulfill the Great Commission. The purpose did not drive Simon Peter’s life. The Life of Christ drove Simon Peter to fulfill his calling and therefore reveal his purpose of dying for the Gospel.

On a side note, I wonder what is the difference between lambs and sheep.

3 Comments »

  • gaw said:

    Lambs=young sheep (?)

    On the one hand, it seems as though He is saying the same thing each time, but just as the subtulety of the agapao/phileo usage enhances the meaning of His questioning, so I think the subtlety of the differences in his three commands is deserving of further study…

    # 25 April 2004 at 1:18 am
  • admin said:

    GAW:

    I agree. I had received an e-mail from another person who is not into public commenting that told me that lambs are baby sheep based on the fact that they own lambs/sheep on their farmland in Canada.

    Your statement about the “subtlety of the differences in his three commands is deserving of further study” was the reason why I asked the question between lambs and sheep because I believe that there is more to this even though many commentaries I looked at (Clarke’s, Henry’s, etc) did not explore this.

    Thanks for your interesting comments.

    # 25 April 2004 at 11:56 am
  • Spare Change said:

    Around the Horn II
    Note: This was originally posted yesterday, but I had some ID10T issues that necessitated its deletion and reposting. I wanted all the links on the front page, so you didn’t miss the good stuff being written around and about out…

    # 26 April 2004 at 2:41 pm