John 21:15 ¶ So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon
Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him,
Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. 16 He saith to him again the second time, Simon,
son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I
love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 17
He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me?
Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And
he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.
Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep. 18
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself,
and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt
stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither
thou wouldest not. 19 This spake he,
signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he
saith unto him, Follow me.
One problem that modernists have with this passage is the
way it underscores how various Greek words can stand for the same English word.
According to Strong’s dictionary when Jesus asks Simon Peter
if Peter loves him more than the others in verse 15, the Greek word is based on
agape, the word that modern
evangelical Christians like to say is the divine love of God for man found only
in the Bible.
However, Peter responds that he does love Jesus using the
word phileo, which the modernists
insist refers to brotherly love, as in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love
(now, there is a joke.)
In verse 16 Jesus asked Peter again if he agape’d Jesus and Peter again replies
that he phileos Jesus.
In verse 17 Jesus asks Peter if he phileos Jesus and Peter replies that he does. So, do the words
actually mean different things as modern evangelicals insist?
Agape and Phileo are words for love that are used
interchangeably. No extra insight into these verses is gained by playing ping
pong with them. In Matthew 6:5 hypocrites phileo
to pray standing in the synagogues, in Matthew 19:19 you are told to agape your neighbor as yourself, John
15:19 says the world won't phileo the
disciples, 1 Corinthians 16:22 says that if any man phileo not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha, and when we are repeatedly told to love our
neighbor as ourselves with agape the
Scriptures in no way imply that this is superior to our brotherly love for our
brothers and sisters in Christ. I doubt anyone would imply that the kind of
love Jesus says we are to have for each other, which distinguishes us as His
followers, is inferior to the love we are supposed to have for a stranger who
is in need.
Titus 3:4 doesn't have the love of God our Saviour toward
man as agape. Paul's admonition in
Titus 3:15 isn't agape. 1 Peter 1:22
uses both words for the same thought with phileo
first and then agape. Does knowing
this change your understanding of the text? Does it help you know what you are
to do? Is your lack of access or availability of access to the Greek a
determinant of your ability to understand God's words? Finally, in Revelation
3:19 does it matter to you that Jesus phileos
here?
You will gain no valuable insights in the Bible by going
back to the original languages; no subtle shades of meaning, no nuggets of
wisdom, just some seminary educated person trying to show off their presumed
superior training and intelligence. It's like telling me you are going to
really get to know the Gettysburg Battlefield and then immediately digging the
deepest hole in the ground that you can. I would tell you to compare verse with
verse in the Bible as I would tell you to tour the entire battlefield. Keep in
mind Paul's admonition in 1Corinthians 2:13
Which things also we speak, not in
the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth;
comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Dictionaries, encyclopedias, and even Strong's Concordance are
not given by inspiration of God and are often corrupt. Lexicons, dictionaries
of Hebrew and Greek are notoriously corrupt. Even their own creators and those
modern translators who use them and revise them say so. Here are some quotes
from the book, Biblical Greek Language
and Lexicography.
“The fact is that opinions will very often differ over the
precise wording of lexical definitions even - or perhaps, especially - after
careful consideration of a proposed definition.”
“…there is the fact that even the latest lexicons derive
their material from their predecessors, and a great deal of it has been passed
on uncritically over the course of centuries.”
“…we cannot know for certain that what we find in front of
us when we look up a word is sound.”
“…all the existing lexical entries in all our dictionaries
are now obsolete and await reassessment in the light of the full evidence, or
at least checking to see if there is further evidence to be added.”
“Lexicons are regarded by their users as authoritative, and
they put their trust in them. Lexicons are reference books presenting a
compressed, seemingly final statement of fact, with an almost legal weight. The
mere fact that something is printed in a book gives it authority, as far as
most people are concerned. And understandably: if one does not know the meaning
of a word, one is predisposed to trust the only means of rescue from ignorance.
Yet this trust is misplaced.” (41)
(41) Bernard A. Taylor, John A. L. Lee, Peter R. Burton
&Richard E. Whitaker, Biblical Greek
Language and Lexicography: Essays in Honor of Frederick W. Danker (Kindle
Locations 955-956). Kindle Edition.
So compare scripture
with scripture and ignore the scholar who says the original languages give more
insight than the English. All they are trying to do is to take the authority of
your Bible from you and replace it with their own intellect as your final
authority.
Three times Peter denied Christ. Three times Christ asks
Peter if he loves Christ. It seems that
Christ is making things right with Peter. He then asks Peter to feed his sheep.
Peter is to preach the words of God and to lead the Apostles. Christ then gives
Peter a heads up that he will be martyred. Peter later said;
2Peter 1:14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my
tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
No comments:
Post a Comment