John 21:15 - Meaning and Application

Here we have Christ’s talk with Peter after dinner, at least the part that concerns Peter himself. In it, Christ asks about Peter’s love and then gives him charge over his flock, John 21:15-17.

Notice first when Christ began this talk. It was after they had eaten and were full. They had likely also enjoyed the kind of helpful conversation our Lord often shared at table. Christ knew that what he had to say would trouble Peter, so he waited until after the meal. He would not spoil their dinner.

Peter knew in his own heart that he had offended his Master. He could expect to be blamed for his treachery and ingratitude. He might even have feared being cut off from the disciples altogether. He had seen his risen Lord twice, perhaps three times, and yet Jesus had said nothing to him about his failure. So Peter may have been left wondering where he stood, hoping for the best, but also fearing that a sharp rebuke would come at last. Now, at last, Christ eased his pain. He spoke to him, confirmed him in his place as an apostle, and made clear that he was still accepted. Christ did not bring up Peter’s fault in a harsh or early way. He delayed it for a while, and then, after dinner and in a spirit of peace, he spoke with him not as with a criminal, but as with a friend. Peter had already reproached himself, so Christ did not openly reproach him. He only hinted at the matter. Since Peter’s sincerity was real, the offense was not only forgiven, but forgotten. Christ showed him that he loved him as much as ever. In this, Christ gives us a moving example of his gentleness toward repentant sinners, and he teaches us to restore those who have fallen with a meek spirit.

Now look at the conversation itself. The same question is asked three times, the same answer is given three times, and the same response follows three times, with very little change. This was not pointless repetition. Christ repeated it aloud to press the matter on Peter and the other disciples. The evangelist repeats it in writing so it may press us too.

First, Christ asks Peter three times whether he loves him. The first time he says, “Simon, son of Jonas, do you love me more than these?” He calls him by his old name, Simon, son of Jonas, to move him deeply. He does not call him Peter, the name that spoke of strength and stability, because Peter had not been steady. Still, Christ does not speak to him with harsh words. He uses the same kind of personal address he used when he blessed him before. Calling him son of Jonas also reminded Peter of his humble background and of the honor Christ had given him.

The question itself is searching: “Do you love me more than these?” The first question is simply, Do you love me? That is the central test of true discipleship. But Christ had a special reason for asking Peter now. Peter’s fall had made his love seem doubtful. If he had truly loved Christ, he would not have been ashamed and afraid to stand by him in suffering. We should not be offended if our sincerity is questioned when our own actions have made it doubtful. After a serious fall, we must be careful not to settle too quickly, or we may settle on a false foundation.

The question is also gracious. Christ does not say, “Do you fear me? Do you honor me? Do you admire me?” He asks, “Do you love me?” If that is true, the rest can be made right. Peter had shown signs of repentance, by his tears and by returning to the disciples. He was now being tested as one who repented. But Christ does not ask how much he has wept or how strictly he has fasted. He asks, “Do you love me?” That is what makes repentance pleasing. In repentant people, Christ looks first for a heart turned toward him. The woman in Luke 7:47 was forgiven much, not because she wept much, but because she loved much.

Christ also asks this because Peter’s work would require love. Before trusting Peter with his sheep, Christ asks whether he loves him. Christ cares so deeply for his flock that he will not trust it to anyone who does not love him. Only those who love Christ will truly love the people who belong to him. A minister who does not love the Master will not properly love the souls in his care. And nothing but the love of Christ can keep ministers going through the hard parts of their work with courage and cheerfulness (2 Corinthians 5:13-14). But that love makes their work lighter and more sincere.

Then Christ asks, “Do you love me more than these?” The words can be understood in more than one way. First, “Do you love me more than you love these?” That is, more than these people, such as James, John, Andrew, and the rest of your close companions. No one loves Christ rightly unless he loves Christ above the best human friend he has. That love must show itself whenever there is a choice.

It may also mean, “Do you love me more than these things?” That is, more than your boats and nets, more than the pleasure of fishing, and more than the profit you gain from it. Only those love Christ truly who love him more than all the pleasures of the senses and all the gains of this world. Or it may mean, “Do you love me more than you love these present tasks you are now doing?” If so, then leave them and give yourself wholly to feeding my flock, as Dr. Whitby explains it.

It can also mean, “Do you love me more than these other disciples love me?” If so, then Christ is gently recalling Peter to his boast, “Though all men should deny you, yet I will never deny you.” Christ is asking, in effect, “Do you still think as you did then?” Or the question may mean that Peter had more reason than the others to love Christ now, because more had been forgiven to him than to them. His sin in denying Christ was greater than their sin in forsaking him. In that case, the question is like the one in Luke 7:42, which asks which debtor will love more.

We should all aim to grow in our love for Christ. It is no harm to seek to love him best, and it is no lack of courtesy to go before others in this love. The second and third time Christ asked this question, he left out the words more than these, because Peter, in his answer, modestly left them out too. Peter did not want to compare himself with his brothers, much less place himself above them.

Though we cannot say, “I love Christ more than others do,” we will still be accepted if we can say, “I truly love him.” In the last question, Christ also changed the wording. In the first two questions, the original word means, “Do you hold a kind regard for me?” Peter answered with a stronger word, “I love you dearly.” The third time, Christ used that same stronger word, asking, in effect, “Do you truly love me dearly?”

Peter gave the same answer each time: “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Notice, Peter did not claim to love Christ more than the other disciples. He was now ashamed of his rash words, “Though all others deny you, I will not,” and rightly so. We should aim to do better than others, but in humility we must count others better than ourselves, because we know more evil about ourselves than we know about any of our brothers.

Still, Peter keeps saying that he loves Christ. “Yes, Lord, I surely love you. I would be unworthy to live if I did not.” He valued Christ highly, felt deep gratitude for his kindness, and was fully devoted to Christ’s honor and work. He longed for Christ, as one he could not do without, and found his joy in him, as one in whom he would be beyond measure happy. This also shows repentance for his sin, because it pains us to offend someone we love. It also shows a promise to stay faithful in the future: “Lord, I love you, and I will never leave you.” Christ prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail (Luke 22:32), and because his faith did not fail, his love did not either. Faith works through love.

Peter had lost his standing as Christ’s follower. Now he was being welcomed back after repentance. Christ put the question to him in this way: “Do you love me?” Peter answered in the same way: “Lord, I love you.” Those who can truly say, by grace, that they love Jesus Christ may take comfort in their share in him, even with all their daily weaknesses.

Peter also appeals to Christ himself as the witness of his love. “You know that I love you,” and the third time, even more strongly, “You know all things. You know that I love you.” He does not call on his fellow disciples to speak for him, because they might be mistaken. He does not trust his own word either, because that trust had already been ruined. Instead, he asks Christ himself to witness.

First, Peter is sure that Christ knows all things, especially the heart, and can see the thoughts and intentions within it (John 16:30). Second, Peter is confident that Christ, who knows all things, also knows the sincerity of his love and will bear witness to it for his good. It is a fearsome thing for a hypocrite to remember that Christ knows all things, because God’s all-knowing eye will testify against him. But it is a comfort to a sincere Christian, who can say, “My witness is in heaven; my record is on high.” Christ knows us better than we know ourselves. Even when we do not clearly know our own honesty, he knows it.

Peter was grieved when Christ asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” (John 21:17). First, this reminded him of his threefold denial of Christ, and Christ clearly meant it that way. When Peter thought of that, he wept. Every memory of past sin, even forgiven sin, renews the sorrow of a true penitent. “You will be ashamed when I am calm toward you.”

Second, Peter may have feared that his Master saw some future failure ahead of him, one that would stand against this profession of love just as his earlier denial had. “Surely,” Peter may have thought, “my Master would not press me like this unless he had cause. What would happen if I were tempted again?” Godly sorrow produces carefulness and holy fear (2 Corinthians 7:11).

Three times Christ then committed the care of his flock to Peter: “Feed my lambs,” “feed my sheep,” “feed my sheep.” Those Christ gave into Peter’s care were his lambs and his sheep. The church of Christ is his flock, bought with his own blood (Acts 20:28), and he is its chief shepherd. In this flock, some are lambs, young, tender, and weak. Others are sheep, grown to greater strength and maturity. The Shepherd cares for both, and for the lambs first, because in every way he showed special tenderness for them. He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart (Isaiah 40:11).

The charge he gave Peter was to feed them. The word in John 21:15 and John 21:17 means strictly to give them food. The word in John 21:16 is broader, meaning to do everything a shepherd does for his flock. Feed the lambs with what suits them, and feed the sheep with proper food as well. Seek and feed the lost sheep of Israel, and also the other sheep that are not of this fold. It is the duty of all Christ’s ministers to feed his lambs and sheep. That means teaching them, because the gospel’s doctrine is spiritual food. It also means leading them into green pastures, guiding their worship, and ministering every ordinance to them. It means giving personal care to each person’s condition and need, not only setting food before them, but helping the stubborn who will not feed, and the weak who cannot feed themselves. When Christ went up on high, he gave pastors and left his flock with those who loved him and would care for it for his sake.

But why did he give this charge especially to Peter? Ask those who defend the pope’s supremacy, and they will say Christ was giving Peter, and through him his successors, and through them the bishops of Rome, absolute rule and headship over the whole Christian church. They act as if a command to serve the sheep gave authority to rule over all the shepherds. Yet Peter never claimed such power, and the other disciples never granted it to him.

This charge to Peter to preach the gospel has been twisted by a strange device into support for the claim of later men who pretend to succeed him, men who fleece the sheep and, instead of feeding them, feed on them. But in this setting, the special address to Peter had another purpose. First, it restored him to his apostleship, since he had repented of denying it, and renewed his commission for his own peace of mind and for the peace of his brothers.

A commission given to someone who has been found guilty is usually meant as a pardon. So this commission to Peter was proof that Christ had forgiven him, because Christ would never have trusted him like this otherwise. We sometimes say of people who have fooled us, “We forgive them, but we will never trust them again.” Christ did the opposite with Peter, because after forgiving him, he trusted him with the most valuable treasure he had on earth.

Second, this charge was meant to stir Peter up to carry out his work as an apostle with care. Peter was bold and eager, always ready to speak and act. So, to keep him from trying to rule over the other shepherds, Christ told him to feed the sheep, the same duty Peter later gives to all the elders, with the warning not to lord it over God’s people (1 Peter 5:2, 1 Peter 5:3). If Peter wants to be active, let him do this, and aim no higher.

What Christ said to Peter, he said to all his disciples. He called them all not only to be fishers of people, by bringing sinners to faith, but also to feed the flock by building up believers. Christ, having appointed Peter to his work, next appoints his suffering. After confirming him in the honor of being an apostle, he now tells him of a greater honor that would come later, the honor of a martyr, a witness who dies for his faith.

Notice how Christ foretells Peter’s martyrdom in John 21:18. “You will stretch out your hands,” meaning he would be forced to do so, “and another will dress you,” like a prisoner who is tied up, “and carry you where you do not want to go.” Christ begins this warning with a solemn promise, “Truly, truly, I say to you.” He is not speaking of something only likely to happen, but of something certain. Others might later tell Peter, as he once told Christ, “This will never happen to you.” Christ says it will.

Christ saw all his own sufferings ahead of time, and he also saw the sufferings of all his followers. He foretold them, though not in detail for everyone, because all must take up their cross. After charging Peter to feed his sheep, Christ warns him not to expect ease or honor in that work, but trouble and persecution. He must be ready to suffer for doing good.

Christ also foretells that Peter would die a violent death, by an executioner’s hand. Some think the stretching out of his hands points to crucifixion. Ancient tradition says Peter was crucified at Rome under Nero, around A.D. 68, though others give a later date. Others think the words point more generally to the bonds and prison chains that belong to someone sentenced to die.

The public shame and ceremony of an execution make death seem even more dreadful. Yet death in such terrible forms has often been the lot of Christ’s faithful people, and they have overcome it by the blood of the Lamb. This prediction mainly points to Peter’s death, but it also includes the sufferings that came before it. It began to be fulfilled at once, when he was imprisoned (Acts 5:18, Acts 6:3, Acts 12:4). The words “carried where you do not want to go” mean only that he would be taken to a violent death, one that innocent human nature would fear.

A Christian does not stop being human. Christ himself prayed against the bitter cup. It is right to feel a natural dislike of pain and death, while still submitting to God’s will in both. The apostle Paul, though longing to be with the Lord, says he cannot wish to be unclothed, that is, to die and leave this body, because there is still a natural reluctance in death (2 Corinthians 5:4).

Christ then compares this coming hardship with Peter’s former freedom. “There was a time,” he says in effect, “when you did not know these troubles. You dressed yourself and went where you wanted.” When trouble comes, we often make it worse by remembering that things were once better. We are more upset by restraint, sickness, and poverty because we have known liberty, health, and plenty before (Job 29:2; Psalm 42:4). But we can also look at it another way and say, “How many years of comfort have I enjoyed more than I deserved or made use of? If I have received good, shall I not also receive evil?”

This reminds us of three things. A person’s condition in this world can change greatly. Those who have once dressed themselves in strength and honor, and enjoyed great freedom, may later be reduced to the opposite. Those who leave everything to follow Christ also face a change, because they no longer dress themselves, but are led where he wills. And if we live to old age, another change is certain. People who were once strong in body and mind often find their strength gone, like Samson after his hair was cut, when he could not shake himself as before.

Christ also tells Peter that he will suffer this in old age. Though Peter would grow old and would not naturally be far from death, his enemies would hurry him out of the world violently just as he was about to leave it peacefully. They would put out his lamp when it was nearly burned down. Yet God would protect him from their rage until he was old, so he would be better fitted for suffering, and the church would enjoy his service longer.

John then explains this prediction in John 21:19. Christ said this to Peter to show by what kind of death Peter would glorify God, after he had finished his course. It is not only appointed that all people must die, but also what kind of death each person will die, whether natural or violent, slow or sudden, easy or painful. There is one entrance into the world, but many ways out, and God has decided which way each of us will take.

For every good person, whatever death comes, the great concern is to glorify God in it. That is our chief purpose, to die to the Lord and at the Lord’s command. We glorify God in dying when we die patiently, submitting to his will, when we die cheerfully, rejoicing in the hope of God’s glory, and when we die usefully, bearing witness to the truth and goodness of religion and encouraging others. This is the hope of every good Christian, as it was Paul’s hope, that Christ may be honored in them whether they live or die (Philippians 1:20).

The death of martyrs glorifies God in a special way. The truths they died defending are confirmed by their blood. The grace of God, which carried them through their suffering with such steady faith, is also shown to be great.

The comforts of God, which had greatly helped his people in their suffering, and his promises, which are the source of those comforts, were made more visible to the faith and joy of all believers by this. The blood of the martyrs has often been the seed of the church, leading to the conversion and strengthening of many thousands. So the death of God’s saints is precious in his sight, because it honors him. Those who honor him at such a cost, he will also honor.

Then Christ gave Peter a command. After speaking, and perhaps seeing Peter look troubled, he said to him, “Follow me.” He likely got up from where he had been sitting at the meal, walked a little way, and called Peter to come after him. This command, “Follow me,” did three things. It confirmed that Peter had been restored to his Master’s favor and to his work as an apostle, because “Follow me” was the first call he had received.

It also explained the warning about Peter’s suffering. Peter may not have understood it at first, until Christ gave him this key: “Follow me.” In other words, “Expect to be treated as I have been, and to walk the same painful path I walked before you, for a disciple is not greater than his Lord.” And it stirred Peter up to be faithful and diligent in his calling as an apostle. Christ had told him to feed his sheep, and now he was to look to his Master as the model of shepherd care: “Do as I have done.”

Under-shepherds should study to imitate the Chief Shepherd, that is, Christ, the head of all true shepherds. The disciples had followed Christ while he was on earth, and now that he was leaving them, he still called them to the same duty, though it would now be carried out in a different way: “Follow me.” They must still follow the rules he gave them and the example he set for them. What stronger encouragement could they have, in both service and suffering?

In doing this, they were following Christ, and that was their honor for the present. Who would be ashamed to follow such a leader? And they would follow him afterward too, and that would be their happiness in the future. This repeats the promise Christ had already given Peter, “You will follow me later” (John 13:36). Those who faithfully follow Christ in grace will surely follow him in glory.