John 21:20 - Meaning and Application

In these verses, we see the conversation Christ had with Peter about John, the disciple whom Jesus loved. Peter had just been told what his own path would be, and now he turns and sees John following too. The writer does not name himself. Instead, he describes himself in a way that shows both humility and the special love Christ had for him.

John likely mentions that he leaned on Jesus’ breast at the supper and asked about the traitor, at Peter’s urging (John 13:24), because Peter may now be returning that kindness. John had once helped Peter by asking a question for him, and Peter may have wanted to help John in return. This is a good picture of the fellowship of believers. When God gives us access to pray for others, we should use it for their good. Those who have helped us with their prayers at one time should be helped by us at another.

John also followed Jesus because he loved being with him. Where Christ went, his servant wanted to go too. When Jesus called Peter to follow him, it may have seemed like a private conversation was coming. But John loved his Master so much that he would rather risk seeming forward than miss any of Christ’s words. What Christ said to Peter, he likely took as said to himself too, since the command “Follow me” belonged to all the disciples. At the very least, John wanted fellowship with those who had fellowship with Christ.

Peter then turned and saw John following. This can be seen in two ways. It may show a weakness in Peter, since he should have been fully focused on Christ and his own calling. Even the best people find it hard to keep their minds fixed on following Jesus without distraction. But it may also show a kind concern for a fellow disciple. Peter was not so lifted up by Christ’s special call that he refused a kind look to one who followed behind.

Peter then asked, “Lord, what about this man?” Christ had already told Peter his own work, to feed the sheep, and his own future, to be led where he did not want to go. So Peter wanted to know John’s work and lot as well. This may have come from concern for John, since John had not lost Christ’s favor. It may also have come from uneasiness about Peter’s own suffering. Or it may simply have been curiosity about the future, which often tempts us.

There was something not quite right in the question. After receiving such a charge and such a warning, Peter would have done better to ask how he could be faithful in his own calling. He should have said, “Lord, increase my faith,” or, “As my day is, so let my strength be.” Instead, he seems more concerned with another person than with himself. We are often quick to worry about other people’s paths, while neglecting our own souls. We also tend to focus on events instead of duty. Scripture’s predictions are meant to guide our conscience, not satisfy our curiosity.

Christ answered, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? Follow me” (John 21:22). Christ’s words seem to point to his purpose for John. John would not die a violent death like Peter, but would remain until Christ came to take him by a natural death. Ancient writers commonly say John was the only one of the twelve who was not martyred. He faced danger, imprisonment, and exile, but he died in old age.

Christ’s words may also point to John living until after Christ’s coming to destroy Jerusalem. All the other apostles died before that event, but John lived many years beyond it. God wisely ordered this so that one apostle would live long enough to finish writing the New Testament, which John did in a solemn way (Revelation 22:18). It also helped guard against false teachers who had begun spreading error early. John lived to confront Ebion, Cerinthus, and other heretics who rose up and spoke false things.

Some think this saying was only meant to correct Peter’s curiosity. It is as if Christ had said, “Why are you asking about something hidden and not your concern? Even if I chose that John should never die, what is that to you? I have already told you how you will die. That is enough for you. Follow me.” Christ wants his disciples to focus on their own present duty, not on curious questions about the future, whether about themselves or about others.

There are many things we are tempted to worry about that are no concern of ours. Other people’s character is not our business, for it is not our place to judge them (Romans 14:4). Other people’s affairs are also not ours to interfere with. We should work quietly and mind our own duties. People also ask many fine and curious questions about God’s plans and the unseen world, and often the right answer is, “What is that to me?” Secret things do not belong to us.

What matters most is duty, not what will happen. Duty is ours, but events belong to God. Our own duty is ours, not another person’s, for each of us will carry our own load. Our present duty is ours, not the duty of the future, because each day has enough to handle. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord (Psalm 37:23), and he is guided one step at a time. All our duty comes down to this, following Christ. We must watch his movements and fit our lives to them. We must follow him to honor him, as a servant follows his master. We must walk in the way he walked and aim to be where he is. If we truly keep our eyes on following Christ, we will have little time or concern left for matters that do not belong to us.

This saying of Christ also led to a mistake in the church, that John would not die but would stay with the church until the end of time. Jesus had to correct that mistake by repeating his own words in (John 21:23). It is easy for a wrong idea to grow when people misunderstand Christ’s words and turn a possibility into a fact. Because John was not to die as a martyr, they concluded he would not die at all.

They were also ready to believe it because they wanted it to be true. We easily believe what we wish for. If John could remain in the world after the other apostles were gone, and stay until Christ’s second coming, they thought that would be a great help to the church. When they were about to lose Christ’s bodily presence, they hoped they might still have his beloved disciple. But they forgot that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, was given to supply that need. We are too ready to lean on people and outward helps, and to think we are safe if only we can keep them with us. Yet God changes his workers and still carries on his work, so that the power clearly belongs to God and not to people. The church does not need ministers who never die, because it is guided by the eternal Spirit.

Maybe they were also encouraged by the fact that John lived longer than the other apostles. Because he lived a long life, they were quick to think he would live forever. But what grows old is ready to disappear (Hebrews 8:13). In any case, the error began with a saying of Christ that was misunderstood, and then repeated as if it were a church teaching.

This teaches us how uncertain human tradition is, and how foolish it is to build faith on it. Here was a tradition, even an apostolic one, a saying that spread among the believers. It was early, common, and public, yet it was false. That shows how little we should trust unwritten traditions, even when some want to honor them as highly as Scripture. It also shows how easily people misread Christ’s words. Even serious errors have sometimes hidden under the cover of truths that seem beyond doubt, and Scripture itself has been twisted by the unlearned and unstable. We should not be surprised when people misinterpret Christ’s words or use them to support false teaching, even false claims like transubstantiation, which points to Christ’s words, “This is my body.”

Such mistakes are corrected most safely by staying close to Christ’s own words. The evangelist here corrects the rumor by repeating exactly what Jesus said. Christ did not say the disciple would not die, so we should not say it either. He said, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” He said that and no more. We must not add to his words. Let Christ’s words speak for themselves, and let us give them only their plain and natural meaning.

The best way to end arguments is to stay with the clear words of Scripture and speak according to them (Isaiah 8:20). Scripture language is the safest and best way to express Scripture truth, in the words taught by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:13). Scripture itself, when carefully read, is the best weapon against harmful error. That is why deists, Socinians, papists, and enthusiasts all try to weaken its authority. At the same time, Scripture itself, humbly accepted, is the best healing for wounds caused by different ways of saying the same truth. People who cannot agree in the same logic or technical terms may still agree in the words of Scripture, and then they may learn to love one another.

This Gospel ends by telling us more about the writer, with a smooth turn back to what came before (John 21:24). John says, in effect, “This is the disciple who testifies about these things and wrote them for later generations.” He is speaking about himself, the apostle John. Those who wrote Christ’s history were not ashamed to name themselves, and John does that here plainly.

We can be sure who wrote the first five books of the Old Testament, the foundation of God’s first written revelation, and we can also be sure who wrote the four Gospels and Acts, the main books of the New Testament. The record of Christ’s life and death is not a story from unknown people. It came from men of known honesty, men who were ready not only to swear to it, but also to die for it.

Those who wrote Christ’s history wrote from direct knowledge, not from rumor. John was a disciple, a beloved disciple, the one who had leaned on Christ’s breast. He had heard Christ’s teaching and conversations, seen His miracles, and seen the proof of His resurrection. So when he says he testifies, he speaks as one who knew the facts well.

They also first told these things aloud before they wrote them down. The gospel was preached with full confidence before it was put into writing. It was declared in public, defended before rulers, and firmly maintained as true. This was not like a traveler telling a story to entertain friends. It was like witnesses in court giving careful evidence so a verdict could be reached. What they wrote was like a sworn statement, and they stood by it.

This was a gracious gift to the church. God ordered that Christ’s history should be written down so it could spread more fully and surely to every place and every age. That written record would keep speaking long after the first witnesses were gone.

The passage then adds a statement about the truth of what has been told: “We know that his testimony is true.” This can be understood in a few ways. First, it reflects what people generally know about reliable evidence. The testimony of an honest eyewitness, who writes carefully about what he has seen, is strong evidence. In daily life, courts and judgments are made on just such testimony. The facts about Jesus, that He taught these doctrines, did these miracles, and rose from the dead, are proven by evidence that is as sound as what is accepted in other cases.

Second, it may express the agreement of the churches at that time about the truth of this account. Some have thought it was the church at Ephesus, or the ministers of the churches in Asia, giving their approval. Inspired Scripture did not need human support to make it trustworthy, but their witness showed their satisfaction with it and recommended it to the churches as a true inspired writing.

Third, it may be John’s own settled assurance about what he wrote, like the statement in John 19:35. He says, “We know,” not as a show of greatness, but modestly, as in 1 John 1:1 and 2 Peter 1:16. The evangelists themselves were fully convinced of the truth of what they passed on to us. They did not ask us to believe what they did not believe themselves. They knew their testimony was true, because they were willing to stake both this life and the next on it.

The chapter ends with a note that points to many other things said and done by the Lord Jesus, things that were memorable but not written down for later readers (John 21:25). There were many important and useful events that could have been recorded in full. If they had all been written out with all their details, the whole world, meaning all its libraries, could not hold the books. The writer ends like an orator, as Paul does in Hebrews 11:32: “What more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about everything.”

If someone asks why the Gospels are not longer, why the New Testament history is not as long as the Old, the answer is not that the writers ran out of material. There were many things Jesus said and did that were never recorded, though they were worthy of the finest writing. Everything Christ said and did deserved attention and could be profitably studied. He never spoke an empty word, and He never did a useless thing. In fact, He never said or did anything petty, trivial, or small, which is more than can be said of even the wisest and best people.

His miracles were many, of many kinds, and often repeated as need arose. One true miracle might be enough to show a divine commission, but repeated miracles in many places, among many people, and before many witnesses made the truth even clearer. Each new miracle made earlier reports more believable, and the great number of them makes the whole account beyond dispute. The evangelists also often gave broad summaries of His preaching and miracles that included many individual acts, as in Matthew 4:23, Matthew 4:24, Matthew 9:35, Matthew 11:1, Matthew 14:14, Matthew 14:36, Matthew 15:30, and Matthew 19:2. When we speak of Christ, we are dealing with a rich and full subject. The reality is greater than the report, and even then, the half has not been told. Paul quotes one saying of Christ that is not recorded by any Gospel writer, in Acts 20:35, and there were doubtless many more. All His sayings were wise, memorable sayings.

There were many other things that were not written, because there was no occasion to write them. What we have in Scripture gives enough revelation of Christ’s teaching and enough proof of who he is. The rest would have said the same thing in other words. So those who use this to argue against the sufficiency of Scripture as the rule for faith and life, and for the need of unwritten traditions, should show what those traditions add to the written Word. We know some traditions contradict it, and for that reason we reject them.

This should warn us, because “of making many books there is no end” (Ecclesiastes 12:12). If we do not believe and use what is written, we would not do any better even if there were much more. It was possible for the Spirit to inspire all of it, but it was humanly impossible for the writers to record everything. “The world could not contain the books” is a strong way of saying there would have been an enormous, almost unimaginable number of volumes. Such a history would have been so large that it would crowd out all other writings and leave no room for them.

Think how many volumes would be needed for Christ’s prayers, if we had a record of all of them. He often prayed all night to God, without empty repetition. How much more would be needed for all his sermons, conversations, miracles, healings, work, and sufferings? It would have been endless. It was also not wise to write everything, because in a moral sense the world could not hold such a mass of books. Christ did not say all he might have said to his disciples, because they were not able to bear it, and the Gospel writers did not write all they might have written for the same reason.

The phrase “the world could not contain,” means there would be no room for them. People would spend all their time reading, and other duties would be pushed aside. Even with what we do have, much is overlooked, much is forgotten, and much becomes the subject of argument. That problem would be far worse if there were many more books with equal authority and need. It was also wise for God to leave room for meditation and explanation, since what is written still needs to be thought about and taught.

Parents and ministers, when they teach, should remember the limits of those they instruct. Like Jacob, they must be careful not to drive them too hard. We should thank God for the books we do have, and not value them less because they are plain and brief. We should carefully make use of what God has chosen to reveal, and long to be where our minds will be so enlarged that there will be no danger of being overwhelmed.

The evangelist closes with “Amen,” and by that he puts his seal on the message. Let us do the same, with an Amen of faith, agreeing that the gospel is true, completely true. Let us also say Amen with satisfaction, because what is written is enough to make us wise for salvation. Amen, so be it.