Early Spread of Christianity

June 6 2025   John 21:15-19

“Simon, son of John, do you love me?”  John 21:17​

It has been pointed out by hundreds of commentators, and many thousands of preachers that Jesus repeated the question, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” three times, in rather obvious reference to Peter’s three denials. It is Jesus’ way of saying to the other disciples, “I have forgiven Peter, and no one gets to bring this up to him again. His repentance is sure and sincere, and I have accepted it.” Just as many commentators and preachers have pointed out that there is only one way we could ever have become aware of Peter’s denial, since none of the other disciples were witnesses to it. We know only because Peter told the story on himself. His confession was to the whole church.

Many hundreds and thousands have also pointed out that the first two times Jesus asks, “Simon, son of John, do you love me” Jesus uses one word meaning “love” (agapao) and Peter responds using a different word for love (phileo). The third exchange Jesus and Peter use the same word (phileo). Preachers and commentators have pointed out that the verb agapao has a higher and deeper meaning than phileo, a meaning that Peter still had to grow into, which is why Jesus makes an oblique reference to the manner of Peter’s death (21:18-19). This has been said so many times that today it is even in the footnotes of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible (p. 1929).

What is less often mentioned is that the distinction between the verbs meaning “love” only works in Greek (and also in Latin, but in a slightly different way). It doesn’t work in the language that Peter and Jesus would have been speaking, Aramaic, very likely the only language Peter was ever fluent in. There is more than one play on Greek words in John’s gospel (see, for instance, John 3:3 and a cute little riff on the word meaning “again” that Nicodemus misunderstood – it also is a pun that only works in Greek, see the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, p. 1892).

What this means is that the author of John’s gospel was very fluent in Greek, and had a very sophisticated understanding of the lexical and philosophical distinctions between the four Greek verbs meaning “to love.” It means his audience was very fluent and sophisticated, too. Why write such subtle verses to people who wouldn’t get it? The Gospel of John in Greek was circulating in Egypt and Asia Minor within a single lifetime after the Resurrection of Jesus, and among very literate and sophisticated people. It was circulating in Latin, too. We have manuscripts like the Rylands Papyrus (P52) from the early second century to prove it.

What this means is that within a single lifetime after the Resurrection the Gospel of Jesus Christ was circulating in the two largest world languages of the ancient Mediterranean world. It didn’t stop there, either. Today we have over 5800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament from classical antiquity, some dating back to the second century. There are many more in Latin, Syriac, Coptic and other ancient languages. Compare that to the twelve manuscripts of Julius Caesar’s De Bello Gallico, none earlier than the tenth century A.D. Compare that to the roughly 1800 manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad, none earlier also than the 10th century A.D. What it means is that Jesus Christ is the most well-attested historical figure from the entire ancient world – more than Homer, Plato, Aristotle or Caesar.

What it means is that some of the best evidence for Jesus has been hiding in plain sight, right there as long as you’ve been able to have a Bible in your hands. And that evidence is asking the same question still:

“Do you love me?”