John 21:17

πάντα before σύ, with אBC1D against Acts 3.

17. τρίτον. He had denied thrice, and must thrice affirm his love. This time Jesus makes a further concession: He not only ceases to urge the ‘more than these,’ but He adopts S. Peter’s own word φιλεῖν. The Apostle had rejected Christ’s standard and taken one of his own, about which he could be more sure; and Christ now questions the Apostle’s own standard. This is why ‘Peter was grieved’ so much; not merely at the threefold question recalling his threefold denial, not merely at his devotion being questioned more than once, but that the humble form of love which he had professed, and that without boastful comparison with others, and without rash promises about the future, should seem to be doubted by his Lord.

σὺ οἶδας· σὺ γινώσκεις. Once more (John 7:27; John 8:55; John 13:7; John 14:7) we have a sudden change between οἶδα and γινώσκε: οἶδας refers to Christ’s supernatural intuition; γινώσκεις to His experience and discernment; Thou recognisest, seest, that I love Thee. see on John 2:25.

β. τ. προβάτιά μ. One is tempted to think that ἀρνία, προβάτια, πρόβατα, supported by S. Augustine’s agnos, oviculas, oves, and apparently by the old Syriac, is right: but the balance of evidence is against it. If πρόβατα is admissible, it must (on the external evidence) come second, not third. But in any case there is a climax: leading the sheep is more difficult work than feeding the lambs; and feeding the sheep is the most difficult of all. To find healthful στερεὰ τροφή for τέλειοι Christians tasks the shepherd’s powers more than finding γάλα for νήπιοι (Hebrews 5:13).

S. Peter seems to recall this charge in his First Epistle (John 5:2-3), a passage which in the plainest terms condemns the policy of those who on the strength of this charge have claimed to rule as his successors over the whole of Christ’s flock.