George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged, Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers, Commentary Critical and Explanatory - Unabridged, Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible, Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures. 11; Cuper. "Commentary on John 21:7". Now when Simon heard that it was the Lord; https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/egt/john-21.html. The ἐπενδύτης (comp. John 21:7 Context. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." V. H. vi. He claimed to be the Lord of life by the side of the boy’s bier at the gate of Nain, in the chamber of the daughter of Jairus, by the grave of Lazarus. The Expositor's Greek Testament. their ministrations to the conversion of souls. Bullinger's Companion bible Notes". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ice/john-21.html. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved while Peter, who acts more quickly than John, wrapped his robe around him, leaped into the sea and swam ashore. John 21:7. CHAPTER 21. "Commentary on John 21:7". John counts this as Jesus' third post-resurrection appearance to his disciples as a group -- twice in the Upper Room (20:19-23 and 20:26-29) and here. 1897-1910. Only here in N.T. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Cast himself into the sea—The water is doubtless of a fordable depth, and Peter will wade or swim ashore to meet the Lord. Lastly, they only love Him who know that He loves them. ‘It is the Lord!’ is the highest teaching of all science. The traits of character which have before met us are exactly preserved here. "Commentary on John 21:7". John 20:8). We see here that the primacy of Peter had its limits, that it extended no further than the energy of action came into consideration. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher's coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea." Do you not think such a belief would nerve you for difficulty, would lift you buoyantly over trials and depressions, and would set you upon a vantage ground high above all the petty annoyances of life? It need only be further noticed that John himself gives us a token of his desire that we should see in the action of Peter an illustration of that character which appeared in his whole subsequent career. It’s hard to say what crossed their minds at that moment. Some writers identify the ἐπενδύτης with the inner garment or χίτων, others suppose it was the outer garment or ἱμάτιον. We have loved and lost Him; He has been with us, and has left us. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/pet/john-21.html. If his heart is all clogged and clotted with sin and selfishness, let him get under the influence of the love of Christ, and look away from himself and his own feelings, towards that Saviour whose love shed abroad is the sole means of kindling ours. They revealed the eternal Orderer of that order in that they showed the Incarnate Word wielding the forces of nature, which He has done from of old and still does. The morning is dawning, the grey of night going away, the lake is still; and yonder, standing on the shore, in the uncertain light, there is one dim Figure, and one disciple catches a sight of Him, and another casts himself into the water, and they find ‘a fire of coals, and fish laid thereon, and bread,’ and Christ gathers them around His table, and they all know that ‘It is the Lord!’ It is what the death of the Christian man, who has gone through life recognising Christ everywhere, may well become:-the morning breaking, and the finished work, and the Figure standing on the quiet beach, so that the last plunge into the cold flood that yet separates us, will not be taken with trembling reluctance; but, drawn to Him by the love beaming out of His face, and upheld by the power of His beckoning presence, we shall struggle through the latest wave that parts us, and scarcely feel its chill, nor know that we have crossed it; till falling blessed at His feet, we see, by the nearer and clearer vision of His face, that this is indeed heaven. 2013. Normally people take unnecessary clothing off before going swimming. there is a better way than that: ‘He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.’ As it is, in feebler measure, with regard to our personal acquaintance with one another, where it is not so much the power of the understanding, or the quickness of the perception, or the talent and genius of a man, that make the foundation of his knowledge of his friend, as the force of his sympathy and the depth of his affection; so-with the necessary modification arising from the transference from earthly acquaintances to the great Friend and Lover of our souls in heaven-so is it with regard to our knowledge of Christ. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tsk/john-21.html. So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. The knowledge of God and the knowledge of Christ are not to be won by the exercise of the understanding. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/ebc/john-21.html. BibliographyWhedon, Daniel. (1-3) Peter and six other disciples return to fishing. 7. Then, secondly, only they who love, see Christ. "Commentary on John 21:7". If you want your days to be true, noble, holy, happy, manly, and Godlike, believe us, it is only when they all have flowing through them this conviction, ‘It is the Lord!’ that they all become so. John 21:6 And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. John 21:7, NASB: "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, 'It is the Lord.' Peter was the embodiment of zeal, John of love. Then put away all these questions, and believe that Christ’s personal love is streaming out for the whole world, and that there is a share for you if you like to take it and be blessed! To most men-ah! ‘They that went before and they that came after,’ when He entered into the holy city in His brief moment of acceptance and pomp, surrounded Him with hosannas and jubilant gladness. John 21 – The Restoration of Peter A. Oh, then, look to Christ, that you may love Him! The tangled web of human history is only then intelligible when that is taken as its clue, ‘From Him are all things, and to Him are all things.’ The ocean from which the stream of history flows, and that into which it empties itself, are one. Is it not a thing, men and women, worth having, to have this for the settled conviction of your hearts, that Christ is moving all the pulses of your life, and that nothing falls out without the intervention of His presence and the power of His will working through it? He showed no concern for the fish; he willingly let them go. to a fellow disciple, who had equal interest in him with himself, Now, as then, our eyes are ‘holden’ by our own fault, so that we recognise not the merciful Presence which is all around us. First then, they only see aright who see Christ in everything. Then through the darkness He comes, as they had seen Him come once before, when they know Him not; and He speaks to them as He had spoken before, and they do not detect His voice yet; and He repeats the old miracle, and their eyes are all holden, excepting the eyes of him who loved, and he first says, ‘It is the Lord!’ Now, besides all the other features of this incident by which it becomes the revelation of the Lord’s presence with His Church, and the exhibition of the work of the Church during all the course of the world’s history, it contains valuable lessons on other points, such as these which I shall try to bring before you. "E.W. (Comp. Christ; his love being such, that many waters could not quench, 32); it was, however, according to Nonnus and Theophylact, in the case of fishermen, and according to the Talmud, which has even appropriated to itself the word אטונדתא, in the case of workmen generally, a linen article of clothing (possibly a short frock or blouse) which, according to the Talmud, was worn, provided with pockets, over the shirt (according to Theophylact, also over other articles of clothing). for Peter, who had been toiling all night, and very fit for him This identification fits because John was one of the disciples in the boat (, Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament. ἐπενδύτης (here only in N.T.) Therefore—The similarity of the transaction to the former miraculous draught of fishes now awakens in John a closer scrutiny of the stranger’s person, and he pronounces It is the Lord. John 21:7, KJV: "Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. 1685. And the reason assigned, ἦν γὰρ γυμνός, they say, is that he had only the χίτων. “No one but an eyewitness would have thought of the touch in John 21:7, which exactly inverts the natural action of one about to swim, and yet is quite accounted for by the circumstances” (Sanday). There is no way of knowing a Person except love. render by the word ἐπενδύτης, מעיל (the long upper garment worn by persons of rank).— διεζώσατο, girt on himself) Peter [did so, because he] reverenced the presence of the Lord, whereas he had been previously engaged with his fellow-disciples in a more familiar manner.— γυμνὸς) He had script off (whilst fishing with his fellow-disciples) τὸν ἐπενδύτην. Love has in it a longing for His presence which makes us eager and quick to mark the lightest sign that He for whom it longs is near, as the footstep of some dear one is heard by the sharp ear of affection long before any sound breaks the silence to those around. Article Images Copyright © 2020 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. BibliographyEllicott, Charles John. ‘We trusted that it had been He who should have redeemed Israel,’ and the Cross has ended it all! Once more this same conviction, ‘It is the Lord! https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/scn/john-21.html. Go to. But Mr. Tristam encountered at or near this very spot a set of fishermen perfectedly naked. The different temperaments of the two Apostles as here exhibited have constantly been remarked upon; as by Euthymius, “John had the keener insight; Peter the greater ardour”. Peter evidently put his outer garment (Gr. He revealed himself in this way. Always to be first, not to leave the initiative to others, and even to restrain those who take it, seems to be one of the first marks of a vocation to govern the Church. Signs of his presence labour he had worn ungirt ; but, in. English does not express the LXX ended it all said to Peter, it is a great dispute Critical. 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