Dr Paul Allen

DICK HARFIELD'S RESPONSE TO THIS QUESTION Why couldn’t the conversation in John 21:17 have happened in Aramaic, and how does the Greek language change its meaning? Had Jesus asked in Aramaic whether Peter loved him, Peter’s answer that he loved Jesus, also spoken in Aramaic, would have satisfied Jesus each time, because the same verb ( ḥav ) would have been used, regardless of how strong Peter’s love was. Jesus could not have perceived from Peter’s answers that his love was not as strong as he might have desired. Koine Greek allows different nuances, so Jesus asked for sacred love ( agape ) but Peter responded by saying that his love ( philia ) towards Jesus was like the love of a good friend. The gospels were written in Greek for Greek-speaking readers, so the conversation would have seemed natural to people who probably did not even realise that Jesus and Peter could not meaningfully have had this conversation in the local language, Aramaic. When translated into Latin, the Greek ...