As a PhD candidate in theology who had to learn ancient Greek, I can tell you the words were used interchangeably.
Although the words were somewhat synonymous, they weren’t identical. I think you’re correct in asserting that we can’t make
too fine a theological point here, but to disregard word choice entirely makes a completely different (and, IMHO, invalid) point: namely, that John was just throwing around words willy-nilly.
To see the progression in the conversation, one gets the impression that
something was going on:
“Do you [agape] me
more than these?”… “Umm… I [phileo] you…?!!”
"Do you [agape] me? “Umm… I [phileo] you!”
"Do you [phileo] me? “You know everything! You know I [phileo] you!”
To say that there’s nothing going on here flies in the face of common sense. If you told your sweetheart “I love you, baby!” and s/he replied “I adore you”, would you feel affirmed? Would you think that s/he feels the same about you… or would you wonder why s/he was being evasive in his/her response?
And please consider that Jesus and Peter were not speaking Greek. The conversation was no doubt held in Aramaic.
Undoubtedly. Yet, the inspired Gospel was written in Greek. Therefore, we conclude that the author of the Fourth Gospel was trying to communicate
something about the conversation, regardless what language he was using!
It’s true that this cannot be blithely considered to be a verbatim translation of an Aramaic conversation… but yet, the evangelist – who uses words carefully! – must be considered to be trying to say
something to us here, by his choice of words… isn’t he? :sad_yes:
