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Re: John 21:15
At 11:26 AM -0500 5/30/97, Jack Kilmon wrote:
> The Aramaic text of the Peshitta reads:<aram> rFxm )ent liy yatir
>min hFleyn
>[RAxem ant ly yaTIR min haLEYN]
>
>"Love you me more (extraordinary) than (from, out of) these."
>
>yatir does seem to be a stronger word than PLEION but min haleyn to
>TOUTWN seems to be pretty faithful but clearly "apart frtom these
>(men)" and closer to your choice 3 than choice 1...at least as far as
>the Peshitta is concerned.
I confess that you have caught me not knowing a lick of Aramaic! :-)
Is that an ablative case? Is it normally used to express the standard
of the comparison in Aramaic? If so, how is this less ambiguous
than the Greek? And if it is less clear, is it authoritative, or
does it just display the way the person who translated it understood
the verse?
I personally think that the correspondence between Peter's betrayal
of the Lord and his reinstatement by the Lord is overwhelming. And
in order to relate it to the betrayal, isn't it necessary to take into
account Peter's overweening trust in self (cf. Mt. 26:33) where he
stated his committment to the Lord as being _greater_ than that of
his fellows? "Even if all are made to stumble on your account, yet
**I** will never be made to stumble." Notice that EGW is in a position
of emphasis. Seen in relation to this verse, the Lord's question is
immeasurably more powerful than a question concerning Peter's affections
for some other things which were never really in question. It cuts
straight to Peter's heart!!
In Christ,
Jim Beale
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