John 21: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Jesus appears to some of his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias while they are fishing. After a night with no catch, they follow his direction and bring in a huge net of fish, then eat breakfast with him on the shore. Jesus asks Peter three times whether he loves him, tells him each time to feed his sheep, and says what kind of death Peter will die; when Peter asks about another disciple, Jesus tells him to mind his own following. The chapter closes with a statement that this disciple wrote these things and that Jesus did far more than any books could hold.

Claim by Claim

1. 21:1
   • After these things Jesus showed himself again to the disciples.
   • The appearance took place at the sea of Tiberias.
   • He revealed himself in the manner about to be described.
2. 21:2
   • Simon Peter was there.
   • Thomas, who was called Didymus, was there.
   • Nathanael of Cana in Galilee was there.
   • The sons of Zebedee were there.
   • Two other of his disciples were there.
   • These were together.
3. 21:3
   • Simon Peter said to them that he was going fishing.
   • They said to him that they would go with him.
   • They went out.
   • They got into the boat immediately.
   • That night they caught nothing.
4. 21:4
   • When morning had now come, Jesus stood on the shore.
   • The disciples did not know that it was Jesus.
5. 21:5
   • Jesus said to them, Children, do you have anything to eat with bread?
   • They answered him, No.
6. 21:6
   • Jesus told them to cast the net on the right side of the boat.
   • Jesus said that if they did so they would find some.
   • They cast the net.
   • They were no longer able to haul the net in.
   • The reason they could not haul it in was the great number of fish.
7. 21:7
   • The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter that it was the Lord.
   • Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord.
   • Simon Peter wrapped his outer garment around himself.
   • The reason given is that he was naked, which may mean unclothed or wearing only an undergarment.
   • Simon Peter threw himself into the sea.
8. 21:8
   • The other disciples came in the small boat.
   • They were not far from land.
   • They were about two hundred cubits from land.
   • They were dragging the net full of fish.
9. 21:9
   • When they came ashore, they saw a charcoal fire laid there.
   • They saw fish lying on the fire.
   • They saw bread.
10. 21:10
    • Jesus told them to bring some of the fish they had just caught.
11. 21:11
    • Simon Peter went up.
    • Simon Peter drew the net to land.
    • The net was full of large fish.
    • The fish numbered one hundred fifty-three.
    • Although there were so many, the net was not torn.
12. 21:12
    • Jesus told them to come and eat the morning meal.
    • None of the disciples dared to ask him who he was.
    • They knew that it was the Lord.
13. 21:13
    • Jesus came.
    • Jesus took the bread.
    • Jesus gave the bread to them.
    • Jesus did the same with the fish.
14. 21:14
    • This was now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples.
    • This was after he was raised from the dead.
15. 21:15
    • They finished eating.
    • Jesus asked Simon Peter, son of Jonas, whether he loved him more than these.
    • Peter said, Yes, Lord.
    • Peter said that Jesus knew that he loved him.
    • Jesus told him to feed his lambs.
16. 21:16
    • Jesus asked him a second time whether he, Simon son of Jonas, loved him.
    • Peter said, Yes, Lord.
    • Peter said that Jesus knew that he loved him.
    • Jesus told him to shepherd his sheep.
17. 21:17
    • Jesus asked him a third time whether he, Simon son of Jonas, loved him.
    • Peter was grieved.
    • Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him the third time whether he loved him.
    • Peter said, Lord, you know all things.
    • Peter said that Jesus knew that he loved him.
    • Jesus told him to feed his sheep.
18. 21:18
    • Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you.
    • When Peter was young, he dressed himself.
    • When Peter was young, he walked where he wanted.
    • When Peter is old, he will stretch out his hands.
    • Another will dress him.
    • Another will carry him where he does not want to go.
19. 21:19
    • Jesus said this to signify by what kind of death Peter would glorify God.
    • After saying this, Jesus told Peter to follow him.
20. 21:20
    • Peter turned around.
    • Peter saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following.
    • That disciple had leaned back on Jesus' chest at the supper.
    • That disciple had asked, Lord, who is the one betraying you?
21. 21:21
    • Peter saw him.
    • Peter asked Jesus, Lord, what about this man?
22. 21:22
    • Jesus said that if he wills that the disciple remain until he comes, that is nothing to Peter.
    • Jesus told Peter to follow him.
23. 21:23
    • This saying went out among the brothers, that that disciple would not die.
    • Jesus did not say to Peter that the disciple would not die.
    • What Jesus said was, If I will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?
24. 21:24
    • This is the disciple who testifies about these things.
    • This is the disciple who wrote these things.
    • We know that his testimony is true.
25. 21:25
    • There are also many other things that Jesus did.
    • If every one of them were written down, the writer supposes that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
    • The account closes with Amen.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

21:1

"The sea of Tiberias" is another name for the Sea of Galilee, an inland freshwater lake about thirteen miles long. The town of Tiberias on its western shore was built by Herod Antipas and named after the emperor Tiberius, and the lake took the name from the town. John is the only Gospel writer who calls it this.

21:2

"Didymus" is simply the Greek word for twin, used as a nickname alongside the Aramaic name Thomas, which means the same thing. "The sons of Zebedee" are James and John, fishing partners of Peter in the other Gospels. Two of the seven men present are never named.

21:3

The KJV "ship" means a small open fishing boat, not an ocean vessel. Fishing at night with nets was the normal practice on this lake, since the fish could not see the net in the dark.

21:5

In 1611 "meat" meant food of any kind, not flesh in particular. The Greek word here is narrower still: it means the thing eaten alongside bread, which on that lake meant fish. Jesus is asking whether they have caught anything. "Children" renders a familiar, almost affectionate form of address an older man might use to younger ones, closer to "lads" than to a statement about age.

21:6

Their net was a wide circle of netting with weights around the edge. A fisherman threw it out flat so it landed on the water and sank around the fish.

21:7

The "fisher's coat" is an outer garment. The KJV's "for he was naked" translates a Greek word that can mean fully unclothed but very often means stripped down to a working undergarment, the way a man dresses for heavy labor. Peter puts the outer garment on before entering the water, which reads oddly to us; greeting someone of standing while stripped for work was the greater impropriety.

21:8

A cubit was roughly eighteen inches, about the length of a forearm, so two hundred cubits is about a hundred yards or ninety meters.

21:9

"A fire of coals" is a charcoal fire. The Greek word is unusual and appears only twice in the whole New Testament: here, and at the fire in the high priest's courtyard where Peter denied knowing Jesus.

21:11

The precise count of one hundred fifty-three has attracted explanations since at least the third century: the supposed number of known kinds of fish, a triangular number, a numerical value of certain Hebrew names. None has ever won general agreement, and the text itself offers no explanation. It may simply record what fishermen always do with a large catch, which is count it.

21:12

The Greek verb is specifically about the morning meal, breakfast, not a formal dinner; the KJV "dine" carried that wider sense in 1611. "Durst" is the old past tense of "dare."

21:14

"The third time" counts appearances to the disciples as a group in John's account specifically: to them without Thomas, then with Thomas, and now here. It does not count the appearance to Mary Magdalene alone, or appearances reported in the other Gospels.

21:15

"Son of Jonas" follows the manuscripts the KJV translators used; other early manuscripts read "son of John," which most modern versions print. "More than these" is genuinely ambiguous in the Greek and the ambiguity cannot be resolved from the words themselves: it can mean "more than these other men love me," or "more than you love these men," or "more than you love these things," meaning the boats and nets. The exchange also uses two different Greek verbs for love, agapao in Jesus' first two questions and phileo in Peter's three answers. Whether the shift carries weight or is stylistic variation has been argued for centuries; John elsewhere uses the two words interchangeably.

21:16

The word behind "feed" changes here to a different verb meaning to shepherd or tend a flock, which covers the whole work of herding rather than feeding alone. The word for the animals changes too, from lambs to sheep. The same kind of variation runs through the three exchanges.

21:17

In the third question Jesus switches to Peter's own verb, phileo. Readers have long connected the three askings with Peter's three denials at the charcoal fire in the high priest's courtyard, which the wording of verse 9 quietly recalls.

21:18

"Girdedst thyself" means fastened your own belt, that is, dressed yourself and went about your business unaided. "Stretch forth thy hands" was a phrase widely used in the ancient world for the posture of a man tied or nailed to a crossbeam, and early readers took it that way here, though the words alone do not specify a manner of death.

21:19

To "glorify God" by one's death was a settled way of speaking about dying as a martyr in the language of the period. The sentence identifies the saying of verse 18 as being about the end of Peter's life.

21:20

At a formal meal people did not sit on chairs at a table but reclined on their left side on low couches, propped on one elbow with their feet away from the food. In that position the person to your right had his head near your chest, so leaning back to speak privately was easy and normal, not an unusual display of affection.

21:22

"Tarry till I come" means stay alive until I return. Jesus' reply to Peter is blunt: what happens to the other man is not Peter's business.

21:23

"The brethren" means fellow believers, the wider community, not blood relatives. The verse is correcting a rumor that had already spread, which suggests the disciple in question had died or grown old by the time this was written and people needed the misunderstanding cleared up.

21:24

"Testifieth" and "testimony" are courtroom words in Greek as in English: the claim is that of an eyewitness giving evidence. Notice the sudden "we," a group other than the disciple himself vouching for him, which is how ancient documents attached a guarantee of reliability.

21:25

This is deliberate exaggeration for effect, a standard move in ancient writing and not a claim to be measured literally. "Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning "truly" or "so be it," used to close a statement with emphasis; it appears at the end here as a formal sign-off.