Re: Synonyms in John 21 etc.

From: Mike Phillips (mphilli3@mail.tds.net)
Date: Mon Jun 24 1996 - 10:25:44 EDT


> From: BibAnsMan@aol.com, on 6/23/96 11:23 PM:

> II. FILEW in Scripture (appears 21 times in verb form in the N.T.)
>
> The Father FILEI the Son (John 5:20). Notice the close kinship stressed
here
> in context of the previous and following verses.
>

        Notice how this contradicts your premise.

> Jesus' love of Lazarus is described by his sisters as FILEW (John 11:3) and
> weeps over him; it is thus described by the Jews (11:36).
>

        Ditto.

> The disciple whom Jesus loved is described by this verb (John 20:2), as well
> as the church whom God loves (Rev. 3:19).
>

        Ditto.

> If anyone does not FILEI the Lord, let him be accursed (1 Cor. 16:22).
>

        Ditto.
  
>
> FILEW seems to embody more of an affection between the related parties than
> it does of the self-sacrificial love so characteristic of God's love for
> those whom He loves.

        You cited several texts above which don't support this conclusion;
either you have read them with different spectacles or your point escapes me.
I do not discount the latter possibility, but I find my own bias at present is
to
believe the former.

> Peter in the context of John 21 seems not to be able to
> rise to the level of the divine self-sacrificial love since he has just
> miserably failed to live up to that. The Lord was able to teach him a
> valuable lesson and humble him for service. Peter could only respond with
> the affection love, "I like you a lot," not the "Though all these fall away,
> I will never fall away" self sacrificial love he earlier claimed.
>

        As I recall, Peter's exasperated reply was finally "Lord, you know."
This seems an appropriate reply at this juncture of this extended debate too
<g>.
 

Mike Phillips
Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Indiana USA
http://www.cts.edu (webmaster@cts.edu)
Hebrew Union College - JIR, Cincinnati, Ohio USA
http://www.huc.edu (a grad student)



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