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John 21:15 – Love Me More than “These?”
The argument for “these” being the other apostles would be in my mind that arguments among the apostles as to who was the greatest, and Peter’s affirmation that even if all others failed Jesus, he never would. The argument for this would be that if Jesus did ask this, then he would have been shaming Peter’s early words and actions. The argument against this is that Peter still says, “Yes. I love you more than these other apostles.” And yet Jesus does not condemn Peter like He did previously.
The argument for “these” being the great catch of fish is that is the immediate context. Plus, this brackets both the beginning and end of Christ’s call to Peter. In calling Peter to “Follow Me” Jesus is asking, “Do you love me more than these fish, this job of your’s, this life you have chosen?” Peter says yes by his following Jesus. After Peter’s denial, he returns to fishing, which is returning to his old life. So Jesus asking, “Do you love Me more than these” refers back to the original call. And instead of saying “I will make you fishers of men” Jesus adds to that, “Feed My sheep.”
Based upon this analysis, my opinion is that the “these” refers to the fish, and that the fish refers to Peter’s life before becoming an apostle.
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