Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Simon Peter being called "Son of John" in John 21:25-26


John 21:25-26 in the more reliable text of the Greek New Testament reads "Simon son of John" (Σίμων Ἰωάννου) not "Simon son of Jonas" (Σίμων Ἰωνᾶ ) as per the KJV. As the NET for John 21:25 notes:

The majority of MSS (A C2 Θ Ψ ƒ1, 13 33 Û sy) read "Simon, the son of Jonah" here and in vv. Joh 21:16 and Joh 21:17, but these are perhaps assimilations to Mat 16:17. The reading "Simon, son of John" is better attested, being found in א‎‏‎1 (א‎‏2* only has "Simon" without mention of his father) B C* D L W lat co.

What is most interesting is that, in light of Jewish texts and traditions, a case can be made that Jesus is designating Peter as his successor, similar to how Moses commissioned Joshua to be his successor. As Lutheran scholar Roger David Aus noted:

I suggest that, although the originally Palestinian Jewish Christian author of John 21 was aware of “Simon the son of John” in 1:42, his designating Simon not just as Peter or Simon Peter, but also as “the son of John” in 21:25, was possibly influenced by another factor.

Num 27:12-13, in addition to Cant 1:7-8, is in the Judaic tradition the major text behind the commissioning of Simon Peter by Jesus to feed/tend his various sheep. After Moses asks God to appoint someone over the congregation so that it “may not be like sheep without a shepherd” (v. 17), the Lord answers him: “Take ‘Joshua son of Nun,’ a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him” (v. 18). At the time of Moses’ death, Deut 34:9 repeats this by stating: “’Joshua son of Nun’ was full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him.” In both the instances the Hebrew of “Joshua son of Nun” is yehōshu’a bin-nun,  יְהוֹשֻׁ֤עַ בִּן־נוּן֙ . I suggest that Simon’s being designated “son of John” in John 21:25 is due at least in part to his being primarily modeled in the pericope of vv.15-19 on Judaic tradition regarding the new shepherd of Israel commissioned by Moses, Joshua “son of” Nun. (Roger David Aus, Simon Peter’s Denial and Jesus’ Commissioning Him as His Successor in John 21:15-19: Studies in Their Judaic Background [Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2013], 241-42)