Restoration of Peter

"[2] Bruce concludes that the account is not "the restoration of Peter to a forfeited position, but his recall to a more solemn sense of high vocation.

John omits this detail, but he is unique in describing the restoration scene between Jesus and Peter.

[4] Paul Barnett notes that Jesus' approach to Peter in John 21 is "both forgiving and stern.

They do not catch any fish all night, but in the morning Jesus meets them and tells them to throw their net on the other side of the boat.

"[9] The dialogue between Jesus and Peter contains two different words for "love", which some, but not all, commentators deem to be of exegetical significance.

Ben Witherington III suggests that this indicates "Jesus' gracious condescension to the level that Peter was prepared to respond at this juncture.

Keener has done a study of their interchangeability in John, showing that they are both used even to describe the Father loving Jesus.

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia argues that the title "Vicar of Christ", given to the Pope, is founded on these words of Jesus, "by which He constituted the Prince of the Apostles guardian of His entire flock in His own place, thus making him His Vicar and fulfilling the promise made in Matthew 16:18–19.

"[16] Protestant theologians such as D. A. Carson argues that "neither founding pre-eminence nor comparative authority is in view" in this passage.

"[18] Jesus then describes Peter's future to him, and says "someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go" (John 21:18, NIV).

According to the historian Tacitus, Nero ordered the Christians he accused of being behind the Great Fire of Rome to be burned alive as a sort of poetic justice.

Criminals were generally crucified naked (despite later art often depicting Jesus allowed a loincloth for modesty), a poor fit for being "dressed" by another, while burning someone alive may have involved placing an oil-soaked tunic on them, suggesting that the verse may have been a reference to just such a vestment.