So, after they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you really love me more than these [other disciples do]?" Peter answered Him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." [Note: Since two different Greek words for "love" are used in this conversation, some scholars see a distinction in their meaning. See Butler, Vol. II, pp. 453-457 for a discussion of these views]. Jesus replied to him, "[Then] feed my lambs."

Then Jesus asked him a third time, "Simon, son of John, do you [truly] love me?" Peter was sad because Jesus had asked him a third time, "Do you [even] love me?" So, he said to Jesus, "Lord, you know all things. You [surely] know that I love you." Jesus replied to him, "[Then] feed my sheep.

I am giving you a new commandment: love one another. Also you should love one another in the same way that I have loved you.

If you obey my commandments, [then] you will continue receiving my love; just as I have obeyed my Father's commandments and [so] continue receiving His love.

I command you to do these things so that you will [demonstrate your] love for one another. [Note: Or this may mean that His command was to love one another, as in verse 12].

I in them, and you in me, so that they may be completely one. [This is] so the world will know that you sent me and that you love them just as you love me.

Jesus asked him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you [really] love me?" Peter answered Him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." Jesus replied to him, "[Then] take care of my sheep."

The person who knows [what] my commandments [are] and obeys them is the one who [truly] loves me. And the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.

"Just as the Father has loved me, [so] I have also loved you. You should continue to receive [or, respond to] my love. [Note: The next verse tells how this can be done].