"those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

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Giuseppe
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"those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by Giuseppe »

(Matthew 14:22-36)
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”

29 “Come,” he said.

Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”

32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

34 When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed

What is strange is the insistence on the fact that only "those who were in the boat worshiped him". Were there some who didn't worship him as not being in the boat? If a distinction is to be made between worshippers and not-worshippers, then who is not worshipping Jesus is just Peter, the only person who is not (still) in the boat. So the separation of Peter from Jesus is pointed out again and again by verses 35 and 36: even the "men" from Gennesaret adored him, while Peter has not faith in him.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
jude77
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by jude77 »

Hello Giuseppe
I think the answer to your question is tucked into verse 32 where MT says, "when they climbed into the boat". I'm thinking that the "they' refers to both Jesus and Peter entering the boat, so in vs. 33 all twelve of the disciples are onboard. Those are just my thoughts.
Giuseppe
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by Giuseppe »

jude77 wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 12:09 pm Hello Giuseppe
I think the answer to your question is tucked into verse 32 where MT says, "when they climbed into the boat". I'm thinking that the "they' refers to both Jesus and Peter entering the boat, so in vs. 33 all twelve of the disciples are onboard. Those are just my thoughts.
I have thought the same thing, but secunda facie it seems that in v. 32 Jesus and Peter are seen still in the act of climbing into the boat so in v.33 only who was already in the boat is meant.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Giuseppe wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 8:58 pm
jude77 wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 12:09 pm Hello Giuseppe
I think the answer to your question is tucked into verse 32 where MT says, "when they climbed into the boat". I'm thinking that the "they' refers to both Jesus and Peter entering the boat, so in vs. 33 all twelve of the disciples are onboard. Those are just my thoughts.
I have thought the same thing, but secunda facie it seems that in v. 32 Jesus and Peter are seen still in the act of climbing into the boat so in v.33 only who was already in the boat is meant.
Jude is right. "Having climbed up into the boat" (ἀναβάντων αὐτῶν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον) is a genitive absolute, and the participle (ἀναβάντων) is in the aorist tense; the normal purpose of an aorist participle is to express time prior to the main verb, which is "abated" or "ceased" (ἐκόπασεν). The two of them (Peter and Jesus), therefore, first climbed up into the boat, and then the wind ceased. Greek has clear and easy ways of expressing the action as still being in the process of happening; an aorist participle is not one of them.
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Giuseppe
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by Giuseppe »

Even so, it seems that Peter is not one of the worshippers mentioned in v. 33. Otherwise, why using the construct "those who were in the boat worshiped him" rather than simply "the 12 worshiped him" ? It is implicit a distinction between who is been always in the boat and who isn't.
Nihil enim in speciem fallacius est quam prava religio. -Liv. xxxix. 16.
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Giuseppe wrote: Sun Jul 22, 2018 9:24 pm Even so, it seems that Peter is not one of the worshippers mentioned in v. 33. Otherwise, why using the construct "those who were in the boat worshiped him" rather than simply "the 12 worshiped him" ? It is implicit a distinction between who is been always in the boat and who isn't.
I see what you are saying, and there may be something to it. It is the specificity of the phrase in its context that supports you, however, and not the verb construction.
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perseusomega9
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by perseusomega9 »

Are there any weird textual variants to verse 32?
The metric to judge if one is a good exegete: the way he/she deals with Barabbas.

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Ben C. Smith
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by Ben C. Smith »

perseusomega9 wrote: Mon Jul 23, 2018 7:25 am Are there any weird textual variants to verse 32?
There are two slightly different words used for the action of getting back in the boat. Sinaiticus, Vaticanus, and Bezae have ἀναβάντων ("having gone up"); Washingtonianus and the Byzantine tradition have ἐμβάντων ("having gone in"). But all of these manuscripts still have εἰς ("into").
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arnoldo
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by arnoldo »

And there is this. . .
artifact.jpg
artifact.jpg (472.13 KiB) Viewed 11599 times
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dura-Europos_church
jude77
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Re: "those who were in the boat worshiped him": not Peter

Post by jude77 »

Hello Giuseppe

I think you have raised a very interesting point with this post. Here, in my very humble opinion, is what I think MT is saying in this pericope. This story is preceded by the beheading of John the Baptize and the feeding of the 5,000. It is followed by Jesus' healing of the sick in Gennesaret, and then his conflict with the Pharisees. Diagrammed it would look like this:

A. The faithlessness and hardness of Herod and Herodias which leads to John's death
B. The need of the common people for someone to care for them
C. Jesus' walks on the water, Peter's fails, then is redeemed
B. The need of the common people for someone to care for them
A. The faithlessness and hardness of the Pharisees which leads to false worship (15:9)

While I'm not sure this section is actually a chiasm the stories do seem related. An additional point I would offer is that the gospels need to be read primarily as theological documents. I believe they were written to create faith in the reader by explaining God's redemptive activity in Jesus. So reading MT from that perspective I think 14:22-33 has two functions:

First, in keeping with the theme of God's salvific actions , it serves as something of a prolepsis pointing to Peter's impending failure in 26:69-75 followed by his redemption in chapter 28.

Secondly, and more to the point that you are making concerning the phrase "those in the boat worshiped him", I would offer, that in light of the context described above, that those worshiping in the boat, which would include Peter in my opinion, represent the redeemed worshiping community to which MT was writing, and stand in contrast to both Herod and the Pharisees who fail to worship and also impede the work of God being done through John and Jesus. But, as always, please remember those are just my observations.

Lastly, if you are pursuing the idea that Peter is separated from Jesus a book you may find interesting is "Peter -- False Disciple and Apostate according to Saint Matthew" by Robert Gundry. I haven't read it so I can't commend it any more than that.

All the best to you.
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