Introduction

Whenever Paul is called into question, someone inevitably states that even Peter called Paul's
letters "Scripture". This is taken from 2 Peter and assuming the book is authentic. * (see
footnote at end of chapter) I personally tend to give the book the benefit of the doubt. The
passage in question is the following.

"…and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation as also our beloved brother
Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles,
speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to understand, which those
who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the
Scriptures." 2Peter 3:15,16

Before we get to the subject of Yeshua’s prophecy to Peter, there are several facts in this
quote that need to be clearly pointed out. First, notice that there is only one issue stated by
Peter in which we know he is in agreement with Paul... the patience-in-persecution
issue. Second, the "things hard to understand" are not identified in this short passage, much
less outlined as to which position is correct and which is the "twisted" version. This is again
because the context of the next verse is almost always left out. Here, Peter clearly tells us
which version is the twisted version.

"You therefore, beloved, since you know these things beforehand, beware lest you also fall
from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the Law-less." 2 Peter 3:17

Third, it is particularly interesting to note that in spite of the fact that Peter has obviously read
what he believes to be "all" of Paul’s epistles and is therefore fully aware of Paul claiming to
be an apostle, Peter does not call him a fellow apostle, but instead calls him
"brother"! Fourth, claiming that Peter was endorsing Paul’s letters, as "Scriptures" is taking
great liberties in interpretation. Though the Greek word for "Scripture" does in fact mean
"Holy Writings", and the Greek word for "rest" means "the rest of any number or class under
consideration", when Peter said, "as they do", he was merely comparing similarities in the
way some people deal with both Paul’s writings and the Holy Word of God. To say that Peter
actually called Paul's letters "Scripture" is a long abstract connection. If all we had were this
passage, just exactly what Peter thinks of Paul’s writings is somewhat up for grabs.

But it can't be denied that Peter is in fact being considerate and speaking favorably of
Paul. This is in spite of the fact that Paul never returns the favor when he makes mention of
Peter. Whenever he does, Peter is always left looking bad. If we read the next verse, we see
that Peter obviously takes a stand against the Law-less doctrine that many are deriving from
Paul's letters, but he continues to speak favorably of Paul. He apparently refuses to admit to
himself or believe that Paul was in fact preaching that the Law had been abrogated. At that
time, Peter must have been attempting to smooth over the situation.

This brings us to a prophecy that Yeshua gave to Peter shortly before his ascension, the
implications of which should cause us no surprise that Peter continues to be used to support
Paul to this day.

The Prophecy concerning Peter

In the last chapter of Johns' gospel, Yeshua issued a prophecy concerning Peter that has a
definite connection to the subject at hand. Yeshua said:

"Most assuredly, I say to you, when you were younger, you bound yourself and walked where
you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch forth your hands, and another will bind
you and take you where you do not wish." John 21:18

If these few words concerning Peter’s future were all we had to go on, what could be
determined from them? It could not include more than a couple things. Peter would be taken
where he did not want to go, and it was not a good sounding prophecy. But the narrative
comes to the rescue with the interpretation of this prophecy in the very next sentence.

"This he spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God." John 21:19

First note that these words of interpretation are not the words of Yeshua, but are the
commentary of the writer, John. It can be deduced from the remaining context that this
interpretation concerning Peter’s martyrdom was generally accepted by all.

Here is the question. How could the disciples possibly get the idea of "death" from Yeshua’s
words? It may not have been a good sounding prophecy, but it certainly doesn't give any
picture of Peter dying. Tradition tells us that Peter was crucified up side down, but this is only
a tradition. Even if this were true, one can find even less of this picture in Yeshua’s
words. Many translations read, "...you will stretchout your hands..." This is a classic
example of how accepted traditional interpretations can play a large albeit damaging role in
the translating process. The Greek word translated "out" primarily means to stretch out in
front toward something. The King James Version translates this most correctly, "...thou shalt
stretch forth thy hands...". This is hardly a picture of a crucifixion. Also, the chronological
order of the events listed in the prophecy would be backwards if this were a picture of a
crucifixion. This is easy to see when one reads one of today's popular paraphrased versions
which reads, "...when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress
you and take you where you do not want to go." It is hard to imagine someone dressing Peter
while he is on a cross and then taking him some place that he didn't want to go. I'd figure he
was there already! If this were a picture of a crucifixion, Yeshua would have put it in the
proper chronological order as he did in the first part of his statement when he said to Peter,
"...when you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished...". If this
were a picture of a crucifixion, Yeshua would have said to Peter, "...when you are old, another
will gird you and take you where you do not wish, and you will stretch out your hands."

Correlation of Peter’s and John’s prophecy

Let's get back to the question... how could the disciples possibly get the idea of "death" from
Yeshua’s prophecy to Peter? The answer is in the next few verses.

"Then Peter, turning around saw the disciple whom Yeshua loved following... Peter, seeing
him, said to Yeshua, "But Lord, what about this man?" Yeshua said to him, "If I will that he
remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow me". Then this saying went out among the
brethren that this disciple would not die. John 21:20-23a

There it is! Peter and the rest of them who were still scratching their heads over what was
said about Peter, were smart enough to know that how Yeshua answered the question about
John would help them understand what he had said about Peter. Voila! So, if John was going
to live until Yeshua returned, that must mean that Peter’s negative prophecy meant he was
going to die! It only stood to reason, and in fact was pretty good logic. But it assumed that
they clearly understood what Yeshua was saying about John! How Yeshua had answered the
question about John certainly did have a close correlation to what he had said about Peter, but
the problem is that the disciples didn't understand the prophecy concerning John either! This
is obvious in light of the following text. Stay with me on this. I'll warn the reader that it gets
a little involved as we sort through this, but it all comes together beautifully in the end... and
the truth is something very few have seen since Yeshua spoke these words. .

Unraveling John’s prophecy first

Let's focus on John's prophecy. Most scholars agree that verse 24 was added by someone
other than John. It was most likely John's disciples shortly before, or more likely, shortly
after John's death.

"This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know
that his testimony is true." John 21:24

The plural word "we" in this verse is very much out of place with the singular "I" of the very
next verse.

"And there are also many other things that Yeshua did, which if they were written one by
one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be
written." John 21:25

This last statement of John has a very familiar ring to it. It sounds strikingly similar to the last
two verses of the preceding chapter.

"And truly Yeshua did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written
in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of
God, and that believing you may have life in his name." John 20:30,31

In the entire script of the book of John, there are no other passages that sound like these
two. I believe John had originally ended his record of the gospel at the end of chapter 20, but
then decided that in light of what could still be written, he would add to his record what we
have come to know as chapter 21. The reason I add this observation here is because it is
important to note that John has set a precedent and shown us how he would tend to end his
record. In chapter 20, he goes from a direct quote of Yeshua in verse 29, to verse 30, and 31
as quoted above. The new end of his record and what he actually wrote in chapter 21 is very
similar. This helps us to understand what parts at the end of the 21st chapter are actually
John's and what parts were added later by disciples. We already know some was added.

Getting back to the reason why John’s disciples added what they did. No doubt the death, or
prospect of John’s death was causing problems with the common interpretation of Yeshua's
prophecy concerning him. Everyone thought John would not die. And now they were being
forced to admit that maybe John and the others who had heard the prophecy that day might
have misunderstood Yeshua. They did not want John’s record to make Yeshua look like a
liar, and far be it from them to let the misunderstanding continue over what was probably no
more than a case of missing one small word. So to remedy the problem they settled on the
understanding that Yeshua must have said, "If I will that he remain till I come..."

If in fact Yeshua had said "If", this would cause several problems for my thinking besides the
fact that I think they completely misunderstood Yeshua right from the start. First, if indeed
Yeshua had clearly said, "If I will that he remain", I find it hard to believe that any
reasonable person would take this statement and run with it, claiming that Yeshua had
definitely said John would not die. If the "If" were common knowledge, reasonable thinking
people wouldn't push the hypothetical question to a definite statement. Yet it says in verse 23.

"Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple (John) would not die."

Secondly, the statement of Yeshua as recorded with the "if" is grammatically incorrect! If the
statement of Yeshua had started with the "if" as a hypothetical question, then the last half of
the question should not have been stated as though it were following a definite statement. In
short, if Yeshua had said "If I will that he remain", he should have continued to follow it
with the hypothetical question; "whatwould that be to you?" But he didn't. He said,
"what is that to you?"

Here is what happened. Yeshua’s statement concerning John was no less a prophecy, nor was
it any less definite than was his prophecy concerning Peter which started with... "Most
assuredly, I say to you...". I believe he said...

"I will that he (John) remain till I come! What is that to you?"

This makes perfect sense why everyone interpreted it the way they did and subsequently used
it to interpret what Yeshua had said about Peter. Everyone including Peter himself. Peter
continued to believe this interpretation until he did die a martyrs death. He mentions it himself
in his second epistle.

"...knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Yeshua the Messiah showed
me." 2 Peter 1:14

But when John was obviously coming to the end of his life and his disciples began to realize
they had missed it somewhere, they thought to themselves and reasoned just like anyone
would. They thought to themselves… "Yeshua must have said 'if', and the 'if' just wasn't
heard. The focus of his statement must not have been on John as we thought. He must have
been simply telling Peter to mind his own business." Read the account again and see if this
doesn't sound like what happened.

22 Yeshua said to him, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow
me." 23 Then this saying went out among the brethren that this disciple would not die. Yet
Yeshua did not say to him that he would not die, but, "If I will that he remain till I come, what
is that to you?" 24 This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things;
and we know that his testimony is true. 25 And there are also many other things that Yeshua
did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not
contain the books that would be written.
It appears that John’s disciples, in an attempt to try to remedy an apparent misunderstanding,
added the "if" in verse 22, and all of verses 23 and 24 as highlighted. John’s ending and
actual words of chapter 21 read like this,

Yeshua said to him, "I will that he remain till I come! What is that to you? You follow me".
And there are also many other things that Yeshua did, which if they were written one by one,
I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Now compare the last three verses of the previous chapter where John had originally ended,
and notice how it is uncluttered with explanatory apologetics... and notice the similar flow.

Yeshua said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are
those who have not seen and yet have believed." And truly Yeshua did many other signs in
the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you
may believe that Yeshua is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life
in his name.

If it is true that Yeshua did not say "if", but said, "I will that he (John) remain till I come", we
are left back at square one in the same difficult spot John’s disciples had been in. It doesn't
make sense. John died a long time ago! What could Yeshua have meant by, "I will that he
remain till I come."

I must digress a little further from Peter's prophecy, but hang in there with me and watch it all
come together.

Still unraveling John's prophecy

Past precedence for help

To help us understand what Yeshua meant about John, let’s take a look at some other
passages found in the Gospels where Yeshua was completely misunderstood. It seems to
have happened on a fairly regular basis. When trying to understand what Yeshua meant by
what he said, the greatest tool available to help us understand is the context in which a
statement is found. What was said in the same scene before and after a curious statement will
give us the best clues as to its meaning. We need to see that Yeshua virtually always had an
underlying theme threaded through his discourses. As will be shown, this could not be more
true with respect to Peter's and John’s prophecies.

When a passage seems to jump out of its context with no apparent connection to what was
said before or after, red flags should appear. This is especially true in this first example found
in two places. After Yeshua had prophesied concerning what was going to happen on earth
just before he returned, he said:

"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are
fulfilled." Matthew 24:34,35 and Luke 21: 32,33

The most common interpretation of this passage suggests that those in the future who are alive
at the time the prophecies begin to come true would live to see all of them fulfilled. But
Yeshua had clearly said, "this generation", and not that generation. Everyone who heard him
that day heard him say that they would not pass away. They knew he was talking about them.
It is only now, many hundreds of years after that generation has passed away that we feel
forced to accept the current prevailing interpretation.

Any person with an interest in the events that must transpire at the close of this age is very
familiar with these words and uses them to bolster the argument that Yeshua will return in our
lifetime. I personally still have plenty of good reason to believe he is coming soon, but I no
longer use this passage as an argument for the case because it is not what Yeshua meant. The
people who were there that day heard him correctly!

Of those today who are familiar with these words of Yeshua, the vast majority of them could
not quote from memory the next verse, which was undoubtedly spoken in the very next
breath. Yet virtually every one of them knows this passage and has likely quoted it as many
times as the former verse. The reason is because there is no direct connection that one can
draw between the traditional interpretations of these two statements. Yet it should be
painfully obvious there must be a connection. Both verses together read:

"Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things are
fulfilled. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass
away." Matthew 24:34,35

See the connection? The people heard Yeshua correctly that day and they knew he was
talking about them. But what was missed is that Yeshua was not referring to them and their
physical bodies passing away. He was referring to them in a figure of speech again. He was
talking about that generation’s testimony and their record of the prophetic words he had just
spoken. Every time we pick up a Bible and read what Yeshua had prophesied concerning
events before his return, we are seeing this prophecy fulfilled before our very eyes. We are in
a figure, holding that generation in our hands and bringing to life their testimony of Yeshua's
words. That generation’s testimony of Yeshua’s words has not passed away! It is
inconceivable to think that they might when we consider the millions of Bibles in print all
over the world and how close we are to Yeshua's return. From this example alone, one should
see the importance of not letting an interpretation stand alone out of its context.

The other main point we need to see from the fact that Yeshua was not referring to the
physical bodies of the people of that generation, but was speaking of their testimony, is that
he was using the same figure of speech when he said John would remain! Notice the words
"pass away" and their correlation to the word "remain" in John’s prophecy. What does not
pass away, obviously must remain!

Hopefully by now one might begin to see where this is going. But I would first like to further
support this thesis with one more short example of a similar misunderstanding in John. This
one is covered in chapter 1, but if you missed it, here it is again.

"Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of man and drink his blood,
you have no life in you. …for my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink
indeed." ...Therefore many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying.
Who can understand it?" John 6: 51,55,60

Yeshua gives the disciples the interpretation in verse 63.

"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are
spirit, and they are life."

Here again, in spite of the fact that Yeshua had appeared emphatic that his flesh and blood
were edible, he was not literally talking about his physical flesh and blood. He was speaking
about his words, histestimony. The same as in Matthew and Luke, when he spoke of the
generation that would "not pass away". He was not speaking of their literal physical bodies,
but of their word, which was their testimony.

In John 15:16 Yeshua said to his disciples:

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit,
and that your fruit should remain."

John's prophecy finally unraveled

It was indeed Yeshua’s will that John remain just as he said. And he has! Every time we read
the gospel of John or the book of Revelation, Yeshua’s words are being fulfilled in front of
our very eyes. John remains with us to this day!

Back to Peter

Now that we understand Yeshua’s prophecy concerning John, we should be able to use it to
help interpret his prophecy concerning Peter. The disciples were right in assuming a
connection between the two. But let’s go back to the beginning of the particular discourse in
which both of these prophecies are found so we can see the beautiful underlying theme that
Yeshua had on his mind throughout the entire scene... and from which he never swerves from
start to finish.

To set the scene, Yeshua has appeared to his disciples the third time after his resurrection, and
this time while they were fishing. He fills their net with fish then says, "Come eat
breakfast." After breakfast they get up and go for a walk. The discourse begins.

Yeshua said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?" He said
to him, "Yes Lord; You know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs". He said to
him a second time, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; You
know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time,
"Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third
time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know all things; You know that I
love you." Yeshua said to him, "Feed my sheep. Most assuredly I say to you, when you were
younger, you bound yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will
stretch forth your hands, and another will bind you and take you where you do not
wish." John 21:15-18

Is it not obvious, that what was on Yeshua’s mind in this scene is the feeding of his sheep
after he left? And how else could Peter possibly accomplish this other than by telling others
of what he had seen and heard? Again the issue is the same. Yeshua was concerned about
Peter’s words, his testimony, his record of what he had seen and heard over the previous three
and one half years. This is the very same underlying theme of John’s prophecy as has been
shown. It was John's word... his testimony... his record that would remain intact until Yeshua
returned. Not his physical body.

This entire scene begins with Yeshua talking about someone’s testimony, and it ends with
Yeshua’s prophecy about someone’s testimony. All that is left between is Yeshua’s prophecy
concerning Peter! Would it not be safe to assume that he was speaking about
Peter’s testimony as opposed to Peter physically?

Before continuing, there is one more interesting fact that needs to be added to this equation.

As I have previously discussed at length in chapter 1, in the Gospel of John, it is recorded 25

times that Yeshua used the emphatic phrase, "most assuredly, I say to you…". In all but two
instances, what is said by Yeshua immediately following it has a direct connection to
something that was said earlier in the same discourse. The first instance where it is not
obvious that what Yeshua said after has any connection to something said before is the very
first time it is recorded in John. I addressed it in chapter 1 and showed that the precedence
holds true there. The second time there is no obvious connection is the last time it is used in
John and this time it is spoken to Peter just before Yeshua issued his prophecy concerning
him. In this last case there is no exception to the well established rule. But we would have to
make an exception here if we were to except the traditional interpretation of Peter’s
prophecy. The old interpretation is clearly an issue of how Peter would die. Peter feeding the
sheep with Yeshua's words and testimony of him has no relevance or connection to how Peter
might die.

Now we have from both before and after the prophecy, strong evidence to suggest that what
Yeshua said to Peter has nothing to do with Peter’s physical life and death. Instead it had
everything to do with hisword and testimony, which are the care and feeding of Yeshua’s
sheep.

Conclusion

So what did Yeshua mean when he said to Peter,

"…Feed my sheep. Most assuredly I say to you, when you were younger, you bound
yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch forth your
hands, and another will bind you and lead you where you do not wish."

Yeshua was saying to Peter that if he loved him, he should feed his sheep by telling them the
truth about what he had seen and heard over the past three and a half years with him. But
beware, in the future when Peter was older, he would stretch forth his hands to feed the
sheep and "another" would "bind" him and take him where he did not want to go. And
where could that be other than away from feeding the sheep as he should? Yeshua was in
effect saying to Peter... "Your accurate testimony to my sheep is very important to me. But
someone will come along to turn you from this mission. That direction, you do not want to
go!"

After Yeshua had spoken this prophecy to him, he said, "Follow me". But Peter immediately
began to concern himself with John. It would appear that this question was indicative of the
lack of focused stability in Peter which would ultimately lead to his being led away by
someone else, because Yeshua answered the question with... "I will that he remain till I come!
What is that to you? You follow me."

Now that we understand Yeshua’s prophecy concerning Peter, the question remains: Who is
the "other" that was to come along and bind Peter and take him away from feeding the sheep
with the truth as he should? You guessed it. It was none other than the false apostle, and
liar... Paul!

So how did Paul bind Peter and take him where he did not want to go? He continues to do it
today! It is in the same way that Yeshua's prophecy concerning John is fulfilled every time
we read the Gospel of John... for John has remained! Every time someone quotes Peter's
words from 2Peter 3:15,16, claiming that Peter called Paul's writings Holy Scripture, they are
fulfilling Yeshua's prophecy concerning Peter. For it is they who are helping Paul to bind
Peter, and are taking Peter (his testimony) where neither he nor Yeshua wanted him to go... in
support of Paul... against the Law!

* Foot Note. There are those who maintain that the book of 2Peter is not authentic based on
its grammatical structure and the treatment it received by the early "Church Fathers". The
issue is neither here nor there when it comes to the prophecy that Yeshua gave to Peter as
found in the Gospel of John, which book is relatively unquestioned in its authenticity.
Interestingly enough, Yeshua's prophecy is fulfilled either way, whether Peter actually penned
these words or not. Peter is still being bound by this passage and taken where he does not
want to go... in support of Paul, against the Law!