John 6:20

Hearing this, ἤθελον οὖν λαβεῖν αὐτὸν εἰς τὸ πλοῖον, by which Lücke, Holtzmann, Weiss, Thayer, and others suppose it is meant, that they merely wished to take Him into the boat, but did not actually do so. The imperfect tense favours this sense; and so do the expressions ἤθελον πιάσαι αὐτόν, John 7:44; and ἤθελον αὐτὸν ἐρωτᾷν, John 16:19; whereas two of the passages cited against this meaning by Alford are in the aorist, a tense which denotes accomplished purpose. On the other hand, the imperfect may here be used to express a continuous state of feeling, and accordingly the A.V [56], following the Geneva Bible, against Wiclif and Tindale, rendered “they willingly received Him”. So Grotius “non quod non receperint, sed quod cupide admodum”. So, too, Sanday: “The stress is really on the willingness of the disciples, ‘Before they shrank back through fear, but now they were glad to receive Him' ”. And this seems right. The R.V [57] has “they were willing therefore to receive Him into the boat”. The καί with which the next clause is introduced is slightly against the supposition that Jesus was not actually taken into the boat (but see Weiss in loc.); and the Synoptic account represents Jesus as getting into the boat with Peter. The immediate arrival at the shore was evidently a surprise to those on board. Sanday thinks that the Apostle was so occupied with his devout conclusions that he did not notice the motion of the boat.

[56] Authorised Version.

[57] Revised Version.