John 21:7

John 21:7. That disciple therefore whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. When Simon therefore, even Peter, heard that it was the Lord, he girt hip coat about him (for he was naked) and did cast himself into the sea. That the incident thus related of each of the two apostles is in closest harmony with everything else that we know of them strikes every reader. It need only be further noticed that John himself gives us a token of his desire that we should see in the action of Peter an illustration of that character which appeared in his whole subsequent career. He does not call him simply Simon Peter; but, as in chap. John 18:10, he interposes a word between the two names, ‘Simon, therefore, Peter.' As soon as Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his coat about him, ‘for he was naked.' There is no reason to think that the nakedness thus spoken of was absolute. The use of the term is consistent (in Greek as in the language of common life in Scotland to this day) with partial clothing. The girding is probably not to pass unnoticed. It was thus that at John 13:4-5, our Lord prepared Himself for service: His apostle, when preparing for the active service of his Master, must do the same.