Dealing With Sin - 'Peter, do you love me?'
John Chapman

How different from us does Christ deal with sin! I would venture to say that Peter would never have been allowed to preach had we been in the Lord's place. Or if he had, our confrontation with Peter would likely have made Peter unwilling to preach.

There is no question that this confrontation with Peter was because of Peter's denial. But it is interesting to note that the Lord never once mentioned Peter's denial. He did not ask Peter to rehearse his crime. Neither did the Lord require Peter to resolve to do better. Peter's resolve had not helped him before and it would not likely help him later. Nor do we find our Lord laying out a plan of action for Peter so that he will not fail in the future. Our Lord went straight to the heart of it with a simple question, "Peter, do you love me?" With that question asked three times, our Lord forgave Peter's sin, cleared his conscience, fit him for service and revealed to us the strongest resistance to sin. I would be willing to bet that every time after that when Peter was tempted to deny the Lord for fear, he remembered the Master's question, "Peter do you love me." No whip of law or fear of punishment, just simple love.