"Love of a Friend"

 "He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep." (John 21:17 KJV) 

  "In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone." (2 Peter 1:5-7 NLT)

 Looking at this from the point of Peter's perspective, each of the first two times Jesus asked Peter, "Lovest thou me? He was using 'Agapeo' as the form of love; yet in Peter's response, Peter was using the 'Phileo' form of the word, which is the "Love of a Friend." Now, Jesus hits him with the same word: 'Phileo thou me?'

 John makes the point to share Peter's grief, as if to say that he was grieving because Jesus asked him the third time; but in reality, this third time pretty much cut him in his heart! Not only that, but the way John says it, shows the difference in the way it was put worth, as John says, "Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, 'Phileo thou me?" which shows that John was pointing out that there was a difference from the first two times Jesus asked, using the word, 'Agapeo'. 

 Yes, there is a great difference between the two, because one is a love that is mandated and is given as instruction, as in, this is what you do. While the other, is the love based upon being in love with your friend, which is from the heart, not mandated or given as instruction; but the kind of love that you would gladly die for, even to the very end! Thus...

"The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But those who fail to develop in this way are short sighted or blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their old sins. So, dear brothers and sisters, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Therefore, I will always remind you about these things - even though you already know them and are standing firm in the truth you have been taught. And it is only right that I should keep on reminding you as long as I live. For our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that I must soon leave this earthly life, so I will work hard to make sure you always remember these things after I am gone." (2 Peter 1:8-15 NLT)