John 21:8 - Exposition

But the other disciples came in the little boat . Either what was first described as τὸ πλοῖον is now more minutely described as πλοιάριον , "the (same) little boat," or else they had transferred themselves from the more cumbrous fishing-smack to the smaller craft which was tethered to the larger one. The reason why the other disciples came in the boat is given in the parenthesis: ( for they were not far from the land, but as it were two hundred cubits off ); i.e. about three hundred feet, half a stadium, a hundred yards. ἀπὸ to denote distance from, is used in this Gospel (see note, John 11:18 ) and the Revelation ( Revelation 14:20 ). The disciples came in the boat over this distance, dragging the net (full) of fishes. The net was not broken, though filled. They did not further attempt to lift it; they hauled it to the shore as it was. Strauss, who tries to show that we have a glorifying myth framed out of an amalgam of the narratives of the first miraculous draught and that of Peter walking on the water, is singularly unfortunate; for there is less of the supernatural in the story than in either of the two narratives to which he refers.