Gundulf

Sorry - couldn't resist. But this is a very interesting question; had never thought of it that way, but it is certainly worth exploring. I'll dig in and see if I can find any research one way or the other - but might be a while.

squiz

I am no student of ancient Greek, but is there really confusion in the original language? Doesn't Greek distinguish between "these" as Subject and "these" as object?

Do you love me more than you love these (fish or people)?
Do you love me more than these (people) do?

I can't read Greek, but I think that Luther's interpretation was the second one:
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...5;&version=10;