Peter

Simon, son of John, is a fisherman of Galilee whom Jesus renames Cephas, the Aramaic word interpreted in the Gospels as Peter. He is the most fully drawn of the twelve in the material UPDV preserves: present at the call by the sea, the inner-circle scenes around Jairus' daughter and the transfiguration, the confession at Caesarea Philippi, the rebuke that immediately follows, the upper room, the garden, the courtyard denial, and finally the risen Lord's word naming him by name. He speaks in his own voice in the two epistles that bear his name and in Paul's report of the Antioch confrontation. The arc traced from fisherman to writer of two epistles turns on a fault line at the high priest's fire: the man who said I will lay down my soul for you (John 13:37) is the man who, an hour later, said I am not (John 18:25), and the same man who later writes as a witness of the sufferings of Christ (1 Pet 5:1).

Call by the Sea

Two threads converge in Peter's call. In the Markan version Jesus walks along the sea of Galilee, sees Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net in the sea; for they were fishers (Mark 1:16), and tells them, Come⁺ after me, and I will make you⁺ to become fishers of men (Mark 1:17). They leave the nets and follow (Mark 1:18). Luke's version is more interior. After a night of fruitless work, Simon launches at Jesus' word, the catch breaks the nets, and Simon Peter falls down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord (Luke 5:8). Jesus answers, Don't be afraid; from now on you will catch men (Luke 5:10). The Fourth Gospel reports the renaming separately: Andrew brings Simon to Jesus, and Jesus looked on him, and said, You are Simon the son of John: you will be called Cephas (which is by interpretation, Peter) (John 1:42). Mark records the same act of naming when the twelve are appointed: And he gave the name Peter to Simon (Mark 3:16).

The household into which Peter was called is also visible. Mark and Luke both place an early miracle in the house of Simon and Andrew (Mark 1:29): Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and Jesus came and took her by the hand, and raised her up (Mark 1:31; cf. Luke 4:38). Paul much later, defending an apostle's right to travel with a wife, writes that Cephas does so (1 Cor 9:5). The next morning, Peter reappears as one who looks for the absent Jesus and finds him: And Simon and those who were with him followed after him; and they found him, and say to him, All are seeking you (Mark 1:36-37).

In the Inner Circle

Peter, James, and John form a smaller group around Jesus. He allows no man to follow with him, except Peter, and James, and John the brother of James into the room where he raises Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:37; cf. Luke 8:51). After six days he takes with him Peter, and James, and John, and brings them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them (Mark 9:2). Luke's narrative names Peter at the moment of waking: as they were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah: not knowing what he said (Luke 9:33). On the mount of Olives it is Peter and James and John and Andrew who privately ask the question about the end (Mark 13:3-4). And in Gethsemane the same three are taken further in: Jesus takes with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly amazed, and very troubled (Mark 14:33), and finds them sleeping with the rebuke specifically directed at Peter — Simon, do you sleep? Couldn't you watch one hour? (Mark 14:37; cf. Luke 22:45).

Peter is also the one who voices what the others are thinking. When the crowd presses Jesus and the woman with the blood disorder touches him, all denied, but Peter said, Master, the multitudes press you and crush [you] (Luke 8:45). He calls attention to the cursed fig tree the next morning: Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed is withered away (Mark 11:21). He asks whether the parable of the steward is for the disciples or even to all (Luke 12:41).

The Confession

The confession at Caesarea Philippi in UPDV's preserved Gospels comes through Mark and Luke. Jesus asks Who do men say that I am? and then turns the question on the disciples. Peter answers and says to him, You are the Christ (Mark 8:29); Luke has The Christ of God (Luke 9:20). Mark immediately tells what Matthew separates by several verses: when Jesus begins to teach openly that the Son of Man must suffer and be killed, Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But he turning about, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and says, Get behind me, Satan; for you do not mind the things of God, but the things of men (Mark 8:32-33). The same paradox appears in John 6, after many disciples turn back: Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the word of eternal life. And we have believed and know that you are the Holy One of God (John 6:68-69).

Failure and the Word Spoken Beforehand

Peter's denial is foretold three times in the material UPDV preserves, in three different settings, and Peter contradicts the prediction each time. At the supper Jesus says, Simon, Simon, look, Satan asked to have you⁺, that he might sift you⁺ as wheat: but I made supplication for you, that your faith does not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, establish your brothers (Luke 22:31-32). Peter answers, Lord, I am ready to go both to prison and to death with you (Luke 22:33), and Jesus replies, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you have thrice denied that you know me (Luke 22:34). On the way out, in Mark, Peter said to him, Although all will be offended, yet I will not (Mark 14:29), and spoke vehemently, If I must die with you, I will definitely not deny you (Mark 14:31). And in the upper-room dialogue of John, Peter says to him, Lord, why can't I follow you even now? I will lay down my soul for you. Jesus answers, Will you lay down your soul for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, The rooster will not crow, until you have denied me thrice (John 13:37-38).

The footwashing earlier in that same chapter holds the same tension. He comes to Simon Peter. He says to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? (John 13:6). Peter refuses — You will never wash my feet — and Jesus answers, If I don't wash you, you have no part with me (John 13:8). Peter swings to the opposite extreme: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head (John 13:9). Jesus' word about what is happening is patient — What I do you don't know now; but you will understand hereafter (John 13:7).

In the garden Peter draws a sword. John names him: Simon Peter therefore having a sword drew it, and struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his right ear. Now the slave's name was Malchus (John 18:10). Mark and Luke record the same act anonymously (Mark 14:47; Luke 22:50). Jesus stops him: Put up the sword into the sheath: the cup which the Father has given me, shall I not drink it? (John 18:11). Earlier that evening Jesus had also entrusted Peter with the Passover preparation: And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare for us the Passover, that we may eat (Luke 22:8).

The denial follows directly. Peter follows far off, even inside, into the court of the high priest; and he was sitting with the attendants, and warming himself in the light [of the fire] (Mark 14:54). At the door, the female slave who keeps it asks, Are you also [one] of this man's disciples? He says, I am not (John 18:17). At the fire he is recognized again: Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself (John 18:18); They said therefore to him, Are you also [one] of his disciples? He denied, and said, I am not (John 18:25). A kinsman of Malchus presses the point: Didn't I see you in the garden with him? Peter therefore denied again: and right away the rooster crowed (John 18:26-27). Mark's denial at the same fire works through three exchanges with a servant girl and bystanders (Mark 14:67-71) and ends with Peter beginning to curse, and to swear, I don't know this man of whom you⁺ speak (Mark 14:71); And right away the second time the rooster crowed. And Peter called to mind the word, how that Jesus said to him, Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me thrice. And when he thought on it, he wept (Mark 14:72). Luke adds the look: And the Lord turned, and looked on Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord ... And he went out, and wept bitterly (Luke 22:61-62).

The word Jesus spoke earlier in that supper turns out to be the structuring word: Satan has asked to sift Peter as wheat, but the prayer is that your faith does not fail, and the charge follows the failure — when once you have turned again, establish your brothers (Luke 22:32). The angel at the empty tomb names Peter specifically: go, tell his disciples and Peter, Remember what he told you⁺ while he was still in Galilee (Mark 16:7). Paul later transmits the same tradition: he was buried; and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve (1 Cor 15:4-5).

Paul on Cephas

Paul refers to the same man under both names, and the dual usage is itself a point. Three years after his calling, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and tarried with him fifteen days (Gal 1:18). At a later visit, the pillars recognized Paul's commission to the Gentiles: James and Cephas and John, they who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision (Gal 2:9). Paul understands this as parallel apostolates: they saw that I had been entrusted with the good news of the uncircumcision, even as Peter with [the good news] of the circumcision (Gal 2:7).

The Antioch incident is reported with the apostolic tension visible. But when Cephas came to Antioch, I resisted him to the face, because he stood condemned. For before some came from James, he ate with the Gentiles; but when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision (Gal 2:11-12). Paul says he confronted Cephas before [them] all (Gal 2:14). The factional appeal in Corinth — I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ (1 Cor 1:12) — and Paul's defense of an apostle's right to travel with a wife even as ... Cephas (1 Cor 9:5) show that Cephas is a recognizable rallying name in Pauline congregations.

His Own Voice

Both Petrine letters open with the name. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (1 Pet 1:1). Simon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our God and Savior (2 Pet 1:1). 2 Peter joins both names — Simon, the man called by the sea, and Peter, the name Jesus gave at the beginning.

The pastoral self-description in 1 Peter is the obverse of the courtyard denial. To the elders who are among you⁺ I exhort, who am a fellow-elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, who am also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: Shepherd the flock of God which is among you⁺, exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, according to God; nor yet for greed of monetary gain, but eagerly; neither as lording it over the charge allotted to you⁺, but making yourselves examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd will be manifested, you⁺ will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away (1 Pet 5:1-4). The man who failed at the fire writes as a fellow-elder, not above the elders, and points beyond himself to a chief Shepherd. The Christology that grounds the charge is the suffering Christ of 1 Pet 2: Christ also suffered for you⁺, leaving you⁺ an example, that you⁺ should follow his steps: who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth (1 Pet 2:21-22), and the readers are those who were like sheep that go astray; but have now been returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your⁺ souls (1 Pet 2:25).

2 Peter looks back to the transfiguration. We did not follow cunningly devised fables, when we made known to you⁺ the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there was borne such a voice to him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: and this voice we [ourselves] heard borne out of heaven, when we were with him in the holy mount (2 Pet 1:16-18). The high mountain Mark 9:2 records is the mountain 2 Peter remembers — the same Peter, on the other side of the resurrection, naming what he saw and heard.