v. Cephas had a wife and mother-in-law, Mat 8:14; Tue 1:30; Luke 4:38; 1Co 9:5; he is called, Mat 4:18-20; Mark 1:16-18; John 1:41-42; fishers of men, Luk 5:1-11; sent with the twelve, Mat 10:2; Mark 3:16; walks on the sea, Mat 14:28-32; confesses that Jesus is the Christ, Mat 16:13-20; Mark 8:27-33; Luke 9:18-20; Jesus prays for him, Luk 22:31-32; cut off Malchus’s ear, Joh 18:10-11; denies Jesus three times, Mat 26:69-75; Mar 14:66-72; Luke 22:54-62; Joh 18:15-18, Joh 25:27: -feed my sheep-, Joh 21:15-19; addresses the disciples, Acts 1:15-26; preaches on the day of Pentecost, Act 2:14-42; heals a lame man, Acts 3:1-10; his speech in Solomon’s porch, Acts 3: 11-26; speaks before the council, Acts 4:1-22; is persecuted with John, Acts 5:17-42; rebukes Simon Magus, Acts 8:14-24; visits Cornelius after vision, Acts 10:1-48; reports to the Jerusalem church, Acts 11:1-18; he is imprisoned and released, Acts 12:1-19; at the Jerusalem council, Acts 15:6-14; visited by Paul, Gal 1:18; rebuked by Paul, Gal 2:11-14.
Peter (Gr. Pétros, “stone”). An apostle, also called Simon,* son of Jonah (Joh 1:42). In the KJV it reads “Bar-jona” (Gk. Barií‡ná). In this case, Barjonás would be a nickname of Simón Pedro (Mat 16:17). Peter’s name appears in 1st place in all 4 lists of the Twelve in the NT (Mat 10:2; Mar 3:16; Luk 6:14; Act 1:13). Jesus gave Simon his new name, Peter, when his brother Andrew brought him before Christ (John 1:40-42); he was the 1st Christian convert that resulted from what we might call a layman’s effort. His zeal, courage, vigor, and organizing ability earned him a leading place among the disciples from the beginning. He was eminently a man of action, and his most notable character trait was his enthusiastic disposition. He too had marked extremes, with great strengths and serious flaws. He was generally warm, generous, fearless; but sometimes also selfish, boastful, impulsive and careless. In a moment of crisis he could be weak, cowardly and wavering, and no one was sure which facet of his character and personality would predominate. Peter was a native of Bethsaida* Julia (Joh 1:44), on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee, and a fisherman by trade (Mat 4:18). He was married (Mat 8:14; 1Co 9:5) and lived with his family in Capernaum, where Jesus once restored his mother-in-law to health (Mat 8:5, 14; Mark 1:29-31; Luk 4: 31, 38, 39). Before his calling by the sea (Luk 5:1-11) he had followed Jesus intermittently, returning to his house from time to time to continue his usual occupation. Along with James and John he was part of the inner circle of the 3 who had the privilege of accompanying Jesus on special occasions, and in the list of the 3 he is always 1st. The 3 times in which this particular favor was granted were: the resurrection of the daughter of Jairus (Mar 5:37), the transfiguration (Mat 17:1) and the passion of Jesus in Gethsemane (Mar 14:33) . Peter often acted as the spokesman for all of his disciples (Mat 15:15; 16:16; 26:35; etc.). At Caesarea Philippi he was the 1st to openly confess that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God (Mat 16:16), but he was also the 1st to criticize him (vs 22, 23). At the Last Supper he was hesitant to allow Jesus to wash his feet, but when he realized that such an act was essential to discipleship, he enthusiastically asked that he wash not only his feet but also his hands and head ( John 13:8, 9). On the night of the betrayal he was the most emphatic in professing allegiance to the Savior (Mat 26:33), but also the 1st in denying his Master and confirming his triple denial with an oath (vs 69-74). Realizing, too late, what he had done. “Going outside, he wept bitterly” (v 75). After the resurrection, Peter was the 1st of the Twelve to whom Christ appeared (Luk 24:34; 1Co 15:5); and early one morning, when Jesus met his disciples on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Peter was the 1st who swam to shore to greet the Master (John 21:7). On that occasion Jesus gave Peter a triple opportunity to confess his faith and love, and thus remove any doubt in the minds of his fellow disciples about his loyalty (vs 15-17). He later predicted his death as a martyr (vs 18, 19), and a few moments later he rebuked his curiosity regarding John’s fate (vs 21-24). On Pentecost, fully converted, Peter preached the great sermon recorded in Acts 2:14-36, an inspired speech that led some 3,000 people to believe that Jesus was the Messiah (v 41). Along with John, he healed the paralytic at the Beautiful Gate (3:1-11), and later, surrounded by a crowd in the temple, eloquently testified to the death, resurrection, and power of Christ (vs. 12-26). He was arrested for healing the paralytic, and when he was brought before the Sanhedrin for questioning, he boldly testified again about Jesus (4:1-12); Ordered to preach no more in the name of the Lord, Peter and John affirmed, “We cannot help but say what we have seen and heard” (vs 19, 20). He played an important part in collecting and distributing gifts from the more prosperous Christians to his less fortunate brothers (5:1-11). He 910 he came to know as a person through whom divine power worked to heal the sick (vs 15,16). When again Peter and certain apostles were imprisoned (vs 17,18), an angel of the Lord freed them and they received the order to preach and teach in the temple (vs 19, 20). In doing so, they were summoned once more before the high priest (vs 21-27), where they were reminded of the earlier prohibition (v 28). Peter responded, “It is necessary to obey God rather than men” (v 29), and he fearlessly testified about Christ as the Savior of Israel (vs 30-32). Peter is spoken of again when, together with John, he was sent to Samaria to assist Philip in his successful ministry (Acts 8:14). There he sternly rebuked Simon Magus for proposing to purchase the power of the Holy Spirit (vs 18-24). He seems to have embarked on a long period of evangelism among the Samaritans there (v 25). Later, at Lydda, he healed Aeneas, a paralytic (9:32-35). Summoned to Joppa, he raised Dorcas from the dead and stayed with Simon, a tanner (vs 36-43). While Peter was living there, the Lord instructed him, through a vision, “that no man be called common or unclean” (Acts 10:9-17, 28). The simultaneous arrival of messengers from Cornelius led him to understand the meaning of the vision and to accompany the messengers to Caesarea, where the centurion and his family were converted by his ministry (vs 19-23, 29-48 ). Quoted by his Jerusalem brethren to explain his association with Gentiles, he defended his acts by pointing out that they were in harmony with the counsel and manifest guidance of the Holy Spirit (11:1-18). Around that time, he was once again imprisoned, but was again miraculously freed by an angel (12:1-11). He first went to the house of John Mark, where the church was praying for his release (vs 12-17), and then left Jerusalem to stay for a while in Caesarea (v 19). In the council of Jerusalem, called to solve the problem presented by the Church of Antioch about whether the Gentiles should observe the rites of the Jewish law, Peter, after reviewing his experience with Cornelius (15:6-9), concluded: “Why do you tempt God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” (v10). When he visited Antioch, in an excess of prudence, “he drew back and departed, because he was afraid of the circumcision” (Gal. 2:11, 12), but Paul openly rebuked him for his inconsistency (vs. 13,14). Peter worked primarily for his fellow Jews (2:7, 8), and Paul refers to him as one of the “pillars” of the Jerusalem church (v 9). When Peter visited Jerusalem for the first time after his conversion, he stayed in Peter’s house for about 15 days (1:18). Some believe that Peter visited Corinth (see 1Co 1:12) and that he worked extensively in various parts of Asia Minor (1Pe 1:1). He glorified God with a martyr’s death (cf. John 21:18, 19); according to tradition he was crucified upside down, in Rome, c AD 67 Bib.: FJ-AJ xviii. 2.1. Peter, Epistles of. Two letters belonging to the apostle Peter. In the oldest Greek manuscripts they are known as Petróu A (“Of Peter I”) and Petróu B (“Of Peter II”). They are known as “general”, or “catholic” (universal), because they were not addressed to specific people or a particular congregation but to the body of believers. Both are of the type of the circulating epistles, and are addressed to the “expatriates of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia” (1Pe 1:1; cf 2Pe 1:1; 3:1). That the 1st Epistle was addressed primarily to Gentile Christians is clear from such passages as 1Pe 1:14; 2:9, 10; 3:6 and 4:3. It was written in the city of Rome (5:13, where Babylon is no doubt used as a hidden name for Rome), where he would have labored for a time shortly before his martyrdom, which occurred at about the same time that Paul he sealed his testimony with his blood; it also reflects the hostile attitude of the Roman Empire towards Christians (2:12; 4:12-16), which would suggest the time of Nero’s persecution, which began in AD 64. The 2nd epistle would also have been written in Rome. The dates of both would be between 64 and 67 AD I. First epistle. A. Author. The ancient Christian traditions unanimously certify that Peter was the author of the 1st epistle. However, the modern criticism, on the assumption that the Greek of 1 Pet is too elegant for a man with the apostle’s limited educational background, that the epistle’s theology is more like Paul’s than the of Peter, that almost no incidents from the life of Christ are mentioned-as might be expected from one as closely associated with Christ as he is-and that he is not known to have been associated with the churches of Asia Minor, has asserted that the apostle could not have been the author of this letter or the 2nd. First, it is quite possible that Silvanus (1Pe 5:12), 911 apparently serving Peter as a scribe, was responsible for the quality of the Greek of the epistles. Second, that the argument that the epistle’s theology does not resemble Peter’s is a matter of opinion, as is his not speaking more of his experience with Christ. The last argument, and the one that Peter was not in Asia Minor, is nothing more than an assumption based on silence. The author identifies himself as Peter (1Pe 1:1) and there is no valid reason to doubt this assertion. Polycarp, one of John’s disciples, quotes from his epistle, confirming his existence shortly after the beginning of the second century AD Towards the end of that century, Irenaeus and others attribute it to Peter. B. Content. 1 Q is…