Simon Peter

Life and work

Peter was born Simon, son of John (or Jonah), and worked as a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee alongside his brother Andrew, in partnership with James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus called the two brothers while they were casting their nets, telling them he would make them "fishers of men," and Peter left his boats to follow him (Matthew 4:18-20).

Within the Gospels, Peter consistently appears first among the twelve apostles and often speaks or acts on their behalf. At Caesarea Philippi he was the one who declared Jesus to be "the Christ, the Son of the living God," a confession Jesus called a revelation from God the Father, and on which he said he would build his church (Matthew 16:13-19) — the origin of Peter's name, which means "rock." He was present with James and John at the Transfiguration and in Gethsemane, and it was Peter who struck the ear off the high priest's servant Malchus when Jesus was arrested (John 18:10).

That same night, exactly as Jesus predicted, Peter denied three times that he knew Jesus, then wept bitterly when he realized what he had done (Luke 22:54-62). After the resurrection, Jesus restored him personally, three times asking "Do you love me?" and each time commissioning him to "feed my sheep" (John 21:15-17).

In Acts, Peter becomes the early church's leading figure in Jerusalem: he preaches the first public sermon at Pentecost, resulting in about three thousand converts (Acts 2), heals a man lame from birth at the temple gate (Acts 3), and is twice arrested and released by the Jewish council (Acts 4-5). He was the first apostle to baptize a Gentile, the Roman centurion Cornelius, after a vision convinced him that God's message was not for Jews only (Acts 10) — a turning point in the early church's expansion beyond Judaism. Paul later records a sharp public disagreement with Peter at Antioch over Peter's withdrawal from eating with Gentile believers (Galatians 2:11-14).

Two New Testament letters, 1 and 2 Peter, bear his name. Church tradition (not the New Testament itself) holds that Peter went on to Rome and was martyred there under Nero, traditionally crucified upside down at his own request, considering himself unworthy to die in the same manner as Jesus.

Dating

A married, established fisherman by the time of his call (Luke 5; Mark 1:29-31), likely a few years older than Jesus, though his birth year isn't recorded. Jesus predicted the manner of his death (John 21:18-19), and strong early church tradition (Tertullian, Eusebius) places his martyrdom by crucifixion in Rome under Nero, commonly dated c. AD 64-68.

Questions and debates

His three denials of Jesus on the night of the arrest are recorded in all four Gospels — an unflattering episode about the movement's most prominent leader that most ancient writers would have been tempted to omit or soften, which many historians take as evidence for its authenticity.

Paul's letter to the Galatians describes confronting Peter "to his face" at Antioch for pulling back from eating with Gentile Christians once certain men from James arrived, calling his behavior hypocrisy (Galatians 2:11-14) — a rare glimpse of open conflict between two apostolic leaders.

Extra-biblical evidence

Scripture references

• Matthew 4:18-20 — Called as a fisherman
• Matthew 16:13-19 — Confesses Jesus as the Christ
• Luke 22:54-62 — Denies Jesus three times
• John 21:15-17 — Restored by the risen Jesus
• Acts 2:14-41 — Preaches at Pentecost
• Acts 10 — Baptizes Cornelius, the first Gentile convert
• Galatians 2:11-14 — Confronted by Paul at Antioch

Further reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Saint Peter the Apostle

Reflect

Peter's worst failure wasn't the end of his story — Jesus restored him three times over. Where might you be treating a failure as final that God sees as a turning point?