Lessons on the Life of Peter (Bible Biographies Book 4)

Peter, James and John must have had a special relationship with the Lord because of the many times the Bible talks about those three to the exclusion of the other disciples. They were with Christ on the mount of transfiguration Matthew They were also the inner circle of prayer warriors in the Garden of Gethsemane Matthew The book of the Revelation was written about the vision that John saw while banished to the Greek island of Patmos on the Aegean sea. John wrote 5 books in the New Testament. All of his books were written later in life and after all the other books in the Bible were recorded.

Of course we know God inspired the Bible and that it was written with His leading, but this may explain why the book of John seems so applicable to the readers of today. John had more time to think about what questions were raised in the 50 or more years after the resurrection of Christ. He knew what doubts had been raised and how to answer the questions before we knew to ask them. The Epistles of John were written to various audiences. They were all written after John was an old man living in Ephesus. The first epistle was not addressed to anyone in particular, but was written more as a sermon.

There are three men who bear that name to whom the letter could have been written.

Saint Peter

There was a Gaius in Macedonia Acts The book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ was written by John probably close to the same time he wrote the epistles which bear his name. Tradition says that this was after John had been sentenced to death by martyrdom. This was not a promise that John would live until the Lord returned, but it does seem to indicate that the Lord knew John would live a long time John Tradition holds that John was sentenced to death in a boiling vat of oil. Yet he emerged unharmed from the experience. Again tradition tells us that John lived into old age dying sometime after AD He is thought to have died in Ephesus.

Here is another article also by David: Samson Bible Story Summary and Study. Oscar Cullmann , a Lutheran theologian and distinguished Church historian, disagrees with Luther and the Protestant reformers who held that by "rock" Christ did not mean Peter, but meant either himself or the faith of His followers. He believes the meaning of the original Aramaic is very clear: Yet, Cullmann sharply rejects the Catholic claim that Peter began the papal succession.

Cullmann concludes that while Peter was the original head of the apostles, Peter was not the founder of any visible church succession. There are other Protestant scholars who also partially defend the historical Catholic position about "Rock. Moreover, even in Attic Greek, in which the regular meaning of petros was a smallish "stone," there are instances of its use to refer to larger rocks, as in Sophocles , Oedipus at Colonus v.

In Greek, of any period, the feminine noun petra could not be used as the given name of a male, which may explain the use of Petros as the Greek word with which to translate Aramaic Kepha. Yet, still other Protestant scholars believe that Jesus in fact did mean to single out Peter as the very rock which he will build upon, but that the passage does nothing to indicate a continued succession of Peter's implied position. They assert that Matthew uses the demonstrative pronoun taute , which allegedly means "this very" or this same , when he refers to the rock on which Jesus' church will be built.

He also uses the Greek word for "and", kai. It is alleged that when a demonstrative pronoun is used with kai , the pronoun refers back to the preceding noun. The second rock Jesus refers to must then be the same rock as the first one; and if Peter is the first rock he must also be the second.

Unlike Oscar Cullmann, Confessional Lutherans and many other Protestant apologists agree that it's meaningless to elaborate the meaning of Rock by looking at the Aramaic language, this is true that the Jews spoke mostly Aramaic at home, however in public they usually spoke Greek. The few Aramaic words spoken by Jesus in public were unusual and that is why they are noted as such. Lutheran historians even report that the Catholic church itself didn't, at least unanimously, regard Peter as the Rock until the s:. This Creed binds Rome to explain the Scriptures only according to the unanimous consent of the Fathers.

In the year when the Fathers gathered and the pope declared his infallibility, the cardinals were not in agreement on Matthew 16, They had five different interpretations. Seventeen insisted, Peter is the rock. Sixteen held that Christ is the rock. Eight were emphatic that the whole apostolic college is the rock. Forty-four said, Peter's faith is the rock, The remainder looked upon the whole body of believers as the rock. Another title used for Peter is Coryphaeus , which could be translated as "Choir-director", or lead singer.

The New Testament is not seen by the Orthodox as supporting any extraordinary authority for Peter with regard to faith or morals. The Orthodox also hold that Peter did not act as leader at the Council of Jerusalem , but as merely one of a number who spoke.

The final decision regarding the non-necessity of circumcision and certain prohibitions was spelled out by James, the Brother of the Lord though Catholics hold James merely reiterated and fleshed out what Peter had said, regarding the latter's earlier divine revelation regarding the inclusion of Gentiles. Peter but the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople sends a delegation each year to Rome to participate in the celebration of the feast of Sts.

In the Ravenna Document of 13 October , the representatives of the Eastern Orthodox Church agreed that "Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St. Ignatius of Antioch To the Romans, Prologue , occupied the first place in the taxis , and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs, if the Papacy unites with the Orthodox Church. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as protos , a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium.

With regard to Jesus' words to Peter, "Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church", the Orthodox hold Christ is referring to the confession of faith, not the person of Peter as that upon which he will build the church. There are also two feast days in the year which are dedicated to him:.

They were fully convinced of the unique office of Peter in the primitive Christian community. Ephrem , Aphrahat and Maruthas who were supposed to have been the best exponents of the early Syriac tradition unequivocally acknowledge the office of Peter. When Christ gave his own name "Kepha" to Simon he was giving him participation in the person and office of Christ. Christ who is the Kepha and shepherd made Simon the chief shepherd in his place and gave him the very name Kepha and said that on Kepha he would build the Church.

Aphrahat shared the common Syriac tradition. For him Kepha is in fact another name of Jesus, and Simon was given the right to share the name. The person who receives somebody else's name also obtains the rights of the person who bestows the name. Aphrahat makes the stone taken from Jordan a type of Peter. Again he wrote in his commentary on Deuteronomy that Moses brought forth water from "rock" Kepha for the people and Jesus sent Simon Kepha to carry his teachings among nations.

God accepted him and made him the foundation of the Church and called him Kepha. When he speaks about the transfiguration of Christ he calls him Simon Peter , the foundation of the Church. Ephrem also shared the same view. In the Armenian version of De Virginitate records that Peter the rock shunned honour.

Both Aphrahat and Ephrem represent the authentic tradition of the Syrian Church. The different orders of liturgies used for sanctification of Church buildings, marriage, ordination etcetera, reveal that the primacy of Peter is a part of living faith of the Church. While Mormons accept apostolic succession from Peter, they reject papal successors as illegitimate. In interpreting Matthew McConkie stated, "The things of God are known only by the power of his Spirit," [] and "that which the world calls Mormonism is based upon the rock of revelation.

Pure, perfect, personal revelation—this is the rock! Muslims consider Jesus a prophet of God. The Qur'an also speaks of Jesus's disciples but does not mention their names, instead referring to them as "helpers to the prophet of God ".

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Shia Muslims see a parallel in the figure of Peter to Ali at Muhammad 's time. They look upon Ali as being the vicegerent , with Muhammad being the prophet ; likewise, they see Peter as the vicegerent , behind Jesus the prophet and Masih. Peter's role as the first proper leader of the church is also seen by Shias to be a parallel to their belief in Ali as the first caliph after Muhammad.

Whenever he decided to go fishing, he would tie up his weekly food into seven parcels, and every day he would eat one of them, and when he had reached the seventh, he would know that the Sabbath had arrived, and thereupon would observe it. Traditionally, two canonical epistles 1 and 2 Peter and several apocryphal works have been attributed to Peter. The New Testament includes two letters epistles ascribed to Peter. Both demonstrate a high quality of cultured and urban Greek, at odds with the linguistic skill that would ordinarily be expected of an Aramaic -speaking fisherman, who would have learned Greek as a second or third language.

The textual features of these two epistles are such that a majority of scholars doubt that they were written by the same hand. Wallace who maintains that Peter was the author writes that, for many scholars, "the issue of authorship is already settled, at least negatively: However, he later states, "Although a very strong case has been made against Petrine authorship of 2 Peter, we believe it is deficient Taken together, these external and internal arguments strongly suggest the traditional view, viz.

Of the two epistles, the first epistle is considered the earlier. A number of scholars have argued that the textual discrepancies with what would be expected of the biblical Peter are due to it having been written with the help of a secretary or as an amanuensis. The two Epistles attributed to St. Peter differ in style, character, and the construction of the words, which proves that according to the exigencies of the moment St. Peter made use of different interpreters Epistle — To Hedibia []. Some have seen a reference to the use of a secretary in the sentence: Ehrman in his book Forged states that "scholars now widely recognize that when the author indicates that he wrote the book 'through Silvanus', he is indicating not the name of his secretary, but the person who was carrying his letter to the recipients.

The Roman historian Tacitus and the biographer Suetonius do both record that Nero persecuted Christians, and Tacitus dates this to immediately after the fire that burned Rome in Christian tradition, for example Eusebius of Caesarea History book 2, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Those scholars who believe that the epistle dates from the time of Domitian argue that Nero's persecution of Christians was confined to the city of Rome itself, and did not extend to the Asian provinces mentioned in 1 Pet 1: The Second Epistle of Peter , on the other hand, appears to have been copied, in part, from the Epistle of Jude , and some modern scholars date its composition as late as c. Some scholars argue the opposite, that the Epistle of Jude copied Second Peter, while others contend an early date for Jude and thus observe that an early date is not incompatible with the text.

Second Peter may be earlier than , there are a few possible references to it that date back to the 1st century or early 2nd century, e. AD 96, and the later church historian Eusebius wrote that Origen had made reference to the epistle before Jerome says that Peter "wrote two epistles which are called Catholic, the second of which, on account of its difference from the first in style, is considered by many not to be by him".

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De Viris Illustribus 1 [] But he himself received the epistle, and explained the difference in style and character and structure of words by the assumption that Peter used different interpreters in the composition of the two epistles; [] and from his time onward the epistle was generally regarded as a part of the New Testament.

Even in early times there was controversy over its authorship, and Second Peter was often not included in the biblical canon ; it was only in the 4th century that it gained a firm foothold in the New Testament, in a series of synods. In the east the Syriac Orthodox Church still did not admit it into the canon until the 6th century. Traditionally, the Gospel of Mark was said to have been written by a person named John Mark , and that this person was an assistant to Peter, hence its content was traditionally seen as the closest to Peter's viewpoint.

Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatsoever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities [of his hearers], but with no intention of giving a normal or chronological narrative of the Lord's sayings.

Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictional into the statements []. Clement of Alexandria in the fragments of his work Hypotyposes A. As Peter had preached the Word publicly at Rome, and declared the Gospel by the Spirit, many who were present requested that Mark , who had followed him for a long time and remembered his sayings, should write them out.

And having composed the Gospel he gave it to those who had requested it. After their Peter and Paul's passing, Mark also, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, transmitted to us in writing the things preached by Peter. Based on these quotes, and on the Christian tradition, the information in Mark's gospel about Peter would be based on eyewitness material. There are also a number of other apocryphal writings, that have been either attributed to or written about Peter. Two sayings are attributed to Peter in the gnostic Gospel of Thomas. In the first, Peter compares Jesus to a "just messenger.

He says to the other disciples, "Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us?

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Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us? In the Fayyum Fragment , which dates to the end of the 3rd century, Jesus predicts that Peter will deny him three times before a cock crows on the following morning. The account is similar to that of the canonical gospels, especially the Gospel of Mark. It is unclear whether the fragment is an abridged version of the accounts in the synoptic gospels , or a source text on which they were based, perhaps the apocryphal Gospel of Peter. The fragmentary Gospel of Peter contains an account of the death of Jesus differing significantly from the canonical gospels.

It contains little information about Peter himself, except that after the discovery of the empty tomb , "I, Simon Peter, and Andrew my brother, took our fishing nets and went to the sea. The earliest portrait of Peter dates back to the 4th century and was located in He thus contrasts with Paul the Apostle who is bald except at the sides, with a longer beard and often black hair, and thinner in the face. One exception to this is in Anglo-Saxon art , where he typically lacks a beard.

By the 15th century Peter is more likely to be bald on the top of his head in the Western church, but he continues to have a good head of hair in Orthodox icons. The depiction of Saint Peter as literally the keeper of the gates of heaven, popular with modern cartoonists, is not found in traditional religious art, but Peter usually heads groups of saints flanking God in heaven, on the right hand side viewer's left of God.

Narrative images of Peter include several scenes from the Life of Christ where he is mentioned in the gospels, and he is often identifiable in scenes where his presence is not specifically mentioned. Usually he stands nearest to Christ. In particular, depictions of the Arrest of Christ usually include Peter cutting off the ear of one of the soldiers. Scenes without Jesus include his distinctive martyrdom, his rescue from prison, and sometimes his trial. In the Counter-Reformation scenes of Peter hearing the cock crow for the third time became popular, as a representation of repentance and hence the Catholic sacrament of Confession or Repentance.

Many Protestant scholars accept the traditional story of Peter's martyrdom in Rome. Some Protestants, however, have rejected Peter's martyrdom as a later invention, arguing that evidence of Peter exists only in biblical accounts. It has also been suggested that there was a serious division between Peter's Jewish Christian party and Paul's Hellenizing party, seen in e. Another revisionist view was developed by supporters of the Christ myth theory , which holds that the figure of Peter is largely a development from some mythological doorkeeper figures.

According to Arthur Drews and G. Wells , if there was a historical Peter, then all that is known about him is the brief mentions in Galatians.

The Release of St. Peter by Bernardo Strozzi , The Miraculous Draught of Fishes , by Raphael , Fresco by Pietro Perugino in the Sistine Chapel. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. For other uses, see Saint Peter disambiguation. Primacy of Simon Peter and Papal primacy. Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

Peter was a sinful man, yet he became a part of Christ’s inner circle.

Authorship of the Petrine epistles. Retrieved 12 April Peter, Prince of the Apostles". Apocalyptic and Accommodation" on YouTube. Accessed July 22, Edward Siecienski, The Papacy and the Orthodox: Collins, Accompanied by a Believing Wife: Retrieved 10 February Linguistic key to the Greek New Testament. Ignatius Zakka I Iwas". Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies, Finland. James the Just, the brother of Jesus, is known from the New Testament as the chief apostle of the Torah-obedient Christians. Acts 1 - New Revised Standard Version". Acts 5 - New Revised Standard Version".

Acts 3 - New Revised Standard Version". Acts 9 - New Revised Standard Version". Acts 10 - New Revised Standard Version". Understanding the Bible 8th ed. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Archived from the original on 20 July This evidence is accepted by M. Retrieved 1 June Retrieved 5 June Archived from the original on 7 December Retrieved 9 November After all, if the papacy exists, it was established by Christ during his lifetime, long before Peter is said to have reached Rome. There must have been a period of some years in which the papacy did not yet have its connection to Rome.

New Testament Cradles of Christianity. As for Peter, we have no knowledge at all of when he came to Rome and what he did there before he was martyred. Certainly he was not the original missionary who brought Christianity to Rome and therefore not the founder of the church of Rome in that sense. However, little is know about the life and ministry of Thaddaeus. The New Testament records only one event involving Thaddeus: Some believe the name "Iscariot" identifies Judas's place of origin, since his father is described as "Simon Iscariot" John 6: After his calling to seek the Lord, Judas Iscariot became the treasurer for the twelve disciples John Because this position is not given to one of greedy and irresponsible conduct, it may be assumed that he showed positive characteristics before the other followers of Christ.

However, the Gospel of John tells us that during his time as treasurer, Judas had become a thief, stealing from the treasury funds John Judas has become infamous for his betrayal of Jesus. Both Luke and John render him to be under the influence of Satan himself Luke It may have been his greed that motivated him to betray Jesus for a worthless amount of thirty pieces of silver Matthew Yet when Jesus was condemned to death, Judas was filled with great remorse and returned the pieces of silver to the priests.

Then Judas departed from the temple and committed suicide by hanging himself Matthew After the resurrection of Christ, Matthias replaced Judas within the circle of the twelve apostles Acts 1: Before followers of Christ, Peter gave an account of the life, ministry, and the death of Judas Iscariot. Because of the loss of Judas, a replacement was in order to fill the gap within the original twelve apostles. It was necessary to select one who had known them since the Lord's baptism by John to the resurrection of the Son of Man. These twelve witnesses would represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

Thus, these followers of Christ gathered together to cast lots between two candidates: Joseph called Barsabas Justus and Matthias. Many believe that Barsabbas and Matthias were among the seventy disciples who were sent out to proclaim the gospel Luke However, neither one is mentioned again in Scripture, nor is there any account for their later ministries. His original name was Saul. He studied under Gamaliel in Jerusalem Acts He was present at the stoning of Stephen Acts 7: While he was seeking to have Christians bound, he was converted on the road to Damascus as Christ appeared to him Acts 9: He went into Damascus Acts 9: Eventually, he met with Barnabas and ministered with him in Antioch Acts Soon he began to go on various missionary journeys to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles.

He was then imprisoned in Rome on two occasions and was martyred under Caesar Nero. Please visit the timeline of Paul the Apostle for a detailed chronology of Paul's life. Originally from Cyprus Acts 4: Both he and Paul of Tarsus whose close friend he would become shared similar Jewish roots Acts 4: The first appearance of Barnabas in the New Testament can be found among the earliest converts, selling his lot of land and giving the profit to the apostles Acts 4: He quickly became well liked and a respected leader within the apostolic circle.

Paul and Barnabas began a close partnership within the work of ministry. Their common background in the Diaspora and their traditional training as a Pharisee and Levite may have brought about the strong companionship. Because of the heavy persecution of the Hellenized Christians, many believers were scattered as far as Phoenicia and Syria.

Thus the church of Antioch was established in Syria, which would become the future headquarters of Paul's journeys. The leaders in Jerusalem soon elected Barnabas to be the superintendent of the church and he, in turn, chose Paul to be his assistant. Barnabas accompanied Paul on a missions trip that covered approximately 1, miles of territory as they proclaimed the gospel and encouraged the body of Christ. During this first tour, Paul became the spokesperson, and even engaged in vigorous discussions within the council.

Barnabas was also given recognition and even a divine title in Acts Unlike Paul, he never experienced violence or stoning while ministering to others. Following their first journey, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to settle the controversial issue of the law and circumcision. After a stimulating debate, it was decided that gentiles could be given admittance to the church if they conform to certain social customs of the Jews.

After a successful trip, Barnabas suggested that John Mark join them on the next journey. Yet Paul felt otherwise and the team divided. Paul traveled with another entourage and Barnabas and John Mark journeyed to Cyprus. In any case, the dispute did not end the friendship between Paul and Barnabas. In a letter to the Corinthians, Paul uses both he and Barnabas as an example of apostles who still maintain a working trade while serving in ministry and they refused to accept charity from churches.

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