THE APOSTLE PETER: A CHRISTIAN ENIGMA

 

Peter With the Keys to the Church

El Greco San Lorenzo, Italy

 

©By John P. Chase

For All Saints Episcopal Church San Francisco

 

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Introduction to the Series:

 

This is the first in a series of articles on the Apostles; those special men chosen by Jesus to spread the “good news” of the Gospel.  They will be a permanent part of the website and updated periodically.  Each profile will contain an overall view of the lives and ministries based on materials by scholars, scripture-both canonical and non-canonical.  The profiles will endeavor to present alternative viewpoints and also will  draw some original conclusions.  At the bottom of each article is a table of links providing you access to all the scriptural text, both canonical and non-canonical as well as book and website lists on the specific Apostle.  The table at bottom of this page deals with Saint Peter. 

 

The Commissioning: Christ Appearing the Apostles

after the Resurrection

William Blake Tate Gallery, London

 

THE COMMISSIONING OF THE APOSTLES BY JESUS

 

Matthew 28:     Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

With this instruction to the Apostles, the Gospel of Matthew recounts Christ sent his message of love and redemption to the world.  Without the Apostles, the “good news” of the Gospels would have never been heard.  These are the founders of the Christian Church whose efforts made Christianity the world’s most dominant religion.  That very fact makes it impossible to diminish the effect that Christian thinking and philosophy has had on humankind-even when it was abused.  Of the 14 men called Apostles of Christ, all, but John and Judas, were martyred for the beliefs.  

 

PETER IS THE ENIGMA

 

The “rock” of Christ, Peter, “first among the Apostles,” is where this series must begin even though he is the most difficult to characterize.  This profile will be a starting point for your study of Peter.  At the end of the profile, we will include a list of reference books and links to Internet sites that provide additional perspective on the founder of the Christian Church.  Some will be controversial because Peter is such a difficult subject to grasp.

 

Other than Jesus Christ, more is written about Peter in the New Testament than anyone else.  A rough count of his name in Strong’s Bible Concordance, which breaks down every word of the King James Bible, lists about 160 mentions under the name Peter.  Other translations do not significantly differ on such a count. Jesus often referred to him by his given name Simon.  In the Gospel of John he is only referred to as Simon, Peter. 

 

Characterizing Peter becomes doubly difficult because, according to most scholars, he wrote almost no canonical scripture.  Someone else observing the actions of Peter most likely wrote the two Epistles, Peter I & II.  First Peter was written shortly after his death and Second Peter a decade later.  They were written in Greek and it stretches credulity that a simple Jewish fisherman was literate in Greek.  Although by no means universal, some scholars now maintain that I Peter may have some Petrine authorship.

 

Based on a statement from an early 2^nd century Church patriarch, Papias, some scholars have opined that Peter may be the source of the Gospel of Mark, the earliest of the Gospels.   All of this is still very speculative.  The fragmented Gospel of Peter, first discovered in 1886, has some contemporary scholars touting that it contains Petrine authorship because of additional discoveries of more text.  It provides an alternative view of the Passion of Our Lord.[1]

 

Peter’s enigmatic life, ministry and character were portraits of conflicts.  Peter was called Symeon (Hebrew spelling) until Jesus renamed him Cephas (Peter in Greek), the Rock. Ancient world scholar Michael Grant in his book Saint Peter…a distinguished if secular view of Peter…gave an excellent all-encompassing view of Peter,  “As in the case of Saint Peter, the probabilities…even if that is as often as far as we go…exist in abundance.  This is so much that the case of Peter has come down to us as an astonishingly complex and many-sided man.  In early Christian thought, as attested by the New Testament, there is a plurality of images associated with Peter, missionary, fisherman, pastoral shepherd, martyr, recipient of special revelation, confessor of the true faith, magisterial protector, and repentant sinner.”  Grant summed it up leaping off from John Cardinal Newman’s description. ‘He who made us has so willed that in mathematics indeed we should arrive at certitude by rigid demonstrations, but in religious enquiry we should arrive at certitude by accumulated probabilities’ and in the case of Saint Peter probabilities-even if that is often as far as we can go-exists in abundance.[2]”

 

In Phillip Schaff’s seminal History of the Christian Church, he offers a similar description, “He was the strongest and the weakest of the Twelve. He had all the excellences and all the defects of a sanguine temperament. He was kind-hearted, quick, ardent, hopeful, impulsive, changeable, and apt to run from one extreme to another. He received from Christ the highest praise and the severest censure.”[3]

 

We approach this profile, like most writers on Peter, not chronologically, something we can only guess at, but from the perspective as the principal Apostle for Jesus and the founder of the Christian Church.  

 

WHAT WE DO KNOW ABOUT HIS LIFE!

 

 The details of his life come mostly from apocryphal writings.  He was born in Galilee in the town of Bethsaida (John 1:42, 44) on Lake Genesareth. The Apostle Andrew was his brother, and the Apostle Philip came from the same town. Peter then settled in Capernaum, where he was living with his mother-in-law in his own house (Matthew 8:14; Luke 4:38) at the beginning of Christ's public ministry. Simon was married, and, according to Clement of Alexandria and had children. Clement of Alexandria (died 215c.e) also relates the tradition that Peter's wife also was martyred.  These facts come down through Eusebius’ Bishop of Cæsarea (260c.e-339c.e) and the ‘father of ecclesiastical history’ from his “History of the Church.”  He possessed only fragments since Clement’s writings are either very fragmentary or lost.

 

 

 

 

Peter came from a family of modestly prosperous fishermen on Lake Genesareth and he owned a boat (Luke 5:3). We can speculate that Peter was about 10 years older than Jesus.  This would put his birth year, assuming that Jesus was actual born in 6b.c.e, at about 16bce. Peter was married and remain married throughout his life.  Fr. Richard O’Brien in his "Lives of the Popes," points out that “Peter was married and remained so even after becoming a disciple of Jesus is clear from the account of Jesus’ healing of Peter’s mother-in-law and from Paul’s reference  to the fact that Peter and the apostles took their wives along on their apostolic journeys.

 

 

 

 

Stain Glass Peter's wife

Statesboro United Methodist

Church, Georgia.

 

The pious belief that the Apostles, including Peter, ‘put away’ their wives after they received the call from Jesus has no historical basis.”[4]

 

Because he lived near Jesus, Cambridge scholar Michael Grant has even speculated that Peter and Jesus may have known each other as children or young adults. [5]   He uses that supposition to rationalize Jesus’ decision to entrust the founding of his church to this most imperfect of individuals.  Unreliable speculation is about all we can determine about Jesus’ teen years. The so-called Infancy Gospels of Thomas and James have been rejected out of hand as pious fiction.

 

 

Crucifixion of Peter by Michelangelo

 

DEATH AND MARTYRDOM

 

The year of his death is generally accepted as being between 64 and 68c.e. during the Christian persecutions by Nero.  The traditions of Peter’s death were first uttered by Greek/Egyptian allegorical theologian, and “father of historical philosophy,” Origen (died 232c.e) coming to us through Eusbeius.  Origen says: "Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer." Origen was probably told this tale by someone who knew Peter or read it in some form of the Coptic Acts of Peter which were written late second century when Origen lived, “I request therefore, executioners, to crucify me head downwards-in this way and no other.”  Peter then begins to preach a rather lengthy sermon on the nature man and Christ relating to the cross upon which he was hanging.

 

 

Excerpted here: “For what else is Christ but the Word, the sound of God? So that the Word is this upright tree on which I am crucified; but the sound is the cross piece, the nature of man; and the nail that holds the crosspiece to the upright in the middle is the conversion (or turning point) and repentance of man[6].”

 

The text that comes to us is second century and details many miracles by Peter and his famous contest of miracles with a man in Rome called Simon Magus.  Most scholars call these writing, as well as the other “Acts of-apostle’s name”-apostolic novels.  However truthful or untruthful these writings are they provide insight into the growth of Peter’s faith and his character and the early Church used them well into the 4^th century to put a human face on Peter.  

 

After their death, the remains of Peter lay with those of Paul in the catacombs on the Appian Way where the fourth century Church of St. Sebastian now stands. They were moved twice more before Constantine the Great interred them at the foot of Vatican Hill, where tradition says they lie today.

  

 

THE EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS DIVIDED

 

The Acts of the Apostles begins with the story of the origins of the Christian Church. Michael Grant described this first attempt at Christian history, one of the “great storm centers” of the Bible. Peter dominates the first half of Acts.  California scholar Robert Eisenman, who wrote the controversial book, “James, Brother of Jesus,” believes the first 15 chapter of the Acts of the Apostles are probably very little history and much pious fiction.  However, his contention has to be qualified considering his belief that James was the true founder of the church.[7]

 

Even before Jesus Christ left this earth 40 days after his resurrection, the Christian movement divided between Gentiles and Jews.  The Gentiles were, for the most part, more educated and did not observe the Jewish religious practices of their Jewish Christian counterparts.[8]  Thus, we have the seemingly incessant struggle over the circumcised and non-circumcised and the observance of Jewish laws.  In the retrospect of history, the only good thing you can draw from this struggle is perhaps circumcision masked a larger debate over Jewish law not recorded in Scripture for fear of alienating Jewish Christians.

 

The Apostles Paul, and to a certain extent John represents the Gentile side of the community.  We can say this because the writer of The Gospel of John shows an obvious dislike of the Jewish hierarchy.  An anti-Semitic theme even runs through John’s apocryphal writings, assuming we know who he is, there anti-Semitic theme running through all of them.  John supposedly died on the Greek Island of Padmos around 105c.e. Paul’s letters are in stark contrast and demonstrate a huge tolerance for both Jews, Greeks and others.

 

Where was Peter in all this controversy over Jewish Law.  He was the Jewish Christian in the middle.  As Fr. Richard O’Brien points out in his “Lives of the Pope” “It was Peter who took the decisive step in ordering the baptism of the Gentile Cornelius (The Centurion) without first requiring circumcision (Acts 10).  Although Paul spoke of Jesus’ ministry as being directed to the circumcised (Galatians 2:7), Peter’s influence in gentile area is nevertheless obvious (1 Corinthians1:12, 1 Peter1:1)”[9]    

 

Most scholars agree Gentile writers authored the four canonical gospels.  The other community, the Jewish Christians, included the original twelve, despite John’s later dislikes, of the Jewish branch of the Church.  Peter and James represent the leaders of that

 

Peter Baptizing Cornelius

the Centurion Trevisani 1709

 

community and their leadership evolves as the men in the middle.  Jesus is all but silent on these disputes.  How Jesus felt about the Gentiles is further confused because his first ministry was to the Gentiles when he said in Matthew 4:17 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  Immediately thereafter, Jesus recruits his first two disciples, Andrew and then Simon, Peter.  

 

One can make a case that Jesus did not approve of the Gentiles.  This can be seen in his admonishment to obey the law, in this case Jewish law, as found in Matthew, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.  Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  (Matthew 5:17-20)

 

James, Brother of Jesus, first head of the Jerusalem Church, also represents the Jewish Christian movement.  As with Peter and Paul, James’ early and untimely death cuts short their leadership James was martyred in 67c.e. by being thrown from the walls of Jerusalem after he was stoned. James, also called James the Just, observed Jewish customs and laws rigidly, was even a vegetarian, and often did not bath.  If indeed he was Jesus’ brother, something that Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox Christians have been fighting over for centuries because of the Catholic and Orthodox beliefs that Mary was “ever virgin”; then James practices lends further credence to Jesus’ Jewish ness.

James The Lesser,

Brother of Jesus, El Greco.

 

 

PETER AND JESUS

 

Pieter Paul Rubens

Christ's Charge to Peter

1616

 

Their relationship is also one of conflicts that are often nearly impossible to explain.  One moment Jesus lavishes affection and praise and in the next scorn.  His sternest rebuke to Peter was in Jerusalem, “But he turned, and said unto Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”  (Mathew 16:18) It seems that Jesus also had a temper and lost patience with his “first Apostle.”

 

In stark contrast Jesus’ displays a lavish affection for Peter at the Transfiguration.  Only Peter, James and his brother John witnessed the Transfiguration and they witnessed this event at the specific invitation of Jesus.  “Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.”  It was there Jesus commanded Peter, James and John to keep this secret Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” 

 

 

Transfiguration of Christ

St. Catherine's Cathedral Russia

 

Peter seems to bring out the human in Jesus.  Much like Peter, he has a short temper and prone wide mood swings.  The similarities between them are perhaps why Jesus made Peter the first among Apostles.  Perhaps, Jesus’ humanity helped him carry our burdens and leading ultimately to our redemption. Jesus The Heresy.com, an organization dedicated to exploding the myths of Christianity, describes Jesus relationship to Peter, “This is no match of equals. Nor does Jesus come across as a best friend – or even big brother to Peter.  Rather, the role is more akin to that of a comedy routine.  There is the comedian and the straight man – with the straight setting up all the one-liners for the star.  In a nutshell, that puts Peter in his place.”

 

In the “Heresy of Peter”, the writer uses an example from Mark.  “There is no better place to view Peter as the straight man/fall guy for the antics of Jesus than from the vantage point of Mark’s gospel.  And the action in Mark unfolds quickly.  Following Peter’s “immediate” decision to become the first of Jesus’ disciples (with brother Andrew), he clearly becomes an insider among the twelve chosen…

 

Peter has a strong intuitive sense and capacity for the quick response.  Along the way to the villages of Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”  And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”  So then, Jesus asks the more pointed question: “But who do you say that I am?”  It is Peter who answers: “You are the Messiah.”  Does Peter receive accolades for his discernment?  No, rather Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

 

 

 

For Jesus, the opportunity to use Peter as a foil appears most clearly as the master begins to teach “quite openly” of the coming rejection and suffering he would endure as the Son of Man. Mark writes that:” Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.”  Jesus responds abruptly: “But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, ”Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things””

 

A gentler view of Peter and his relationship with Jesus can be found in the other three Gospels.  Mark’s account seems unduly harsh.  Yet, even in the other Gospels, we find that Peter did not always understand what Jesus was saying.  Perhaps it is Peter’s lack of formal education coupled with Jesus unnerving tendencies not to answer questions from Peter or anyone directly. In their analysis of the Matthew on Peter, the “Twelve Heresies” writers, admit that Peter [10] -”by this time, Matthew’s Peter appears to be getting the hang of asking smart questions, such as: “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?  As many as seven times?”  Here Jesus responds with an unexpected answer, but certainly no put-down: “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”

 

Another, even simpler conclusion can be drawn here.  Peter’s whole persona became instilled with self-doubt because he was in such awe of Jesus and his powers.  The fan, who is in awe of famous movie star, unexpectedly thrust into his or her company, finds themselves tongue-tied, is the contemporary parallel.  The most vivid example of Peter’s awe is his declaration (The Confession of Peter) to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”  It was perhaps this very quality, this reverence that Peter had for Jesus, which convinced Jesus to place the spreading of the “Good News” in Peter’s hands. 

 

PETER AS LEADER OF THE CHURCH

 

Triple Tiara Papal Crown

of Pius IX (19th century) (Pio Nono)

Last Pope to use these ornate crowns

in their coronation, Paul VI,  Vatican Museum

 

“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 

 

With those famous words from Matthew, the Christian Church is founded.  Jesus gives the keys to that Church to Peter.  The Gospels of the Mark and Luke also acknowledge Peter as the leader of the Church.  Only in the Gospel of John is his leadership downplayed.  John refers to Peter as the disciple who Jesus “loved.”  This diminishment of Peter’s role in the Gospel of John leads to several speculations.  We will reserve that for our article on John. 

 

To further complicate the character and leadership of Peter is one of strangest anomalies in the New Testament.  This singular incident seems to return scripture to a more judgmental God. This is the story in Acts 5 of Ananias and his wife Sapphira where Peter acts as judge and disapproves of their actions in a property sale and they both mysteriously die for their crimes.  The writer of Acts portrays this as divine retribution.  An alternative view expressed in the Twelve Heresies perhaps is closer to the truth.  “Does Peter’s role go further?  Is the author of Acts cloaking a human act of judgment and execution in robe of divine justice?  Did Peter go too far?”  The author of Acts won’t say directly but, clearly, the event had its effect.  The author never says that the deaths were the result of direct divine intervention.” Michael Grant’s secular view seems to ignore the whole thing and draws no implications because the incident is replete with divine implications. 

 

Peter Ananias & Sapphira

Masicco 1426

 

The Church leadership comes to play most assertively in the first half of the Acts of the Apostles where Peter leads the working sessions of the Council of Jerusalem beginning with election of Mathias to replace Judas as an Apostle.  Immediately following the Council of Jerusalem, Peter then leads the devout Jews on day of Pentecost.  James, brother of Jesus, only assumes the Jerusalem Church leadership after he (James) sends all of the Apostles on the road to preach the “good news” of Jesus Christ.  Peter’s name vanishes in the rest of Acts because the leadership of the Jerusalem church passed from Peter to James and Paul.  The remainder of Acts is devoted to Paul.  One of contention of Robert Eisenman in his book “James, Brother of Jesus,” is that the first Church was not in Rome but Jerusalem.  Taking into account Peter’s brash temperament and lack of formal education, perhaps the emerging Church leadership felt that the Church needed a firm more wise hand at the helm. 

 

PETER IN ROME

 

After his short tenure as Bishop of Antioch, Peter comes to Rome and, along with Paul assumes the leadership of the fledgling church.  The portrait of Peter’s leadership found in canon is the two epistles, I and II Peter, that bear his name.  It took the Church along time to consider them valid.  Eusebeius writing in his History of the Church in the late third century, concludes that the I and II Peter are valid.  Although by no means universal, some scholars maintain that I Peter may have some Petrine authorship.  However, if they are accurate records of his activities in Rome, the Epistles do indeed help to fill the gaps of our portrait of Peter.  Despite being non-canonical, the Coptic Acts of Peter present us an in-depth account of his activities as one of the leaders of the Christians in Rome.  They introduces us to Peter’s daughter, Marcellus the Roman Senator, the battle of miracles between Simon Magus and Peter in the Roman Forum and finally his death and martyrdom.[11]

 

PETER: BISHOP OF ROME?

 

On this subject, the waters get a bit muddy.  Every scholar today accepts the idea that Peter and Paul did not actually found the Church. Christians were already in existence in Rome long before their approximate arrival in 56c.e.[12]  They blended into the already large Jewish population that existed, perhaps numbering more than 50,000.  Even today, Rome has a large Jewish population that can trace its origins back to ancient times.  The Christian church was not centralized, but was part of the loose network of synagogues that existed in the Rome.  The first persecution of Jewish Christians came not under Nero but under Claudius was, according to Eamon Duffy, a English Catholic scholar, from his “Saints and Sinners: A History of Popes.”  “The Emperor Claudius became alarmed by the constant disturbances among the Jews over Chrestus (a common early for the name of Christ), and expelled them from the city in AD 49.  The expulsion can hardly have included all 50,000 Jews, but Jewish Christians certain were obliged to leave the city….”[13] 

 

With all of this turmoil, and the scattered nature of the Jewish Christians, it is unlikely that Peter every held the title of Bishop.  Fr. Richard O’Brien in his “Lives of the Popes” says, “Peter did become identified in tradition as the first Bishop of Rome.  But tradition is not a fact factory.  It cannot make something into historical fact when it is not.” O’Brien later points out “Peter’s unique importance as Jesus’ first and chief disciple and as the leader the college of the twelve apostles is clear enough.  No pope in history has achieved his status, and it is not accident that none of the 260 individuals whom Catholic tradition regards as his successor have take the name Peter II, including two whose own baptismal names were Peter, (John XIV, elected 983, and Sergius IV, elected in 1009).”[14]

 

THE DISPUTES BETWEEN PETER AND PAUL

 

Peter & Paul Departing from

Jerusalem, Tiepolo Illustrated Manuscript

 

The disputes between Peter and Paul were not some scholarly debate but rather spiteful at times.  The major reason for this was Peter’s proclivity toward anger such as cutting the ear of Annas, the attendant to Jerusalem’s high priest.  From one non-canonical gospel source states Levi once put it this way to his fellow disciple: “Peter, you have a constant inclination to anger and you are always ready to give way to it.[15]”  Peter, in his leadership role at the Council in Jerusalem, appears to have supported Paul position concerning the Gentiles to gain James’ approval.  However, Peter always walked the middle road.  This vividly portrayed in Acts 15 in the battle over circumcision  “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers.  And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith, he has made no distinction between them and us.  Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”  Paul’s struggle with Peter is perhaps based on Peter’s efforts to bring together the Jewish and Gentile Christian communities knowing they faced such opposition from Rome. 

 

Despite his early defense of Paul, Peter later reverts to the comfort of his Jewish community and is severely criticized by Paul in his Letter to the Galatians. ”But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned; for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles.  But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction.  And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Peter & Paul El Greco

Looking at Acts as one of the great “storm centers [16] ,” one wonders how these two Christian communities ever came together when Peter and Paul met in Rome in about 56c.e. There both men faced a common enemy, the Roman government, which must have made some of their disputes seem minor indeed.  It was there that these two strong men, the convert Apostle Paul and the “beloved” Peter began the work to establish Christianity as the world’s most dominant religion.  It was their strengths of their leadership and their faith that these men were able to put aside their differences. 

 

In all the disputes that surrounded Peter, including those with Jesus, Peter was indeed the middle man.  Phillip Schaff wrote in The History of the Christian Church[17], “As to his official position in the church, Peter stood from the beginning at the head of the Jewish apostles, not in a partisan sense, but in a large-hearted spirit of moderation and comprehension.  He never was a narrow, contracted, exclusive sectarian.  After the vision at Joppa and the conversion of Cornelius he promptly changed his inherited view of the necessity of circumcision, and openly professed the change at Jerusalem, proclaiming the broad principle.”  (Acts 10)  “I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.  You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.”

 

THE ENIGMA OF PETER’S FAITH

 

Christ Handing the Keys to Church to Peter

Perugino Late 15th century Sistine Chapel, Vatican

 

When it comes to Peter’s faith, it is also portrait of conflicts which adds much to the mystery of this Apostle.  Conflicts are most vivid in the stories where his faith was tested and it failed.  His first test of faith was Peter’s inability to walk on water after Jesus had done so.  Here Jesus chastised Peter in Matthew saying, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”

 

Another failure of Peter’s faith comes in Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus chastised him first when the Apostles had fallen asleep.  Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter “So, could you not stay awake with me one hour?  Stay awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”  (Matthew 26)

 

Then we come to Peter’s ultimate failure of his faith, the Three Denials.  Michael Grant takes these events one step further as way to vividly portray the conflicting nature of his faith by pointing out that it was Peter who struck back with a sword cutting off the ear of Malchus, the slave of the high priest Caiaphas when Jesus was arrested. 

Then in almost his next breath he denies Jesus three times during the night.  The inferences from that are manifold.  Were the three denials Peter’s lack of faith or his lack of courage or were they a recognition by Peter, as Michael Grant believes, that martyrdom at this point in his life would mean that he would fail to carry out his most important command from Jesus given to him at Caesarea Philippi (Matthew). 

 

Peter's First Denial to the Servant Girl

Tournier 16th century Prado Madrid

“Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.  And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  For had Peter identified himself as one of Jesus’ followers, would there indeed have been a Christian Church or would have Peter and the Church died with Jesus on Calvary. 

Out of Peter’s failures, came strength of character and faith.  We witness his leadership at the council of Jerusalem.  This was the beginning of this great man’s final journey.  The strength of his faith is most apparent when Peter heals the lame man as recorded in Acts 3.  “Peter looked intently at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”  And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.  But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, stand up and walk.”  And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. Jumping up, he stood and began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.  All the people saw him walking and praising God, and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”

 

Over his life Peter’s faith evolved drawing him closer to God.  The famous passage from Isaiah 11, the Peaceable Kingdom, although we apply to Christ because of his Davidian ancestry, the underlying meaning of the text could certainly could also apply to Peter, “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” 

 

THE SUMMATION OF PETER THE ENIGMA

 

 Finally, presented here are two views of Peter, God and the Church.  From the Twelve Heresies:  “God is defined by Peter as the one who has made and exalted Jesus, a being who gave and poured out his Spirit. This God is the god of our ancestors – the Supreme Being to whom both Son and Holy Spirit are to respond.

 

For Peter, the question of how God is experienced is clearly more important than who God is.  Through the earthly ministry of Jesus, this disciple is evidently pleased to have had the opportunity to experience the power of the divine through Father and Son.  At Pentecost, he and others directly participate in receiving the power of the Holy Spirit.  Peter appears to espouse a form of predestination.  Believers are “chosen and destined” directly by God the Father.  This is the same Father who protects and strengthens the faithful, but who also evokes a “fear” of God.  This is a God who judges people “according to their deeds,” who condemns human pride, and who warns of punishment for the unrighteous…for the chosen, the knowledge of God who offers strength and unparalleled transfiguration…for the damned; this is a God unafraid to punish severely.”

 

From Michael Grant: “I think that it was because of Peter’s whole hearted, unreserved devotion, dedication and faith-highlighted rather than diminished by incidents such as the Denials, if they are authentic-that Jesus selected him as his chief disciple, or as the representative of the rest.  If that is correct, then Peter was Jesus’ principal follower, the second person in the story of Christianity, and thus a figure of enormous, overwhelming significance in the history of the world….moreover, unless Peter had done this, Jesus’ endeavors without Peter’s work immediately after the Crucifixion, and so without Peter, there would have been no Christian Church either in the subsequent centuries or today.“

 

There is validity in both of these two conflicting portraits of Peter because he was a man in conflict with himself, his God, and the world.  Although history is still very hazy about exactly who the man Peter was, the stark contrasts of what we know of his life can only lead us to call him the Christian Enigma.  We are still left with more questions than answers.  As Christians, we can draw strength from Peter’s perfections.  However, his imperfections, and how he overcame them, perhaps give us the most strength.  

 

Collect for Peter from the Book of Common Prayer.

 

“Almighty Father, who inspired Saint Peter, first among the apostles, to confess Jesus as Messiah and Son of the living God: Keep your Church steadfast upon the rock of this faith, so that in unity and peace we may proclaim the one truth and follow the one Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen “

 

The table below will give you links to websites and documents related to Peter. The Acts of Peter are considered an accurate source of information on Peter's life. The  fragment of the Gospel of Peter gives another account of Christ's Passion.  The Acts of Peter and the Twelve is a 33 line Coptic manuscript and part of the Nag Hamadi discovery in 1947.  It bears little resemblance to other sources on Peter's life and is of doubtful authenticity.  It's an allegorical story is most likely another pious novel.  Authorship by Peter of the Gospel, Acts of Peter and the Twelve and the Revelations of Peter are doubtful.  However, they are all stimulating reading.  If you use main profile article, please credit all sources.  It prints to about 10 pages.

 

 

Coming next in this series Judas Iscariot The Betrayer?

 

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