Peter the Apostle

Simon Peter was one of the original twelve apostles of Jesus. He was also selected by Jesus to be one of his inner circle of 3. In some places in scripture, he is also known in scripture as Cephas (Aramaic form of Peter.)

His first appearance in the Bible was in John 1:35-42 when Andrew "brought him unto Jesus." Andrew, his brother, proclaimed "We have found the Messiah" (see John 1:41.) When he appeared before Jesus, Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas" (which is translated, Peter.) (see John 1:42) Peter is the Greek word for rock or stone. Jesus, as a Rabbi or master teacher, then initiated both Peter and his brother Andrew as an official follower with a very creative and relevant calling, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men" (see Mark 1:17.) These two sons of a fisherman named Zebedee became the first two official followers and servants of Jesus, the Messiah.

Early Years

Original Name - Simon

He was the son of Jonas (or John) and a brother of Andrew. His original name was Simon and Jesus changed his name to Peter after he called Peter to "follow me."

It is thought that Simon Peter may have been disciples of John the Baptist. (John 1:35-41) Andrew, Peter's brother, was definitely named as a disciple of John the Baptist. It would be assumed that Peter was too since they were so closely related and followed Jesus together.

When Peter was first called by Jesus to become a follower, Jesus immediately changed his name to Cephas (Petros - Rock or Stone.)

Peter's Home

During the early of Simon Peter, he lived his life in Bethsaida on the Sea of Galilee helping his father with the family fishing business. Later he lived in Capernaum on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. (see Matthew 4:18 Matthew 8:14)

Here he first received his call to discipleship of Christ (AD 26-27) with the call being repeated, like all the other apostles, 2 more times. (Matt 4:19, Mark 1:17, Luke 5:3 for the second call, and Matt 10:2, Mark 3:14, Mark 3:16, Luke 6:13-14 for the third call.

Peter often served as a spokesman for the original twelve apostles of Jesus (Matthew 16:16-18, John 6:68-69)

Peter was probably (according to tradition) martyred in Rome by being crucified upside down around 67 or 68 and after the burning of Rome and increased persecution by Nero.

These appear to be an initial plea to follow Christ, a subsequent call to become fishers of men (call to share), and a third which officially "appointed" him as apostles.

Prior Occupation

Peter left his family fishing business when Jesus invited him into a rabbi/disciple relationship.

Three Calls of Peter

Constant Companion of Christ

Jesus had three disciples that he considered his inner circle - Peter, James and John. As part of his inner circle, Peter had more time with Jesus than the rest of the disciples. Jesus included Peter in private time of prayer and often talked with him one-on-one.

Peter's life can be divided into 3 Periods

Plain of Bethsaida

The northeastern shore of the Sea of Galilee is a fertile plain where the feeding of the 5,000 likely took place. Israeli maps and excavators currently locate the New Testament city of Bethsaida at an ancient ruin known as et-Tell. The excavation team, headed by Rami Arav, is insistent that this site be identified with ancient Bethsaida. Others suggest that Bethsaida may be better located at el-Araj near the lakeshore.

Feeding of the 5,000

The feeding of the 5,000 most likely took place on the Plain of Bethsaida. Mark 6:30 says the feeding took place at a solitary place and verse 39 says that the people sat down on the green grass."http://www.crossbooks.com/verse.asp?ref=Mk+6%3A39" id="esxf14"> After this, however, Jesus made his disciples go over to Bethsaida. About 5 square miles (8 sq km) in area, the Plain of Bethsaida is very spacious and is crisscrossed by streams, aqueducts and irrigation canals. There are many flat hills on which it would be possible to seat large numbers of people.

http://bibleatlas.org/area/bethsaida.jpg

From Call to Passion

• Healing of Wife's Mother at Capernaum (Matt. 8:14)
• Great Draught of Fishes and Full Surrender to Jesus(Luke 5:1-11)
• Call to Apostolic Office (Matt. 10:2)
• Attachment to his MASTER in attempt to walk on waves (Matt. 14:28)
• Attachment as shown in at "a certain crisis" "Lord, to whom shall we go?" (John 6:68)
• Noble confession of Jesus as the Christ and the rebuke (AD 29) (Matt 16:13-23)
• Exalted privileges he enjoyed with James and John as witness to raising Jairus' daughter (Mark 5:37)
• Exalted privilege to witness the transfiguration of the Lord (Matt 17:1-5)
• Incident of tribute money (Matt 17:24)
• Washing of His Feet by Jesus and 2 Mistakes of missing importance of that act (John 13:1-10)
• His first boasting as to his strength of commitment to Jesus and the warning of Satan's assault on him (Luke 22:31-34)
• Second mention of betrayal (Matt. 26:31-35)
• Failure to watch and pray with Jesus on the mount (Matt. 26:36-46)
• Mistaken courage in severing Malchus' ear (John 18:10-12)
• Mulitple verbal denials of Christ (AD 30) followed by his tears of bitterness (Matthew 26:56-58)

From Passion to Ascension

(not yet finished)

From Ascension to Conversion of Saul

(not yet finished)

Jesus immediately knew his heart and called him... the first words Jesus spoke to Peter was "Come, follow me" (Mark 1:17) His last words to Peter were... "You must follow me" (John 21:22)

Peter was the recognized leader among Jesus' apostles.

He was the leader of the inner 3

Peter's Weaknesses

• He often spoke without thinking, often brash and impulsive
• Seemed to be a people pleaser when in the flesh
• Later found it hard to treat Gentile Christians as equals

Lessons from Peter's Life

• Enthusiasm has to be backed up by faith and understanding or it fails
• God's faithfulness can compensate for our greatest unfaithfulness
• It is better to be a follower who sometimes fails than one who fails to follow

Peter spent 15 intentional days discipling Paul in Jerusalem (Gal 1:18) Peter was primarily trusted with preaching Jesus to the Jews. Paul as a counterpart was tasked with preaching Jesus to the Gentiles. Both of these apostles were brash, potentially had a short temper, were aggressive with their communication, probably high D's.

Peter's Books of the Bible

1 Peter

• Fulfillment of Jesus' prediction that Peter would someday "strengthen" his fellow believers (Luke 22:32)
  • One theme was encouraging those being persecuted (1 Peter 2:12)
  • 1 Peter 3:16
  • 1 Peter 4:4
• Written about 63-4 AD
• Writing from Babylon (1 Peter 5:13), we don't know if it was the actual city or the popularly used code word "Babylon" for Rome
• Written To Christians (both Jew and Gentile) scattered abroad Asia Minor by persecution 1 Peter 1:1
• Purpose - to encourage Christians being persecuted and to instruct regarding salvation and subjection. Also to confirm Peter's agreement with Paul. (2 Peter 3:14-15)
• The Polished Greek style sometimes makes one wonder about authorship
• Every chapter mentions Christ sufferings - encouragement for persecuted
• He shows somewhat uncharacteristic tenderness in language to church
• For it's length, 1 Peter contains more OT quotes than any other book

2 Peter

One of only 2 people I can remember who Satan asked for permission to test him.Luke 22:31