GOING DEEPER
WHO WAS PETER?
Before we go farther into Peter's letter, it is worth slowing down and asking:
Who was this man?
Peter was not merely a name attached to a New Testament book. We know more about him than almost any other apostle.
And the Peter who writes about faith being tested, suffering for Christ, humility, shepherding God's people, and standing firm had learned many of those lessons the hard way.
HIS NAME WAS SIMON
Peter's original name was Simon.
The New Testament also gives the Semitic form Simeon in Acts 15:14, and 2 Peter 1:1 begins with “Simeon Peter” in many manuscripts and translations.
Jesus gave him another name:
Cephas
John explains:
“You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas (which means Peter).”
— John 1:42
Cephas is Aramaic.
Peter — Petros — is Greek.
Both carry the idea of a rock or stone.
So when we read “Peter” at the beginning of this letter, we are reading the name by which this apostle became best known among Christians.
PETER WAS ANDREW'S BROTHER
Peter did not first come to Jesus alone.
John tells us that Andrew heard John the Baptist speak about Jesus and then:
“He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah.’”
— John 1:41
Then:
“He brought him to Jesus.”
That little detail is easy to overlook.
One of the most important figures in Acts was originally brought to Jesus by his brother.
PETER WAS A FISHERMAN
Peter and Andrew were fishermen.
So were James and John.
Jesus called them away from their nets:
“Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
— Mark 1:17
Peter was not introduced to us as a rabbi, priest, scribe, or member of Jerusalem's religious establishment.
He was a working fisherman from Galilee.
Acts 4:13 later describes Peter and John as “uneducated, common men.”
That does not mean they were unintelligent or unable to read and write.
It means they had not received the formal rabbinic training associated with the recognized religious scholars.
Yet these were men Jesus chose to carry His message.
BETHSAIDA AND CAPERNAUM
John 1:44 says:
“Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.”
Yet Mark 1 places Peter's house in Capernaum.
Apparently Peter had connections with both places.
Mark tells us that Jesus entered:
“the house of Simon and Andrew.”
Peter's mother-in-law was there suffering from a fever, and Jesus healed her.
That tells us something else about Peter.
PETER WAS MARRIED
Peter had a mother-in-law.
Therefore Peter was married.
Paul later asks:
“Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”
— 1 Corinthians 9:5
Apparently Peter's wife sometimes traveled with him in his ministry.
The New Testament never tells us her name.
Later traditions supply stories about Peter's wife, but those should not be confused with what Scripture actually tells us.
What Scripture tells us is enough:
Peter was a married apostle.
PETER WAS PART OF JESUS' INNER CIRCLE
Jesus chose twelve apostles.
But several times three of them were brought especially close:
Peter, James, and John.
They were present when Jesus raised Jairus's daughter.
They accompanied Jesus onto the mountain of Transfiguration.
And Jesus took them farther into Gethsemane on the night of His arrest.
Peter therefore witnessed some events that most of the Twelve did not witness.
PETER COULD BE BOLD—AND IMPULSIVE
Peter frequently spoke before anyone else did.
Sometimes magnificently.
Sometimes disastrously.
When Jesus walked on the water, Peter said:
“Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
— Matthew 14:28
Peter actually stepped out of the boat and walked toward Jesus.
Then he saw the wind, became frightened, and began to sink.
That sounds remarkably like Peter throughout the Gospels.
Faith—and fear.
Courage—and weakness.
Sometimes within moments of each other.
“YOU ARE THE CHRIST”
One of Peter's greatest moments came at Caesarea Philippi.
Jesus asked:
“Who do you say that I am?”
Peter answered:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
— Matthew 16:16
Peter saw something enormously important.
But he did not yet understand what being the Christ would mean.
When Jesus immediately began explaining that He must suffer, be killed, and rise again, Peter objected.
Jesus rebuked him sharply.
Peter had correctly identified who Jesus was while still misunderstanding what Jesus had come to do.
That helps us appreciate how much Peter himself had to learn about suffering before writing a letter in which suffering becomes one of the major themes.
PETER SAW THE TRANSFIGURATION
Peter was also present when Jesus was transfigured.
He saw Moses and Elijah.
He heard the voice from the cloud:
“This is my beloved Son…listen to him.”
Years later, 2 Peter 1:16–18 explicitly recalls that experience.
Whatever questions we later examine concerning 2 Peter, the author presents himself as someone who personally witnessed Christ's majesty on the mountain.
“I WILL NEVER FALL AWAY”
Peter's greatest failure came on the night Jesus was arrested.
Jesus warned His disciples that they would fall away.
Peter answered:
“Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.”
— Matthew 26:33
Peter was certain of himself.
Jesus was not.
Jesus told him that before the rooster crowed Peter would deny Him three times.
Peter insisted:
“Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.”
Only hours later, Peter did exactly what Jesus had predicted.
Three times.
The third time:
“he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, ‘I do not know the man.’”
Then the rooster crowed.
Luke records an especially painful detail:
“The Lord turned and looked at Peter.”
— Luke 22:61
Peter remembered Jesus' words.
And:
“he went out and wept bitterly.”
JESUS DID NOT FINISH WITH PETER
Peter's failure was terrible.
But it was not the end of his story.
After His resurrection, Jesus met Peter beside the Sea of Galilee.
Three times Jesus asked:
“Do you love me?”
And three times Jesus gave Peter responsibility for His sheep:
“Feed my lambs.”
“Tend my sheep.”
“Feed my sheep.”
— John 21:15–17
The man who had denied Jesus three times was given three opportunities to affirm his love.
And then Jesus gave him work to do.
That conversation becomes especially important when we reach 1 Peter 5.
There Peter tells the elders:
“Shepherd the flock of God that is among you.”
Peter was passing along something his own Shepherd had taught him.
JESUS ALSO TOLD PETER HOW HE WOULD DIE
Immediately after telling Peter to tend His sheep, Jesus said:
“When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”
John then explains:
“This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.”
— John 21:19
The New Testament therefore tells us that Peter was warned that his life would eventually end in a death connected with his faithfulness to Christ.
But John does not tell us exactly when, where, or by what method Peter died.
For those details we must move from Scripture to early Christian historical testimony.
That distinction is important.
PETER AFTER THE RESURRECTION
The Peter we meet in Acts is still Peter—but something has changed.
The man who had been afraid to admit knowing Jesus now stands publicly in Jerusalem and announces:
“God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
— Acts 2:36
On Pentecost Peter becomes the principal speaker.
When the crowd asks what they should do, Peter answers:
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…”
— Acts 2:38
About three thousand people respond.
PETER AND JOHN BEFORE THE AUTHORITIES
After healing the lame man at the temple, Peter and John were arrested.
The authorities ordered them not to speak or teach in Jesus' name.
Peter and John answered:
“We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”
— Acts 4:20
Later Peter and the apostles said:
“We must obey God rather than men.”
— Acts 5:29
Compare that Peter with the frightened man in the courtyard denying that he knew Jesus.
The resurrection had changed everything.
PETER AND THE GENTILES
One of the most important events in Peter's life occurred in Acts 10.
Peter was staying in Joppa when he received the vision of the sheet containing animals.
Then messengers arrived from the Roman centurion Cornelius.
Peter entered a Gentile home and finally said:
“Truly I understand that God shows no partiality.”
And:
“everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
The Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles.
Peter then asked:
“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people…?”
This was a major turning point.
Peter had to learn that the gospel was not confined within the ethnic boundaries he had known all his life.
PETER STILL HAD MORE TO LEARN
Even after Cornelius, Peter did not become incapable of making mistakes.
Galatians 2 tells us that at Antioch Peter had been eating with Gentile Christians.
But when certain people arrived from James, Peter withdrew because he feared the circumcision group.
Paul says:
“I opposed him to his face.”
This is important.
The New Testament does not turn Peter into a flawless hero.
He could preach boldly at Pentecost.
He could open the door to Cornelius.
And later he could still act inconsistently because of fear.
Peter continued learning.
That makes his later emphasis upon humility especially meaningful.
PETER DISAPPEARS FROM THE ACTS NARRATIVE
Acts 12 records Peter's miraculous release from prison.
Afterward Peter tells the believers to report what happened to James and the brothers.
Then Acts says:
“he departed and went to another place.”
Peter appears again at the Jerusalem meeting in Acts 15.
After that, Acts follows primarily the ministry of Paul.
Scripture does not give us a continuous biography of Peter's later years.
This is where historical evidence outside the New Testament becomes important.
DID PETER GO TO ROME?
The New Testament never says in a straightforward sentence:
“Peter went to Rome.”
However, 1 Peter ends:
“She who is at Babylon…sends you greetings, and so does Mark, my son.”
— 1 Peter 5:13
Many interpreters understand Babylon here as a symbolic name for Rome, just as Babylon becomes a symbolic name for the great imperial city in Revelation. But Peter himself does not explicitly say, “By Babylon I mean Rome,” so this remains an interpretation rather than an explicit identification. Bible Gateway
The historical case becomes stronger when we look at early Christian testimony.
WHAT IS OUR EARLIEST EVIDENCE ABOUT PETER'S DEATH?
One of our earliest sources outside the New Testament is a letter known as 1 Clement, written from the church at Rome near the end of the first century.
It remembers Peter as a man who endured repeated suffering and finally bore witness unto death. The same passage then speaks about Paul's sufferings and death.
Because the letter comes from Rome and discusses Peter and Paul together in a context of persecution and martyrdom, it is important early evidence behind the tradition that Peter died as a martyr associated with Rome. But 1 Clement does nottell us the precise method of Peter's execution. Wikisource
That distinction matters.
Early evidence: Peter suffered martyrdom.
The details become clearer only in later sources.
PETER, PAUL, AND ROME
Early in the second century, Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the Christians at Rome:
“I do not command you as Peter and Paul did.”
That is another early indication connecting Peter and Paul with the Roman church.
By the latter part of the second century, writers such as Irenaeus explicitly connected Peter and Paul with Rome. Later writers, including Tertullian, also knew the tradition of Peter's martyrdom there. Wikisource
The tradition therefore was not something invented in the Middle Ages.
It appears quite early.
Exactly how every detail should be reconstructed is another question.
WAS PETER CRUCIFIED?
The New Testament predicts a violent death for Peter but does not explicitly say:
“Peter was crucified.”
Later Christian testimony says that he was.
Tertullian, writing around the beginning of the third century, associates Peter's death at Rome with a suffering like that of the Lord. Origen's tradition, preserved later by Eusebius, explicitly says Peter was crucified. Bible & Archaeology
So the tradition of Peter's crucifixion is ancient.
But it is not stated directly in the New Testament.
WAS PETER CRUCIFIED UPSIDE DOWN?
This is one of the best-known stories about Peter.
According to later tradition, Peter requested to be crucified upside down because he considered himself unworthy to die in precisely the same manner as Jesus.
The tradition that Peter was crucified in an inverted position is associated with later accounts and was repeated by Origen, whose report is preserved by Eusebius. Bible & Archaeology
Could it have happened?
Certainly.
Can we demonstrate it from the New Testament?
No.
And our earliest evidence for Peter's martyrdom does not supply that detail.
So on TEXT B4 TRADITION, we should say:
Ancient tradition says Peter was crucified upside down.
We should not say:
“The Bible tells us Peter was crucified upside down.”
It doesn't.
DID PETER DIE UNDER NERO?
The traditional setting for Peter's martyrdom is Rome during the reign of Nero, commonly associated with the persecution that followed the great fire of Rome in A.D. 64.
Later Christian writers consistently associate Peter's martyrdom with Rome and the Neronian period, while 1 Clement gives us an early Roman memory of Peter and Paul as suffering witnesses. The exact year of Peter's death cannot be established with certainty from the surviving evidence. Bible Gateway
So a careful statement would be:
Peter very likely died as a martyr at Rome during Nero's reign, probably sometime in the mid-to-late A.D. 60s.
We should be less confident about an exact date.
WHAT ABOUT MARK?
At the end of 1 Peter we read:
“Mark, my son.”
That tells us Peter and Mark had a close relationship.
There is an interesting connection with Acts.
When Peter was miraculously released from prison, where did he go?
“He went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark.”
— Acts 12:12
So Peter's association with Mark was not something invented centuries later.
Mark's family was already connected with Peter in Acts.
Later, Papias—whose testimony survives through Eusebius—said that Mark became Peter's interpreter and wrote down what he remembered of Peter's teaching about Jesus. Irenaeus likewise associated Mark with Peter. Bible Gateway
This is one reason the Gospel of Mark has traditionally been connected with Peter's preaching.
Again we should distinguish carefully:
The New Testament tells us Peter and Mark were closely associated.
Early Christian testimony connects Mark's Gospel with Peter's preaching.
Those are related statements, but they are not the same kind of evidence.
DID PETER WRITE 1 PETER?
The letter itself begins:
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.”
The early church accepted 1 Peter as Petrine, and by the late second century writers such as Irenaeus explicitly cited it as Peter's letter. Eusebius later placed 1 Peter among writings regarded as undisputed in the churches. New Advent
Modern scholars have raised questions, particularly because the Greek of 1 Peter is polished and because of questions concerning its historical setting.
One possible answer is found at the end of the letter:
“By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you.”
— 1 Peter 5:12
Exactly what role Silvanus played is uncertain. He may have carried the letter, assisted with its composition, or possibly both.
We should therefore acknowledge the scholarly discussion without pretending the letter itself is anonymous.
The letter identifies its author as Peter.
And Petrine authorship has substantial early Christian support. Bible Gateway
NOW READ 1 PETER WITH PETER'S LIFE IN MIND
Knowing Peter's story makes certain statements in this letter sound different.
Peter writes:
“Humble yourselves.”
This comes from the man who once argued about greatness and confidently insisted he would never fall away.
Peter writes:
“Be subject to the elders.”
And calls himself:
“a fellow elder.”
Peter writes:
“Shepherd the flock of God.”
This comes from the man Jesus told:
“Feed my sheep.”
Peter writes:
“Do not repay evil for evil.”
This comes from the man who once drew a sword in Gethsemane.
Peter writes about suffering for Christ.
This comes from the man who once denied Jesus because he was frightened of what association with Jesus might cost him.
Peter writes:
“Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion.”
This comes from the man Jesus once warned:
“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat.”
And Peter writes:
“Resist him, firm in your faith.”
The young Peter had not always stood firm.
The older Peter knew why Christians needed that warning.
PETER WAS NOT BORN “SAINT PETER”
Perhaps that is one of the most encouraging things about studying his life.
The Peter of the Gospels could be:
bold,
frightened,
perceptive,
confused,
loyal,
impulsive,
self-confident,
weak,
courageous,
and sometimes completely wrong.
Jesus did not choose Peter because Peter had already become everything he needed to be.
Jesus changed him.
Even then, the change did not happen overnight.
Peter learned through:
success,
failure,
correction,
forgiveness,
experience,
suffering,
and years of following Christ.
By the time we meet the older Peter writing to suffering Christians, he is not writing about ideas he knows only from books.
He knows what it is to fail.
He knows what it is to be forgiven.
He knows what it is to be afraid.
He knows what it is to stand before hostile authorities.
He knows what it is to discover that something he had always assumed needed to be reconsidered in the light of what God had revealed.
And he knows what Jesus told him beside the sea:
“Follow me.”
That may be the best introduction possible to the man whose letter we are about to study more deeply.
NOW LET'S LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT HIS FIRST WORDS
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ…”
Those few words now carry considerably more weight.
This is Simon the fisherman.
Simon the disciple.
Peter the confessor.
Peter who misunderstood.
Peter who boasted.
Peter who denied Jesus.
Peter who wept.
Peter who saw the risen Christ.
Peter who was restored.
Peter who preached at Pentecost.
Peter who entered Cornelius's house.
Peter who was arrested.
Peter who still sometimes needed correction.
Peter the elder.
Peter the shepherd.
And, according to very early Christian testimony, Peter the martyr.
Now he writes to other Christians who are discovering that following Jesus can also cost them something.
And his first word to them is his name:
Peter.
Return to HOME page
Return to PETER page