Who is Peter...and Why Does It Matter?

By Jake Hanson

Click Here for the Study Sheet: "Who Is Peter...and Why Does It Matter?"

The opening words of 1 Peter are these short words which will be the study of this lesson:

Who Is Peter…and Why Does It Matter?

One of the first questions to ask about any book or letter is: Who is the author? While such a question is not the end-all in understanding a book’s content, 1 Peter is particularly enriched by knowledge of the life of the author.

Even a cursory examination of his life greatly enhances the study of the epistle. More could be said biographically about the Apostle, but below are just a few examples of how his life enriches the understanding of this letter.

I want to suggest to you that getting acquainted with the life of Peter as described in the Gospels, Acts, Galatians and in Church history is crucial to understanding this wonderful little letter.  So let’s look at a few aspects of Peter’s life that might help us understand his letter a little better.

1. Peter Was The First...

... Disciple / Apostle

Peter was the first Disciple or Apostle of Jesus according to Matthew 10:2. By this, he certainly means he is the chief Disciple. But he and his brother Andrew appear to be the first disciples of Jesus. You will remember that Peter was a fisherman by trade.  So as Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee where Peter and his brother Andrew were unsuccessfully fishing, Jesus jumped into their boat, began teaching, and then had them cast their nets to catch more fish than their nets could hold which gave authority to Jesus’ promise to Peter and Andrew, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of people” with the implication that they would catch more people than they could imagine. They left everything behind to follow this intriguing Teacher. For the next few years, they would have the opportunity to listen to Jesus teach and they would learn to interpret the Scriptures.

Peter, along with James and John, would become the inner circle of Jesus’ Disciples.  These three were present at the Transfiguration as well as at Jesus’ raisings of the dead. While John was the Disciple that Jesus loved, Peter was Jesus’ representative to the other Disciples and inquirers. And he was also the representative of the Disciples to Jesus.

... Confessor of Jesus as the Messiah

Because of this most vocal role, more is recorded about Peter than the other Disciples.  When reading through the Gospels, Peter strikes you as bold, yet foolish, always impulsive and often an obnoxious man. The glimmers of excitement you get from Peter are immediately squashed. For example, Peter begins to walk on water to meet Jesus, and then nearly drowns because of his lack of faith. He makes an astonishing admission, that Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. Then, in the same conversation when he learns that the Messiah must suffer death, he rebukes Jesus who in turn calls him “Satan” and a “stumbling block”—a word incidentally which we find in 1 Peter.  Indeed, Peter’s bold claims in the Gospels are almost always immediately refuted by his actions or words.  At Pentecost, all of this changes as he and the other Apostles receive the Holy Spirit who puts a bridle on and empowers Peter and the other Apostles. 

... Christian Preacher

As a result, Peter becomes the first, and primary spokesman and preacher of the Christian faith. As he and John return to the Temple—the very place where Jesus had all those confrontations—to proclaim the Gospel boldly. And as Acts 4:13 says, “As [the religious leaders] observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” I love that verse: being recognized as having been with Jesus.

And Peter was also the first to recognize Jesus’ vision for the Gentiles, though he backed off on it, which Paul rebuked him for in Galatians 2. Though he was transformed at Pentecost, he still wasn’t perfect.

Significance

There is a list of qualifications for Apostleship based on the Scriptures, but some are based on Pauline questions which may or may not be qualifications. In its simplest form, “Apostle” means “one who is sent,” and therefore acts as an ambassador for another. In a sense then, we are all apostles (with a little ‘a’), but the particular office of Apostle is reserved for a select few, who are personally commissioned by the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:20 suggests that the Apostles, along with the prophets, are the authoritative foundation of the Church.  As such, the Apostle’s teaching has binding authority. You can choose to reject their authority—but doing so is a rejection of the One they represent: the Lord Jesus Himself. What you cannot do, is pick and choose what part of their teaching you want to keep or what you want to throw out.  

The function of the Apostles is wonderful as found in Ephesians 4. Along with the prophets, evangelists, teachers and pastors, the Apostles are given to us in order to “equip the saints [that is, you and me who have put our faith in Jesus Christ] for works of service to the building up of the body of Christ…” The book of 1 Peter is a part of this. The letter is an attempt to equip you and me to become participants in the building up of the body of Christ. The work is not left up to the Apostles, evangelists, prophets, teachers and preachers alone. It is up to the plumbers, the bankers, the sales reps in the pew to “declare the excellencies of Christ.” It is up to you and to me.

2. A Man Called Peter...or Cephas...or Simon...or Simeon...or Simon Peter

His name actually gets pretty complicated, and covers three or four different languages and gets into Catholic versus Protestant interpretations.  But it seems that he was born as Simeon—a Hebrew name—or Simon—a Greek name—neither of which have apparent significance. And he was nicknamed 'Cephas' in Aramaic, or 'Peter' in Greek which both mean “rock.” Often the two are put together as 'Simon Peter.'

Significance

What is significant about his name is that rocks are symbolic of firmness, dependability and invariability—the Lord is described in the Bible as a rock in several places, including in 1 Peter.

Peter could not be described as firm and dependable based on the Gospel records.  Jesus named Peter a “rock,” not for what he was, but for what he would become by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Significance to 1 Peter

We will see this metaphor of rocks and stones played out when we get to chapter 2 of 1 Peter. I don’t think it is a coincidence that Peter gets a bit obsessed with the name Jesus gave to him. Indeed, Peter even tucks the name into his epistle.

3. Persecuted for Christ

If you follow the story of Peter, it is quite a powerful one.  We have discussed some of his impulsiveness, but the story really gets interesting at the Last Supper. When the Disciples are discussing who will betray Jesus, Peter tells Jesus emphatically, “Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away.” And again, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You.”  But true to form, the bolder Peter got, the harder he fell.

When Jesus was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter chopped off the ear of one of the guards—luckily Jesus was there to heal it. Peter seemed to mean business that he would go to death with Jesus. But his resolution was conditional and weak. When he continued to blurt out, “I do not know the man!” and he heard the cock crow for the third time, and he saw the Lord turn and look at him. Can you imagine? The text tells us that Peter went out and “wept bitterly.”

The story of Peter is one of hope. So grieved he surely was that he had betrayed his Lord even though he was so resolute that he would not. Would he ever be in the good graces of the Lord again? Could he ever be in the good graces of the Lord?

Peter is absent from the rest of the passion narrative. It was another man named Simon who would bear Jesus’ cross. Others would minister to Him and criminals would go to death with Him.

The Scriptures are careful to point out Jesus’ emphatic acceptance of Peter after the Resurrection. The angel at the empty tomb told the visiting women, “Go tell the Disciples—and Peter.” Luke tells us, “The Lord has really risen, and has appeared to Simon” (24:34).

Significance

The story is hopeful because it teaches that there is grace and forgiveness for wayward sinners like Peter—like you and like me. Never is it an excuse for sinning in the future, but it is redemption from our sins in the past.

Peter would never again buckle to persecution. After Pentecost he preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ with boldness and was arrested multiple times. He and the other Apostles were flogged by the Temple authorities. Perhaps joyful that they did not buckle under the persecution, and they left “rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame” for the name of Jesus Christ (Acts 5:40ff).

Peter’s death brings the story full-circle. Church history tells us that Peter met his end when Nero—who was apparently playing the fiddle at the time—blamed the burning of Rome on Christians. The resultant persecution led to the deaths of both Peter and Paul.  According to early Church history, Peter was to be executed on a Cross, but considered himself unworthy of the Lord’s method of death. So he requested that he be crucified upside-down.

Significance to 1 Peter

Peter encourages us in his epistle to expect persecution and suffering for our faith in big and in small ways—in injustice and in prejudice. We are to be as aliens without citizen’s rights in this world.

Keeping Peter’s experiences in mind is a helpful reminder as we read through 1 Peter. It is as if he is calling out, “It is not worth it to cave into the pressures or pleasures of this dying world to sell out Christ!”

4. Called to Feed the Sheep of God

When we find Peter after his betrayal and after the resurrection in the Gospel of John, Peter and some of the other Disciples had begun to fish again. Whether or not they were planning on returning to a life of fishing is not exactly clear, though I am inclined to think they were.  Perhaps then, this is why Jesus pulled Peter aside and kept asking him, “Do you love Me?” Peter would reply, “Lord, you know that I love you.” But Jesus was not satisfied with his words—he would have to act. Word and deed accompanies love. Peter would have to demonstrate his love with more than words. Out of his love for Jesus, Jesus called on him to “feed My sheep.”

Significance

This phrase, “Feed My sheep” points us back—and certainly Peter recognized it—back to Ezekiel 34 which appears to provide some background to 1 Peter.

Let me just take a moment to outline Ezekiel 34. I think it is a helpful passage to keep in mind as we move forward with 1 Peter. Ezekiel 34 is a prophecy against the religious leaders of Israel. The Lord asks, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock?” And then in verse 4, He charges, “Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered [and as we will see in a minute, ‘scattered is an important word for 1 Peter] you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them. 5 "They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered. 6 "My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.” Because of their negligence, the Lord says, “I am against the shepherds.”

In verses 11-16, the Lord says that he will bring back the scattered sheep and tend to them, and in verses 17-22, the Lord says that there will be a coming judgment for the sheep where the good sheep are separated from the bad sheep.

Then in verses 23-31, we learn that the Lord will set over these sheep “one shepherd, My servant David, and He will feed them.” This Servant is no less than the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ Himself.

Significance for 1 Peter

This Shepherd, Jesus, has called on Peter to care for the scattered sheep who need fed, encouraged, protected from enemies and healed from their wounds.  This is role is played out as shepherd Peter writes our letter of study to the scattered in Asia Minor.

It will be helpful to continue to look back at the life of Peter as we continue on in this study. But this will give us a good basis for this study. Peter was a man who grew in stability and began to unify his words and his deeds as he declared the excellencies of His Lord Jesus Christ.

Part 2: To Scattered Believers in a Perishing World