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

Who Was Peter and Why Was He So Important?

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Known as "Doubting Thomas," he was the pessimistic, loyal, and practical disciple whose suspicions of the resurrection vanished as he touched the wounds of his risen Master. He was present in the upper room during Pentecost when the Holy Spirit descended upon the believers. However, very little of the New Testament mentions him again. It seems that there are three significant occurrences involving Thomas and Christ. The first occasion begins when Jesus was hounded out of Jerusalem and was seeking a quiet and secluded town for safety.

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When word came of Lazarus's illness, Jesus waited two days before leaving for Bethany that the Father would be glorified. Although Thomas was frightened, he was loyal to his Master and accompanied Him during the dangerous travels. We come to understand the threatening situation and the loyalty of Thomas in John A second reference to Thomas's interaction with Christ can be found in the upper room, during the Last Supper, before the arrest of Jesus.

Jesus sat among his disciples and told them of His coming departure: I go to prepare a place for you. By His grace, Christ is our daily strength and satisfaction. By His redeeming blood, we have access to the Almighty God. Third, we rejoin the disciples in the upper room after the crucifixion of Christ as they hid from the Jews. Then Christ appeared to them in all His glorious magnificence; yet Thomas was not among the disciples John Being the practical man that he was, Thomas did not believe the other disciples when they had told him of their risen Lord.

One week later, the followers of Christ hid once more from the Jews in the upper room. It was then when Christ appeared a second time and Thomas realized his Saviour had indeed raised from the dead. He has been recognized for writing an apocryphal book that may have been written in the second century. It has also been said that Thomas was martyred near Madras at Mount St. Many biblical scholars see this as a representative of how Christians should react when Jesus Christ exhorts them to seek the path of righteousness Matthew The call of Matthew is told in all three of the Synoptic Gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke as Jesus makes an unexpected choice to call forth a tax collector to be His disciple.

As a tax collector, or publican, Matthew transferred taxes from both local merchants and farmers to the Roman state. In that day, tax collectors were seen as thieves because they often took taxes for personal gain.

Immediately after he rose to follow the Lord, Matthew gave Jesus a large banquet in which he invited many tax collectors and sinners Luke 5: The Pharisees criticized Jesus for dining with such an appalling group of wretched sinners; yet Jesus rebuked them saying," I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" Luke 5: Indeed, He came to save sinners from all condemnation and eternal destruction.

What a wonderful comfort to cherish! May we immediately rise up and seek Christ with all our hearts and souls. Thus, we will spend eternity in His everlasting and glorious presence! Within his gospel, Matthew reveals the Messiah to be the fulfillment of the Old Testament law: Based upon the work of Mark, Matthew portrays the life of Christ in a more complete manner through long dissertations, as seen in the Sermon on the Mount. Throughout his book, Matthew emphasizes the teaching of Christ as a source of guidance for the church.

In his later ministries, Matthew preached to Ethiopia and all of Egypt and was later killed with a spear under the leadership of King Hircanus. While his name appears in the four New Testament listings of apostles, little is known about James. He is usually identified with "James the Younger," the son of Mary not the mother of Jesus , and the brother of Joses Mark This distinction of "younger" or "less" Gk ho mikros differentiates him from James the brother of Jesus and James the son of Zebedee.

The terms "younger" or "less" refer to his younger age, smaller physique, and less significance.

His mother, Mary, was among the crowd at the crucifixion of Jesus and the discovery of the empty tomb Matthew Before his calling to follow Christ, Simon was a zealous nationalist who wanted to drive out the Romans from the cities; his group tactics often resulted in bloody conflict. Little is known about the lives of both Simon and Judas not Iscariot.

According to the apocryphal book, The Passion of Simon and Jude, we are told their lives ended in martyrdom in Persia. Unlike the other apostles, Thaddaeus claims three separate names: 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.

Who was Peter?

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. These and many other passages reveal the essence of the Christian message: See below Moral teachings. Although Paul may have converted some Jews, his mission was directed toward the Gentiles , who therefore constituted the vast majority of his converts.

Pagan religion was very tolerant: Civic loyalty, however, included participation in public worship of the local gods. Jews had the privilege of worshipping only the God of Israel, but everyone else was expected to conform to local customs. Paul and other missionaries to Gentiles were subject to criticism , abuse, and punishment for drawing people away from pagan cults.

Although he showed some flexibility on eating food that had been offered to an idol 1 Corinthians Thus, his converts had to give up public worship of the local gods. Religiously, they could identify only with one another, and frequently they must have wavered because of their isolation from well-established and popular activities. It was especially difficult for them to refrain from public festivities, since parades, feasts including free red meat , theatrical performances, and athletic competitions were all connected to pagan religious traditions.

This social isolation of the early converts intensified their need to have rewarding spiritual experiences within the Christian communities , and Paul attempted to respond to this need. Although they had to wait with patience and endure suffering 1 Thessalonians 1: In fact, Paul saw Christians as beginning to be transformed even before the coming resurrection: Although he placed his converts in a situation that was often uncomfortable, Paul did not ask them to believe many things that would be conceptually difficult.

The belief that there was only one true God had a place within pagan philosophy, if not pagan religion, and was intellectually satisfying. By the 1st century, many pagans found Greek mythology lacking in intellectual and moral content, and replacing it with the Hebrew Bible was therefore not especially difficult. The belief that God sent his Son agreed with the widespread view that gods could produce human offspring.

The activities of the Holy Spirit in their lives corresponded to the common view that spiritual forces control nature and events. The teaching of the resurrection of the body, however, was difficult for pagans to embrace, despite the fact that life after death was generally accepted. Pagans who believed in the immortality of the soul maintained that the soul escaped at death; the body, they knew, decayed. Although Paul recognized the possibility that after death he would be punished for minor faults 1 Corinthians 4: Paul regarded suffering and premature death as punishment for those who sinned 1 Corinthians 5: He thought that those who believed in Christ became one person with him and that this union was not broken by ordinary transgression.

Paul did regard it as possible, however, for people to lose or completely betray their faith in Christ and thus lose membership in his body, which presumably would lead to destruction at the Judgment Romans Paul, like his Jewish contemporaries the scholar and historian Flavius Josephus and the philosopher Philo Judaeus , completely opposed a long list of sexual practices: However, he urged married partners to continue to have sexual relations except during times set aside for prayer 1 Corinthians 7: These ascetic views were not unknown in Greek philosophy, but they were standard in Greek-speaking Jewish communities, and it is probable that Paul acquired them in his youth.

Some pagan philosophers, meanwhile, were more inclined than Paul to limit sexual desire and pleasure. For example, the Stoic philosopher Musonius Rufus flourished 1st century ce wished to restrict marital sexual relations to the production of offspring. Some aspects of Jewish sexual ethics were not generally accepted among the Gentiles to whom Paul preached. Sexual behaviour, therefore, became a substantial issue between him and his converts, and for that reason his letters frequently refer to sexual ethics. His other moral views were as simple and straightforward to ancient readers as to modern: To all of these issues he brought his own expectation of perfection, which his converts often found difficult to satisfy.

Male homosexual activity is condemned in the Hebrew Bible in Leviticus Paul accepted the prohibition but made an exception in the case of Christians who were married to non-Christians 1 Corinthians 7: The consequence has been that, in some forms of Christianity, the only ground for divorce is adultery by the other partner. Until the 20th century the laws of many state and national governments reflected this view.

The first is his preference for total celibacy: This view may have been a personal matter for Paul 7: He was motivated in part by the belief that time was short: The top tier consisted of those who were entirely celibate such as, at different times in the history of the church, monks, nuns, and priests. Married Christians could aspire only to the bottom, inferior tier. In his letter to the Romans Few Christians were willing to stray from Romans 13 until the 18th century, when the Founding Fathers of the United States decided to follow the Enlightenment philosopher John Locke rather than Paul on the question of revolt against unjust rulers.

Paul, like other Jews, was a monotheist who believed that the God of Israel was the only true God.

But he also believed that the universe had multiple levels and was filled with spiritual beings. He declared in 1 Corinthians 8: Despite all this, Paul believed, at the right time the God of Israel will send his Son to defeat the powers of darkness 1 Corinthians After his death and resurrection, his followers regularly referred to him as the Messiah Acts 2: Various Jewish groups, however, expected different kings or messiahs or even none at all, and these titles therefore did not have precise meanings when the Christians started using them.

He seems not to have defined the person of Jesus metaphysically for example, that he was half human and half divine. God, according to Paul, sent Jesus to save the entire world. His death, in the first place, was a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of everyone. Early Christians, influenced by the ancient theory that one death could serve as a substitute for others, believed that Jesus died on the cross so that believers would escape eternal destruction. When the time was right, God would send Christ back to save the cosmos by defeating all the remaining forces of sin and to liberate all of creation.

In this grand vision of the redemption of the created order, Paul shows how deeply he believed in one God, maker of heaven and earth, and in the cosmic importance of his Son, Jesus Christ. According to Paul, all humans, no matter how hard they try, are enslaved by sin Romans 7: Mere repentance is not enough to permit escape from the overwhelming power of sin. Timothy reported back that their faith was strong 1 Thessalonians 3: Circumcision was the sign of the covenant between God and Abraham , the first of the Hebrew patriarchs, and it was traditionally required of all Gentiles who wished to worship the God of Israel.

The question was whether his Gentile converts would have to accept those parts of the Jewish law that separated Jew from Gentile. Paul opposed making these aspects of the law mandatory for his Gentile converts. Paul employed the language of righteousness and faith when he was using the story of Abraham to argue that circumcision was no longer necessary. Paul regarded his converts not only as individuals who had been freed from sin but also as organic members of the collective body of Christ. Only the worst forms of denial of Christ can remove an organic member from the body of Christ.

A part of the body of Christ, for example, should not be joined to a prostitute 1 Corinthians 6: Besides avoiding the deeds of the flesh, members of the body of Christ receive love as their greatest spiritual gift 1 Corinthians Paul thought that membership in the body of Christ really changed people, so that they would live accordingly. He thought that his converts were dead to sin and alive to God and that conduct flowed naturally from people, varying according to who they really were.

This absolutist ethical view—those in Christ are to be morally perfect; those not in Christ are extremely sinful—was not always true in practice, and Paul was often alarmed and offended when he discovered that the behaviour of his converts was not what he expected. It was in this context that he predicted suffering and even death or postmortem punishment for transgressions 1 Corinthians He made people believe that they could really change for the better, and this must often have happened. Paul believed that the God of Israel was the one true God, who had redeemed the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, given the Israelites the law, and sent his Son to save the entire world.

Although Paul accepted Jewish behaviour as correct, he thought that Gentiles did not have to become Jewish in order to participate in salvation.

Saint Peter

These views are not easily reconciled. If the one true God is the God of Israel, should not one obey all the commandments in the Bible, such as those regarding the Sabbath , circumcision, and diet? Yet, Jesus chose a man all men hated and made him one of His men. It took Jesus Christ to see the potential in the tax collector of Capernaum.

Matthew was unlike the other Apostles, who were mostly fishermen. He could use a pen, and by his pen he became the first man to present to the world, in the Hebrew language, an account of the teaching of Jesus. It is clearly impossible to estimate the debt that Christianity owes to this despised tax gatherer.

The average man would have thought it impossible to reform Matthew, but to God all things are possible. Matthew became the first man to write down the teachings of Jesus. He was a missionary of the Gospel, who laid down his life for the faith of his Master. The apostolic symbol of Matthew is three money bags which reminds us that he was a tax collector before Jesus called him. Simon Peter, son of Jonas, was a fisherman who lived in Bethsaida and Capernaum.

He did evangelistic and missionary work among the Jews, going as far as Babylon. He was a member of the Inner Circle and authored the two New Testament epistles which bear his name. Tradition says he was crucified, head downward, in Rome. In every apostolic list, the name Peter is mentioned first. However, Peter had other names. At the time of Christ, the common language was Greek and the family language was Hebrew. So his Greek name was Simon Mark 1: His Hebrew name was Cephas 1 Corinthians 1: The Greek meaning of Simon is rock. The Arabic meaning of Cephas is also rock.

By trade, Peter was a fisherman. He was a married man 1 Corinthians 9: Jesus probably made His headquarters there when He visited Capernaum. Peter was also a Galilean as was typical of many of the other disciples. Josephus described the Galileans this way, "They were ever fond of innovation and by nature disposed to change and delighted in sedition. They were ever ready to follow the leader and to begin an insurrection. They were quick in temper and given to quarreling and they were very chivalrous men.

Peter was a typical Galilean. Among the twelve, Peter was the leader. He stands out as a spokesman for all the twelve Apostles. It is he who asked the meaning of the difficult saying in Matthew It is he who asked how often he must forgive.

John the Apostle: Bible Biography, Facts and Death

It is he who inquired about the reward for all of those who follow Jesus. It is he who was at the Mount of Transfiguration. It is he who saw Jairus' daughter raised to life. Yet, it is he who denied Christ before a maiden. He was an Apostle and a missionary who laid down his life for his Lord. It is true, Peter had many faults, but he had always the saving grace of the loving heart. No matter how many times he had fallen and failed, he always recovered his courage and integrity.

John the Apostle: Bible Biography, Facts and Death

Peter was martyred on a cross. Peter requested that he might be crucified head downward for he was not worthy to die as his Lord had died. His apostolic symbol is a cross upside down with crossed keys.

The Apostles of Jesus

Tradition says that disciple Philip preached in Phrygia and died a martyr at Hierapolis. Philip came from Bethsaida, the town from which Peter and Andrew came John 1: The likelihood is that he, too, was a fisherman. Although the first three Gospels record his name Matthew Scholars disagree on Philip. Some say this is a different Philip. Some believe this is the Apostle. If this is the same Philip, then his personality came more to life because he had a successful campaign in Samaria.

He led the Ethiopian eunuch to Christ Acts 8: He also stayed with Paul in Ceasarea Acts But Philip did not argue with him; he simply answered, "Come and see. First, it shows his right approach to the skeptic and his simple faith in Christ. Second, it shows that he had a missionary instinct. Philip was a man with a warm heart and a pessimistic head. He was one who would very much like to do something for others, but who did not see how it could be done.

Yet, this simple Galilean gave all he had. In return God used him. It is said that he died by hanging. While he was dying, he requested that his body be wrapped not in linen but in papyrus for he was not worthy that even his dead body should be treated as the body of Jesus had been treated. The symbol of Philip is a basket, because of his part in feeding of the five thousand. It is he that stressed the cross as a sign of Christianity and victory. Simon, the Zealot, one of the little-known followers called the Canaanite or Zelotes, lived in Galilee.

Tradition says he was crucified. However in the other two places he is called Simon Zelotes Luke 6: The New Testament gives us practically nothing on him personally except that it says he was a Zealot. The Zealots were fanatical Jewish Nationalists who had heroic disregard for the suffering involved and the struggle for what they regarded as the purity of their faith. The Zealots were crazed with hatred for the Romans. It was this hate for Rome that destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Josephus says the Zealots were reckless persons, zealous in good practices and extravagant and reckless in the worst kind of actions.

From this background, we see that Simon was a fanatical Nationalist, a man devoted to the Law, a man with bitter hatred for anyone who dared to compromise with Rome. Yet, Simon clearly emerged as a man of faith.

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