PETER
(lat. “Petrus”, from the Greek “Petros”: a piece of rock, a boulder, in contrast to “petra”, a rock mass; cf. “petra” in Mt. 7:24, 25; 27: 51, 60; Mr. 15:46; Luke 6:48, where it is mentioned as a sure foundation; see the articles STONE and ROCK in W. E. Vine’s “Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words”).
Christ gave Simon, Jonah’s son, the nickname Cephas (Aramaic form, cf. Jn. 1:42; 1 Cor. 1:12, etc.) upon meeting him for the first time. Simon, his brother Andrew, and their father Jonah were associated with Zebedee and his sons, all of them fishermen on the lake of Gennesaret (Mt. 4:18; Mark 1:16; Luke 5: 3 ff.). Simon Peter, originally from Bethsaida (Jn. 1:44), went on to reside in Capernaum with his family (Mt. 8:14; Luke 4:38).
Peter, who was most likely a disciple of John the Baptist, was introduced to Jesus by Andrew, Peter’s brother (John 1:41, 42). Andrew was one of two disciples of John the Baptist who heard the declaration that Jesus (returning from his triumph over temptation in the wilderness) was the Lamb of God, the Messiah (John 1:35-41) .
Jesus quickly discerned Simon’s nature, and immediately changed his name to Cephas (Gr. “Petros”, see first paragraph above).
Peter, like the first disciples, received three calls from his Master to become His disciple (John 1:40; cf. John 2:2) and to accompany Him constantly (Mt. 4:19; Mr. . 1:17, Luke 5:10) to be one of the apostles (Mt. 10:2; Mark 3:14, 16; Luke 6:13, 14).
He had, from the beginning, a prominent role among the disciples because of his fervor, his energy and impetuosity. Peter is always at the top of the lists (Mt. 10:2; Mr. 3:16; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13).
Three of Jesus’ disciples were close friends of Him: Peter is named first (Mt. 17:1; Mark 5:37; 9:2; 13:3; 14:33; Luke 8:51; 9 :28). He is the spokesman of the apostles; the first to confess that Jesus is the Christ of God (Mt. 16:16; Mr. 8:29), but also the one who tries to divert his Master from the path of suffering (Mt. 16:22; Mr. 8 :33).
Pedro’s life presents three stages:
(a) Firstly, the period of formation, set forth in the Gospels. In these years of relationship with the Master they learned to know Christ and to know themselves. The triple denial of the presumptuous apostle put an end to this period (Mt. 26:69 ff.; Mark 14:66 ff.; Luke 22:54 ff.; John 18:15 ff.).
When Jesus met his disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, he tested Peter by asking him three questions, and then reinstating him in the apostleship (John 21:15ff.).
(b) At the beginning of Acts the second period is set forth, during which Peter led the Church boldly and firmly. He led the brothers to replace Judas with a disciple who had known the Lord (Acts 1:15-26).
After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, on the day of Pentecost, Peter explained the meaning of this miracle to the crowd of Jews gathered in Jerusalem (Acts 2:14 ff.).
He was the main instrument in the healing of the paralytic and immediately addressed the Sanhedrin (Acts 3: 4, 12; 4: 8). He admonished Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:3, 8). The great speech he gave on the day of Pentecost opened the door to salvation for the Jews (Acts 2:10, 38).
Peter also opened it to the Gentiles, addressing Cornelius and those who were in his house (Acts 10), thus making use of the keys of which Christ had spoken to him (Mt. 16:19).
(c) The third period is marked by humble and persevering work revealed in the two epistles of Peter. Once he had laid the foundations of the Church, he abandoned the foreground, and worked from obscurity for the expansion of the Gospel.
Since then, he disappears from history, and it is James who appears leading the Church in Jerusalem (Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; Gal. 2:9, 12). Paul addresses the Gentiles (Gal. 2:7); Peter, an apostle of the circumcision (Gal. 2:8), announced the Gospel to the Jews of the dispersion; he left Jerusalem to James, and the Greco-Roman world to Paul.
The last mention made of him in Acts (Acts 15) presents him at the council of Jerusalem, defending that Gentiles should be admitted into the Church, and also defending evangelical freedom, a position that prevailed.
Peter is mentioned in Gal. 2:11, regarding the Antioch incident; It is possible that he was in Corinth (1 Cor. 1:12) and on the banks of the Euphrates, or in Babylon (1 Pet. 5:13). Accompanied by his wife, he no doubt continued his missionary journeys (1 Cor. 9:5).
Finally, he glorified God in his martyrdom (cf. Jn. 21:19). Peter is known to us only from the previous mentions and from his two epistles, where his humility and tact shine through. Peter endorses the authority of Paul and Jude and exhorts his readers to remain firm in the faith they share with his brothers.
Seen throughout the Gospels, Acts and the Epistles, Peter’s character is never contradicted, this man of action has the flaws typical of his qualities (Mt. 16:22; 26:69-75; Gal. 2:11), which are immense. Enthusiasm was inherent to his person.
Transformed by the Spirit of Christ, Peter is noted for his love for his Master, for his charity, and for his clear perception of spiritual truths. The life of this disciple is full of teachings. His writings plumb the depths of Christian experience and reach the highest peaks of hope.
The story does not add much to what we know about Peter from the NT. There is good reason to accept the tradition that Peter was crucified at the time when Paul was beheaded, around AD 68. Jesus had predicted Peter’s martyrdom (John 21:19).
It is not impossible that he would have suffered martyrdom in Rome. His life has given rise to many legends. Very ancient apocryphal writings, due to the Ebionites (a heretical sect that persisted between the 1st and 7th centuries AD), spread the legend that Peter had been bishop of Rome for 25 years. A careful examination of the sources of this tradition and its content does not allow it to be accepted as history.
Regarding the role attributed to Peter by the Church of Rome, one must examine what the NT actually says about it:
(a) The interpretation of the words: “You are Peter…” (Mt. 16:18) is given by the apostle himself. There is only one fundamental rock: the Christ. Believers are the “living stones” that come to be built upon this one basic foundation, and Peter, the first confessor of the name of Jesus (Mt. 16:15-16), was the first of these individual stones (cf. 1 P. 2:4-6).
The apostle develops the same thought in Acts. 4:11-12. Paul confirms this teaching: Christ is the cornerstone of the spiritual temple of the Lord; the apostles (plural) and the prophets are the foundation of it, on which believers are built (Eph. 2: 20-22).
(b) Peter played a capital historical role in opening the door of the Gospel to the Jews on the day of Pentecost and to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius (Acts 2:10; cf. 14:27).
Furthermore, the power to bind and loose was not given only to him, but also to his disciples (Mt. 16:19; 18: 15-18; Jn. 20:23). Since then, Christians everywhere proclaim the forgiveness of sins that God grants in Jesus Christ (Acts 10:43; 8:22; Rom. 10:9-13); They fulfill the function of ambassadors of Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-20), bringing life, but also death (2 Cor. 2:15-16), because whoever rejects them rejects the Lord himself (Luke 10:16). ).
(c) Peter did not become head of the church, nor “vicar of Christ.” Although he plays an important foreground role at the beginning of Acts, he disappears afterward. At the council of Jerusalem he gave his advice, but it was James who intervened decisively; The final resolution was made in the name of the apostles, elders and brothers, inspired by the Holy Spirit (Acts 15:7, 13, 22, 28).
In Luke’s account, Paul is now in first place, and Peter is simply one of the three “pillars of the church” mentioned in Gal. 2:9 (being, the same Peter cited after James).
It is clear that the doctrine of the NT is that only the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the Church (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18), and that he will never surrender the priesthood of him, which is untransmittable (Gk. , Heb. 7:24).
(d) Furthermore, Peter was not “bishop of Rome for twenty-five years,” and could not have been a first pope. His death took place around the year 68, so he must have been in Rome since the year 43, which is impossible based on the NT.
Writing to the Romans around the years 57-65, Paul greets thirty people from his community, among whom Peter does not figure (Rom. 16); It is about Priscilla and Aquila, and the church that is in his house (cf. Rom. 16: 5).
Paul would not have written this way (Rom. 15:20-24) if it were a church founded by Peter. When Paul arrived in Rome in the year 60, he found that the Jews there knew nothing of the Gospel, and again Peter is not mentioned (Acts 28:15 ff.).
His name does not appear in the Captivity Epistles either, not even in Second Timothy, written shortly before his death around the year 68 (cf. 2 Tim. 4:16, which would be unthinkable for Peter).
(e) Finally, Peter, with all his qualities and experiences, was neither infallible nor had a higher authority than the other apostles.
In Antioch, Paul resisted him face to face “because he was to be condemned”; About this incident, Paul speaks of fear of men, of pretense, and even of hypocrisy, and of a walk not upright or in accordance with the truth of the Gospel (Gal. 2:11-14).
However, Peter is one of the greatest figures, not only in the NT, but in the entire Bible. His entire life was consecrated to the Lord from the day of his calling.
His ardor and zeal for his Lord, his perseverance, humility, meekness, his care for the Lord’s flock, his eagerness to preach the good news of God’s salvation, all of this amply witnessed in the Scriptures, gives us a beautiful image of the consecrated disciple, and constitutes a life to study and an example to follow.