Peter: The Apostle Who Warmed Himself at the Fire

Who Peter Was

Peter, also called Simon Peter and Cephas, was an apostle of the New Testament era. Scripture names his father as John and his brother as Andrew, and it speaks of a wife of Peter. Following Ussher, Annals of the World (1650), he was active AD 29 to AD 67. His footprint in the Bible is large: 179 verses across 54 passages, beginning at Matthew 4:18 and running as far as 2 Peter. Acts carries the most (57 verses), then John (34), Matthew (26), Luke (26), Mark (24), with Galatians (6), 1 Corinthians (4), and a verse each in 1 Peter and 2 Peter. That spread alone tells a story: a man who stands in the Gospels beside Jesus, then in Acts at the front of the young church, then in the letters of others as a name that carried weight.

At the Fire in the High Priest's Court

One of the fullest scenes we have is a failure. "Simon Peter followed Jesus, as did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and entered in with Jesus into the court of the high priest; but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought in Peter. Then the maid who kept the door said to Peter, 'Are you also one of this man's disciples?' He said, 'I am not.' Now the servants and the officers were standing there, having made a fire of coals, for it was cold. They were warming themselves. Peter was with them, standing and warming himself" (John 18:15-18).

Notice what the text gives us and what it does not. Peter followed. He got no further than the door until someone else opened it. And the first question put to him, by a servant girl keeping a door, undid him in four words. The scene ends not in flight but in something worse: he stays, he stands with the officers, he warms himself. The account continues at John 18:25-27, and Luke records the same night at Luke 22:54-55 and Luke 22:60-62.

Lydda, Joppa, and a Widows' Upper Room

"As Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, imploring him not to delay in coming to them. Peter got up and went with them. When he had come, they brought him into the upper room. All the widows stood by him weeping, and showing the coats and garments which Dorcas had made while she was with them. Peter sent them all out, and knelt down and prayed. Turning to the body, he said, 'Tabitha, get up!' She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up" (Acts 9:38-40).

The man who could not answer a doorkeeper now kneels in a room of weeping widows and speaks to a dead woman. Scripture does not credit Peter with the power; it shows him first sending everyone out and praying.

Perplexed at the Gate

"Now while Peter was very perplexed in himself what the vision which he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon's house, stood before the gate, and called and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was lodging there. While Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, 'Behold, three men seek you'" (Acts 10:17-19). Peter is perplexed and pondering; the guidance comes from outside him. What followed is recorded plainly: "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word. They of the circumcision who believed were amazed, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was also poured out on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in other languages and magnifying God" (Acts 10:44-46).

Chains and Prayer

"Peter therefore was kept in the prison, but constant prayer was made by the assembly to God for him. The same night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains. Guards in front of the door kept the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side, and woke him up, saying, 'Stand up quickly!' His chains fell off his hands" (Acts 12:5-7). Two soldiers, two chains, guards at the door, and Peter asleep.

A Name in Other Men's Letters

Galatians speaks of him this way: "but to the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised, for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles, and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas and John, those who were reputed to be pillars, gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcision" (Galatians 2:7-9). The same letter names him again at Galatians 1:18, Galatians 2:11 and Galatians 2:14, and the Corinthian letters at 1 Corinthians 1:12, 3:22, 9:5 and 15:5. His name opens two letters, 1 Peter 1:1 and 2 Peter 1:1.

Many of his 179 verses are mentions rather than scenes: he is simply named, as at Matthew 4:18, Matthew 10:2, Mark 3:16, Luke 6:14, and Acts 1:13. Further scenes are recorded at Matthew 14:28-29, Matthew 16:16-18, Matthew 16:22-23, Matthew 17:24-26, Mark 8:32-33, Luke 5:3-5, Luke 9:32-33, John 1:40-42, John 13:8-9, John 18:10-11, John 20:2-4, John 21:15-17, Acts 2:37-38 and Acts 5:8-9, among others.

The Failure, Named

The text does not protect him. "He said, 'I am not'" (John 18:15-18) stands in the same Gospel that later records John 21:15-17. Peter is also the one rebuked at Matthew 16:22-23 and Mark 8:32-33, and the one named again at Galatians 2:11 and Galatians 2:14. A man may be reputed a pillar (Galatians 2:7-9) and still be a man who denied.

What We Do Not Know

No children of Peter are named. No tribe or people is given for him. The record tells us his father, his brother, that he had a wife, and then stops.

The Line to Christ

The first thing said of him in that courtyard scene is that he "followed Jesus" (John 18:15-18), and the last thing said there is that he denied him. Between the denial and the apostleship stands Jesus, who kept him: Peter is questioned three times at John 21:15-17, stands up to speak at Acts 2:37-38, and is the one of whom it is written that "he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised" also worked elsewhere (Galatians 2:7-9). When the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles while he was still speaking (Acts 10:44-46), it was clear the gift was not Peter's to give. He was perplexed at the gate (Acts 10:17-19), asleep in chains (Acts 12:5-7), kneeling before a dead woman (Acts 9:38-40). Christ built on such a man, and the assembly that prayed for him (Acts 12:5-7) still reads his name at the head of two letters (1 Peter 1:1; 2 Peter 1:1).