Peter

Here is the disciple who stood in the back of the crowd at Jesus’ crucifixion, and, when he was asked if he was one of Jesus’ disciples, he exclaimed loudly, “I never knew him.” He had been at the very front of the crowd when Jesus had performed His many miracles, including raising the dead to life, and, yet he fled when Jesus’ died on the cross. However, turn to the book of Acts and you see an emboldened disciple who became a leader in the Christian faith named – Peter.

From the book of Acts, we know that, after Peter witnessed Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, he ministered in Jerusalem, Lyda, Joppa, Caesarea, Antioch, Corinth, and Rome in 67 AD where he says he was imprisoned and awaiting his death (2 Peter 1:14-15 AD). He went to Samaria where he encountered the magician and faith healer, Simon Magus; to Lydda in the Plain of Sharon where he healed the paralyzed Aeneas; and to the town of Joppa where he affected the cure of Tabitha (Dorcas). Then he went north on the Mediterranean to Caesarea where, through the conversion of Cornelius, he introduced Gentiles to the church, which brought the opposition of Jewish Christians because he ordered Cornelius and other Gentiles to be baptized without first being circumcised. This act probably led to his imprisonment there by King Herod. However, an angel delivered him from the jail  and he made his escape, going immediately to the house of Mary, the mother of John.

It is clear to many New Testament scholars that he assumed a missionary role. By the end of the 1st century, there existed a tradition that Peter lived in Rome and further evidence is found in the Letter to the Romans by St. Ignatius, the early 2nd century bishop of Antioch – among many other historical documents.

John 21:18-19 is the earliest reference to Peter’s future death where Jesus says to Peter, “ ‘...when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will carry you where you do not want to go.’ (This He said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.” In the ancient world, “stretch out your hands” frequently referred to crucifixion. With this statement and others (John 21:19, 13:36), Peter lived his life after Jesus’ resurrection with the full reality that he would face martyrdom as Jesus did. In 2 Peter 1:12-15, Peter writes knowing his death is imminent, and 1 Clement 5:1-4 (AD 95-96), attests to Peter’s martyrdom during the Neronian persecution of Christians. So, the many references to Peter’s death by crucifixion are quite reliable, and some of them mention he was crucified upside down.  

What made this dramatic change in Peter’s life? He said it was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. Now, if this was a lie, as some today argue, would any man go long distances from his home and die in such a horrendous manner for something he knew was a lie?