By John A. Huffman, Jr.
Meet Peter. He is one of the most prominent figures in the New Testament. His life falls conveniently into three categories. There is Peter the disciple. There is Peter the apostle. There is Peter the martyr.
Occasional references to Peter's original name, Symeon, show that he belonged to the Jewish community. His home was in Galilee at Bethsaida. This town on the East Bank of the Jordan River, just north of where it flows into the Sea of Galilee, was both Jewish in culture and religion and also a cosmopolitan community.
Both Andrew, Peter's brother, and Philip, who also came from Bethsaida, bear Greek names. This bilingual setting, arising from Greek culture, explains why Simon, the Greek version of Symeon, became his adopted name. His father's name was Jonah.
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At some unspecified point in his life he had married, and in latter days his wife accompanied him on a missionary journey, evidently to Corinth, where she was apparently known. Paul makes a passing reference to her in
1 Corinthians 9:5.
Peter's trade, both at Bethsaida and at Capernaum, a port on the northwest shore of Galilee, was fishing.
Some preachers and writers tend to minimize Peter's cultural attainments. That's unfortunate. When Peter and John are referred to as being "uneducated, common men" in
Acts 4:13, it means no more than that they were ignorant of the finer points of the rabbinical interpretation of the Jewish Torah. Peter's exposure to Hellenistic culture in Bethsaida is a counterbalancing argument in favor of Peter's general education. He spoke his native language with a special recognizable accent.
Both Peter and his brother Andrew were followers of John the Baptist (
John 1:40-42), as were a considerable number of the original disciples (
Acts 1:22), before their call to service by Jesus.
The Gospel according to John tells of the call of Peter to become a disciple of Jesus. We read of this in
John 1:40-42. In this context, we have the first replacement of the name "Simon" by "Peter." This name in both the Aramaic and the Greek means "stone" or "rock." This was to be his new name, symbolizing a change of character. Hereafter he would be a new man, consolidated by his relationship to Christ his Lord.
As we know, he did not always live up to this name but it does anticipate the great apostolic pillar he would be. Jesus saw in him the future makings of "rock-man."
Peter was part of Jesus' inner sanctum, a group of three disciples who accompanied Him on special occasions. They were Peter, James and John. In the various lists of the Twelve, Peter stands at the head. In spite of this, I love the fact that the New Testament documents show those closest to our Lord in human terms.