Peter
A fisherman from Galilee whom Jesus named Peter, the rock. He is the spokesman of the Twelve in the Gospels and the leading figure of the Jerusalem church in Acts. Early tradition says that he died a martyr at Rome under Nero.
Simon was a fisherman, the brother of Andrew. John’s Gospel says that they came from Bethsaida (John 1:44); Mark places Simon’s house, and his wife’s mother, at Capernaum (Mark 1:21, 29–31). Jesus called him from his nets (Mark 1:16–18) and gave him the name Cephas, in Greek Peter, which means rock (John 1:42) (Mark 3:16). He stands first in every list of the Twelve, and with James and John he is present at moments from which the others are absent (Mark 5:37; 9:2; 14:33). He speaks for the disciples in confessing Jesus as the Christ (Mark 8:29); see Peter’s Confession at Caesarea Philippi. The Gospels tell that he three times denied knowing Jesus on the night of the arrest (Mark 14:66–72). Paul names him first among those to whom the risen Jesus appeared, and Luke reports an appearance to him (1 Corinthians 15:5) (Luke 24:34).
In Acts he leads the first community in Jerusalem, preaches at Pentecost, and baptises the Gentile household of Cornelius (Acts 2:14) (Acts 10:44–48). Paul counts him with James and John as one of the “pillars”, describes him as entrusted with the mission to the Jews, and also tells of opposing him to his face at Antioch (Galatians 2:7–14). The Gospel of John hints at a violent death (John 21:18–19). A letter from Rome of about AD 96 says that he bore his witness and went to glory, without saying where (1 Clement 5). Eusebius, writing in the early fourth century, reports that he was crucified at Rome under Nero, and quotes writers of the late second and early third centuries in support (Eusebius, Church History 2.25.5–8); see the Martyrdoms of Peter and Paul.
In the timeline
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJesus Begins His Ministry in Galilee
Mark and Matthew tell how, after John’s arrest, Jesus returns to Galilee, announces that the kingdom of God is at hand, calls four fishermen and makes Capernaum, on the lake, the centre of his teaching and healing.
- c. AD 28–29, estimated dateJesus Appoints the Twelve
From his wider following Jesus chooses twelve men to be with him and to be sent out to preach and heal. Mark, Matthew and Luke list their names from Simon Peter to Judas Iscariot; Acts lists the eleven who remained.
- c. AD 29 or 32, estimated dateThe Feeding of the Five Thousand
In a lonely place by the Sea of Galilee, all four Gospels relate, Jesus feeds a crowd of about five thousand with five loaves and two fish. John adds that the crowd wanted to make him king, and the discourse on the bread of life.
- c. AD 29 or 32, estimated datePeter’s Confession at Caesarea Philippi
Mark and Matthew tell how, near Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asks his disciples who they say he is, and Peter answers: You are the Christ. Jesus then begins to speak of his coming suffering and death. Matthew adds the saying about the rock and the keys.
- c. AD 29 or 32, estimated dateThe Transfiguration
Mark, Matthew and Luke tell how three disciples on a high mountain see Jesus changed in appearance, his clothes shining white, with Moses and Elijah beside him, and hear a voice from a cloud call him “my beloved Son”. The Gospels do not name the mountain.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Last Supper
On the night before he dies Jesus eats with the twelve in Jerusalem, gives them bread and a cup, calling them his body and his blood of the covenant, and foretells his betrayal. John tells instead how he washed their feet. The Gospels differ on the day.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateGethsemane and the Arrest
After the supper Jesus prays in distress at Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives while his disciples sleep. Judas arrives with an armed party and identifies him with a kiss. Jesus is seized and the disciples flee.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Burial and Resurrection
The Gospels tell that Jesus was buried in a rock tomb on the evening of his death and that on the first day of the week women found the tomb open and empty and were told that he had risen. That God raised him from the dead is the central claim of Christian faith.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated dateThe Appearances and the Great Commission
The Gospels and Paul report that the risen Jesus appeared to his followers, in Jerusalem, on the road to Emmaus and in Galilee, and sent them to make disciples of all nations. The accounts differ on where and in what order.
- AD 30 or 33, estimated datePentecost
At the feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem, Acts says, the Holy Spirit comes on the followers of Jesus, Peter preaches that God has raised Jesus and made him Lord and Christ, and about three thousand people are baptised.
- about AD 34, estimated dateThe Gospel Reaches Samaria and an Ethiopian Official
Acts tells how Philip, driven from Jerusalem by persecution, preaches in Samaria, where Peter and John follow him, and then baptises an official of the Ethiopian queen on the road to Gaza. In Acts the message here first passes beyond Judea.
- about AD 40, estimated dateThe Baptism of the Gentile Cornelius
Acts tells how Peter, after a vision at Joppa, enters the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius at Caesarea, preaches there, and has him and his household baptised without circumcision, and how the church in Jerusalem accepts what he has done.
- AD 44, firm dateHerod Agrippa Kills James and Dies at Caesarea
Acts says that King Herod Agrippa I had the apostle James, son of Zebedee, put to death and imprisoned Peter, who escaped. The king died suddenly at Caesarea. Acts and Josephus both describe his death, and the figures Josephus gives put it in AD 44.
- about AD 49, estimated dateThe Council of Jerusalem
Acts tells how Paul and Barnabas go up from Antioch to Jerusalem to settle whether Gentile believers must be circumcised, and how the apostles and elders decide that they need not be. Whether the meeting Paul describes in Galatians is the same one is disputed.
- about AD 49, estimated datePaul Opposes Peter at Antioch
Paul tells the Galatians how Cephas, who had been eating with Gentile believers at Antioch, withdrew when people came from James, and how he rebuked him in front of everyone. Whether this came before or after the council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 is disputed.
- c. AD 64–68, traditional dateThe Martyrdoms of Peter and Paul
The New Testament does not tell how Peter and Paul died. A letter from Rome, usually dated about AD 96, says that both suffered and died for their witness; writers from about AD 170 onwards place their deaths at Rome, and later ones under Nero.
Primary sources
Scripture
Church History
- Eusebius, Church History 2.25.5–8newadvent.org