A Look at the Life and Death of
the Apostle Peter
By
Owen Allen
I’d like to talk about Peter for a few minutes because, like Paul, he’s one of the best known of the early Christian disciples. But unlike Paul, Peter is also one of the most misunderstood of the early Christian disciples.
So we have two goals for the next few minutes.
a) First: To give some facts about Peter that you may not know.
b) Second: To correct the big misunderstanding that many
people have about Peter.
Let’s begin by talking about where Peter was born. He was born about 3 AD in Bethsaida (“beth-SAY’-duh”), a small fishing village on the north end of Lake Galilee.
In Hebrew, the word Bethsaida means “house of fishing.” (The same way that the Hebrew word Bethlehem means “house of bread.”)
Bethsaida is important in Christian history because Jesus’s first five disciples were all born and raised there. They included two sets of brothers. And all five of them were professional fishermen and partners in a fishing business. The names of the disciples from Bethsaida are:
º Peter.
º Andrew (Peter’s younger brother).
º The brothers James and John (Peter’s and Andrew’s best friends and
fishing partners).
º And the disciple named Philip (who helped them in their fishing business).
Here are two pictures of Bethsaida as it looks today. First is a general view of the ruins today.
Also, below left is a close-up view of the ruins of one of the homes in Bethsaida. Could this be the remains of Peter’s and Andrew’s childhood home?
Now, while we’re talking about Peter’s birthplace, let’s talk about his name at birth. His parents gave him the name Simon bar-Jona. Which, in Hebrew, means “Simon, the son of Jonah.”
Of course, Peter didn’t speak Hebrew. In those days, everyone spoke Aramaic (“air-uh-MAY’-ick”), a Hebrew dialect, as their daily language. Also, Peter and his family and friends spoke it with a slurring accent that identified them as being from Israel’s northern Province of Galilee.[2. Adapted from Matthew, chapter 26, verse 73; and Mark, chapter 14, verse 70.]
But in addition, Peter is also called “Simon-Peter” in the Scriptures. So he had four different names: Simon bar-Jonah … Simon-Peter … Peter … and Cephas (which we’ll talk about in a moment). However, to keep it simple in this overview of his life, let’s just call him Peter!
Now as we said, Peter was a commercial fisherman. So let’s talk about fishing on Lake Galilee in the First Century for a moment.
Peter, and his younger brother, Andrew, together with the brothers James and John, were best friends and were partners in a fishing business on Lake Galilee. The lake is only eight miles wide and 13 miles long, but in those days it had a thriving fishing industry with as many as 250 boats at a time out fishing.
Here’s a picture of the remains of a First Century fishing boat In an Israeli museum.
The shiny metal braces keep the ancient boat from collapsing. It’s 27 feet long and seven feet wide, made of cedar, and was assembled with pegs and metal nails. It was operated by both oars and sails. And clay pots, clay lamps, and other First Century artifacts were found in it.
Now, let’s continue Peter’s story. As adults, Peter and Andrew moved six miles south on Lake Galilee to the town of Capernaum (“cuh-PURR’-knee-umm”), because it was a bigger, richer, and more influential than the village of Bethsaida. In fact, in Hebrew, the word Capernaum means “town of comfort.”
Their three best friends (James, John, and Philip) followed them and also moved to Capernaum. So at this point, five rough, tough fishermen from Bethsaida were now living in Capernaum, where they were about to meet Jesus.
In those days, Capernaum was an important trading and fishing town of about 2,000 residents, plus several hundred travelers and visitors who were constantly passing through in camel caravans and staying a few days.
Capernaum was on the famous Via Maris (“VEYE’-ah MARE’-is”) trade route, so it had a large synagogue … a detachment of Roman soldiers … and dozens of vendors and industries. All of the trade caravans traveling north or south in Israel had to stop there to rest, buy supplies (such as dried and salted fish), and pay taxes.
Here’s a picture of Capernaum as it looks today.
Peter, his younger brother Andrew, and their fishing partners were all living here in Capernaum and working as professional fishermen when they met Jesus. Let’s talk about how that happened next.
What’s interesting about the first two disciples that Jesus recruited is that Peter’s younger brother, Andrew, and Andrew’s best friend, John, were already searching Spiritually in their lives when they met Jesus. In fact, they were already disciples of John the Baptizer. And then they met Jesus. Let’s read in the historical record exactly how that occurred.
(Read in the Bible: John, chapter 1, verses 35 to 41.)
To summarize these events, young Andrew and John were on the River Jordan at a place called Bethabara (“beth-AB’-uh-ruh”),[3. Bethabara no longer exists. It was on the Jordan River a day’s walk east of Nazareth and a day south of Capernaum. The word means “House of the ford” because a ford over the river was there. (Bethabara is mentioned in John, chapter 1, verse 28. But the word is mistranslated as “Bethany” in some Bibles.) The Jordan River flows into Lake Galilee at the north end, and out at the south end, and John the Baptizer used the river at both ends for his water-baptisms. So Jesus, coming from Nazareth, and Peter, coming from Capernaum, could find the Baptizer within a day’s walk.] being taught by John the Baptizer. Then they heard John the Baptizer refer to Jesus as “The Messiah.” So they abandoned the Baptizer, followed Jesus home, and talked with Him until 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon, becoming Jesus’s first two disciples in the process.
Then, Andrew immediately went to find his older brother, Peter, and brought him to meet Jesus. And Peter became Jesus’s third disciple.[4. Adapted from John, chapter 1, verses 35 to 39.] However, Jesus did something strange when He recruited Peter. He changed Peter’s name to a new name that had a hidden meaning. Let’s talk about why He did that.
As we know, Peter’s Hebrew name when he was born in his home village of Bethsaida was Simon bar-Jona. And for years, that was his only name.
But when Jesus recruited Peter, He gave him a new Aramaic name, one that also translates easily into Greek. Let’s review what John, chapter 1, verse 42, says about that. But this time, let’s clarify its meaning. Here’s what that verse says.
“Then (Andrew) brought Simon to Jesus. (Jesus) looked at Simon and said,
‘You’re Simon, son of Jonah. (But from now on), you’ll be called ‘Cephas‘
(which translates into Greek as ‘Peter‘).”[5. Adapted from John, chapter 1, verse 42.]
Now, why did Jesus change Peter’s name? He did it because the new Aramaic name that He gave Peter had a hidden meaning. And that’s important. Because that hidden meaning was this: In Aramaic, the word Cephas can also be translated to mean “a small rock.”
But it gets better. Because if the Aramaic word Cephas is translated into Greek, it becomes the word Peter, and the Greek word “Peter” can also be translated to mean “a small rock.” So, both of Peter’s new names (the Aramaic name “Cephas” and the Greek name “Peter”) had the same hidden meaning. They can both be translated to mean a rock small enough to pick it up with your hand and throw it.
Now, why did Jesus give Simon bar-Jona of Bethsaida two new names, both of which can mean “a small rock”? He did it because He was prophesying about an event that was going to take place in Peter’s life soon. And when that event happened, it would become the source of the big misunderstanding that so many people have about Peter today.
We’re going to talk about that big misunderstanding in a moment. But first, we need to remember that the town of Capernaum became Jesus’s “headquarters” while He was recruiting and training His disciples. Let’s talk about how that happened.
While Jesus was recruiting His disciples, He abandoned His home village of Nazareth (“NAAZ’-uh-reth”), moved 20 miles east to the town of Capernaum, and settled there as His new home, making it His “headquarters” for several months.[6. Adapted from Matthew, chapter 4, verse 13.]
Also, Andrew … Peter … James … John … Philip … and Matthew all had homes in Capernaum, and Jesus’s other six disciples lived there temporarily as needed. So the town of Capernaum became “home base” for Jesus and His disciples until they relocated to Jerusalem some time later.
That’s why it’s interesting that, as we said earlier, the word Capernaum in Hebrew means “town of comfort.” And when we think about Jesus having His “headquarters” there and performing His early miracles there … it really was a “town of comfort” for both the citizens and Jesus and His disciples.
However, the most amazing thing about Capernaum today is that the ruins of Peter’s house are still there. Let’s talk about Peter’s house next.
Peter’s house, where he lived with his wife and children, his younger brother, Andrew, his mother-in-law, and Jesus, still stands in Capernaum today. Many Christians don’t realize that Jesus lived in Peter’s house in Capernaum, and that the remains of the house are still there.
Here’s a picture of the ruins of Peter’s house in Capernaum as it looks today.
Notice that the house was large and comfortable. It had three courtyards and several levels of rooms for cooking, sleeping, and entertaining, showing that Peter was a leading citizen of Capernaum at the time. We know this was Peter’s home because local history says it was, and also because ancient inscriptions on some its remaining plaster say it was Peter’s home in several ancient languages.
It’s important to remember that Jesus lived here with Peter’s family, and that some of Jesus’s first miracles happened in this house: Peter’s mother-in-law was healed in one of these rooms. A man was let down through the roof of this house on a stretcher, so Jesus could heal him. And once, all the citizens of Capernaum surrounded this house begging Jesus to heal them.
Thus, these ruins of Peter’s house are very important in Christian history. But, the town of Capernaum is also important in Christian history for another reason besides the ruins of Peter’s house. Capernaum is also where Jesus gave Christianity its mission. And it’s where Christianity’s first symbols were born. Let’s talk about that mission and those symbols.
The fact that all of Jesus’s first five disciples were professional fishermen helps explain the mission that Jesus gave Christianity. Because the first thing Jesus said to these disciples as He recruited them was:
Thus, the mission that Jesus gave Christians was “to go fishing”! The original Christian mission was to “throw out the bait” and “catch” non-Christians. Today, we call that “The Great Commission,” or the act of being “Evangelical.” So it’s interesting that the symbol the first disciples used to represent non-Christians was the “fish” symbol. Or more specifically, the symbol they used to represent the souls of non-Christians was the “fish.” More, the symbol they used to represent Jesus was the “anchor.” So let’s talk about those two symbols for a moment.
When you study early Christian symbols, one of the first things you learn is that two of the earliest Christian symbols were the “anchor” and the “fish.” But that’s only logical, since Jesus’s first five disciples were professional fishermen who owned a fleet of fishing boats, and who used anchors, and handled fish, on a daily basis.
Here’s a picture of some original Christian symbols, including the “anchor” and “fish” symbols. They’re on the wall of a catacomb in Rome, and they date from the First Century.
The “anchor” symbol represents Jesus. The “fish” symbol represents the soul of a non-Christian who needs to become a Christian. In fact, the “anchor” symbol is often shown “hooking” two “fish” symbols – meaning that the saving power of Jesus draws non-Christians into Christianity. For that reason, a First Century Christian would read these wall symbols as saying: “Christ is our anchor, and our mission is to fish for non-Christians.”
The Christian “anchor” and “fish” symbols appear in the catacombs of Rome from the First through the Third Centuries. Then, in the Fourth Century, they disappear because the Roman emperor, Constantine, replaced them with his new Institutional Christian symbol of the “Execution Cross.” And today, the “Execution Cross” is the only symbol that many Christians recognize and use.
Now – we started out by saying that Peter is one of the most misunderstood of Jesus’s original twelve disciples. So it’s time now to talk about that big misunderstanding.
The big misunderstanding that many Christians have about Peter is that they believe he was the first pope of the Roman Catholic denomination. However, that misunderstanding comes from an incorrect translation of one verse … in one book … of the Bible.
That one verse is Matthew, chapter 16, verse 18. But to understand the problem, let’s read verses 13 through 18 in that chapter. Then let’s talk about how verse 18 was incorrectly translated.
(Read in the Bible: Matthew, chapter 16, verses 13-18.)
Sadly, over a billion Christians (that’s “billion” with a “B”) think these verses say that Jesus “built” Christianity on the personality of the disciple, Peter. In other words, that Peter was the first “supreme leader” of Christianity … that he was the first pope of the Roman Catholic denomination. But none of that can be true for three clear, specific, factual reasons. Here they are.
a) First: The word pope is Latin for “papa,” the Latin child’s name for its father. As a result, that word isn’t in the New Testament because it’s a Latin word, and the New Testament was written in Greek. Thus, the word pope isn’t an original First Century Christian word. Jesus and His disciples never heard it, and never used it.
b) Second: The Roman Catholic denomination didn’t exist in the First Century. It was founded in the Fourth Century, 300 years later. As a result, Peter couldn’t have been its first pope because he had already been dead for 300 years when the Roman Catholic denomination was founded.
c) Third: The habit of having “popes” (elected human beings to serve as supreme “papas” over all Christians) was unknown in the First Century. The truth is that Jesus taught against such a practice in Matthew, chapter 20. As a reminder, let’s read what Jesus said about having levels of authority in Christianity.
(Read in the Bible: Matthew, chapter 20, verses 25-27.)
So Jesus specifically taught against having levels of authority (pecking-orders, or layers of command-and-control) in Christianity. That means the practice of having bishops, archbishops, cardinals, popes, and similar levels of command-and-control among Christians is unspiritual.
Now – since Jesus taught against it, how did the unspiritual practice of having layers of authority among Christians start? It started when the Roman emperors founded institutional Christianity in the Fourth Century and (either accidentally or on purpose) misinterpreted Matthew 16:18, the verse that has become the big problem. Then over the centuries, that misinterpretation became the official doctrine of the Rome Catholic denomination.
The Roman emperors in the Fourth Century said that Matthew 16:18 meant that Peter was the personal “rock” on which Jesus “built” Christianity; and that Peter was therefore the first “pope.” However, Matthew 16:18 doesn’t say anything like that in the original Greek in which it was written.
To understand that, let’s review what verse 18 really says. And as we review it, let’s see what the verse meant to First Century people who spoke Greek. Here’s what verse 18 really says.
“I tell you that you’re ‘Peter‘ (a rock small enough to pick up and throw.)[8. The male name “Peter” in Greek is petros, pronounced “PEH’-trahss,” which can also be translated to mean a rock small enough to be picked up with the hand and thrown. So Jesus is making a wordplay on Peter’s name to catch Peter’s attention.] But,
on that ‘rocky cliff ‘ (that stony ledge),[9. The term “rocky cliff” in Greek is petra, pronounced “PEH’-trah,” which means a stony mountain ledge, or a large rocky cliff. So Jesus is continuing His wordplay by calling Peter a small rock, and then comparing that small rock to a rocky cliff.] I’ll build my group, and the gates of hades
won’t be able to overcome it.
Now – as we said – this verse is one of the most misunderstood verses in the Bible. It actually means the exact opposite of what many Christians have been taught that it means. So what is verse 18 actually saying? The key is the “rocky cliff” to which Jesus refers. So what is this “rocky cliff”? It refers to something that Jesus had said in the previous verse – in verse 17. So let’s review verse 17.
“Jesus replied, ‘You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah. Because no flesh
and blood human revealed that to you! Instead, My Father in heaven
revealed that to you‘!”[10. In Matthew chapter 16, verse 17 is the key to understanding verse 18. Jesus isn’t talking about Peter in these two verses. He’s talking about the Spiritual principle that God can speak directly to people without having to go through another human being. That’s the “rocky cliff” (the “stony ledge”) in Jesus’s wordplay. And that’s what Jesus really built Christianity on. He didn’t build it on the personality of Peter. He built it on the great Spiritual truth that people can communicate directly with the Father.]
Thus, the “rocky cliff” in Matthew 16:18 is a symbol of the supernatural message that Peter received directly from the Father in verse 17. So Jesus was actually teaching the opposite of what the Roman emperors said He was teaching. Jesus wasn’t teaching that He was going to “build” Christianity on the personality of Peter. He was teaching that He was going to build Christianity on the profound Spiritual truth that people can receive Spiritual guidance directly from the Father, and that nothing, not even Hades, can overcome that Spiritual ability.
Okay – now it’s time to talk about what happened to Peter in the end.
After Christianity was founded in Jerusalem in May of 30 AD, Peter lived quietly as an elder in Jerusalem for the next 25 or so years. Then after age 50, he began to travel outside Israel. And around 62 AD, he traveled to Rome. So let’s fast-forward to Rome and see the end of Peter’s story.
Strangely, the end of Peter’s life is very similar to the end of Paul’s life. Peter had traveled to Rome to visit Paul in prison, and then he had stayed on in Rome to teach in the Christian community there.
But – while Peter was living in Rome – on the night of July 18, in 64 AD, an accidental fire broke out in downtown Rome and quickly spread. The emperor, Nero (“NEAR’-row”), was on vacation at the seashore at the time, and had nothing to do with the fire.
The raging inferno burned for six days and six nights and destroyed half of Rome, leaving 200,000 citizens homeless. Nero returned from vacation and opened emergency shelters and distributed emergency food, but there was little else he could do.
Then Nero made a big mistake. For several years, he had wanted to build a new palace that he planned to call “The Golden House.” So a few weeks after the fire, he started construction on “The Golden House” on some of the city’s burned-out lots.
But Nero had political enemies. And they spread the lie that Nero had started the fire himself to make room for his new palace. And citywide protests broke out. So to protect himself, Nero started a counter-lie. He started the counter-lie that the Christians in Rome had started the fire, and that they needed to be punished for it.
Thus, in October of 64 AD, Nero’s counter-lie triggered the first great persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. Thousands of innocent Christian men, women, and children were rounded up and put to death in ways too horrible to describe.
Paul had been released from prison by this time and had left town. So he was safe. So Peter tried the same thing. He fled the city, and started walking south on the Appian Way toward a southern seaport and a ship home.
However, Jesus appeared to Peter in a vision near one of the milestones on the road.
And Peter felt that it was God’s will for him to return to the city and face his destiny. So he did. And Nero’s soldiers soon arrested him and threw him in a death cell.
Here are three pictures that help explain the end of Peter’s life in Rome. The first picture is of a display case in Rome the holds some of the chains that bound Peter when he was arrested. (Some of Paul’s chains, which were used three years later, are in the same display.) The second picture is of the ancient door to Peter’s cell. The third picture is of the cell itself. Note the plaque on the wall that explains in Italian that this cell held both Peter and Paul in the First Century. Also note that local Christians have outfitted the cell for prayer and worship. Finally, note the black upside down cross on the prayer altar – reminding visitors that Peter was taken from this cell and crucified upside down.
On October 13, 64 AD, when Peter was 61 years old, Nero’s soldiers crucified him upside down near the giant obelisk (“OB’-uh-lisk”) that was in the middle of Rome’s city racetrack at the time. That giant obelisk still stands in St. Peter’s Square in Rome today, and is often visible on American TV when the networks are showing events with the Pope. A picture of St. Peter’s Basilica and the giant obelisk is below.
In the First Century, there was a public cemetery near the site of Peter’s execution beside the obelisk in the racetrack. The cemetery was on the slopes of a nearby hill named “Vatican Hill.” And after the soldiers cut Peter’s body down from his upside down position, they buried him in a shallow, unmarked grave in that cemetery.
Over the years, the surviving Christians in the city gradually improved Peter’s grave and it became a pilgrimage site. However, Peter’s name was never put on the grave, and it remained a secret to everyone but some of the surviving Christians in the city.
Now – where is Peter today? His body is still where it was in 64 AD. It’s still in that unmarked grave on Vatican Hill. However, in the Fourth Century the Roman emperor, Constantine, did to Peter’s grave the same thing that he would also do to Paul’s grave three years later.
Under Roman law of the times, it was illegal to disturb a grave or to move a body. So Constantine bought the graveyard on Vatican Hill. Then he built an altar over Peter’s grave. And then he built a basilica (a large church building) over the altar.
Today, the basilica that Constantine built is known as St. Peter’s Basilica in St. Peter’s Square in Rome, in what is now known as “Vatican City.”
To summarize Peter’s life: He was a highly Spiritual person and a long-term respected elder in the city of Jerusalem. He wrote the beautiful letters of First and Second Peter in the New Testament part of the Bible, and some researchers think he dictated the book of Mark in the New Testament to young John-Mark, whose name is on that book today.
Now – we’ve been saying that Peter is one of the most misunderstood of Jesus’s original twelve disciples. And that’s true. But Peter is also one of the most important of the early Christian disciples for a special reason: He’s the disciple that Jesus used to demonstrate how Christianity is supposed to work.
Christianity is supposed to work by the Spiritual law that every Christian can – and should – be receiving daily strength and guidance directly from the Father in heaven, without having to go through any other human being.
So my prayer for all of us is that we’ll obey this Spiritual law – the one that Jesus taught us with Peter as the example – and that we will all seek more daily strength and guidance directly from the Father in heaven.
Because, to the extent that we do that, we’ll live with the same peace, hope, and purpose that the early Christians enjoyed in the days of their lives. May the Holy Spirit bless each and every one of us in that wonderful way.
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