THE EPISTLES OF PETER

THE apostle Peter was the son of Jonas or John, two different versions of the same name. Peter was not, however, his original name. He was Simeon at first, or Simon, which is the same thing; and the name Peter was given him by Christ in anticipation. The Saviour says to him, "Thou shalt be called Peter "; but with an intimation that he has not yet the spirit which would make that designation a true one; and it is only two years afterward, at least, that Jesus says to him, “ Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church.”

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Peter was a fisherman of Bethsaida: that is, Bethsaida was his native place, but at the time he was chosen by Christ he appears to have belonged to the city of Capernaum. There, during the greater part of the Gospel narrative, he had his home; and, like the sons of Zebedee, he pursued the trade of fishing for his livelihood.

Peter seems to have been brought to Christ first by Andrew, his brother. Christ's first call was on the banks of the Jordan, where Peter and Andrew, James and John seem to have gone, amid the multitude who were thronging to John the Baptist, to be baptized. After a slight sojourn with Christ, and having become acquainted with him, Peter, with his brother and with James and John, appears to have gone back to his trade once more and to have pursued it until Jesus met them by the side of the Lake of Galilee, called them to be his

permanent companions, and invested them with the responsibilities of apostleship.

From that time you find Peter continually with Jesus. He becomes one of our Lord's most intimate companions. He is one of those chosen disciples who constituted the innermost circle of the apostolic number. He is with the Saviour when Jesus raises Jairus' daughter from the dead. He is with Jesus upon the Mount of Transfiguration, and beholds his glory; he is with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, when the Saviour utters that memorable prayer and sweats those drops of blood. Jesus calls Peter to himself, because there is something in Peter which fits him for leadership. I imagine that each one of the disciples had his peculiar gift and qualifications for service. Judas, for example, was a practical administrator. Judas would have made an excellent manipulator and manager. He was treasurer, because there were certain business gifts which were his, more than they belonged to any other of the disciples. He had his opportunity. He had his chance to use what gifts he had for the service of the Lord.

And Peter had especially an openness and receptivity of heart, an ardent affection and power of recognizing Christ in his personal and divine mission, and then a zealous and enthusiastic activity, which fitted him, in some respects, to be the chief of the apostles. And yet, this ardent affection, this insight into the real person and work of Christ, this enthusiastic activity, were accompanied by a rashness and overconfidence which led Peter to his triple fall and triple denial of his Master, and were followed by the bitterest repentance.

Jesus looked upon Peter after that denial, and that look broke Peter's heart. He went out and wept bitterly. He repented. But he needed some special assurance of Jesus' forgiving love. After Jesus arose from the dead there was something very affecting in his words to the women, "Go and tell Peter." It was a special message to Peter that his heart might be comforted by the assurance of Christ's forgiving love. Is there not something very beautiful in this, that this denying Peter is made the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit upon the day of Pentecost? Have we ever thought that our sins would prevent us evermore from being of service in the cause of Christ? Let us remember that it was that denying Peter who was made by Christ the means of bringing three thousand to the knowledge of the truth and of being the first communicator of the gospel to his Jewish countrymen. And it is not only true that Peter becomes the first preacher to the Jews, but he becomes the first preacher to the Gentiles also; for I suppose that is the meaning of the promise to Peter that the keys of the kingdom of heaven shall be given to him. Christ gave him the keys in this sense, that he was the first to unlock the door of the kingdom to the Jews, and he was the first also to unlock the door of the kingdom to the Gentiles. There were two great doors to be opened; Peter opened the first great door when at Pentecost he proclaimed salvation through the crucified One to the Jews who had put the Saviour to death; he opened the second great door when, going to Cornelius at Cæsarea, he proclaimed the gospel of Christ to the heathen, and opened the door of salvation to the Gentiles. In a

certain sense this denying Peter was given the first place in the kingdom of God; it was upon Peter that Christ built his church. Thou art Peter; upon this rock I will build my church." The word “Peter meant "rock."

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But it is not upon Peter, as a person alone, that the church is founded, as the Roman Catholic Church imagines; but it is upon Peter as a confessor of Christ. It is upon Peter, as he has Christ in him. Peter can become a rock upon which the church is built, only as he becomes one with Christ, the great corner-stone. Peter can be the means of bringing others into the kingdom of God, only as he is a true confessor of Jesus Christ and a proclaimer of his gospel.

The Roman Catholic Church errs very greatly when she fancies that there is a sort of apostolic succession, and that, in an external way, through persons, there can be communicated the grace of God. No, it is not in any external way, or by any external means, that salvation comes down to man. It is through Peter as a confessor. It is through Peter as he has Christ in him; and, therefore, every one who is a confessor of Christ and is joined to Christ has the privilege of bringing in others also, and upon every true confessor of Christ the church is built. Protestants have sometimes erred in thinking it is simply the confession upon which the church is built; as if some external creed alone could be the means of bringing men to the kingdom of God. That is no more true than the Roman Catholic doctrine. You must have the person and his confession. You must have Peter plus the truth. The truth alone, as an abstract thing, will not bring men to

God; but the person plus the truth brings men to God. The "rock," therefore, is both confession and heart. It is personality plus the truth.

So Peter becomes the means of bringing in both Jews and Gentiles. At the Apostolic Council, when Paul comes to narrate what God has done for the Gentiles, Peter is one of the first to acquiesce in the decision which James has uttered and to sanction this opening of the door to the Gentiles without their becoming Jews. Afterward Peter was privately and individually unfaithful to this position which he took; for, at Antioch, he refused to associate with certain Gentile Christians, in order that he might gratify those who were prejudiced in favor of Jewish doctrine; but he was rebuked by Paul; and we do not find that this error of his continued at all; in fact, we do not find that he ever preached it. It was simply an instance of unfaithfulness in his private conduct to the truth which he had publicly proclaimed.

After having opened the door of the kingdom both to Jews and Gentiles, by the keys of faith and confession which Christ had committed to him, Peter appears to have less prominence in the apostolic history. Why? Because there was to be a transition from the Jews to the Gentiles. Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles par excellence; and, although we find Peter most prominent at the beginning of the Acts, in the latter part of the Acts we find that Paul occupies most of the room and attracts to himself most of the attention.

Tradition relates that Peter went to the East, that he preached to the Jews in Babylon. In fact, this First Epistle declares itself to have been written from