The first church
Peter was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee named Simon, whom Jesus called to follow him and renamed Peter, “rock”. He was quick to speak, walked on the water and sank, confessed Jesus as the Messiah, and denied him three times the night of his arrest. After the resurrection Jesus restored him, and Peter preached at Pentecost and led the church in Jerusalem.
8 moments
See where Peter fits on the Bible timeline
Tap a passage to read it here. Each one opens in full in the Lumin Translation.
After a night of catching nothing, Simon lets down his nets at Jesus’ word. He leaves everything to follow.
Jesus heals Peter’s mother-in-law in his house at Capernaum.
Peter steps out of the boat toward Jesus, sees the wind, and starts to sink. Jesus catches him.
Peter says Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus calls him the rock he will build his church on.
The night Jesus is arrested, Peter says three times he does not know him. The rooster crows, and he weeps.
By the lake, the risen Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him, and gives him his work back: “Feed my sheep.”
Peter preaches in Jerusalem, and about 3,000 people are baptized.
God shows Peter he must not call any person unclean. He goes to the Roman officer Cornelius at Caesarea, and Gentiles receive the Spirit.
The Sea of GalileeCapernaumCaesarea PhilippiJerusalemCaesarea
Read these first
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:16You are the Messiah
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life…
John 6:68To whom shall we go?
Throw every worry you have onto him, because he cares about you.
1 Peter 5:7Cast your cares on him
Questions people ask
Each answer is marked: in the Bible, tradition, readers disagree, or not known.
Tradition, not the Bible
Jesus hinted at the kind of death Peter would die. Early Christian writers say he was crucified in Rome under Nero, about AD 64 to 68, and later tradition adds that he asked to be crucified upside down. The Bible does not describe his death.
See John 21:18-19
Readers disagree
The Catholic Church teaches that Jesus made Peter the head of the church and that the bishops of Rome follow him. Orthodox and Protestant Christians read Matthew 16 differently, and the word “pope” is not in the Bible.
See Matthew 16:18
In the Bible
Yes. Jesus healed his mother-in-law, and Paul says Peter took his wife with him on his travels.
Readers disagree
Both letters name him as the writer, and the church has long accepted them. Many scholars doubt that Peter wrote 2 Peter, and some doubt 1 Peter.
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