It’s been said that the man who doesn’t make mistakes is the man who does nothing. Peter was known for his flaws, but they were there precisely because he accomplished so much.
Like Jacob, we meet him by a name sometimes linked with his old character, Simon (Joh 1:42); but he was then called Cephas and slowly grew into his name. He was a stone with rough edges but was shaped into a living boulder that was foundational to the assembly (Mat 16:18). The Lord said of Peter, “The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak” (Mar 14:38),1 and from the moment he was called to follow Christ, Peter embarked on a journey that would see him become a spiritual monolith. The sculptor’s hand had only to hack away the flesh first.
Water
Many of the insights we have into Peter’s life are linked with water; he was a hardworking fisherman, after all. Peter himself was at times like liquid in its raw form: a brute force, impulsive and unpredictable. However, put to right use, he was energising and enlivening. At
sea he learned that the Lord Jesus was the incarnate Creator. When his net was filled with a miraculous catch, he could only confess, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luk 5:8). The proud waves of Peter’s personality had to be humbled before the Lord called him to leave all and serve Him. “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble” (1Pe 5:5). A carnal wave can wreak havoc, but a spiritual wave, humbled and directed by Christ, can become tidal energy.
Peter is to be commended for getting out of the boat and walking on water (Mat 14:29). We see an aptitude for risk, raw faith and initiative – commendable qualities – but these alone could not weather the storm. As fear and doubt flooded his soul on the lake, he learned that he couldn’t keep himself in his own strength, but had to look to Christ for preserving grace; he was “kept by the power of God through faith” (1Pe 1:5).
Another aquatic lesson taught Peter the principle of submission. A born leader, coupled with his spiritual privilege as the son of a King (Mat 17:26), he might have thought he could do as he pleased. However, the Lord told him, “Go thou to the sea” (v27). Even the sea and its creatures have to obey natural laws. Similarly, Peter had to learn to submit to others, his privileges notwithstanding. When the drachma popped out of the fish’s mouth, he had to submissively pay his taxes. This is why he later wrote, “Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man …. Be subject to your masters …. Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands …. Be subject one to another” (1Pe 2:13,18; 3:1; 5:5). Peter believed in authoritative hierarchy, but also learned the value of obedient submission.
Peter should probably have waited at the sea of Tiberias, but, agitated and active as ever, he stirred up his fellows and declared, “I go a fishing” (Joh 21:3). Upon speaking the word, all his companions bundled into the boat and joined him in the ill-fated enterprise. They caught nothing. Peter had been in turbulence since his denial, but at the calm waters of Tiberias he dined with the risen Christ and walked along the shore in confession. Like the psalmist beside still waters, he could say, “He restoreth my soul” (Psa 23:3). He was restored when the Lord said, “Follow me” (Joh 21:19). The waters of restoration ministered grace to the humbled Peter, and he was about to be exalted in due time (1Pe 5:6).
Spirit-filled, he springs up in the Acts to lead the apostolic band. His sermons cascade like mighty waters, accusing Israel of crucifying Christ (Act 2:23; 3:14; 4:10), but promising refreshing showers to all who will repent (3:19). His heart swells in praise as he sees the fountainhead of all blessing – God who made heaven and sea (4:24). He spread the gospel-tide across Judea, Samaria, Joppa and Babylon. He cleansed the Church of Ananias and Sapphira and helped stabilise the church with the influx of Gentile believers. The tempestuous wave-like man had become an aqueduct of blessing.
Words
A leader of men is not only a man of action but a man of words. Peter thought it was better to say something rather than nothing (Mar 9:6), even if he was wrong. The Lord had told him to let down his nets for a draught, but Peter said, “I will let down the net” (Luk 5:5). Infamously, he rebuked the Lord, thus contradicting the words of Christ and incurring the rebuke – “Adversary” (Mar 8:33). Sadly, he denied the Lord with curses (Mat 26:74).
However, side by side with his ham-fisted statements are some of the most sublime utterances in Scripture. Just before saying “Not so, Lord,” he had said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mat 16:16). Just before putting Moses and Elijah on par with Christ, he said, “Master, it is good for us to be here” (Mar 9:5). And before interfering with the career of the apostle John, he said, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee” (Joh 21:17).
However, with time and grace, Peter’s words became more like his Lord’s. Flesh and blood didn’t impart them to him, but his Father who had chosen to save him (Mat 16:17; 1Pe 1:2). When other disciples refused a diet of hard words, he sweetly ate them all, saying, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life” (Joh 6:68).
He was the first to preach to Gentiles, and such was the unity between his words and heaven’s that “Peter opened his mouth” (Act 10:34) and God filled it. Peter said that the Gentiles heard the gospel “by my mouth” (15:7). His words had once caused chaos but became the means of harmony and stability.
Just as Peter’s words were transformed, he wants the same for us. He had once cursed and spoken idly, but tells us to speak no guile (1Pe 3:10) and that men must “speak as the oracles of God” (4:11). Peter knew his Bible, quoting from Deuteronomy, the Psalms and Joel (Act 3:22; 1:20; 2:16). He was comfortable in typology and eschatology (1Pe 3:20; 2Pe 1:11). As an aged apostle, he wanted to pass on the Word of God to others. His words had often failed, but he pointed others to the infallible word of God – “We have not followed cunningly devised fables …. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed” (2Pe 1:16,19). He affirmed the inspiration of both Testaments (1:21; 3:2,16) and pointed every saint to the impregnable rock of holy writ.
Prayer
Peter was also a man of serious prayer. A man of leadership and activity must have private communion with the Lord. He learned this from the greatest Servant when he lighted upon Him a great while before day (Mar 1:35). It was failure in prayer that had led Peter to deny the Lord (14:37). However, in Acts he learned his lesson and experienced house-shaking prayer meetings, and visions of God when he went upon “the housetop to pray” (Act 10:9). It was against the backdrop of prayer that Peter could sleep in prison awaiting certain execution (12:6).
To avoid falling like he did, he said, “Watch unto prayer” (1Pe 4:7) and cast “all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (5:7). Just as he had heard from Christ, “I have prayed for thee” (Luk 22:32), he wants us to know “the Shepherd and Bishop” of our souls (1Pe 2:25).
Suffering and Glory
Peter was a devoted Jew who expected the appearing of Messiah to bring in millennial glory (Luk 22:30; Mar 9:1; Act 1:6) and thus bypass suffering. However, every leader of men must suffer, and whether it was the reprimands of his Saviour, the bitter weeping after being sifted, or incarceration, Peter knew all about trials. He learned that the difficulty of tribulation enhances the delight of the Kingdom; suffering precedes glory, and a cross comes before a crown.
Such lessons led this vessel appointed for suffering to say, “The trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto … glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1Pe 1:7).
He was following the steps of his Saviour, and calls us to the same: “Ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy” (4:13).
If there is anything that marked Peter, the man of activity, it was that he loved to follow Christ. Where Christ went, he went. Initially he thought that would lead him straight to glory, but the Lord taught him otherwise. The severe pressure of Peter’s trials turned the rough rock into a precious stone. He would never have shone so brightly had he not suffered so deeply. For all his leadership abilities, he was a devoted follower of the Lamb, and followed his Lord into death. Faithful in suffering martyrdom, he glorified God (Joh 21:19). Like a triumphant ship that weathered the stormy seas, he had an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom (2Pe 1:11). By faith, may we also endure life’s tempest, and fix our vision on the heavenly harbour.
1 Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV.
