RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Peter the Apostle
church at Jerusalem (Acts v. 1 sqq.), he watched over relations with other Christian communities (Acts viii. 14 sqq., ix. 32 sqq.), and he was the first to receive a pagan into the new church (Acts x. 1 sqq.). On the other hand, he enjoyed no absolute preeminence. He labored in Samaria together with John (Acts viii. 14), and he was called to account for associating with gentiles (Acts xi. 3 sqq.). At the council of the apostles, moreover, he was not only not the leader, but was even subordinate, in a sense, to James (Acts xv. 6 sqq.). In like manner Paul at first describes Peter as the leader of the church at Jerusalem (Gal. i. 18), but by the time of the apostolic council he was, although still the virtual representative of the mission to the Jews, only one of the three pillars of the church, the other two being James and John (Gal. ii. 8-9).
The teaching of Peter, as recorded in Acts, was essentially apologetic, hortatory, and practical. Special stress was laid by him on the sufferings of
Christ, which could allege no obstacle 5. His to full acceptance of his Messianic mis- Teachings sion, since his death was an undeas Recorded served and unrighteous act of murder in Acts, on the part of the Jews through pagan
hands (Acts ii. 23, iii. 13 sqq.; cf. iv. 10-11, v. 30, x. 39). Christ was a true prophet (Acts iii. 22), anointed by the Holy Ghost (x. 38), and attested by miracles, wonders, and signs (ii. 22); and his death was due not to chance, but to the divine plan (Acts ii. 23) as foretold by the prophets (iii. 18), the purpose being the first of all the blessings of the Messianic kingdom, including the forgiveness of sins (cf. iii. 18-19). The proof of the Messianic kingship of Jesus, even during his human life and suffering, was sought in the fact that, in harmony with prophecy, he had been raised by God from the dead on the third day (Acts ii. 32, iii. 15, 26, iv. 10, x. 40), had been manifested to chosen witnesses (x. 40-41), and had been exalted to the right hand of God (ii. 31 sqq.). This resurrection, of which it was an essential duty of the apostles to be witnesses (Acts i. 22, ii. 32, iii. 13 sqq., v. 30 sqq., x. 40-41), had made Jesus the Messianic king (ii. 36, v. 31), the cornerstone of the divine kingdom (iv. 11), lord of all (x. 36, cf. ii. 36), the perfection of the divine kingdom established since the days of the patriarchs (iii. 13), and the consummation of the Messianic days foretold by the prophets (iii. 24). His mediation, therefore, conditions all the promised blessings of the perfect kingdom of God, forgiveness of sins (Acts ii. 38, iii. 19, v. 31, x. 43), peace (x. 36), the gift of the Holy Ghost (ii. 38, xi. 17), salvation from a perverse generation (ii. 40), physical health (iii. 6, 16, iv. 10), all salvation (iv. 12), and every divine blessing (iii. 26). The condition on which man shares in these blessings is repentance (Acts ii. 38, iii. 19, viii. 22), which first becomes fully possible through the death and resurrection of Christ (v. 31, xi. 18, cf. iii. 26), as well as obedience to God (v. 32) and acceptance of the divine revelation that Jesus is the Christ, the pledge and the expression of acceptance on both sides being baptism in the name of Christ (ii. 38). The full realization of the VIII.— 31
divine kingdom, however, will be impossible until the last judgment, when God will send Jesus as the judge of the quick and the dead (Acts x. 42), and to bring to the faithful of all ages rest from the affliction of the present wo (iii. 19 sqq.).
While Peter realized that, in accordance with his divine promises, God would extend the blessings established in Christ to all the world and would call all the gentiles (Acts ii. 39, iii. 25-26), he also
knew that these boons were primarily 6. Attitude for the children of the old dispensation toward (iii. 25, x. 36), and he hoped that, de- Gentile spite their unbelief and rejection of Christians. Jesus, they might still be won for
Christ (ii. 39). He was, moreover, certain that he and the other apostles were ordained to preach solely to the Jews (x. 42), and so strong was his aversion to the gentiles that only special divine commands could make him enter the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius in Casarea and preach the Gospel to him and his family, concluding by baptizing them (Acts x.). The growth of the Church in non-Jewish territory, however, forced Peter and other Judeo-Christians to modify their views, and at the council convened at Jerusalem to decide on the requirements to be laid upon gentile converts to Christianity, Peter deprecated excessive ritual exactions of the converts, though agreeing with James that the gentile Christians should refrain from all things forbidden in the Noachian laws binding on every gentile (Acts xv. 7 sqq.). Further light is cast upon this council by the account given by Paul (Gal. ii. 1 sqq.), according to which the final conclusion was complete harmony, and it was decided that James, Peter, and John should preach to the Jews, and Paul and Barnabas to the gentiles. Neither does the disagreement between Paul and Peter recorded by the former as taking place at Antioch (Gal. ii. 11 sqq.) point to any opposition of principle between the two, particularly as they both agreed that true righteousness was to be sought, not in works of the law, but solely .in faith in Christ (Gal. ii. 16). There can be little doubt that Peter's sudden change of attitude at Antioch was hypocritical, although at the same time it must be remembered that some uncertainty as to the proper course to be pursued may have existed in Peter's own mind.
Except for the prophecy in John xxi. 18 sqq. and the Petrine epistles (see below), the New Testament gives no information regarding the closing years of Peter. The sole remaining source is tradition, which, though constantly receiving unhistoric
accretions, seems to preserve a kernel 7. The of truth in the legend that the apostle Closing went to Rome toward the close of his Years. life and there suffered martyrdom
under Nero. Thus Clement, in his first epistle to the Corinthians, written in 95-97, records: " Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labors; and, when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him " (ANF, i. 6). It is also noteworthy that no source describes
Peter the Apostle