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Peter's Denials Of Christ

There are a number of things that most of us have believed through the years, that when we search the Scriptures diligently, we find to be untrue. For example, there is a common belief that the phrase, "God helps them that help themselves" is biblical. But you can search from Genesis to Revelation and you will search in vain. Another common belief, and I believe and incorrect one, is that Peter denied Jesus Christ 3 times on the night of His arrest before His crucifixion. I believe that a careful examination and comparison of the 4 gospel accounts will reveal that Peter actually denied Jesus 6 times.

Below is a chart that compares essential features of each of the denials listed in each of the four gospels. Whether you agree or not with my conclusions, I would like to encourage you in your own Bible study to use a chart like this when you compare parallel accounts of Scripture such as the gospels. In making the comparison of these accounts, we must realize that the Bible is divinely inspired, that the gospel of Matthew is not contrary to the gospel of John and therefore the information contained in each gospel will be complementary to the others, not contrary to them. Neither is it antagonistic to the doctrine of inspiration that when a gospel writer records the words of a person to cite the gist or the essence of what they said. For example, if I said to you that "I am writing this at 5:30 AM" and you recorded that I said, "I am writing this early in the morning" you would have accurately recorded what I said. Therefore, if the statements of the individuals involved in the denials do not exactly match each other, they still could be the same incident.

To begin our study, it is first necessary to look at our Lord's predictions of Peter's denials. The chart below compares these accounts. John did not record Jesus' prediction of Peter's denials.

Matthew and Luke's account are practically the same. However, there is an interesting difference in Mark's account. Both Matthew and Luke indicate that the cock will crow once, but Mark indicates that it will crow twice. In order for Jesus' statement in Matthew and Luke's gospel to be fulfilled, Peter must deny the Lord 3 times before the cock can crow once. This is important because as you look at Mark's gospel we find that the cock crows after the first of Peter's denials that he records. Of necessity then, this must be at least the 3rd denial of Peter or else Matthew and Luke's record of Jesus's prediction is invalid.

We now move to the actual records of the denials. The chart below records the pertinent information concerning each denial. In being a good Bible student, it is necessary to pay attention to the details. As I said above, each gospel writer may accurately record the statements of people by only quoting the gist of their statement and agree with others who quote the same statement with different words. But, when details of the incident are opposite of what another writer records, then we must understand the incident to be a different incident. For example, Matthew 26:69 records that Peter was sitting in the palace while John 18:25 states that Peter was standing. Therefore, these cannot be the same incident.

In comparing the denials we first look at the accusers. Matthew records that there were 2 women and a group of people. Mark records the same. Luke though, records a maid and 2 men. John records a maid, a group of people (servants and officers) and a man (kinsman of Malchus). It is possible that the individuals could be part of a group of people so that Matthew and Mark's third denial might be the same as Luke and John's third denial, only Luke and John cite one individual out of the group of people. It is impossible, though, to reconcile Matthew and Mark's second denial with Luke's second denial- Matthew and Mark stating it was a woman who made the accusation while Luke says it was a man. These must be different incidents.

It seems probable that the record of the first denial in Matthew, Mark and Luke are accounts of the same incident. The chart below compares these accounts. All three accusations were made by a maid, the place seems to be the same, the accusations are for all practical puposes, the same, and Peter's denial is consistant with each other. The problem is then that we find the cock crowing at this denial which according to Matthew and Luke, could not occur until Pater had denied the Lord three times. This means that there must be 2 denials before this incident. The only possibility is that the first two denials in John's gospel precede this event.

Likewise, it seems probable that the second denial listed in Matthew and Mark's gospels are a record of the same event.

The third denial in each of the gospel accounts seem to agree with each other. As stated above, it is possible that a group of people had gathered together and began to accuse Peter. Luke and John choose one individual out of the group (which could possibly be the same person) while Matthew and Mark record the accusation for the group. In that it is recorded that the cock crows in each of these gospel accounts, it seems best to see these as the same denial. Mark records that Jesus said the cock would crow twice when Peter had denied Jesus 3 times. It seems probable that since the cock crowed after the third denial that it would crow after another 3 denials. Therefore, I believe that this is the sixth and final time Peter denies his Lord.

In arranging the order of the denials the only debatable issue is between the 4th and 5th denials. There is no certain reason why these two could not occur in the opposite order than what I state. However, the table below is what I believe is the correct order of Peter's 6 denials.

You may be asking by now what the benefit is to all this work. What difference does it really make? I suggest that there is some great practical value to all of this. If my order of denials is correct, we can learn something from Peter about our emotional and spiritual well-being by looking at him as the denials progress (or should I say degress). In the first two denials, Peter simply and calmly states that he is not associated with the believers in Jesus Christ. As the denials continue, their length increases and Peter's emotions escalate. By the time of the 5th denial Peter is using an oath and by the last denial he is cursing and swearing. Which brings me to this conclusion: the more a person denies the lordship of Jesus Christ, the worse their emotional and spiritual grief will be. Granted, it would have been a very difficult thing to stand with Christ while He was being tried, but I suggest that by Peter's tears, if he could do it all over again, it would have been far less painful to stand with Him than to deny Him.