"Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers" (Mark 1:16).

"And Simon he surnamed Peter" (Mark 3:16).

PETER

DEFINITION OF TERMS

• Apostle. The word apostle or apostolos identifies one who, having been a witness of the resurrected Christ, was specially chosen by God to go out with a divine message and mission.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

• Primary. By primary I mean, first in sequence, first in position, first in importance, and first in favorability.
• The person Peter. While Peter is the name that will be used in this study, it is not the first name that he wore. The given name of this man was Simon. Simon, having thus been introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew, was renamed by the Messiah as Cephas. Cephas is the Aramaic form of the Greek, Petros which means “rock” (John 1:42; Mark 3:16).

LET'S PUT IT TOGETHER

• Was Peter, Jesus’ rock and handpicked one by the Lord to share God’s message and do bold things, His servant that was first in sequence, first in position, first in importance, and first in favorability?
• Let's reflect on that last sentence, thought by thought.

PETER: FIRST IN SEQUENCE?

• There are four lists of the apostles found in Scripture (Matt. 10:2-4; Mark 3:13-19; Luke 6:12-16; Acts 1:13-14).
• The order in each of these lists varies only slightly. However, the one thing that each of them have in common is the fact that Peter appears first on the list.

PETER: FIRST IN POSITION?

• There are occasions in Scripture where we find Peter not only the first one on the roll call list, but mentioned first in a contextual position as well.
• The book of Acts beautifully unfolds the divine outline found in Romans, how that the gospel would begin with the Jews and then be shared with the gentiles (1:16). Therefore, Peter’s name, as the apostle to the Jews (Gal. 2:7-8), takes first position in the book of Acts (Acts 1-12).

PETER: FIRST IN IMPORTANCE?

• Each apostle was important to God in his own way—or God’s way.
• True, it was Peter that was the preacher to the Jews in the book of Acts (1-12; cf. Gal. 2:7-8).
• True, it was Peter who preached the sermon on Pentecost unlocking the door to the Kingdom of God in Acts 2 (cf. Matt. 16:14-19).
• However, each apostle was important to the mission of Jesus.

PETER: FIRST IN FAVORABILITY?

• It is true that Peter was in Jesus’ inner circle (Matt. 17:1). He had experiences that some of the others did not have.
• However, to suggest that he was the favorite of Jesus, in my judgment, would be a stretch.
• “Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:” (Acts 10:34).

PETER