Jesus’ inner circle

Jesus had a lot of followers. At times, thousands of people gathered to hear him teach and see what he would do. The 12 apostles were some of his closest disciples. But three members of the Twelve were closer than anyone else: Peter, James, and John.

Together, they witnessed miracles and moments the other apostles weren’t privy to, including:

• The time Jesus raised a girl from the dead (Mark 5:35–43)
• The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1–13)
• Jesus’ moment of weakness in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36–46)

Peter in the Bible

In the gospels, Peter is portrayed as impetuous, always speaking his mind and acting on impulse. In the Book of Acts, Peter’s decisiveness transformed him into someone the early Christians constantly relied on and turned to.

Peter was originally known as Simon, but Jesus gave him the nickname Cephas (John 1:42), which translates to Peter, meaning “rock.”

In the New Testament, Peter is most known for:

• Walking on water (Matthew 14:28-33)
• Disowning Jesus to avoid persecution (Luke 22:54-62)
• Addressing the crowd at Pentecost (Acts 2:14-41)
• Envisioning a church that included Jews and Gentiles together (Acts 10:9-48)
• Being a “pillar” of the church (Galatians 2:9)

As one of the three disciples who were closest to Jesus, Peter got to witness miracles and moments the other apostles weren’t privy to, including:

• The time Jesus raised a girl from the dead (Mark 5:35-43)
• The Transfiguration (Matthew 17:1-13)
• Jesus’ moment of weakness in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-46)

Did Peter write any books of the Bible?

Peter didn’t write any of the four gospels himself, but he plays a major role in all of them, and tradition holds that the Gospel of Mark records Peter’s account of Jesus’ ministry through his companion, Mark the Evangelist, who’s widely believed to be the same person as John Mark.

Two books of the Bible claim to be written by Peter (1 Peter and 2 Peter), but scholars debate about whether he wrote them himself or dictated them to a secretary, or if he even wrote them at all.

Numerous apocryphal texts claimed to be written about (or even by) Peter, but the church rejected them as inauthentic, though some of them recorded important information.

How did Peter die?

According to tradition, Peter was crucified by Emperor Nero around 64 AD, around the time of the Great Fire of Rome, which Nero blamed on Christians. The Acts of Peter claims he asked to be crucified upside down because he didn’t believe he was worthy of dying the same death as Jesus.