New Testament Blog Post #14 - Peter

For this post, I was asked to review a talk given by President Kimball about the Apostle Peter and to write an essay about what I learned while reading the talk.

            President Kimball began his talk by saying that he was listening to a minister speak badly of Peter, which offended him, as he felt some kinship with him. He said that there is a prevailing attitude about Peter that belittles and condemns him. To be honest, this was the first thing I learned from the essay. The idea that Peter was not up to snuff is new to me. There are certainly moments during the course of his being taught by and following Christ in which he wavers, but don’t we all waver? There are moments in which he sins in ignorance, but don’t we all do the same? There is a moment when Peter denies knowing Christ personally, but haven’t we all made mistakes? I agree with President Kimball that Peter isn’t worthy of condemnation. He was a good man with good intentions, and he did a lot of good things.

            There was a lot of discussion in the talk particularly on Peter’s denial of Christ. I think that this is where people get hung up the most when it comes to Peter. They feel that he did something very wrong and cowardly. But in my recent readings of the New Testament, I think it’s possible that Peter was not acting in cowardice, but in obedience. This isn’t discussed in the talk, but some people have speculated that when Christ tells Peter about denying him, he is commanding him to deny him. There is also a scripture in one of the gospels near where Christ is taken from the garden of Gethsemane in which Christ asks the mob to take him, but to leave his disciples alone, that a prophecy might be fulfilled that says that Christ will not lose one of them which his Father gave him. Maybe it was Christ’s intention to keep all his disciples form the fate of death so that they could perform their ministry after he died. Certainly it was important for them to be alive and free if they were going to spread his message. I just thought that might be something worthy of mentioning. I don’t know if it’s true or not—it may indeed be that Peter sinned in his denial of Christ—but I think it’s also possible that he was obeying a command.

            Peter, although some disregard him as being sinful or imperfect, did have some very positive traits. He had conviction when it came to his relationship with Christ. He told Christ that he was willing to follow him to prison and to death.” And when Christ was about to be taken from the garden of Gethsemane to the Sanhedrin, Peter fought for him, drawing a sword and smiting off the ear of one of the guards that was there. As Spencer W. Kimball pointed out, that is by no means cowardice. That is bravery and disregard for self. So certainly that is one of his positive qualities. President Kimball also mentioned that Peter was a miracle worker, and that even by being in his presence people were healed. However, he also pointed out that Peter was quick to give all credit for these miracles to God, recognizing that he didn’t perform them in his own power. I think these two facts show that Peter is full of both spiritual understanding and humility. Though it can’t be corroborated by anything we consider in the Church to be canonical, according to tradition, Peter was martyred by crucifixion, and at his request, the crucifixion was performed upside-down, because he felt he was not worthy to die in the same way that Christ did. That is a very deep type of humility. I think some of Peter’s other positive qualities include a willingness to be obedient to the Lord. Even when his objections seemed righteous, like when he told the Lord that he would not be crucified, when he was corrected, he made changes.

            One of the other requirements for this assignment was that I pick one of Peter’s positive traits that I would like to develop and outline what I will do to gain it. I think the most important trait he had was his closeness to the Savior. As we live in a world with a lot of temptation and confusion, and as most of us have not seen the Savior, belief in Christ can get a little hard sometimes. But I think that a knowledge of the existence and characteristics of Christ are among the most, if not the most, valuable pieces of knowledge a person can have. If you know that Christ lives, and you know that he is omnipotent and omniscient, and you have a relationship with the Holy Ghost, then there’s no reason to ever disobey the Lord’s commands through the Holy Ghost. You can respond to temptation with conviction, knowing that your cause is just and your effort is worthwhile. The question, however, becomes “How can I know Christ,” considering I did not, like Peter, have the advantage of being physical with him and hearing him speak and watching him perform miracles. I suppose the best way to get closer to him is to try to communicate with him and let him communicate with me, by praying, fasting, and reading the scriptures. I can also ask him for a testimony of himself. And I think that’s what I will do. Tomorrow is fast Sunday. I will fast that I might know for a surety that he lives, and I will continue to perform other acts of diligence to help myself come closer to him.