Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/260

PETER 204 PETER PETER, the Greek surname of an apostle of Jesus. It is the rendering of the East Aramaean kepha, a corruption or derivation from Heb. keph=a rock, hWitm - m c?^ STATUE OF ST. PETER, FLORENCE, ITALY and was given by Jesus (John i: 40-42). Peter's real name w^as Simon (Matt, x: 2; Luke iv: 38, v: 3, 5, etc.), his father's Jonas (John xxi: 15), his brother's An- drew (Matt, iv: 18). Peter was born at Bethsaida (John i: 44), but had removed to Capernaum, where he had a house, being a married man (Matt, viii: 14; Mark 1: 30; Luke iv: 38; I Cor. ix: 5). He was one of the 3 of the 12 apostles selected on three occasions by Jesus for special honor. The power of the Keys was first bestowed on him (Matt, xvi: 13-20), though afterward also on the other apostles (xviii: 1). Peter was of an impulsive temperament, generous, but too forward in speech (xvi: 22, 23), and rash in action (John xviii: 10). It was not natural cowardice, but because through his rashness he had committed himself, and was in danger of arrest, that made him deny his Lord (Matt, xxvi: 51-75). After the Ascension, he was for a time the most prominent of the apostles (Acts i: 15, ii: 14, etc., iii: 1- 26; iv: 8, 9, v: 1-16), and though spe- cially sent to the Jews (Gal. ii: 8), yet had the privilege of being the first to ad- mit Gentiles into the Church (Acts x: 1-48). Afterward he was somewhat cast into the shade by the eminence of St. Paul. Tradition makes him die as a martyr at Rome, about a. d. 64, crucified with his head downward. Roman Cath- olics claim him as the first Bishop of Rome, and consider that the authority delegated him by Jesus appertains also to his successors, the Popes of Rome. The First Epistle General of Peter, an epistle which claims to have been writ- ten by the Apostle Peter (i: 1), appar- ently from Babylon (v: 13), "to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (i: 1), all places in Asia Minor. These strangers were obviously Christian con- verts, the majority apparently Gentiles (i: 14, ii: 10, iv: 3). Their churches were in charge of elders (v: 4). They were in suffering (i: 6), which the apostle foresaw would deepen into severe persecution (iv: 12-18). He exhorts them to steadfastness, to careful avoid- ance of crime and scandal. Its date is uncertain, probably between a. d. 60 and A. D. 64. There is strong evidence for its authenticity, which has rarely been doubted. The Second Epistle of Peter, another epistle claiming to have been penned by the Apostle (i: 1), the author also re- ferring to the transfiguration scene as one which he personally witnessed (i : 17, 18), and to a previous epistle (iii: 1). In this second letter he seeks to establish Christians in the faith, warns them against false teachers- and predicts the general conflagi'ation of the world. Its style is different from that of the first. When it was published, the epistles of St. Paul had been collected, and formed