Carolina watchman. [volume] (Salisbury, N.C.) 1871-1937, 1935-03-29
A Review Lesson

dA1d LCIIClS VI ISlCI.
Scripture: l Peter 5:6; II. Peter
f3:14-1S.
Golden Text: Grow in grace and
i'm the knowledge of our Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ. II. Peter 3:1S.
The Life of the Apostle Peter
In our study of the past weeks
we have found that the original
name of this man was Simon, being
a native Of Bethsaida of Galilee. He
married and made his home in Cap
ernaum where along with his broth
er Andrew he was the owner of a
home. With this brother and James
and John he was a partner in a
company of fishermen.
While down in Judea he was ap-
preached by his brother Andrew
who told him that he had found the
Messias Of prophecy and by this
brother he was brought to Jesus
who gave him the Aramaic name
"Cephas" of which Peter is the
Greek translation. By reason of
his personal characteristics he be-
came the most prominent among
the disciples.
Peter was very impulsive, often
times speaking without mature re-
Election. The sudden promptings
of his nature made him speak
sometimes when he did not know
what he said. But with it all he
gave utterance to things revealed
|by the Spirit of God as in the case
of his confession Of Jesus as the
Messiah, the Son of God. He was
generally the spokesman for the
whole company and was invariably
one of three to whom were given
special privileges.
The darkest page of his history is
that which tells of the denial of his
Lord, but emphasis is also to be
placed upon his sincere repentance.
After His resurrection his Lord
honored him by giving him a special
appearance and before a company
of the Apostles He restored the pen
titent n to his apostolic office.
In the early days of the church
Peter was the most prominent
preacher. We find that he is active
in all the programs of the church
until the great missionary journeys
are begun by Paul, whom Peter
calls beloved brother" While he
was prominent in the council in
Jerusalem Others made a like contri-
button to the final decision. With
Paul leading in the work among
the Gentiles and with James the
Lords brother in charge Of the
church in Jerusalem Peter is not
again mentioned in the book of the
Acts. He preached in various
places, sometimes accompanied by
his wife. Tradition tells us that he
suffered martydrom in Rome. This
is implied from the words of our
Saviour in John 21:19. Dionysius
of Corinth declares that he and Paul
were martyred about the same time,
6S A. D.
The First Epistle of Peter
The writings of this Apostle that
have come to us are the two epistles
that bear his name. There is inter
esting information about the Cos
pei according to Mark which con-
veys the knowledge that Mark
wrote what Peter preached. Glenn
ent of Alexandria tells us that the
Christians of Rome having heardl
Peter preach "besought Mark to
write out the things that were pro-
minent in Peters preaching" How
ever, Peter did not write this Cos
pei.
Without giving authorities for
the conclusion we make the follow
ing statements. Peter wrote his first
epistle from Babylon in the Eupr-
rates valley about the year "a A. D.
Mark and Silas were with him and
the latter carried the letter to its
destination. Peter had evidently
received some recent information
about the Christians of the Disper-
sion; these Christians were both
Jews and Gentiles and Peter was
writing to exhort them to stand
fast in the face of the fiery trials
through which they were passing.
There was also probably another
object because of the work of GER
tain "Judaizers'' who had been busy
making misrepresentation concern
ing the work of the preachers Of
the Gospel. Peter desires to pub
lish the fact of his agreement with
the Apostle Paul as to the great
doctrine of Christianity.
The Second Epistle of Peter