But Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, Art thou also of his disciples? He denied, and said, I am not.
Peter's second denial happens while the high priest questions the Lord indoors. John sets the two scenes side by side, and they raise a hard question: how does a man who loves Christ deny Him out loud?
The wording here points to several accusers at once, and Matthew's account fills in Peter's movements.
The second denial took place as Peter stood and warmed himself. It is clear that more than one person came at him at once, because the statement is, "So they said to him." Matthew leads us to judge that after the first denial Simon had moved away from the fire and gone to the porch, where another person saw him. It seems that many different enemies attacked the apostle and followed him about the court. The answers he gave to these attacks are much the same each time, though the wording varies.
Where Peter stood matters as much as what he said.
You well know the sad details that led up to his open denial of his Lord. He slept in the garden. He followed far behind. He sat down in the judgment hall to warm himself at a fire lit by Christ's enemies. Let us beware of fires, of warmth and comfort and pleasure, created by the enemies of the Lord Jesus. How many young Christians have forgotten this, and paid dearly for it. Peter identified himself with the world. He is now ashamed to identify himself with a rejected Master.
The denial did not begin at the fire.
The high priest presses on with his questions; Peter repeats his sin. He had slept when he should have watched and prayed. He had walked into the place of temptation instead of listening to the Lord's warning. ... Bad company corrupts good habits. Confessing Jesus in front of friends is very different from confessing Him in front of bloodthirsty enemies. Peter would not have failed like this before others if he had not already failed with his Master.
The scene shifts from the Master to the servant, and the contrast is the lesson.
The scene changes again. In sharp contrast to the Master, we see how the poor servant does when he is tested. The Lord stands bound before His enemies. Peter stands free among the Lord's enemies, warming himself. ... Like Peter, we have the flesh in us and the devil against us. We have to learn that nothing will keep us from denying the Lord under the stress of fear: no love for Him however real, no knowledge of Scripture however great, no good intentions however honest, no experiences however deep, no gift however great, not even the divine life we have. Only being kept near to the Lord, and strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, will hold us up.
Scripture records this failure rather than hiding it.
It is worth noting that this is one of the few episodes recorded by all four Gospel writers. God does not take pleasure in recording the sins of His saints. So we may be sure that this record carries warning and instruction that all saints in all ages badly need. Self-confidence is one of the most common and deep-seated tendencies of the flesh. If we do not judge it and refuse it, it always leads to disaster.
While Peter said "I am not," the Lord had already prayed for him.
May we remember, for our great comfort, that even before we slip, He has been pleading for us, as He pleaded for Peter. "I have prayed for you," said the loving One, "that your faith may not fail." He did not pray that Peter would not fall. He prayed that, after the fall, Peter's confidence would not give way and his faith would not fail. He pleads for us in the same way. That is how He holds us up, and how He restores us when we fall.
Peter's story does not end at the enemy's fire.
His fall happened while he was warming himself at the world's fire, among the servants of the high priest, who was completely hostile to his Master. Now he finds himself beside a fire his Lord had lit. There the Lord not only warms him but feeds him, and he sits among fellow servants as devoted to his Master as he is.
- Steps first. The denial was the end of a road — sleeping instead of praying, then walking into the place of temptation.
- Fire chosen. Peter got warm at a fire lit by his Master's enemies, and took his place among them as though he were one of them.
- Crowd pressing. "They said" points to several accusers at once, chasing him round the courtyard. The wrong fire brings the wrong questions.
- Contrast set. The Lord stands bound before His enemies; Peter stands free among them and denies Him. No love, gift, or experience keeps us standing except nearness to Christ.
- Fire restored. Christ prayed not that Peter would not fall, but that his faith would hold. Later He met Peter again at a fire He had lit Himself.
One of the bondmen of the high priest, who was kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut off, says, Did not I see thee in the garden with him?
This question comes from a man with a personal reason to remember Peter's face. He is a relative of the servant Peter wounded in the garden. The words are not a guess. An eyewitness has identified him. That raises the hardest question of the scene: how can a disciple who drew a sword for his Master now deny knowing Him?
The earlier challenges came from a servant girl and a group at the fire. This one came from a man who had watched the sword fall.
Yet one of the group said, "Didn't I see you in the garden with Him?" What a direct hit, and how deeply it must have cut! And who made it? Strangely enough, it was "his relative whose ear Peter cut off" (v. 26). His relative had seen the blow given, and now recognised the man who gave it. Here we have an eyewitness to Peter's mistaken zeal and murderous behaviour.
Peter thought the sword proved his devotion. It gave him away instead.
They said to Him, "Lord, shall we strike with the sword?" Without waiting for His reply, one of them struck the servant of the high priest. It was Peter who did it, and that was the very action that exposed him. … Possibly Peter thought he was very devoted, and that he was doing a fine thing. What we need is to get the word from the Lord.
By the time the question came, Peter's collapse was already prepared. Commentators trace it back to the garden — not to the sword, but to the sleeping.
The high priest continues his investigation; Peter repeats his sin. And no wonder. He had slept when he should have watched and prayed. He had walked into the place of temptation instead of heeding the Lord's warning. … Confessing Jesus among friends is very different from confessing Him before bloodthirsty enemies. Peter had to learn by painful experience what he was too unspiritual to grasp from the words of Christ. … Peter would not have failed like this before men if he had not first failed with his Master.
Peter had real love for Christ, years of teaching, and a place among the closest disciples. None of it held.
Like Peter, we have the flesh in us and the devil against us. And we have to learn what will not keep us from denying the Lord under the pressure of fear. No love for the Lord, however real. No knowledge of Scripture, however great. No good intentions, however honest. No experiences, however deep. No gift, however great. No divine life that we have. None of these will keep us — unless we are kept near to the Lord, and strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
The eyewitness did not turn up by chance.
What fear of man, bringing a snare! What blinding power of the enemy, to involve a saint in direct and daring falsehood! And this to shame the One who was his life and salvation! But what is the heart not capable of when the Lord is not before it? But God took care that this dread of man, which dishonoured Him, should cover the guilty disciple with self-reproach and contempt and utter humiliation. It happened when an eyewitness could brand him before everyone with his repeated lying denial of his Master.
There was more to see in that garden than a sword blow.
But did the relative, so quick to incriminate Peter, as quickly tell of the healing touch of Jesus? Did he tell how the Master more than put the disciple's fault right, and did it swiftly, thoroughly and gently? This was the very Master whom Peter was now so heartlessly denying. We are not told.
All four Gospel writers record Peter's fall. That is deliberate.
God does not take pleasure in recording the sins of His saints. So we can be sure there is warning and instruction here that all saints in all ages badly need. Self-confidence is one of the commonest and most deep-seated tendencies of the flesh. If we do not judge it and refuse it, it always leads to disaster.
- Garden first. Peter slept when he should have prayed. The courtyard only showed what the garden had already produced.
- Garden returns. The sword blow he thought proved his devotion gave the one witness who could name him.
- Garden exposed. Kelly sees God's hand in sending an eyewitness. Fear of man ended in deep self-reproach, not in a lie left standing.
- Garden healed. The accuser reported a wound. He could also have reported a healed ear, for the Master Peter denied had already put his mistake right.
- Garden warning. Love, knowledge, gift and good intentions did not keep Peter. Only nearness to the Lord, and His grace, keeps us.
Peter denied therefore again, and immediately [the] cock crew.
Peter denies his Master a third time, and a rooster crows. That sound closes this Gospel's account of his fall, and it raises the question the writers press: how did a man who loved the Lord get here?
One writer sets the two scenes in the high priest's house side by side.
How painful the contrast — the Lord before the high priest, and the disciple warming himself with the slaves! More than one attacked him with the crucial question: "You also are not one of His disciples, are you?" Again the fear of man won: the one who truly believed in Him did not confess, but denied it and said, "I am not." And that was not all. A servant of the high priest spoke up, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. He said, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed. What blinding power the enemy has, to draw a saint into direct and daring falsehood, and this to shame Him who was his life and salvation!
Peter did not collapse in one moment. His fall came in stages.
It is very dangerous for a Christian to sit down among the enemies of Christ. The fact that he does it proves that decline has set in and has gone a long way. In Peter's case the stages of decline are clear. First, boasting in his own strength. Second, sleeping when he should have been praying. Third, drawing his sword when he should have been bowing his head in meekness. Fourth, following at a distance. Fifth, making himself comfortable among the open enemies of Christ.
Another writer draws a rule for anyone serving the Lord.
Success in the Lord's work guarantees no security at all. If the Lord is using you in His service, you can be sure Satan is set on sifting you. So the only safe path is to keep as near to the Lord as we can. We must stay as far as possible from all that smells of the world, and from the heat given off at its "fire of coals."
There is a reason Peter's failure was written down at all.
God does not take pleasure in recording the sins of His saints. So we may be sure there is warning and instruction here, much needed by saints in every age. Self-confidence is one of the commonest and deepest tendencies of the flesh. If it is not judged and refused, it always leads to disaster.
Peter's problem was not that he loved Christ too little.
Like Peter, we have the flesh in us and the devil against us. And we have to learn this. No love for the Lord, however real, no knowledge of Scripture, however great, no good intentions, however honest, no experiences, however deep, no gift, however great, no divine life that we have, will keep us from denying the Lord under the pressure of fear — unless we are kept near to the Lord, and strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
One writer names the one thing that turns a fallen believer around.
It is always the word of the Lord that produces real repentance, whether in a saint or a sinner. It is not human feeling, nor shame, nor the fear of being found out — it is the word that Jesus spoke, working within. The word of the Lord does two things: it convicts and it heals.
The timing of the sound carries its own message.
At the darkest hour, the crowing of the rooster announces the coming of morning. Peter's tears are the first signs of a new day for him.
This Gospel never mentions the Lord's look or Peter's weeping. One writer sees purpose in that, not a gap.
Notice what this Gospel leaves out. It does not give the Lord's earlier prayer for Peter, or His assurance that Peter would be restored. It does not give His turning and looking at Peter after that last denial, when Peter remembered the word of the Lord, went out and wept bitterly. Those are set down plainly in the one Gospel whose character they suit and sustain. Here everything turns on the Person of Christ as the one central object, not on the discovery of what man's heart is, or on the grace of the Lord.
Peter's restoration comes later, at another fire.
Peter fell while he was warming himself at the world's fire. He was in the company of the servants of the high priest, a man completely hostile to his Master. Now he finds himself at a fire his Lord had kindled, where the Lord both warms and feeds him. Three times Peter had been tested, and each time he denied his Lord more strongly. Three times now the Lord probes Peter's conscience and heart.
- Wrong fire. Peter's third denial comes where his decline was always heading — warm and comfortable among the enemies of Christ.
- Wrong confidence. Love, gift, knowledge and experience keep no one standing. Only staying near the Lord does.
- Right word. The word of the Lord — not shame or exposure — is what produces real repentance, and it both convicts and heals.
- Right timing. The sound comes at the darkest hour and announces morning; Peter's tears are the first light of it.
- Right fire. Peter fell at the world's fire. The Lord restored him at His own fire, asking three times where Peter had denied three times.