And he gave to Simon the surname of Peter;
Mark's list of the twelve opens with a renaming. The Lord gives Simon a new name, and that short clause raises real questions: why change a man's name, what does the new one mean, and why does Simon always head the list?
The religious leaders had just decided to destroy Jesus. The naming comes right after, as part of a fresh step in His work.
The Lord withdraws to the sea with His disciples. After this, while He heals many and casts out unclean spirits, He also goes up into a mountain. There He takes a new step. It is one point of change in Mark's Gospel, a step beyond all He had done so far. The Pharisees and the Herodians had planned to destroy Jesus. Following on that, He takes a new measure: the sovereign call and appointment of the twelve, so that He might in due time send them out. He does not merely call them to be with Him. He appoints them in a formal way to the great mission on which they were to be sent out.
The Lord gives His disciples new names. He does not wait to find out what they are like first.
He also gives names to some of His disciples. This is a mark of supreme authority. And He gives them according to the knowledge He had of their character, before He had had any experience of it.
"Peter" is not a title. It is a plain word, and it comes to us in two languages.
Simon, or Symeon (2 Peter 1:1), had the family name Bar, that is, son of Jona or Jonas (Matthew 16:17; John 20:15-17). The Lord gave him the name Kephas (Aramaic) or Petros (Greek) = Stone or Rockman (John 1:43). He confirmed it later in solemn words in Matthew 16:18.
"Stone" was the least likely name for a man like Simon.
When Simon was brought to the Messiah, his new Master thought it necessary to give him a surname. He chose probably the last one we would have thought of: "Peter," a stone. For He sees the things that are not. He could see that this man was impulsive, erratic and inconsistent by nature. He also saw that by divine grace this man would become a solid and substantial defence in the church against every kind of evil and hostility.
A name given by God is not a hopeful label. The same writers point to Abram and Sarai, whose changed names God Himself brought to pass, and read Simon's history the same way — including the second name given in the very next verse, to James and John.
When God gives names to men, His power makes good what His grace bestows. He did this when He changed the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah. Jesus is God blessed for ever. When He appointed the twelve and sent them out to preach, He gave Simon the name Peter — a stone — and He gave James and John the name Boanerges — the sons of thunder... Every Gospel tells of Simon's weakness, even his denial of his Lord. Yet we know that by grace he became His boldest and most uncompromising witness.
Every list of the twelve opens with him. Commentators explain why — and what it does not mean.
Here again (Mark 3:16) Simon's new name stands out, and it is so in all the Gospels. His name always comes first on the list (see Matt. 10:2; Mark 3:16; Luke 6:14; John 21:2). This does not mean that he had authority over his brothers, or that he held the place of a chief, as Rome would have us believe. It was his natural eagerness, and his warm-hearted, impulsive earnestness, that always put him in the front rank. If there is a question, Peter usually asks it; if there is a confession of who the Lord is, Peter is the spokesman.
- Authority. Giving a name is a mark of supreme authority. The Lord names His disciples knowing their character in advance, not after testing it.
- Name. Kephas in Aramaic, Petros in Greek, both meaning "stone" — a name the Lord confirmed to him later (Matthew 16:18).
- Grace. No one would have chosen "stone" for an impulsive, inconsistent man. It described what grace would make of him.
- Power. What God's grace gives in a name, His power makes good. It was so with Abram and Sarai. It was so with the man who denied his Lord and became His boldest witness.
- Order. Peter heads every list because of his eagerness, not his rank. Commentators reject the idea that this made him chief over the rest.
and James the [son] of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, and he gave them the surname of Boanerges, that is, Sons of thunder;
In Mark's list of the twelve, two names change. Simon becomes Peter, and the Lord gives the two sons of Zebedee one shared title: Boanerges. Commentators have long asked what that title means. Is it a picture of their fiery nature, or a promise of what they would become?
The list comes at a turning point. The leaders have set out to destroy Jesus, and He answers with a new step.
The Lord withdraws to the sea with His disciples. After this, while He heals many and casts out unclean spirits, He also goes up into a mountain. There He takes a new step. It is one point of change in Mark's Gospel, a step beyond all He had done up to then. The Pharisees and the Herodians had planned to destroy Jesus. In answer, He takes a new measure: the sovereign call and appointment of the twelve. In due time He would send them out.
Several apostles went by more than one name. Only a few received a name from the Lord Himself.
The brother of James was also chosen to be an apostle. The Lord gave the two sons of Zebedee the surname Boanerges, which means Sons of thunder. Other apostles appear to have had several names. But we are told of only three who received surnames from the Lord: Peter, James and John.
One writer traces this back to the garden, where the first man named the creatures, and forward to a name still to come.
To receive a name from him was as if it had been given by the Lord God Himself. But Adam was only a picture of the One who was to come. So when that One came, He could not do less than give names too. To Simon He gave the name Cephas... Afterwards He surnamed the sons of Zebedee Boanerges (Mark 3:17). In time He will give to each member of His Church a new name, which no one knows except the one who receives it (Revelation 2:17).
Two later scenes in the Gospels show the zeal behind the name.
The Lord gave this name, meaning 'sons of thunder,' to James and John the sons of Zebedee, Mark 3:17. Perhaps He gave it because of their urgent zeal. That zeal was clear when, angry at the treatment of their Lord, they asked whether they should call down fire from heaven. Luke 9:54. It was John who told the Lord about a man casting out demons in His name. They had stopped him, because he was not following with them. Mark 9:38. The Lord condemned this action of the apostles.
One writer finds the name hard to square with John's own writings, but plain enough in the other Gospels.
The Lord re-named some of His disciples. The name He gave to James and John was Boanerges, meaning 'Sons of thunder'. This would seem to describe their character. When we read the writings of John we do not think of him as a son of thunder. But some of the other Gospels show how hot-blooded and jealous he was by nature.
Others reject that reading and take the name as looking forward rather than backward.
What our Lord particularly meant to convey by this title is not easily settled. There have been many guesses. Some suppose He gave it because these two brothers had a more furious and determined nature. On this view their temper was fiercer and more fiery than that of the other apostles. But we see no ground for such a guess in the Gospel history. No doubt their zeal went too far on one or two occasions. But that was before they understood the spirit of their calling. More probably our Lord gave them the name as a prophecy. It pointed to their burning zeal in proclaiming the great truths of the gospel openly and boldly, once they knew those truths fully.
Either way, John did not stay the man he was at first.
His brother James and himself were called the sons of thunder. They were marked by a strong sense of God's judgment against sin and rebellion... The Lord also rebuked them both for wanting to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans who would not receive Him. "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of," He said to them. But divine grace had its way, and John was shaped and softened, and brought to rest on the bosom of Jesus.
- Timed — The naming comes as the leaders plot to destroy Jesus. He answers by calling and appointing the twelve.
- Named — Only Peter, James and John received a surname from the Lord. Giving a name belongs to the One in authority.
- Known — Their zeal later burst out: fire from heaven, and a ban on an outsider. The Lord knew them before He named them.
- Disputed — Commentators differ. Some read Boanerges as a picture of a fiery temper. Others read it as a prophecy of bold preaching to come.
- Changed — Grace reshaped the man. The son of thunder came to rest on the bosom of Jesus.