The Fate of the Apostle Peter
In that last post we saw that the empty tomb and the appearances to the disciples are the basis for the argument in favor of the resurrection of Jesus. If the disciples actually stole the body and were lying about the appearances of the risen Jesus to them, the whole argument falls apart. Thus, I would like to discuss another part of the argument which is used to dismiss the claims that the disciples were lying about the appearances: they were willing to die for their faiths and some of them actually died as martyrs. It does not make sense for them to be willing to die if they knew they were lying about the whole thing. Actually, in order to avoid writing a super long post, I’ll focus today on the fate of the apostle Peter, one of the main characters of the early Christian church.
First, it is important to define our terms, so we should be clear that we are using martyrs as “one whose testimony for Jesus results in death.” [1] So, was Peter willing to die for his faith in Jesus and, more importantly, did he die for it? Although Peter is very well known for his three denials right before Jesus crucifixion, Acts 4:1–2 shows a Peter who was already suffering the consequences of proclaiming the Christian faith. The hypothesis that is being analyzed by Sean McDowell in his book is the one from the traditional view, that “Peter was crucified in Rome during the reign of Nero in AD 64–67.” [2]
From the biblical texts, it is interesting to observe that in John 21:18–19, Jesus seems to be telling Peter that he should expect to be martyred, and it is even said that “you will stretch out your hands,” (NLT) which usually meant a death by crucifixion in the ancient world. Other than the gospel of John, the letter of 2 Peter presents a form of testament of the apostle Peter and he seems to know that his death is near (“I must soon leave this earthly life,” NLT), which may indicate that he is scheduled to be executed.
According to McDowell, “First Clement is the first non-canonical document that refers to the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul.” [3] In his chapter 5, verses 1–4, Clement is clear: “they struggled in the contest even to death. … There is Peter, … having thus borne his witness he went to the place of glory that he deserved.” The fact that First Clement was probably written in the 90s and that he assumes this to be common knowledge in the church is a good argument towards the martyrdom of the apostle Peter. Ignatius is another church father who has mentioned the death of Peter. He says in the “Letter to the Romans” 4:3 that he is not at the same level as Peter and Paul, but he will rise up free in Jesus Christ after he suffers. This clearly implies that Peter and Paul suffered in the name of Jesus, even though it does not explicitly states their martyrdoms.
Since it is hard to go over all the documents that are covered by McDowell in his book, I’ll mention just the last one, the work of Tertullian, the last writer considered by McDowell in the “living memory” period. Tertullian mentions that Peter “endured a passion like his Lord’s,” which is an explicit mention to Peter’s death by crucifixion. In another work, Tertullian asserts the traditional view of the death of Peter as clear as possible: “At Rome Nero was the first who stained with blood the rising faith. Then is Peter girt by another, when he is made fast to the cross.” [5]
I know it is difficult to cover such a huge topic in a single post, and especially to cover an academic analysis of several ancient texts and what that means for the fate of the apostle Peter. However, I’ll invite the reader to read the rest from the book “The Fate of the Apostles” by Sean McDowell. The author concludes that the martyrdom of Peter is a historical fact with the highest possible probability: “lack of any competing narrative weighs favorably for the traditional view; the early and persistent tradition is that Peter was martyred for his faith.” [6]
[1] Sean McDowell, The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus (New York: Routledge, 2015), 5.
[2] Ibid, 60.
[3] Ibid, 67.
[4] Ibid, 81.
[5] Ibid, 90–91.
[6] Ibid, 91.
