SIMON PETER

Simon/Simeon means hearing

Simon/Simeon is a very common name in the New Testament. He was the son of Jona (Matthew 16:17). His mother is nowhere named in Scripture. His native town was Bethsaida, on the western coast of the Sea of Galilee, to which Philip also belonged. His father had probably died while he was still young, and he and his brother were brought up under the care of Zebedee and his wife Salome (Matthew 27:56; Mark 15:40; 16:1). There the four youths, Simon, Andrew, James and John spent their boyhood and early manhood in constant fellowship. Simon and his brother doubtless enjoyed all the advantages of a religious training, and were early instructed in an acquaintance with the Scriptures and with the great prophecies regarding the coming of the Messiah. They did not probably enjoy, however, any special training in the study of the law under any of the rabbis. When Peter appeared before the Sanhedrin, he looked like an "unlearned man" (Acts 4:13).

"Simon was a Galilean, and he was that out and out...the Galilean's had a marked character of their own. They had a reputation for an independence and energy which often ran out into turbulence. They were at the same time of a franker and more transparent disposition than their brethren in the south. In all these respects, in bluntness, impetuosity, headiness and simplicity, Simon was a genuine Galilean.

They spoke a peculiar dialect. They had a difficulty with guttural sounds and some others, and their pronunciation was reckoned harsh in Judea. The Galilean accent stuck to Simon all through his career. It betrayed him as a follower of Christ when he stood within the judgment-hall (Mark 14:17). It betrayed his own nationality and that of those conjoined with him on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:7)" His wife's mother is referred to in Matthew 8:14; Mark 1:30 and Luke 4:38.

At Bethabara, beyond Jordan, John the Baptist had borne testimony concerning Jesus as the "Lamb of God" (John 1:29-36). Andrew and John hearing it, followed Jesus, and abode with him where He was. They were convinced, by his gracious words and by the authority with which he spoke, that He spoke, that he was the Messiah (Luke 4:22; Matthew 7:29); and Andrew went forth and found Simon and brought him to Jesus (John 1:41).

Jesus at once recognized Simon, and declared that hereafter he would be call Cephas, an Aramaic name corresponding to the Greek Petros, which means "a mass of rock detached from the living rock." The Aramaic name does not occur again.
Simon responded at once to the call to become a disciple, and after this we find him in constant attendance on our Lord.

He is next called into the rank of the apostleship, and becomes a "fisher of men" (Matthew 4:19) in the stormy seas of the world of human life (Matthew 10:2-4; Mark 3:13-19: Luke 6:13:16), and takes a more and more preeminent part in all the leading events of our Lord's life.

"From that time forth" Jesus began to speak of his sufferings. For this Peter rebuked Him. But our Lord in return rebuked Peter, speaking to him in sterner words than He ever used to any other of his disciples (Matthew 16:21-23; Mark 8:31-33). At the close of His brief sojourn at Caesarea our Lord took Peter and James and John with Him into "an high mountain apart," and was transfigured before them.

Peter was the one that saved the first Gentile. That being the Roman Solider.

God's blessings on each of you,
LJG

SOURCE: The King James Bible, Easton's Bible Dictionary