And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
Peter denied in the courtyard that he knew Jesus, declaring it with cursing and swearing to deceive his questioners, and while the oaths were still fresh on his lips the cock crew in fulfillment of Jesus' warning, marking his third denial. It is held by some that this was his first denial, made when startled and confused. At that same moment Jesus turned from His judges and looked full upon him with sorrowful pity and no anger, which brought Christ's words back to mind, broke his heart, and sent him out to weep bitterly in true contrition and conversion. The fall came from fear of scorn and danger, from forward self-confidence that trusted self despite faithful warning, from failing to watch as in Gethsemane, and from yielding to Satan's temptation. Christ did not cast him off but freely forgave and restored him to feed the flock, leaving him a converted man, calm, humble, self-distrustful and firm, fitted to pity the tempted and strengthen his brethren. Disguising faith from dread of reproach is the same denial, and the verse warns that self-confidence cannot stand under pressure, but safety lies in distrusting self, watching with jealous care, and being thoroughly converted.
Setting and Sequence
The words belong to Peter's denial in the judgment hall and courtyard during the examination before the high priest, before Annas, Caiaphas and other temple dignitaries, while Jesus stood condemned and humiliated, mocked and abused, wearing the crown of thorns. Peter himself was later brought for trial in that very room and before some of those very men. He had followed after the betrayal because he was anxious to see what would be done with Jesus.
When questioned about being a disciple, Peter said he did not know Jesus, declaring it with cursing and swearing. It was spoken in rage to fully deceive his questioners and to justify his assumed character as a stranger indifferent to the trial and unconcerned by it. He tried to maintain that false appearance of indifference and to conceal his true loyalty while Jesus was on trial. Immediately, while he was yet speaking and with his oaths still fresh on his lips, the cock crew. The shrill crowing was still ringing in his ears as he heard it, marking the fulfillment of Jesus' warning about the denial and the foretold denial itself.
The weight of the testimony places the verse at Peter's third and final denial, with the cock crowing the third time. Those who held otherwise placed it at Peter's first denial, made when he was startled and confused upon being questioned in the courtyard. At that same moment Jesus, though at some distance, turned His face from His judges and looked full upon Peter. His eyes were involuntarily fixed upon Jesus, and the sorrowful, reproving gaze melted his heart. He read in the gentle countenance deep pity and sorrow with no anger there.
Causes of the Denial
Fear for his own safety led Peter to deny the Man of Sorrows in His hour of humiliation, declaring he did not know Him when accused of being His disciple. He was cowardly before scorn, and though he would have been brave and bold in open battle for his Master with a sword, ridicule made him a coward and the finger of scorn pointed at him made him deny. Scorn and fear of association with Jesus made him ashamed of Him and turned him toward His persecutors.
He placed himself in the way of temptation by associating with those he should have avoided, attempting to hide his faith, conceal his true loyalty, and fit in with Jesus' opponents while appearing indifferent during the trial. His sorrow at the abuse of Jesus conflicted with anger that Jesus submitted passively, and he tried to cover these feelings by joining the persecutors' jests. By so doing he invited the enemy to tempt him to say what he would never otherwise have said.
The denial was the fruit of forward, boasting self-confidence and presumption after faithful warning, for despite affirming a constancy superior to the other disciples and declaring readiness to follow Jesus to prison and to death, he trusted himself. He did not recognize the self-love and self-assurance that would overpower his love for Christ when tested, though he had sincerely meant his promise, and the moment when fidelity was most needed exposed his weakness. In self-sufficiency he even resented Christ's compassionate warning in true friendship that Satan desired to sift him as wheat, confidently declaring he would never do what he was warned against. His ardent zeal, shown shortly before when he zealously cut off the servant of the high priest's ear in Gethsemane after asserting he would suffer and die for Christ, proved not to be conversion, leaving uncorrected a hasty, quick temper and passionate speech that could only be overcome through persevering prayer and effort.
When tested he fell under Satan's temptation and arts and stood against his Lord, overcome by the devil because he trusted in himself and spoke the words Satan suggested. His denial was caused by an evil spirit taking possession of him, the same spirit of Satan, so that he stood on the side of the enemy when Christ needed him most. His self-confidence proved his ruin, tempting Satan to tempt him.
He had failed to watch and to learn and heed Christ's lessons, having been asleep while Jesus prayed those fearful hours in Gethsemane, and he had not yet learned to distrust himself and to watch himself with jealous care. Though connected with Christ as a co-laborer while still imperfect, placed there constantly to learn from the divine Teacher and to have wrong ideas and incorrect views of what constitutes Christian character corrected, he only learned this lesson of self-distrust through being overcome and denying Christ. Had he stood right with God, he would have stood firm in his trial.
Repentance and Restoration
The crowing came at once while Peter was still speaking, and it recalled Christ's warning spoken in the upper chamber and startled him into seeing what he had done. With it came Christ's compassionate, sorrowful and reproving look of pity without anger, which melted his heart, fixed his eyes, brought his own boastful pledge back to mind, pierced him with grief and broke his heart. That look and those remembered words exposed that ardent zeal is not conversion, and turned him to repentance and true conversion that would fit him to strengthen his brethren.
He went out and wept bitterly in true contrition of soul, sincerely repented of his great sin, found mercy, gave himself afresh to his Saviour, and was converted and reconverted. With blinding tears he went alone to Gethsemane and threw himself prostrate on the very spot where he had seen his Saviour prostrate in agony with bloody sweat forced from His pores. There he remembered that he had slept through those fearful hours of prayer, and his penitential tears moistened the sod stained with the sweat drops of God's dear Son. Remembering Jesus' agony and his own failure to watch broke his pride and broke his heart in sincere sorrow.
He left that garden a converted man, wholly different from the impulsive, self-confident, proud and boastful disciple whose cowardice and apostasy had denied the Man of Sorrows in His hour of humiliation. Grace now regulated his zeal, making him calm, teachable, modest and self-distrustful rather than proud and boastful, firm as a rock, filled with the Holy Spirit, courageous yet modest in magnifying Christ. So humbled, he was fully fitted to care for the flock, to pity the tempted, to sympathize with the weak and erring, to caution and warn the presumptuous, to shepherd other tempted disciples, and to strengthen his brethren. His fall had laid bare the self-love and self-assurance that would otherwise have overpowered his love for Christ and ruined him, and its cure made him fit for that charge.
Jesus afterward drew from him three assurances of love and loyalty to match his three denials, bringing his repentance and humility into view and preparing him to care faithfully for Christ's flock. Christ did not cast him off for his cowardly apostasy but freely forgave him and restored him to service, as proved by the high commission to feed the sheep and lambs. Before returning to apostolic work he needed to show the disciples that he sincerely repented of the shameful failure that had contradicted his claims of loyalty.
Later he was brought for trial in that very room and before some of those very men, Annas, Caiaphas and the other temple dignitaries, and the memory of his denial gave him opportunity to redeem his cowardice, remove the stain of his apostasy, and honor the name he had once disowned. The converted Peter, distrustful of self and no longer a proud boaster, resolved by the Spirit's power to make amends by honoring the Lord he had disowned.
He remained deeply conscious of that sin all his life in repentance and humility, and though sincerely repented and forgiven he could never forgive himself. The bitterness of his sorrow and repentance never lessened, even in prospect of scourging and crucifixion. Counting himself unworthy of the honor of dying as his Lord had died, when called to die for his faith he entreated his executioners to nail him to the cross with his head downward.
His fall taught lessons that can be learned only through failure and left him a better man. The Lord permits His children so to fall, and when the heart has not been hardened by disregard of great light, if they repent He helps them stand on vantage ground and purifies them by temptation and trial as fire purifies gold. In that way humble fervent prayer saves the soul from death, while confession and restitution hide a multitude of sins.
Warnings and Applications
To disguise faith from dread of suffering or reproach is to deny the Lord just as Peter did in the judgment hall when the cock crew as he spoke. Peter would have been brave in open battle for his Master, even with a sword, but ridicule made him a coward and the finger of scorn pointed at him made him deny. He placed himself in the way of temptation by trying to hide his faith, fit in with Jesus' opponents and associate with those he should have avoided, and so invited the enemy to tempt him to say what he would never otherwise have said. Many who would not hesitate to engage in active warfare for the Lord are still driven by ridicule to deny faith. Those who boast of freedom of thought and laugh at the scruples of the conscientious, when they persuade the righteous to yield, then despise them as Satan's agents despised those they ruined, so that yielding under temptation can bring contempt even from those who urged the compromise.
The same denial is repeated when one links with worldlings, talks the language of worldlings, denies to unbelievers the truth received and voices Satan's sentiments. Such a one is taken possession of by an evil spirit, the same spirit of Satan, forsakes God and exchanges leaders from Christ to Satan. He feels no need of grace so that grace cannot be given to him, is ignorant of Satan's devices and does not know what spirit he is of. The denial is also repeated by refusing to live according to known truth, for one who assumes he would never deny Christ may already be denying Him in this way. It is repeated by those who cling to old habits and practices, and denying Christ in this way loses the blessing that would be given at every step to those who follow on to know the Lord.
The denial warns against being self-trusting, self-confident and unreliable, for self-confidence cannot sustain faithfulness under pressure. Peter had affirmed a constancy superior to the other disciples and declared readiness to follow his Master even to prison and to death, yet at the very time Jesus stood condemned in humiliation wearing the shameful crown of thorns, when bravery and fidelity were most needed, repeated denial exposed his weakness. When the storm of opposition came like a sweeping tempest upon Christ's followers they all forsook Him and fled, and earnest, forward, loud Peter failed the test. His course soon after ardently asserting he would suffer and die for Christ and zealously cutting off the servant of the high priest's ear in Gethsemane proves that ardent zeal is not conversion. The soul is only safe in distrusting self, trusting only in the wisdom of God, watching self with jealous care, and being thoroughly converted, a lesson Peter had not yet learned and learned only through being overcome by the devil's temptations and denying Christ. That conversion means overcoming a hasty, quick temper and restraining passionate speech through persevering prayer and effort, unto which Peter was led when Jesus looked on him in sadness and grief and broke his heart to repentance and preparation to strengthen his brethren.
Peter's failure did not prevent him from remaining among the disciples and learning from Jesus what constitutes a perfect Christian character. He had been connected with Christ as a co-laborer while still imperfect, placed there to constantly learn lessons from the divine Teacher that would correct wrong ideas and incorrect views of Christian character, and he improved every opportunity to learn. Through this denial he learned to be jealous and distrustful of himself instead of self-sufficient. His course differs from Judas, who had the same opportunities to learn but remained a hearer only and not a doer, failing to have his character molded after the example of Christ, with the result seen in the betrayal of his Lord.
The faithful preservation of the denial as one of the sins of men favored of God and entrusted with great responsibilities who were sometimes overcome by temptation and fell into error shows divine wisdom and the requirement of justice to narrate facts truly for the benefit of all who read. It lays bare the faults and follies of believers as a lesson to following generations, even as people strive, waver and fall now. It warns against excusing sin while encouraging desponding hearts. If the fallen had been without foible they would have been more than human and sinful natures would despair of reaching such excellence, but seeing where they struggled and fell shows that through God's grace they could gain fresh vigor to rise above their evil nature, take heart again and conquer, renew the conflict, press on and surmount obstacles.
Peter denied in the courtyard that he knew Jesus, declaring it with cursing and swearing to deceive his questioners, and while the oaths were still fresh on his lips the cock crew in fulfillment of Jesus' warning, marking his third denial. It is held by some that this was his first denial, made when startled and confused. At that same moment Jesus turned from His judges and looked full upon him with sorrowful pity and no anger, which brought Christ's words back to mind, broke his heart, and sent him out to weep bitterly in true contrition and conversion. The fall came from fear of scorn and danger, from forward self-confidence that trusted self despite faithful warning, from failing to watch as in Gethsemane, and from yielding to Satan's temptation. Christ did not cast him off but freely forgave and restored him to feed the flock, leaving him a converted man, calm, humble, self-distrustful and firm, fitted to pity the tempted and strengthen his brethren. Disguising faith from dread of reproach is the same denial, and the verse warns that self-confidence cannot stand under pressure, but safety lies in distrusting self, watching with jealous care, and being thoroughly converted.
Setting and Sequence
The words belong to Peter's denial in the judgment hall and courtyard during the examination before the high priest, before Annas, Caiaphas and other temple dignitaries, while Jesus stood condemned and humiliated, mocked and abused, wearing the crown of thorns. Peter himself was later brought for trial in that very room and before some of those very men. He had followed after the betrayal because he was anxious to see what would be done with Jesus.
When questioned about being a disciple, Peter said he did not know Jesus, declaring it with cursing and swearing. It was spoken in rage to fully deceive his questioners and to justify his assumed character as a stranger indifferent to the trial and unconcerned by it. He tried to maintain that false appearance of indifference and to conceal his true loyalty while Jesus was on trial. Immediately, while he was yet speaking and with his oaths still fresh on his lips, the cock crew. The shrill crowing was still ringing in his ears as he heard it, marking the fulfillment of Jesus' warning about the denial and the foretold denial itself.
The weight of the testimony places the verse at Peter's third and final denial, with the cock crowing the third time. Those who held otherwise placed it at Peter's first denial, made when he was startled and confused upon being questioned in the courtyard. At that same moment Jesus, though at some distance, turned His face from His judges and looked full upon Peter. His eyes were involuntarily fixed upon Jesus, and the sorrowful, reproving gaze melted his heart. He read in the gentle countenance deep pity and sorrow with no anger there.
Causes of the Denial
Fear for his own safety led Peter to deny the Man of Sorrows in His hour of humiliation, declaring he did not know Him when accused of being His disciple. He was cowardly before scorn, and though he would have been brave and bold in open battle for his Master with a sword, ridicule made him a coward and the finger of scorn pointed at him made him deny. Scorn and fear of association with Jesus made him ashamed of Him and turned him toward His persecutors.
He placed himself in the way of temptation by associating with those he should have avoided, attempting to hide his faith, conceal his true loyalty, and fit in with Jesus' opponents while appearing indifferent during the trial. His sorrow at the abuse of Jesus conflicted with anger that Jesus submitted passively, and he tried to cover these feelings by joining the persecutors' jests. By so doing he invited the enemy to tempt him to say what he would never otherwise have said.
The denial was the fruit of forward, boasting self-confidence and presumption after faithful warning, for despite affirming a constancy superior to the other disciples and declaring readiness to follow Jesus to prison and to death, he trusted himself. He did not recognize the self-love and self-assurance that would overpower his love for Christ when tested, though he had sincerely meant his promise, and the moment when fidelity was most needed exposed his weakness. In self-sufficiency he even resented Christ's compassionate warning in true friendship that Satan desired to sift him as wheat, confidently declaring he would never do what he was warned against. His ardent zeal, shown shortly before when he zealously cut off the servant of the high priest's ear in Gethsemane after asserting he would suffer and die for Christ, proved not to be conversion, leaving uncorrected a hasty, quick temper and passionate speech that could only be overcome through persevering prayer and effort.
When tested he fell under Satan's temptation and arts and stood against his Lord, overcome by the devil because he trusted in himself and spoke the words Satan suggested. His denial was caused by an evil spirit taking possession of him, the same spirit of Satan, so that he stood on the side of the enemy when Christ needed him most. His self-confidence proved his ruin, tempting Satan to tempt him.
He had failed to watch and to learn and heed Christ's lessons, having been asleep while Jesus prayed those fearful hours in Gethsemane, and he had not yet learned to distrust himself and to watch himself with jealous care. Though connected with Christ as a co-laborer while still imperfect, placed there constantly to learn from the divine Teacher and to have wrong ideas and incorrect views of what constitutes Christian character corrected, he only learned this lesson of self-distrust through being overcome and denying Christ. Had he stood right with God, he would have stood firm in his trial.
Repentance and Restoration
The crowing came at once while Peter was still speaking, and it recalled Christ's warning spoken in the upper chamber and startled him into seeing what he had done. With it came Christ's compassionate, sorrowful and reproving look of pity without anger, which melted his heart, fixed his eyes, brought his own boastful pledge back to mind, pierced him with grief and broke his heart. That look and those remembered words exposed that ardent zeal is not conversion, and turned him to repentance and true conversion that would fit him to strengthen his brethren.
He went out and wept bitterly in true contrition of soul, sincerely repented of his great sin, found mercy, gave himself afresh to his Saviour, and was converted and reconverted. With blinding tears he went alone to Gethsemane and threw himself prostrate on the very spot where he had seen his Saviour prostrate in agony with bloody sweat forced from His pores. There he remembered that he had slept through those fearful hours of prayer, and his penitential tears moistened the sod stained with the sweat drops of God's dear Son. Remembering Jesus' agony and his own failure to watch broke his pride and broke his heart in sincere sorrow.
He left that garden a converted man, wholly different from the impulsive, self-confident, proud and boastful disciple whose cowardice and apostasy had denied the Man of Sorrows in His hour of humiliation. Grace now regulated his zeal, making him calm, teachable, modest and self-distrustful rather than proud and boastful, firm as a rock, filled with the Holy Spirit, courageous yet modest in magnifying Christ. So humbled, he was fully fitted to care for the flock, to pity the tempted, to sympathize with the weak and erring, to caution and warn the presumptuous, to shepherd other tempted disciples, and to strengthen his brethren. His fall had laid bare the self-love and self-assurance that would otherwise have overpowered his love for Christ and ruined him, and its cure made him fit for that charge.
Jesus afterward drew from him three assurances of love and loyalty to match his three denials, bringing his repentance and humility into view and preparing him to care faithfully for Christ's flock. Christ did not cast him off for his cowardly apostasy but freely forgave him and restored him to service, as proved by the high commission to feed the sheep and lambs. Before returning to apostolic work he needed to show the disciples that he sincerely repented of the shameful failure that had contradicted his claims of loyalty.
Later he was brought for trial in that very room and before some of those very men, Annas, Caiaphas and the other temple dignitaries, and the memory of his denial gave him opportunity to redeem his cowardice, remove the stain of his apostasy, and honor the name he had once disowned. The converted Peter, distrustful of self and no longer a proud boaster, resolved by the Spirit's power to make amends by honoring the Lord he had disowned.
He remained deeply conscious of that sin all his life in repentance and humility, and though sincerely repented and forgiven he could never forgive himself. The bitterness of his sorrow and repentance never lessened, even in prospect of scourging and crucifixion. Counting himself unworthy of the honor of dying as his Lord had died, when called to die for his faith he entreated his executioners to nail him to the cross with his head downward.
His fall taught lessons that can be learned only through failure and left him a better man. The Lord permits His children so to fall, and when the heart has not been hardened by disregard of great light, if they repent He helps them stand on vantage ground and purifies them by temptation and trial as fire purifies gold. In that way humble fervent prayer saves the soul from death, while confession and restitution hide a multitude of sins.
Warnings and Applications
To disguise faith from dread of suffering or reproach is to deny the Lord just as Peter did in the judgment hall when the cock crew as he spoke. Peter would have been brave in open battle for his Master, even with a sword, but ridicule made him a coward and the finger of scorn pointed at him made him deny. He placed himself in the way of temptation by trying to hide his faith, fit in with Jesus' opponents and associate with those he should have avoided, and so invited the enemy to tempt him to say what he would never otherwise have said. Many who would not hesitate to engage in active warfare for the Lord are still driven by ridicule to deny faith. Those who boast of freedom of thought and laugh at the scruples of the conscientious, when they persuade the righteous to yield, then despise them as Satan's agents despised those they ruined, so that yielding under temptation can bring contempt even from those who urged the compromise.
The same denial is repeated when one links with worldlings, talks the language of worldlings, denies to unbelievers the truth received and voices Satan's sentiments. Such a one is taken possession of by an evil spirit, the same spirit of Satan, forsakes God and exchanges leaders from Christ to Satan. He feels no need of grace so that grace cannot be given to him, is ignorant of Satan's devices and does not know what spirit he is of. The denial is also repeated by refusing to live according to known truth, for one who assumes he would never deny Christ may already be denying Him in this way. It is repeated by those who cling to old habits and practices, and denying Christ in this way loses the blessing that would be given at every step to those who follow on to know the Lord.
The denial warns against being self-trusting, self-confident and unreliable, for self-confidence cannot sustain faithfulness under pressure. Peter had affirmed a constancy superior to the other disciples and declared readiness to follow his Master even to prison and to death, yet at the very time Jesus stood condemned in humiliation wearing the shameful crown of thorns, when bravery and fidelity were most needed, repeated denial exposed his weakness. When the storm of opposition came like a sweeping tempest upon Christ's followers they all forsook Him and fled, and earnest, forward, loud Peter failed the test. His course soon after ardently asserting he would suffer and die for Christ and zealously cutting off the servant of the high priest's ear in Gethsemane proves that ardent zeal is not conversion. The soul is only safe in distrusting self, trusting only in the wisdom of God, watching self with jealous care, and being thoroughly converted, a lesson Peter had not yet learned and learned only through being overcome by the devil's temptations and denying Christ. That conversion means overcoming a hasty, quick temper and restraining passionate speech through persevering prayer and effort, unto which Peter was led when Jesus looked on him in sadness and grief and broke his heart to repentance and preparation to strengthen his brethren.
Peter's failure did not prevent him from remaining among the disciples and learning from Jesus what constitutes a perfect Christian character. He had been connected with Christ as a co-laborer while still imperfect, placed there to constantly learn lessons from the divine Teacher that would correct wrong ideas and incorrect views of Christian character, and he improved every opportunity to learn. Through this denial he learned to be jealous and distrustful of himself instead of self-sufficient. His course differs from Judas, who had the same opportunities to learn but remained a hearer only and not a doer, failing to have his character molded after the example of Christ, with the result seen in the betrayal of his Lord.
The faithful preservation of the denial as one of the sins of men favored of God and entrusted with great responsibilities who were sometimes overcome by temptation and fell into error shows divine wisdom and the requirement of justice to narrate facts truly for the benefit of all who read. It lays bare the faults and follies of believers as a lesson to following generations, even as people strive, waver and fall now. It warns against excusing sin while encouraging desponding hearts. If the fallen had been without foible they would have been more than human and sinful natures would despair of reaching such excellence, but seeing where they struggled and fell shows that through God's grace they could gain fresh vigor to rise above their evil nature, take heart again and conquer, renew the conflict, press on and surmount obstacles.