Alfred Street Baptist Church Bible Study

Main message: Peter is a multivocal, dynamic figure in the New Testament—remembered differently by Matthew, Luke/Acts, and Paul—and must be read in context rather than flattened into a single portrait. Use the four Ps (place, people, pressure, portrayal) as lenses to track how each writer shapes Peter’s identity and role.

Key points:

• Framework: read Peter through the four Ps—place (where), people (who is around him), pressure (what circumstances test him), and portrayal (how the writer shapes him).
• Social background: Peter is presented as a Galilean, working fisherman (multilingual, peripheral to Jerusalem), formed under Roman occupation and frequent communal pressure.
• Recurring patterns: Peter is a figure in motion, often under pressure, regularly involved in arguments, and a vocal confessor of Jesus.
• Textual snapshots: Matthew 16 (confession “You are the Messiah” then rebuke/redirection when Peter objects to Jesus’ suffering); Acts 15 (Peter speaks for including Gentiles, but James makes the final decision); Galatians 2 (Paul confronts Peter for inconsistent behavior in Antioch).
• Canonical observation: Paul’s letters (e.g., Galatians, 1 Corinthians) are among the earliest portrayals of Peter, so later Gospel and Acts portraits reflect developing, sometimes competing, memories.

Scriptures mentioned: Matthew 16:13-23, Acts 15, Galatians 2, Luke 13:1, Acts 5:37, Mark 1, John 21, Acts 9, Luke 22, Acts 4, Acts 12, John 6, Acts 2, Matthew 1:1, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Peter 1, 2 Peter 3