Ordinary Men, Extraordinary Calling

PETER THE APOSTLE

INTRODUCTION

"Ordinary Men, Extraordinary Calling"

Before we look at any single apostle, we need to set the stage for why this study matters. Acts 4:13 gives us the key verse for the whole series:

"Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus." (ESV)

Agrammatoi (ἀγράμματοι) — "uneducated" — doesn't mean illiterate exactly, but untrained in the formal rabbinic schools. Idiōtai (ἰδιῶται) — "common men" — is where we get our word "idiot," but in the first century it simply meant a private citizen, someone without official standing or specialized training. These were not the men anyone would have chosen to found a movement that would outlast the Roman Empire.

That's the whole point of this series. Jesus did not build His church on credentialed men. He built it on called men.

Who Were the Twelve? (Establishing the Roster)

Three Gospel lists give us the Twelve — Matthew 10:2-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16 — plus Acts 1:13. The lists are always grouped in three sets of four, and Peter is always named first, Judas always last. That ordering itself tells us something about how the early church understood rank and function among the Twelve.

Group One (inner circle): Peter, Andrew, James (son of Zebedee), John Group Two: Philip, Bartholomew (Nathanael), Thomas, Matthew Group Three: James (son of Alphaeus), Thaddaeus/Jude, Simon the Zealot, Judas Iscariot

Worth noting for the group: these men came from wildly different backgrounds. Fishermen (Peter, Andrew, James, John), a tax collector who collaborated with Rome (Matthew), and a zealot who wanted to violently overthrow Rome (Simon) — sitting at the same table, walking the same roads. That tension alone is worth a full session's discussion when we get to Matthew and Simon.

Why "Apostle" and Not Just "Disciple"

Mathētēs (μαθητής) means "learner" or "student" — that's disciple. Apostolos (ἀπόστολος) means "one sent with a commission," carrying the authority of the one who sent him — like an ambassador. Every apostle was first a disciple, but not every disciple became an apostle. Luke 6:13 marks the transition point:

"And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles." (ESV)

The calling wasn't a promotion earned. It was a sovereign choice — "he called," "he chose," "he named." That verb pattern will matter every time we ask "why did Jesus pick this man?"

The Shape of Each Study

For the series, each apostle's session(s) will move through the same four movements:

— where we find him, what he was doing, how Jesus approached himThe Call

— his personality as shown in the Gospel narratives, strengths and flaws alikeThe Character

— a defining failure or test momentThe Crisis

— what he became, and (where Scripture or reliable tradition tells us) how he finishedThe Commission

Closing Thought for the Introduction

If God could take a boy who cursed and denied he even knew Jesus and make him the rock the church stands on — that says something about what God can do with the raw material sitting in your pew tonight. This series isn't a history lesson. It's a mirror.

PETER THE APOSTLE

"From Simon to Peter: The Call by the Water"

Luke 5:1–11 ESV

1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

John 1:35–42 ESV

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).

Opening

Every character study of Peter has to start earlier than most people think — not at the shore of Galilee with the miraculous catch of fish, but with a quieter moment recorded only in John's Gospel.

The First Meeting (John 1:35-42)

Peter didn't meet Jesus first. His brother Andrew did — as a disciple of John the Baptist, Andrew heard the Baptist point to Jesus and say "Behold, the Lamb of God" (John 1:36), and he went and spent a day with Jesus. Then:

"He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah'... He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas' (which means Peter)." (John 1:41-42, ESV)

Notice what happens here before Peter has done anything, said anything, or proven anything: Jesus renames him.

Kēphas (Κηφᾶς) is Aramaic, Petros (Πέτρος) is the Greek equivalent — both mean "rock" or "stone." This is not a minor detail. In Scripture, a name change from God always signals a change in identity and destiny — Abram to Abraham, Jacob to Israel. Jesus looks at an impulsive, unstable fisherman named Simon and, in effect, says: "I don't see who you are right now. I see who you're going to become." Simon means "he has heard." Peter means "rock." Jesus is speaking a future stability into a man who, at this point, has none.

Hold onto that tension — it's the engine of Peter's whole story. He spends the next three years being anything but rock-solid, and it's precisely because Jesus called him "rock" in advance, not as a reward.

The Call by the Water (Luke 5:1-11)

By the time we reach Luke 5, some time has passed. Peter has apparently gone back to his nets — the call in John 1 wasn't a permanent, full-time summons yet. This is common in the Gospels: an initial encounter, followed later by a decisive call to leave everything.

Jesus is teaching by the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Gennesaret in v.1), the crowd is pressing in, and He gets into Simon's boat to teach from just offshore. After teaching, Jesus tells Peter:

"Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." (Luke 5:4, ESV)

Peter's response is worth sitting with:

"Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." (Luke 5:5, ESV)

This is a professional fisherman being told how to fish by a carpenter's son. Peter's protest is reasonable — night was the best time to fish on Galilee, and they'd caught nothing. But epi de tō rhēmati sou — "at your word" — Peter obeys anyway. This is the first evidence of something that will define him: whatever his failures, Peter's default posture toward Jesus is obedience even through doubt.

The result overwhelms both boats with fish (v.6-7). And Peter's reaction is the real turning point of the passage:

"But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.'" (Luke 5:8, ESV)

This is not false modesty. Peter has just witnessed something that reveals who Jesus actually is, and his instinctive response — like Isaiah's in Isaiah 6:5, like Job's in Job 42:5-6 — is to recognize his own sinfulness in the presence of holiness. Hamartōlos (ἁμαρτωλός) — "sinful man" — is a strong term, not casual self-deprecation.

Jesus' response is the hinge of the whole call narrative:

"Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." (Luke 5:10, ESV)

He doesn't correct Peter's self-assessment. He doesn't say "you're not that bad." He simply says: don't be afraid, and here's your new purpose. Grace doesn't erase Peter's sinfulness — it repurposes him despite it.

"And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him." (Luke 5:11, ESV)

Aphentes panta — "having left all things." Not just the nets. Not just the boat. Everything. A successful fishing business (v.7 suggests these were sizable, profitable catches — this wasn't a struggling operation) walked away from in a moment.

Character Notes for Discussion

Peter is decisive, not hesitant — he obeys before he understands.

Peter is honest about his own unworthiness rather than performing false humility or false confidence.

Peter's call comes with a job description built in — "fishers of men" uses the very skill set he already had. God rarely calls people into a vacuum; He redirects existing gifts toward a new purpose.

Discussion Questions

Jesus renamed Simon before he had done anything to earn it. Where in your own life has God spoken an identity over you that you haven't grown into yet?

Peter's first response to seeing Jesus' power was to recognize his own sin, not to ask for more blessing. What does that tell us about genuine encounters with holiness?

"They left everything" — what is the "everything" in your life that following Jesus more fully would require you to lay down?

Closing

Simon the fisherman becomes Peter the rock — but not yet. Next session we'll watch that rock crack under pressure, at the moment Jesus needed him most.