Growing In Godliness Blog
“Jesus Names Peter”
Categories: Author: Paul Earnhart, Grace, Growth, Holy Spirit, Leadership, TransformedJesus Names Peter
By Paul Earnhart
According to John 1:42, when Andrew brought his brother Simon to Jesus, “Jesus looked at him, and said, ‘You are Simon the son of John, you shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter).” From this time onward, almost without exception, the scriptures refer to him as Simon Peter or simply as Peter.
The word “Cephas” means a stone. Peter means the same. Simon’s friends must have been surprised when Jesus renamed him Peter. They may even have questioned the insight of Jesus. When we see this man in his early association with Jesus, he would scarcely suggest the character of a stone. He seems more like sand or even Jello.
But Jesus was not seeing Simon as he was; Jesus was seeing what he could and would become. Giving him the name Peter must have been a challenge to him; it may well have been a factor in Peter’s becoming the strong disciple of Jesus that he actually became. When we see him in Acts chapter 2, preaching fearlessly about Jesus (Acts 2:36); when we see him in Acts 5 before the Jewish council declaring that he would obey God rather than men (Acts 5:29); when in Acts 12 we see him soundly sleeping in the prison even with the sentence of death already upon his head (Acts 12:6). These are pictures of Peter, a man of stone, just what Jesus knew he would be.
You know, Jesus does for all Christians just what He did for Peter. He names them children of God (Rom. 8:16), even when they are as yet very much unlike God. He calls them saints (1 Cor. 1:2), even when they seem to be far from sanctified. He sees what we can be by His grace and Spirit, and He challenges us by calling us that. May God help us to rise to the challenge as Peter did.
