Petros (Peter)

Simon (later renamed Peter) was a fisherman from Bethsaida in Galilee, and was chosen by Christ along with Andrew his brother to be an ambassador.

Life

Fishers of Men

Matthew 4:18 And walking by the sea of Galilaia He saw two men, Simon who is called Petros and Andreas his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And He says to them: “Come after Me, and I shall make you fishers of men.” 20 And immediately having left the nets they followed Him.

Matthew, writing long after the fact, does not relate the account where Simon began to be called Peter until Chapter 16 of his account. Andreas, or Andrew here, is shown to be the brother of Peter, and is very often mentioned together with Phillip later in Scripture. All three men were from Bethsaida, a town with a Hebrew name meaning “house of fish”.

Ministry to the Circumcision

At an early time, the apostles evidently understood “Israel” to include the circumcision only. The proof of that lies in Acts Chapter 10 and Peter's need for the vision which he later received from God. The apostles, being unlearned in literature, were not aware of the identity of the long-ago-dispersed Israelites, which was the entire reason for the later ministry of Paul of Tarsus.

Wife

Matthew 8:14 Then Yahshua coming into the house of Petros saw his mother-in-law stricken and sick with fever. 15 And He grasped her hand, and the fever left her, and she arose and served Him.

Peter had a wife, as Paul also relates, where he is speaking of himself, at 1 Corinthians 9:5 where he asks: “Do we not have license to always have with us a kinswoman: a wife, as also the other ambassadors, and the brethren of the Prince, and Kephas?” So we see here also that Peter had a mother-in-law, and therefore he was married. Peter's following Yahshua for three-and-a-half years while he was married, is also illustrative of the priorities that we too should all have: that service to the Word of God comes even before marriage.