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Peter denied knowing Jesus three times after Jesus was arrested. His fear in the courtyard followed earlier failures: he dismissed Jesus’s warning, trusted his own resolve, slept instead of praying, and acted rashly with his sword. Luke 22:31–62 shows how self-confidence can leave a disciple unprepared for temptation.
Peter’s failure warns us to listen to Christ and depend on Him in prayer. It also points us toward hope: Jesus had already prayed for Peter and spoke of his return. Below, we’ll trace the three denials and consider four lessons for our own lives.
Watch or listen to my sermon on Peter’s denials, or continue reading the study below.
Table of contents
Soon after I became a Christian, I started reading the Bible regularly. The approach I took was to read a book in the Old Testament and then a book in the New Testament: Genesis, Matthew, Exodus, Mark, Leviticus, Luke. But then something happened: my friend Elwyn said, “Have you read about David?” I didn’t even know where to look for information about David. He told me I had to read 1 and 2 Samuel. I trusted Elwyn, so I interrupted my Bible reading plan and began these two books.
I reached 2 Samuel 11 when David committed adultery and murder, and I didn’t think I was reading about David anymore. I wondered who the imposter was. David hadn’t been perfect up to that point, but I sure didn’t think he was capable of these horrible sins.
As I reread accounts of David over the years, I saw earlier compromises. Second Samuel 5:13 records that he took more wives and concubines after moving to Jerusalem. His accumulation of wives helps us see the danger of indulging desires before a more serious temptation arrives.
David’s practice of taking multiple wives demonstrated a lack of restraint and an indulgence of his passions. Staying home from the battle just provided the opportunity for David’s indulgence to reveal itself.
The Groundwork Is Laid Before The Sin Is Committed.
David’s treatment of Saul gives us a striking contrast to his later murder of Uriah. On more than one occasion, he refused to kill Saul even when others urged him to do so. When Saul was in the cave:
1 Samuel 24:4 [David’s men] said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’”
And it did seem that God had delivered Saul into David’s hands. But David restrained himself. When David snuck into Saul’s camp:
1 Samuel 26:8 Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.”
Again, it seemed that God had delivered Saul into David’s hands. But David restrained Abishai.
So, how do we explain David murdering Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah? David didn’t murder Uriah because he was a bloodthirsty man who couldn’t control himself, despite what Shimei said when he was throwing rocks and insults at David (2 Samuel 16:5-13). Instead, David murdered Uriah because Bathsheba was pregnant and he wanted to hide his adultery. His sin had gotten so far out of hand that he didn’t want to turn back. The groundwork for David’s sin of murder was laid when he was committing adultery.
Here’s another example with the foolish young man who committed adultery with the harlot:
Proverbs 7:8 [the foolish young man] passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house 9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness. 10 And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
You can’t miss the groundwork. First, he went near her corner, then he took the road toward her house, and he did this as darkness fell. The passage doesn’t tell us everything he was thinking, but it shows him moving toward temptation.
Four Ways the Groundwork for Peter’s Denials Was Laid
And Peter’s denials are similar to David’s in two ways. First, we can see the groundwork for Peter’s sin just like we could see the groundwork for David’s sin. Second, Peter’s sin got so far out of hand that he didn’t want to turn back. He started with a simple denial, but then began swearing oaths and cursing himself. I’m stressing this because it isn’t only important to know that Peter denied Jesus. It is also essential to understand how it happened.
First, Peter Denies Christ Because He Ignored Jesus’s Warning.
Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Jesus knew Peter was about to be tested, so He graciously warned him. His repeated “Simon, Simon” makes the warning personal and urgent. But Peter didn’t take Jesus’s warning seriously:
Luke 22:33 Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”
Not the humble response we would hope for. Instead of acknowledging his weakness and expressing gratitude toward Jesus for warning him and praying on his behalf, he makes this declaration.
Second, Peter Denies Christ Because He Was Proud
Luke 22:34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.”
It isn’t recorded in Luke’s gospel, but consider how Peter responded to Jesus telling him he would deny Him:
Matthew 26:34 Jesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” 35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!”
Talk about pride: Peter contradicted Jesus’s warning. Jesus said he would deny Him three times, but Peter insisted he would remain faithful even if it meant dying. Peter trusted his own assessment more than his Lord’s words.
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
Peter had good intentions, but good intentions are not the same as actions. He was boastful, but boasting is not the same as being bold. Peter’s pride proved only to be folly, not faithfulness. His devotion to Christ that he boasted about was little more than sheer emotion. It reminds me of people being fired up at a religious event, declaring they’re going to spend the rest of their lives serving Christ, only to return to their previous lives weeks later when the emotion wears off.
Third, Peter Denies Christ Because He Failed To Pray.
Jesus brought Peter, James, and John farther into the garden of Gethsemane and called them to watch with Him. They fell asleep. Luke 22:45 describes the disciples as sleeping for sorrow; Matthew 26:43 says their eyes were heavy. Their weakness made Jesus’s instruction to pray all the more necessary.
Consider the way it’s worded in the parallel account in Matthew’s gospel:
Matthew 26:40 [Jesus] came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?”
Jesus addressed Peter directly, then instructed the disciples to watch and pray against temptation (Matthew 26:40–41). Peter’s earlier confidence had not prepared him to face the coming test.
Jesus and Peter both faced trials: Jesus faced the cross, and Peter faced the temptation to deny Christ. But consider how differently they prepared. Jesus prayed earnestly in His agony, while Peter and the other disciples repeatedly fell asleep. Luke 22:44 emphasizes the intensity of Jesus’s agony and prayer.
Fourth, Peter Denies Christ Because He Acted Recklessly
How many times had Jesus been able to evade being arrested when that wasn’t what He wanted? People repeatedly tried to lay hands on Him, but He was always able to escape. Second, how many times had Jesus told the disciples that He had to be arrested and even killed? At least three recorded times just in Luke’s gospel. In fact, the strongest rebuke Jesus gave any of the disciples was given to Peter after Jesus said He must be killed, but Peter decided to rebuke Him:
Matthew 16:21 Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
If Peter had shown some humility and patience, he could have reflected on the rebuke he received earlier and all the teachings from Jesus that He was supposed to be arrested and killed. But instead, the mob comes to arrest Jesus, and:
Luke 22:49 And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”
Luke moves from the disciples’ question to the sword strike without recording an answer in between. John 18:10–11 identifies Peter as the one who struck and records Jesus’s command to put the sword away. Peter acted rashly instead of submitting to the path Jesus had explained. His response gives us another warning about trusting our impulses more than Christ’s words.
The Context for Peter’s Denials
After Jesus was arrested in the garden, He was brought before the religious authorities. John 18:12–24 records that He was first taken to Annas, who later sent Him to Caiaphas, the high priest. Matthew 26:57 places Jesus before Caiaphas, while Luke introduces Peter’s denials this way:
Luke 22:54 Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house, and Peter was following at a distance. 55 And when they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them.
The parallel account tells us that while Jesus was in Caiaphas’s house, He was abused:
Matthew 26:67 Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?”
John 18:18 tells us it was a cold night, and Peter warmed himself by a charcoal fire with the servants and officers. While Jesus was facing questioning and abuse, Peter faced a different test: would he acknowledge his Lord?
Luke 22:56 Then a servant girl, seeing him as he sat in the light and looking closely at him, said, “This man also was with him.”
Luke 22:54 says Peter followed at a distance, and Matthew 26:58 adds that he went into the courtyard to see the outcome. His denials suggest he wanted to remain near Jesus without being identified as His follower. But a servant girl recognized him. Notice that she speaks to the people around him. Peter’s response:
Luke 22:57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”
Peter didn’t just deny being with Jesus; he denied even knowing him. Here’s how it’s worded in the parallel account:
Matthew 26:70 But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.”
Peter denied Jesus in front of the people gathered there. Matthew 26:71 tells us he then moved to the entrance, where another servant girl identified him. Moving away did not end the questions:
Luke 22:58 And a little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
Again, we learn more in Matthew’s gospel:
Matthew 26:71 And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” 72 And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.”
Notice three things. First, Matthew identifies another servant girl. Second, she speaks to the bystanders. John also records a question from the people near the fire, although he does not say that the girl’s accusation caused their question:
John 18:25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “You also are not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.”
Third, Peter strengthens his denial with an oath. His escalating response suggests how fearful he had become. This is more serious than the first denial because an oath calls on God as a witness to the truth of what is being said. John MacArthur wrote, “To compound one’s lying with a false oath was to take the Lord’s name in vain in the most blasphemous possible way in effect attempting to make God a witness to a lie. Peter’s sin at this point was clearly willful and deliberate. But he was caught in a sinister web of his own weaving, and there was no getting out of it now.”1 But this oath didn’t save him:
Luke 22:59 And after an interval of about an hour still another insisted, saying, “Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.”
An hour had passed, so Peter likely hoped that his oath had calmed the crowd and saved him, but someone else confronted him. Again, Matthew’s gospel gives us more details:
Matthew 26:73 After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.”
It wasn’t just one person accusing Peter; it was a group, and they confronted him with evidence to support their conviction that he was with Jesus: his accent. Here’s another detail from John’s Gospel:
John 18:26 One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”
Now there’s even a witness: one of Malchus’s relatives recognized Peter and placed him in the garden with Jesus when He was arrested.
Sin Often Begets Worse Sin
Imagine the pressure Peter felt as people kept identifying him. Luke records his third denial:
Luke 22:60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.
This sounds mild. Matthew helps us understand it better:
Matthew 26:74 Then [Peter] began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed.
When Peter pronounced a curse on himself, he expressed hope that something terrible would happen to him if he were lying. Then he swore another oath, calling on God to be a witness that he didn’t know Jesus. Again, he’s committing the worst kind of blasphemy, declaring that God is a witness to his lie. But by this point, Peter was so desperate to confirm his own lie that he threw off all restraint.
After David committed adultery with Bathsheba, he committed further sins to cover it. Peter’s denials also show an escalation: the first was a lie, the second added an oath, and the third added a curse and swearing. Sin can draw us into further sin as we try to hide what we have done. These accounts warn us to confess and turn back rather than protect the first lie with another.
Peter’s Example Should Make Us Sober, Not Proud
Contrast Peter’s actions when Jesus was arrested with Peter’s denials: A large armed mob comes to arrest Jesus, and Peter takes out his sword to fight them. At this moment, he was willing to risk his life for Christ. Only hours later, Peter denies knowing Christ to a couple of servant girls. It’s hard to believe.
The Gospels do not record Peter being arrested or harmed in the courtyard. That does not establish that he was safe or that the questions were merely teasing: Jesus was in custody, officers were nearby, and a relative of the man Peter had struck recognized him. We do not need to minimize that pressure to see his failure. The question for us is whether fear will lead us to deny our Lord.
Now, because Peter looks so bad, it’s tempting for us to look down on him, think we are better than him, and believe we would never do the same. But I know that’s the opposite of what God wants us to do with this account. Instead, we should have the humility to learn from Peter.
Four Ways to Learn from Peter
First, Peter didn’t listen to Jesus.
Peter was warned, but he disregarded it. We don’t hear audibly from the Lord, but we can definitely do the same thing when we read the Word and ignore what the Lord is saying to us.
Second, Peter was proud.
Peter was convinced he could never deny Jesus, even when Jesus told him he would. We can do the same when we see ourselves above certain temptations. Just because we don’t struggle with something, or have even gotten victory in a particular area, doesn’t mean we should proudly believe we could never fall to that temptation.
Third, Peter was self-deceived.
Peter spoke as though he knew his own heart better than Jesus did. Years of walking with Christ had not made him immune to failure. We can make the same mistake when we treat our experience or position as proof that we could never fall. Spiritual maturity includes recognizing our continuing need for the Lord’s help.
Fourth, Peter was unprepared.
Peter failed to follow Jesus’s instruction to pray against temptation. His willingness to make bold promises did not remove his need for prayer. When we recognize our weakness, we should ask the Lord for help before the test comes. Jesus’s own earnest prayer in the garden shows us the importance of depending on the Father.
We aren’t reading about Cain, or Ahab, or one of the religious leaders. Instead, we are reading about a man who spent years being discipled by Jesus and became a pillar of the church. If this could happen to Peter, it could happen to us, and that reality should sober us.
But Peter’s story did not end with denial. He wept, returned to Christ, and was restored to service. For the next part of the account, read why Peter wept bitterly and what his response teaches us about repentance.
- John MacArthur, The Murder of Jesus, page 134 ↩︎
