How many times did Peter deny Jesus before the cock crowed for the first time?
Posted on Mar.19, 2009. Filed in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Average rating: 4.5 / 10 (Rate It).
In all four gospels Jesus predicts that Peter will deny three times that he knows him, and in all four gospels Peter does indeed deny Jesus three times. They disagree, however, as to whether the second and third denials take place before or after the cock crows.
In Matthew, Peter denies Jesus three times before the cock crows:
Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant-girl came to him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus the Galilean.’ But he denied it before all of them, saying, ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’ When he went out to the porch, another servant-girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, ‘This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ Again he denied it with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’ After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, ‘Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.’ Then he began to curse, and he swore an oath, ‘I do not know the man!’ At that moment the cock crowed. [Matthew 26:69-74 (NRSV)]
Luke’s account agrees with Matthew, also having three denials before the cock crows:
Then a servant-girl, seeing him in the firelight, stared at him and said, ‘This man also was with him.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘Woman, I do not know him.’ A little later someone else, on seeing him, said, ‘You also are one of them.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I am not!’ Then about an hour later still another kept insisting, ‘Surely this man also was with him; for he is a Galilean.’ But Peter said, ‘Man, I do not know what you are talking about!’ At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. [Luke 22:56-60 (NRSV)]
John too has three denials before the cock crows:
… the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. The woman said to Peter, ‘You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ … Now Simon Peter was standing by and warming himself. They asked him, ‘You are not also one of his disciples are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not.’ One of the slaves 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?’ Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed. [John 18:16b-17, 25-27 (NRSV)]
These accounts all fit the predictions in Matthew 26:34, Luke 22:34, and John 13:38 that Peter would deny Jesus three times before the cock crowed.
In Mark, though, Peter denies Jesus just once before the cock crows:
While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came by. When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, ‘You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.’ But he denied it, saying, ‘I do not know or understand what you are talking about.’ And he went out into the forecourt. Then the cock crowed. [Mark 14:66-68 (NRSV)]
Mark has Peter deny Jesus twice more before the cock crows again, fulfilling Jesus’ prediction in Mark 14:30 that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crowed twice. In Mark, though, Peter’s second and third denials happen after the cock crows once, which would mean that Jesus’ prediction as it is recorded in the other gospels was incorrect.
So how many times did Peter deny Jesus before the cock crowed for the first time? Did he deny him three times before the cock crowed, as Matthew, Luke, and John record, or just once, as Mark has it?
N.B. All posts are written in a style sympathetic to the claim of Biblical error, even in cases where the author ("Errancy") disagrees with the claim. See the About page for the site's philosophy.
3 Comments Ratings
Inerrantist Responses
To suggest a response to this claim of error, please use the comments section below.
Rate this Claim of Error
How serious a problem for inerrancy do you think this is?
Average rating: 4.5 / 10
You must be logged in to rate errors.
March 19th, 2009 on 11:03 am
The cock crowing event described in the Matthew, Luke and John accounts is the first cock crowing event of Good Friday (which, let us say, beat Peter’s third denial by a nose).
The cock crowing event described in the Mark account above is the first of the two crowings Jesus predicted that Peter would hear. It occurred well before the beginning of Good Friday when the second crowing (which is also the crowing referenced by Matthew, Luke and John) occurred.
The sequence of crowings matches the sequences in the predictions recorded by each author.
The prediction that Luke records says “before the cock crows this day.” With “this day”, I take Jesus to be referring to the morning of Good Friday (on Maundy Thursday, when he said it, the cock had already crowed many, many times). The prediction, as Matthew and John record it, does not mention “this day.” But they are also reporting the same prediction that Luke reports (because the crowing they later reference is, as with Luke, the first crowing of Good Friday).
But the prediction that Mark records says that Peter’s three denials would occur before the cock crows twice and does not mention this day. I take Jesus to be saying that before Peter heard the cock crow twice, he would deny Jesus three times.*
———————–
*-As I said in the earlier thread on the predictions, Jesus made both predictions in a single predictive episode. Matthew, Luke and John recorded the prediction about the first crowing of Good Friday. Mark recorded the prediction about the next two crowings that Peter would hear.
March 19th, 2009 on 1:08 pm
Mark 14:68 – other ancient authorities lack Then the cock crowed
:)
(Though we are later (14:72) told that the cock crowed a second time, which seems to make this dubious as a solution.
March 30th, 2009 on 9:46 pm
One correction. I’ve been stupidly thinking in terms of contemporary timekeeping. Obviously, Good Friday started at sundown. “This day” then refers to today, i.e. to Good Friday.
With that said, I’m still willing to contend that Jesus prediction in Mark was that the cock would crow twice, once before daylight and once at daylight, and that Peter would deny him three times before the second crowing. Matthew, Luke and John only talk about the second crowing (the one that heralded the dawn) and the prediction of it.