Why did Peter deny God?

Answer 1

We can not look into the mind of Peter, nor into the minds of the gospel authors who reported this event. We can look at the history and structure of the gospels to see whether Peter really said what was attributed to him and why this was so.

We now know that the first New Testament gospel to be written is Mark's Gospel, although it was originally anonymous, as were all the gospels. We also know that the other gospels were based, directly (Matthew and Luke) or indirectly (John) on Mark. Whoever the author of Mark's Gospel really was, it is universally accepted that he was not present when Peter denied Jesus - in fact there is no suggestion in the gospel that any of Jesus' followers were. It is therefore very possible that this event was literary licence, but that raises the question of why the author included this.

Mark's Gospel was written at a time of great upheaval in the Jewish milieu and its author was careful to avoid any possibility that Jews could accuse Jesus of blasphemy because of his gospel. Jesus needed to be identified to Mark's readers as the Son of God, but Mark had only outsiders ever refer to Jesus as the Son of God. In 3:11-12, the demons fall down and call Jesus the Son of God, but Jesus is quick to instruct them to tell no one, thus no more than an implied admission. If the demons committed blasphemy, Mark could deny responsibility. Another outsider, the centurion present at the crucifixion, said that Jesus was surely the Son of God (15:39). Christians would believe God when he calls Jesus his beloved son at his baptism, but Jews could not criticise God. Verse 1:1 does have the author call Jesus the Son of God, but this is not present in some early manuscripts and it is possible that it was not original.

This brings us to the description of Jesus as the longed-for Messiah. In verse 8:29, Peter calls Jesus the Messiah, or Christ, and again Jesus charged that he tell no one. However, Peter was not an outsider, so this remains a problem for the gospel. First, a couple of verses later, Jesus rebukes Peter, saying, "Get behind me, Satan." In the event of any charge, this distances Jesus and, by implication, his followers, from what Peter said, but this may not have been enough, so later Peter was to deny Jesus. The two events are intentionally related, as we can see in the parallel structure of Mark's Gospel, where Peter's affirmation is event T and his denial is event T'. Peter's shame is reflected in events U and U'. Parallel structures were commonly used in ancient Greek literature to add emphasis or create themes that would not otherwise be apparent:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)