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Transcript 380C — Was Peter Saved Before Christ's Death?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Good evening, Mr. Camping. I'd like to ask you a few questions about the apostle Peter. Would you assume that Peter was saved before the death of Christ?
HC: The question is, would I assume that Peter was saved before the death of Christ? I think there's no question at all that he was saved. I say this for many reasons. One of the reasons is that in Matthew 16, when Jesus said, "Whom do you say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, in verse 16, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus answered and said unto Him, "Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father which is in Heaven." This is the statement of someone who has become born again. And Christ is indicating that God is working in Peter's heart.
More than that, when you read the high priestly prayer of John 17, which of course was uttered by Jesus before He went to the cross, there He speaks of the fact that God has given these to Him, and He has kept them, and none of them are lost, except the son of perdition, who was Judas Iscariot. The language is very clear that he was saved.
CALLER: Okay. Then we have established the fact that Peter was born again. He was saved. Now in Matthew 10:33 it says, "But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father who is in Heaven." Now that was Jesus speaking.
And we also know that Peter, in Matthew 26:69-75, denied Christ three times. So my question is, if Peter was saved, and we know he was, was his denial of Christ a form of backsliding? Or how would you relate that?
HC: Let's be a little easy on Peter for a moment. When I'm a born again believer, and I engage in sin (and I've committed many sins in my life after I've known that I was a born again believer), any time I sin, effectively I am denying Christ, am I not? I am really indicating by this that I want my own way.
Now I will not continue in that way because I'm going to be troubled in my own soul because of this, and God will deal with me, and so on. But nevertheless, the moment that I sin I am denying Christ. The only difference, however, is that when I deny Christ this way, my sin has been covered by Christ's blood. I am a child of God, and that sin was paid for at the cross. And so whatever the implication of Jesus' statement, "If you deny Me before men, I will deny you before My Father which is in Heaven," it certainly cannot relate to the born again believer. It cannot relate to the born again believer. I think that that would have to follow, because our sins are covered by the blood of Christ.
On the other hand, if I'm in the congregation and I hear the Gospel presented again and again and again, and I repudiate this Gospel offer, I don't want it, I want to go my own way, I am still unsaved, yes, then I'm going to be denied before the Father in Heaven, because my sins are not covered. My sins are not covered at all by the blood of Christ, and I'm still under the wrath of God. And it's only when I finally come to my spiritual senses, as God opens my eyes and I confess Christ, I acknowledge that I'm a sinner and that I'm under the wrath of God and that I'm in deep and terrible trouble with God, only then is there evidence that my sins are covered by the blood of Christ, and Christ now has become my comforter, my advocate before the Father which is in Heaven.
So the fact that Peter denied Christ is not evidence in any sense that now Christ was now going to deny him before the Father which is in Heaven. More than that, Peter went through a very very traumatic experience. The Head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ, had abandoned the church temporarily. Jesus had to go to the cross, and Satan very arrogantly came to Jesus and said, "I want your disciples." Remember, Jesus said, "Satan would have you, to sift you as wheat is sifted. And I prayed the Father that your faith may not fail."
Now in John 10:28 Jesus said, "My sheep hear My voice and follow Me, and they have eternal life and they shall never perish. And nothing shall snatch them out of My hand." And then He goes on, "And nothing shall snatch them out of My Father's hand." Now that verse seems like it's redundant. Isn't it sufficient that nothing would snatch them out of Christ's hand?
Well, there was a brief moment in history, that period when Christ was suffering for our sins, that the church was without the care and keeping of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never again would this ever happen. This will never happen to any believer who lives today. But it did happen to the disciples. The horrible, horrible trauma of being abandoned by Christ because He had to endure the wrath of God, He had to go to hell for our sins.
And so Jesus told the disciples, "But I've prayed the Father that your faith might not fail." He will hold you fast, even though I cannot hold you fast, effectively He is saying. And so the sheep were scattered, as it was already predicted in Zechariah 13:8. And so it's not a bit surprising that Peter denied Jesus. He was without a head, he was without a king. The Kingdom of Christ was temporarily shattered. So for that reason we have to be very very patient with Peter at this particular moment in time.
All I have to do is look at me. I don't have to look at Peter. I look at the times in my life when I deliberately sinned, and I know I was a born again believer at the time, and I know that when I deliberately sinned I was denying Christ. And I know that except for the blood of Christ, I know that except for His covering and His righteousness which is imputed to me, Christ should have denied me before the Father, because I was in open rebellion against Christ at that moment, as anyone is when we commit any kind of a sin.
And yet I also am comforted by the fact that I know that Christ is my righteousness, that my sins have been covered by the blood of Christ, and that I have an advocate before the Father who declared to the Father, "But this man's sins have been taken care of. These are not to be looked upon any longer."