Dynamic Studies in 1 Peter & 2 Peter

So just who was Peter?
He was a burly fisherman who operated on the lake of Galilee in Israel during the time it was under Roman occupation. He hailed from Beth-saida, a city of considerable Greek influence, but also had a home in the town of Capernaum which was in the region of Galilee. The book of Mark indicates that he retained the accent of people from the town where he was born and raised. His life seems to have been impacted by the movement of John the Baptist. This interest in the things spoken of by John culminated in Peter being introduced to Jesus by his brother, Andrew. The introduction resulted in Peter making the life altering decision to follow the man he came to know as Yeshua Hamaschiach, the long-awaited Jewish Messiah.
He made his decision in response to Jesus choosing him. Jesus, in fact, gave Peter a new title. He called him Kephas (Aramaic), which is normally translated Cephas in English, and appears as Petros in the Greek language. This new approbation means “rock” or “stone” and was an apt description not only of who Peter was when he met Jesus, but who he would become.
When mention is made of the disciples of Jesus, Peter always stands first among them. He was a man of extreme boldness and bravery. Indeed, when over six hundred battle hardened soldiers came to arrest and execute Jesus Peter acted in the bold fashion for which he was known. He took the only action that came naturally to him, which did not even cross the minds of anyone else in Jesus’ party. Peter drew his sword and attacked this mob of fighting men with battle lust in his heart and the readiness to immediately overthrow the yoke of their Roman oppressors.
However, Peter became confused when Jesus not only stopped his attack, but healed the man Peter stuck with his sword. This led to his befuddlement and famous denials of his association with Jesus, just as Jesus Himself had predicted. And, just as Jesus also predicted, this led to Peter coming back into the fold and becoming the leader of the “church” in Jerusalem in hostile territory.
As the de-facto leader of the believers in Jerusalem, Peter took the lead as their spokesman before the Jewish authorities. He became the first apostle to give assent to taking the Good News of Life to Gentiles after his denouncement by Paul for not having done so. Obviously, Peter had learned to heed God’s leading despite his human tendency toward the predilection to ram on ahead with little thought. His relationship with Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit made him a changed man.
Peter formed a powerful team in Jerusalem with John, another one of Jesus’ apostles. As his experience and work grew so did his influence as he became the leader of the early church. In this role he was imprisoned but miraculously escaped. From there he traveled throughout the region and in fact much of the known world, encouraging, teaching and giving aid to believers as he went. He ultimately ended up in Rome, where he was imprisoned and so far as we can tell was crucified upside down, not believing he was worthy to be put to death in the same manner as his Lord.
Peter’s first letter appears to have been written from Rome (1 Peter 5:13) either just before or during the early part of the persecutions of the deranged Roman Emperor, Nero. Interestingly, besides burning Rome and blaming it on the followers of the Jewish Messiah, Nero appears to have been involved with the execution of the apostle Paul and is widely thought to have been the primary mover in Peter’s execution as well.