Matthew 10:33, “…whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father…”
Matthew 26:74, “[Peter] began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, ‘I do not know the man.”
In light of Matt 10:33, we would expect Peter’s denial of Jesus in 26:74 to have damned him…but the expectation-surpassing grace of God in Christ snatched even him from the flames. In the gospel there is hope for repentance always and for all people. Long Thoughts:
On paper, as it were, Peter should have been damned. Not only did he deny Christ before people (three times) simply out of “fear of man” (not under torment or threat of death as would be the case for believers in future decades), but he denied Him with a curse and an oath, essentially saying, “May God Almighty damn me if I know this man, I do not know him!” Peter could not have been more emphatic in his triple denial of Christ. If we were to simply read and apply Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:33 (and Luke 12:9) to this situation, we would all assume Peter was damned.
And yet, he is not. He is granted repentance, He is reinstated; he is forgiven; he is gathered back to Christ. As Peter himself would later write in a letter to strengthen his brothers, “after [he had] suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who…called [him] to His eternal glory in Christ, [did Himself] restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish [him]” (1 Peter 5:10).
How can this be? Well, again, as Peter tells us, Christ Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24)….surely when Peter penned (or dictated) those words, he was thinking of his denials. Peter can be reinstated because the one whom he rejected with an oath and a curse, bore the repercussions of that oath and the reality of that curse in His own soul on the cross. Jesus became the curse that Peter called down on his own head (John 3:14-15, Gal.3:13). Jesus became the blasphemer, Jesus became the one who denied God’s Christ with an oath. Jesus became Peter the sinner (2 Cor.5:21), that Peter the sinner might—in Christ—became a “beloved Son in whom [the Father is] well pleased” (Mark 1:11).
And what does this mean for us? One thing at least is that we ought to hope wholly and radically in the grace of God in Christ. Is anything too wonderful for God? No. No, nothing is too wonderful, nothing is too beautiful, nothing is too merciful or gracious for YHWH, for the one who does not spare His own Son, for the One who pours Himself out for His enemies. Hope in Him. Hope radically in Him, hope with all that we are in Him. May we cast ourselves wholly and only on His grace, may we cast all people on His grace, may we cast the whole world in all of its kaleidoscopic horrors and beauties, sorrows and joys, perversions and sanctity, may we cast all things on God in Christ, cast all things on His mercy and plead with the heart of Love, “Lord, have mercy! Christ, have mercy!” We do not know to whom He will grant the repentance that leads to life, and we cannot hope better than what He will do.
Hallowed be His Name.
