The article seeks to shed light on the Johannine presentation of Peter, by focusing on the scenes surrounding Jesus’ arrest and his trial before the high priest. The analysis opens with pointing out the importance of Peter as a secondary character in the Gospel of John, specifically in John 18:1-27. There follows an overview of recent scholarly studies on the characters found in the Gospel of John, and how they are characterized. In the next four sections of the article, the figure of Peter is analyzed as he appears in four episodes: (1) Peter’s taking up the sword during Jesus’ arrest (18:1-12); (2) Peter’s accompanying Jesus as he is led to the place of trial (18:15); (3) Peter’s entering into the courtyard of the high priest’s house (18:15-16); (4) Peter’s three-fold denial (18:17-27). The final section of the article confronts the issue of Peter’s apparent lack of remorse in the wake of his third denial, as reflected in the Johannine narrative.
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