Was Peter married

Was Peter Married
By Rusty Ford

Why is this important in a blog that is about developing intimacy with the Father? The importance has to do with your relationship to the church. If you assume everything your church teaches you is true, you tend to develop a relationship with the church instead of your heavenly Father. Churches are made up of men who are fallible. Our trust is to be with Jesus and our Father not the church. When the apostle Paul went to Beroea he found that the Jews they were more noble than in Thessalonica because they studied the scriptures to see if what Paul was telling them was true. 

We develop a greater intimacy with our Father when we trust in Him and the teachings he gave us from the apostles.

I have never been able to understand why the Catholic Church has made such a big deal about Peter not being married. I assume it is to try and validate there position on celibacy in the ministry. Most Catholic leaders believe that Peter was married but his wife died before he met Jesus and that he never remarried. The Bible teaches just the opposite of that as does the early church.

Bible references to Peter being married.

Matthew 8:14- 5; Mark 1:30-31; Luke 4:38-41 each talk about Peter’s mother in law.

I Corinthians 9:5 states that Peter had a wife. It also says that Jesus had brothers. 1Co 9:5  “Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?” (Cephas is Peters given name and the one Paul almost always uses when referring to Peter.

Early Church history references to Peter being married.

The most important references to Peter being married in early church history comes from Clement of Rome. It is important because he writes of this shortly after it happens. His writings about Peter’s wife are written around 80A.D. He writes that Peter watched his wife being martyred. He also says that Peter had children.

Augustine refers to the Peter’s crippled daughter. Here he is referring to the apocryphal book “The Acts of Peter” This book contains a long section about Peter’s daughter.

Eusebius writes of Peter’s seeing his wife martyred just before he was. “They say, accordingly, that when the blessed Peter saw his own wife led out to die, he rejoiced because of her summons and her return home, and called to her very encouragingly and comfortingly, addressing her by name, and saying, ‘Oh thou, remember the Lord.’ Such was the marriage of the blessed, and their perfect disposition toward those dearest to them.”

Tertullian refers to Peter’s wife's mother, in another place he refers to Peter’s mother in law.