by Angus Harley

Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him. (Luke 5:1-11)

We know that we are sinful men, but we tend to forget at times that certain believers were sinners. Paul is one example. This is a reminder that even the great ones sin. This is, in its own way, a pastoral consolation, strangely enough, for no one is perfect; and also because, we know there is forgiveness with God for everyone, for sinful Peter was forgiven and brought into service. Amen!

In Luke 5:1-11 we get an introduction to Simon and his fishermen friends. Jesus had been preaching by Lake Gennesaret, and the crowds were swarming him, making it impossible for him to move. Jesus told Peter to take the boat into deep water to fish. Simon replied that he and his crew had worked hard all night, but had caught nothing; however, Peter did comply with Jesus’ command. Suddenly, Peter’s nets were jam-packed with fish, to the extent that the nets began to break. Two boats were filled up with fish, and even began to sink! It does not do justice to say that Peter was amazed (NASB) at this miracle. For Peter fell down at Jesus’ feet and cried out, “ “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ” It was not amazement that caused this confession, but being overwhelmed by his own lack of faith.

Peter calls himself a “sinful man” (Gk, anēr hamartōlos). This, as it turns out, was an astonishing claim by one who turned out to be the lead apostle of Jesus Christ. The term hamartōlos in Luke is attached to “publicans and sinners” (5:30), those who are called by Jesus to the Gospel (5:32), those who are not devoted to God (6:32-34; 13:2), “tax-collectors and sinners” (7:34; 15:1, 2, 7, 10; 18:13; 19:7), a prostitute (7:37. 39), and those who hated the Christ (24:7). In the light of this dire contrast between “sinners” and disciples of Jesus, one might think that Peter was not at this point a disciple, but a “sinful man”, someone outside of Christ. However, Peter had already met Jesus and had become his disciple (John 1:35-42). Jesus and John the Baptist were in Bethany, in the River Jordan area (John 1:28).[1] It is miles away from Lake Gennesaret in Galilee. It was after this work in the Jordan area that Jesus purposed to go to Galilee (John 1:43; 2:1). This accounts for Jesus’ seemingly strange behavior of choosing to step into someone’s boat without asking permission, and then calling for the boat to be pushed into the deep. For Jesus already knew the owner of the boat, Peter. It also explains why Simon obeyed and called Jesus “Lord” (kurios). That Luke calls Peter “Simon” is not odd, for he often gives Peter that name (6:14, 15, etc.). Peter’s own confession was the self-realization that he was no better than all the other “sinners”.

We are reminded of Mark 9:24 and the father of a boy with a demon. Jesus commented to the father that by believing, all things were possible. The father called out, “ “I do believe; help my unbelief.” ” A man with a faith in Jesus that was smothered by unbelief. A walking contradiction! A man very similar in condition to Simon on that boat. Believing but not believing at the same time (see 8:22-25; Matt.14:28-33). A condition we are all too familiar with in our own lives!

As all of us, Peter was known to put on the old man. There at the Lake was one instance. Another is where the Lord himself rebukes Peter, saying to him, “ “Get behind me, Satan!” ” (Matt.16:23). Jesus is not accusing Peter of acting like a sinner, nor of mere sinning. He is identifying Peter with Satan and Satan with Peter! We know that Peter was a believer, and that he was not demon possessed. But even the Christian can be overcome by Satan and controlled by him at certain points. The old man! And, of course, there was Peter’s utterly treacherous, godless, act of abandoning Jesus at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion, behavior that, from the outside looking in, did not look too dissimilar to Judas’ Satanic betrayal of Jesus (Luke 22:3, 31, 54-62).

Christians know that Peter pre- and post- Pentecost was two different men. Some extend this to say that the “sinful man” confession applied to Peter pre-Pentecost only. For after Pentecost Peter’s sins were all forgiven through the cross, and he was born from above and had the gift of the Spirit. After Pentecost, he could not, therefore, be influenced by Satan as before Pentecost. He might sin after Pentecost, but he could never again be that “sinful man”.

The change to Peter due to Pentecost does not entail, however, that Peter was now immune to Satanic influence or the old man. In Paul’s first epistle, Galatians, he records how he had to oppose “Cephas”- Jesus’ new name for Simon. According to the apostle Paul, Peter was, to all intents and purposes, denying the Gospel of the crucified Christ by separating himself in fellowship from the Gentiles, and choosing to sit only with Jewish converts (Gal.2:11-21). An eerily similar fault to that of Peter saying to Jesus that he will not die on the cross (Matt.16:22-23).

But to stay faithful to Luke’s text, Peter does not call himself a “sinful man” because of some pre-Pentecostal condition, but because he had sinned. What more needs to be said?

Jesus ought to give up on such a “sinful man”, right? Wrong! That’s what I would do. Not him! How many times did Peter severely let him down, yet Jesus picked him up, dressed him down, and sent him back out? Now, that’s amazing love, leadership, friendship, longsuffering, and support! Samson- a mess! David- a mess! Peter- a mess! The Galatians- a mess! All turned their back on the Lord. Yet, he never turned his back on them! Yes, brother and sister, there is hope for me, there is hope for you, oh sinful man!

[1] Some call this Bethany ‘Betharabah’. It is not Bethany outside of Jerusalem.