Then the maid who kept the door said to Peter, “Are you also one of this man’s disciples?” He said, “I am not.”
Parallel Translations
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Then the maid who kept the door said to Peter, “Are you also one of this man’s disciples?” He said, “I am not.”
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But Peter stode at the dore with out. Then went out that other disciple which was knowen vnto the hye preste and spake to the damsell that kept the dore and brought in Peter.
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Then saide the maide that kept the doore, vnto Peter, Art not thou also one of this mans disciples? He sayd, I am not.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to John 18:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 26:69-70 Now Peter was sitting outside in the court, and a maid came to him, saying, “You were also with Jesus, the Galilean!” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
- Matthew 26:33 But Peter answered him, “Even if all will be made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.”
- Mark 14:66-68 As Peter was in the courtyard below, one of the maids of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him, and said, “You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!” But he denied it, saying, “I neither know, nor understand what you are saying.” He went out on the porch, and the rooster crowed.
- Luke 22:54 They seized him, and led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. But Peter followed from a distance.
- Luke 22:56-57 A certain servant girl saw him as he sat in the light, and looking intently at him, said, “This man also was with him.” He denied Jesus, saying, “Woman, I don’t know him.”
- John 18:16 but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to her who kept the door, and brought in Peter.
- John 18:25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore to him, “You aren’t also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.”
- John 21:15 So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
- John 18:5 They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas also, who betrayed him, was standing with them.
- John 18:8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. If therefore you seek me, let these go their way,”
- Acts 12:13 When Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 17. Then the maid that kept the door said…
17. Then the maid that kept the door said to Peter. Peter is introduced into the high priest’s hall; but it cost him very dear, for, as soon as he sets his foot within it, he is constrained to deny Christ. When he stumbles so shamefully at the first step, the foolishness of his boasting is exposed. He had boasted that he would prove to be a valiant champion, and able to meet death with firmness; and now, at the voice of a single maid, and that voice unaccompanied by threatening, he is confounded and throws down his arms. Such is a demonstration of the power of man. Certainly, all the strength that appears to be in men is smoke, which a breath immediately drives away. When we are out of the battle, we are too courageous; but experience shows that our lofty talk is foolish and groundless; and, even when Satan makes no attacks, we contrive for ourselves idle alarms which disturb us before the time. The voice of a feeble woman terrified Peter: and what is the case with us? Do we not continually tremble at the rustling of a falling leaf? A false appearance of danger, which was still distant, made Peter tremble: and are we not every day led away from Christ by childish absurdities? In short, our courage is of such a nature, that, of its own accord, it gives way where there is no enemy; and thus does God revenge the arrogance of men by reducing fierce minds to a state of weakness. A man, filled not with fortitude but with wind, promises that he will obtain an easy victory over the whole world; and yet, no sooner does he see the shadow of a thistle, than he immediately trembles. Let us therefore learn not to be brave in any other than the Lord.
I am not. This does not seem, indeed, to be an absolute denial of Christ; but when Peter is afraid to acknowledge that he is one of Christs disciples, it amounts to an assertion that he has nothing to do with him. This ought to be carefully observed, that no one may imagine that he has escaped by acting the part of a sophist, when it is only in an indirect manner that he shrinks from the confession of his faith.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 17 Then saith the damsel that kept the door…
17 Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples? He saith, I am not.
Ver. 17. He saith, I am not] False dissimulation is true denial. A silly wench is too hard for this stout stickler, who was alway Melius animatus quam armatus, as one observeth of him; Sic Elias fulminator ad Iesebelis minas trepidat, factus seipso imbecillior. "Thou also standest by faith: be not highminded, but fear," Rom 11:20.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain This is Peter’s first denial of his Master; between…
This is Peter’s first denial of his Master; between which and his second denial (of which John saith nothing till he comes to Joh 18:26) the evangelist interposes many things not mentioned by the other evangelists.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto…
Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter,.... She being relieved, either by her father, if porter, or by a fellow servant, had the opportunity of coming into the hall, where Peter was, and was curious to observe him, who he should be, that that person of note should order him to be admitted, when an affair of so much privacy and importance was transacting; and either by Peter's language, or the trouble that appeared in his countenance, or fancying: she had seen him in the temple, or in some part of the city in company With Jesus, addresses him after this manner:
art not thou also one of this man's disciples? She speaks of Christ in the vulgar dialect of the Jews, calling him "this man"; not only esteeming him a mere man, but a worthless man; and knowing he had disciples, challenges him as one of them; when he, all in flight and surprise, not expecting such a question to be put to him, without any further thought, rashly and suddenly
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he saith I am not: he never denied that Christ was God or the Son of God, or that he was come in the flesh, or that he was the Messiah and Saviour of sinners; but either that he did not know what the maid said, or the person she spoke of; or, as here, that he was one of his disciples; which was a very great untruth: and many are the aggravations of his fall; which came to pass as soon as ever he was entered almost; and that by the means of a maid, a servant maid, a very inferior one; and at first perhaps they were alone; and the question put to him might not be in a virulent way, nor proceed from malice, but commiseration of him; and yet he had not resolution enough to own himself a disciple of Jesus; which he might have done, and in all likelihood might have gone safe off directly: but he that had so much confidence as to say, though all men deny thee, yet will not I; and had so much courage, as, in the face of a band of soldiers, to draw his sword, and smite one of the high priest's servants, but a few hours before, has not spirit enough in him to own his master before a servant maid!
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Art thou also - As well as the others,…
Art thou also - As well as the others, one of this man's disciples - She does not appear to have asked with any design to hurt him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 17. The damsel that kept the door] Caezarius,…
Verse 17. The damsel that kept the door] Caezarius, a writer quoted by Calmet, says this portress was named Ballila. It is worthy of remark that women, especially old women, were employed by the ancients as porters. In 2Sa 4:6, both the Septuagint and Vulgate make a woman porter to Ishbosheth. ARISTOPHANES, in Vespis, v. 765, mentions them in the same office and calls them Σηκις, Sekis, which seems to signify a common maid-servant: -
Ὁτι την θυραν ανεῳξεν ἡ Σηκις λαθρα.
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And EURIPIDES, Troad. brings in Hecuba, complaining that she, who was wont to sit upon a throne, is now reduced to the miserable necessity of becoming a porter, or a nurse, in order to get a morsel of bread. And PLAUTUS, Curcul. Act. i. sc. 1, mentions an old woman who was keeper of the gate: -
Anus hic solet cubitare custos janitrix.
Why they, in preference to men, should be pitched upon for this office, I cannot conceive; but we find the usage was common in all ancient nations. See Clarke on Mt 26:69.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain St. John gives here Peter’s first denial, which is…
St. John gives here Peter’s first denial, which is reunited to the other two by all the preceding evangelists. This is one of the circumstances, which the others may have neglected, to unite three similar facts, and relating to the same object. (Bible de Vence) --- St. Peter, the prince and head of the Church, was permitted to fall, to teach him to treat with more mildness and condescension those, whom he would afterwards have to raise out of the same miserable state of sin. One weak and frail man is placed over another, that seeing him unhappily fallen, he may give him his kind and helping hand, to free him from that unhappy state, in which he knows himself to have been. (St. John Chrysostom) --- Of all which our divine Saviour suffered in the court of Caiphas, nothing so much affected him as the dangerous fall of Peter, the chief of all his apostles, who had received the most signal favours from him. He had boasted that very night, that although all the rest of the disciples should abandon their master, he would never forsake him. Yet, see the weakness and inconstancy of human nature; at the voice of a poor maid, he forthwith denies his master; repeats his denial a second, and a third time, and even swears with an imprecation, that he never knew the man. O what is man, when he confides too much in himself! Let us look to ourselves, and see, that we never fall into the same unfortunate state. But if we have the misfortune to imitate this apostle in his fall, let us likewise imitate him in his speedy repentance: for immediately after his fall, going out, he wept bitterly; a practice which, it is said, he ever after retained, as often as he heard the cock crow. (Butler’s Lives of the Saints)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Then saith the damsel that kept the door--"one of…
Then saith the damsel that kept the door--"one of the maids of the high priest," says Mark (Mar 14:66). "When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked upon him and said" (Mar 14:67). Luke is more graphic (Luk 22:56) --She "beheld him as he sat by the fire (literally, 'the light'), and earnestly looked on him (fixed her gaze upon him), and said." "His demeanor and timidity, which must have vividly showed themselves, as it so generally happens, leading to the recognition of him" [OLSHAUSEN].
Art thou not also one of this man's disciples?--that is, thou as well as "that other disciple," whom she knew to be one, but did not challenge, perceiving that he was a privileged person.
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He saith, I am not--"He denied before them all, saying, I know not what thou sayest" (Mat 26:70) --a common form of point blank denial; "I know [supply 'Him'] not, neither understand I what thou sayest" (Mar 14:68); "Woman, I know Him not" (Luk 22:57). This was THE FIRST DENIAL. "And he went out into the porch [thinking, perhaps, to steal away], and the cock crew," (Mar 14:68).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. Then saith the damsel] The damsel therefore (Joh_18:3)…
17. Then saith the damsel] The damsel therefore (Joh_18:3) saith.
Art not thou also] Rather, Art thou also (as well as thy companion) or, surely thou art not: S. Peter’s denial is thus, as it were, put into his mouth. See on Joh_4:29 and comp. Joh_4:33, Joh_6:67, Joh_7:47, Joh_9:40. In all these passages the form of the question anticipates a negative answer.
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one of this man’s disciples] Or, one of the disciples of this man. ‘This man’ and the turn of the sentence are contemptuous. Comp. Joh_9:16; Joh_9:24, Joh_11:47. S. John had hurried on to the room where Christ was being examined; as at the Cross (Joh_19:26) he kept close to his Master; and in neither case was molested. S. Peter, who ‘followed afar off’ (Luk_22:54) and that rather out of curiosity ‘to see the end’ (Mat_26:58) than out of love, encountered temptation and fell.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (17) On Peter’s denials, comp. Notes on Mat_26:69-75, and…
(17) On Peter’s denials, comp. Notes on Mat_26:69-75, and see in this Gospel Joh_13:38.
Art not thou also one of this man’s disciples?—i.e., “Thou as well as thy friend, whom I know.” There is no charge brought against him. The words are apparently simply words of recognition, or as furnishing a reason for admitting him with his friend, but Peter is conscious that he had attempted to kill, and had succeeded in wounding, one of the high priest’s servants. He therefore dreads this recognition.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The folly of fear.
The folly of fear.
Simon Peter, having shown the vanity of violence in his useless blow at the high priest"s servant, now proceeds to show the folly of fear in a vain attempt to conceal his connection with Jesus. Extremes meet. The spirit that impels to a reckless, random attack is immediately followed by the spirit that seeks present safety at any cost. The denial by Peter illustrates many truths. We take it here as illustrating the folly of fear.
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I PETER MEANT TO BE PRUDENT. He sought to keep safe what he valued most, and what he valued most was his own present life. What a man most fears to lose is his treasure. Peter had not yet gained the true prudence, because he had not yet found out the most precious thing a man can possess, even an inward union with that which is inward in Jesus. He had to do the best he could for the best he had, and that best led him into a lie. Once he admitted his association with Jesus, he did not know what the admission might lead to.
II THE ONLY PATH TO TRUE COURAGE. The Christian can be the only truly courageous person. For he knows that, whatever may come from the outside, the best things are safe. A higher courage is often needed than that in which Peter proved to be lacking, even moral courage. Some would even dare to die, but they would not dare to fly in the face of the world"s customs and demands. Peter had harder things to do afterwards than preserve his natural life. He had to turn his back on Judaism. He had to make ready for being laughed at and sneered at, again and again. The wisest fear is a fear of losing living union with Jesus. If we value that as we ought to do, then the laughter and the threats of men will be robbed of what makes them so dreadful to many. Y.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Are you not also one of the disciples of…
Are you not also one of the disciples of this man?
This appears in the form of a question to enable the servant to express her remark somewhat cautiously. AT: "You are also one of the arrested man's disciples! Are you not?" (See: Rhetorical Question)
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Now the servants and the officers were standing there, and they had made a charcoal fire, for it was cold, and they were warming themselves
These were the high priest's servants and the temple guards. AT: "It was cold, so the high priest's servants and temple guards made a charcoal fire and were standing and warming themselves around it" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
Now
This word is used here to mark a break in the main story line so John can add the information about the people who were warming themselves around the fire. (See: Background Information)
translationWords
servant
fire
disciple
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.