Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Peter, aka Simeon, aka Simon, aka Cephas

Can we know for sure that the “Simeon” in Acts 15 was Peter?  There was a Simeon who went out with Barnabas and Saul and could Simeon have been one the "certain other" that was there with Barnabas and Saul at the Jerusalem council?

Acts 15:2, 14
When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

Simeon is in reference to Peter.

Peter's name is also Simon (the Greek equivalent); Simeon is the equivalent in Hebrew. Peter is also known in scripture as Cephas. The other Simeon that you referred to is Niger [Acts 13:1], but there is no reference to him speaking in this conference, and James was commenting about what Peter just said to the men there. So again, Simeon is Simon Peter.

The certain other was most likely Titus [Galatians 2], and he was not mentioned because he was an uncircumcised gentile, and Acts is written from a Jewish perspective. Simeon, which is called Niger, if he would have spoke, would have been named and would have had his speech recorded in Acts 15, especially if James brings him up.

Hopefully this helps...Maranatha!


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