John 18:25

And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself.—Better, And Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. (Comp. John 18:18.) The words are repeated to draw attention to the fact that he was standing in the court at the time when Jesus was sent from Annas unto Caiaphas, that is, from one wing of the quadrangular building across the court to the other. In Luke 22:61 it is said that “the Lord turned and looked upon Peter.”

Art not thou also one of his disciples?—Comp. Note to John 18:17.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:13-27 Simon Peter denied his Master. The particulars have been noticed in the remarks on the other Gospels. The beginning of sin is as the letting forth of water. The sin of lying is a fruitful sin; one lie needs another to support it, and that another. If a call to expose ourselves to danger be clear, we may hope God will enable us to honour him; if it be not, we may fear that God will leave us to shame ourselves. They said nothing concerning the miracles of Jesus, by which he had done so much good, and which proved his doctrine. Thus the enemies of Christ, whilst they quarrel with his truth, wilfully shut their eyes against it. He appeals to those who heard him. The doctrine of Christ may safely appeal to all that know it, and those who judge in truth bear witness to it. Our resentment of injuries must never be passionate. He reasoned with the man that did him the injury, and so may we.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 26:72-74.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. And Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said therefore … Art thou not also one of his disciples?—In Mt 26:71 the second charge was made by "another maid, when he was gone out into the porch," who "saw him, and said unto them that were there, This [fellow] was also with Jesus of Nazareth." So also Mr 14:69. But in Lu 22:58 it is said, "After a little while" (from the time of the first denial), "another [man] saw him, and said, Thou art also of them." Possibly it was thrown at him by more than one; but these circumstantial variations only confirm the truth of the narrative.

He denied it, and said, I am not—in Mt 26:72, "He denied with an oath, I do not know the man." This was THE SECOND DENIAL.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 25-27. This history of Peter’s denial of his Master the second time we have before met with, Matthew 26:71,72 Mr 14:69,70; Luke 22:58,59, with several circumstances not mentioned by John. See Poole on "Matthew 26:69".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself,.... This is repeated from John 18:18 to connect the history, and carry on the thread of the account of Peter's denial of Christ, which is interrupted by inserting the examination of Christ before the high priest, which was made at the same time. Peter stood among, and continued with the servants and officers of the high priest, warming himself by a fire they had made, it being a cold night; and this proved of bad consequence to him. The company and conversation of wicked men should be abstained from; no good is got thereby; continuance among such is very dangerous; men are too often more concerned for their bodies than their souls; Satan baits his temptations for the fleshly and sensitive part; and that which is thought to be for good, is the occasion of hurt.

They said therefore unto him; the servants and officers, among whom he stood warming himself, having observed what the maid had said to him:

art thou not also one of his disciples? suspecting that he was, though he had denied it, and therefore press him to give a direct answer: they might observe his countenance to fall, when the maid put the question to him; there might be something in his dress, and especially in his speech, which increased the suspicion:

but he denied it, and said, I am not; a second time. This denial of his being a disciple of Christ, as before, did not arise from a sense of his unworthiness to be one; nor from diffidence and distrust of a right to such a character; but from the fear of men; and being ashamed of Christ, he denies that which was his great mercy, privilege, and glory.

Geneva Study Bible

{9} And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself. They said therefore unto him, Art not thou also one of his disciples? He denied it, and said, I am not.

(9) After men have once fallen, they cannot only not lift themselves up by their own strength, but also they fall more and more into a worse condition, until they are raised up again by a new power from God.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 18:25-27. When Jesus was sent to Caiaphas, Peter was still on the spot mentioned in John 18:18, standing and warming himself. There follow his second and third denials, which, therefore, according to the brief and accurate narrative of John, who relates the denials generally with more precision, took place likewise in the court of Annas. The text gives no indication that Peter followed Jesus into the house of Caiaphas. Comp. Olshausen, Baur, Bleek. For the agreement of Luke with John in the locality of the denials, but not in the more minute determination of time, see on Luke 22:54-62.

εἶπον] Those standing there with him, John 18:18.

The individual, John 18:26, assails him with his own eye-witness.

ἐγώ] I, for my part.

ἐν τῷ κήπῳ] sc. ὄντα. The slave outside the garden (for, see on John 18:4) has been able, over the fence or through the door of the garden, to see Peter in the garden with Jesus. When the blow with the sword was struck, he cannot (in the confusion of the seizure of Jesus) have had his eye upon him, otherwise he would have certainly reproached him with this act.

ἀλέκτωρ] a cock. See on Matthew 26:74. The contrition of Peter, John does not here relate in his concise account; but all the more thoughtfully and touchingly does this universally known psychological fact receive historical expression in the appendix, chap. 21.[217]

[217] Which, indeed (see Scholten, p. 382), is alleged to he a mistake of the appendix, the writer of which did not see through the (anti-Petrine) tendency of the Gospel.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 18:25 resumes the narrative interrupted at John 18:18-19, and resumes by repeating the statement that Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. While he did so the servants and officers, John 18:18, who were round the fire said, Μὴ καὶ σὺ … “Are you also of His disciples?”

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. And Simon Peter stood and warmed himself] Better, Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself (John 18:18).

They said therefore] The movement in taking Jesus from Annas to Caiaphas once more attracted attention to the stranger by the fire.

Art not thou also] Rather, Art thou also (see on John 18:17). A look of sympathy and distress on S. Peter’s face, as His Master appears bound as a criminal, and perhaps with the mark of the blow (John 18:22) on His face, provokes the exclamation, Surely thou also art not one of His disciples?

Bengel's Gnomen

John 18:25. Καὶ σὺ) thou also, who art here present, a stranger to us.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - Ἠν δέ. In startling contrast to this scene, and while Annas had completed his bad-hearted but foiled inquisition, possibly even while our Lord was being transferred from the one court to the other - an event which provided an opportunity for the searching, loving, compassionate glance which broke Peter's heart - the second and third denials of Peter were also being enacted. Now Simon Peter, who had been challenged by the doorkeeper, was standing and warming himself (a form of verbal construction of auxiliary verb with participle to which John is addicted, and especially in those portions of his Gospel which represent his personal composition; John 1:6, 9, 24, 27; John 3:24, 27) - "standing," not "sitting," as Luke describes his position at the first denial, having, we might suppose, impetuously changed his position. They said therefore unto him, Art thou also one of his disciples? This sentence of John really gathers up another moment of Peter's terrible fall, variously and even discrepantly put by the synoptic narrative, and is virtually accordant with them all three. According to Matthew "another maid," according to Mark "the maid" who had first challenged him, returned to the assault. Nothing more likely than that what was said by one woman should be eagerly taken up by another, and therefore that both statements are true. Luke, however, describes the event thus: ἑτερος, "another man" (perhaps "a different person") saw him and said, "Thou art one of them." John's statement embraces the substance of all three statements, "They said unto him." The general resemblance of the second charge brought against the apostle, as stated by all four evangelists, is remarkable. The different personages by whose lips the charge was urged can best be explained by the occurrence of simultaneous and widely spreading conviction, instead of an unnecessary multiplication of the denials themselves. Matthew and Mark represent Peter as overhearing the conversation of the maids with those who were there (ἐκεῖ), showing the obvious occasion for some eager ἕτερος to take up their statement as an accusation. The difficulty of place is not so easily resolved, for Matthew and Mark speak of the "gate," πυλών, or προαύλιον, "porch," outer hall of the court, and John of the fire where Peter first sat in apparent unconcern. We do not know how near the fire was to the πυλών, whether it was not indeed between the θύρα and the πυλών, in the προαύλιον. According to Matthew he was moving towards the πυλών, probably in the stir of the procession from the house of Annas to the court of Caiaphas. The four evangelists agree in the declaration made by Peter. He denied, and said, I am not; i.e. I am not one of the disciples concerning whom Annas asks. "I do not know the Man." John 18:25