One of the high priest’s servants
This phrase introduces a character who is not named but is identified by his association with the high priest. The high priest during this time was Caiaphas, a significant religious leader in Jerusalem. The Greek word for "servant" is "δοῦλος" (doulos), which can mean a bond-servant or slave. This indicates the hierarchical structure and the power dynamics at play within the religious leadership. The high priest's servants would have been closely involved in the events leading up to and including the arrest of Jesus, highlighting the tension and hostility towards Jesus from the religious authorities.

a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off
This phrase provides a direct connection to the earlier event in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Peter, in a moment of impulsive defense, cut off the ear of Malchus, another servant of the high priest (John 18:10). The Greek word for "relative" is "συγγενής" (syngenēs), which implies a familial connection, adding a personal dimension to the confrontation. This connection underscores the personal stakes and the potential for bias in the servant's accusation, as family honor and retribution could be motivating factors.

said, 'Did I not see you with Him in the garden?'
The servant's question is an accusation wrapped in a rhetorical form, suggesting certainty rather than inquiry. The Greek verb "εἶδον" (eidon), translated as "see," implies not just physical sight but also recognition and understanding. The garden refers to Gethsemane, a place of significant spiritual and emotional turmoil for Jesus and His disciples. This setting is crucial, as it was the location of Jesus' arrest, marking the beginning of His Passion. The servant's question is a challenge to Peter's earlier denial of Jesus, testing his allegiance and integrity. This moment is pivotal in Peter's journey, as it confronts him with his fear and failure, yet it also sets the stage for his eventual restoration and strengthening of faith.

(26) One of the servants of the high priest.--Comp. Luke 22:59.

Did not I see thee in the garden with him?--This kinsman of Malchus, who had probably gone with him to the arrest, is not to be silenced by a simple denial. He asks emphatically, "Did not I see thee in the garden with Him?" He feels certain that he is not deceived. The probable interpretation of John 18:4 is that Jesus went forth out of the garden towards the band and the officers. If so, the moment when the kinsman saw Peter was previous to that of Malchus' wound. If the kinsman had witnessed this, he would almost certainly have charged Peter with it now.

Verses 26, 27. - Between the second and third denials some time elapsed. Thus according to Matthew and Mark "after a little while," according to Luke "about the space of one hour after," an effort was made to identify Peter by. some sign of his association with Jesus. All the synoptists re. present it as turning on his provincial, Galilaean, speech, but John gives a closer point of identification. There were thousands of Galilaeans in Jerusalem, and this was a feeble ground of proof, though it may have corroborated the suspicion of the maidens and others, that Peter was an accomplice of the hated Nazarene; but the charge came home in terrible earnest and verisimilitude as recorded by John. His account is far more lifelike, forcible, and circumstantial. The fourth evangelist says, One of the servants (doulw = n) of the high priest, being a kinsman of him whose ear Peter cut off, says, Did I not see thee in the garden with him? The historically attested fact gave the lie to Peter's previous assertions. Clearly he was seen and recognized and in imminent peril, and he is now more vehement than ever. Matthew and Mark tell, "tie began to curse and swear, saying, I do not know the Man." John, with less feeling of reproach, says, Peter therefore denied again. The intercessory prayer, the solemn warning, the agony in the garden, above all, the following of the sublime encouragements by this fearful failure, the ignominious binding and rude indignity offered to the Man who had claimed to be the Vicegerent and Image and Glory of the Father, combined to shatter Peter's courage, though it did not annihilate his faith (see Steinmeyer and Weiss). The Lord had prayed that his faith should not fail. He was sifted as wheat, but the apostle knew, even in the depths of his shame, that he was a poltroon and coward, and that the Lord was everything he said he was. But meanwhile he denied again, he kept up with his violence of language, his hypocritical denial of his own faith - and straightway the cock crew. Mark, who had made the prediction of our Lord cover a twofold cockcrowing, records the twofold fulfillment; John, who in John 13:38 had given the prediction "before the cock crow," here shows how Peter must have been reminded of his Lord's preternatural knowledge and forecast. So that, though John does not mention the repentance, he refers to the well-known occasion of it, and, moreover, shows more forcibly than either of the synoptists the extraordinary tenderness of the risen and reconciled Lord to his erring and cowardly disciple. Some extreme harmonists have spread out the fault of Peter into nine distinct acts of treachery; others have reduced them to seven or eight. M'Clellan, in a powerful note (p. 447), urges that there were "twice three," or six distinct denials. Matthew and Mark report three denials while the trial before Caiaphas was going on; these are, according to M'Clellan, entirely distinct from John's "first denial," which preceded even the lighting of the fire. Nor does he allow that Luke's first denial, "sitting at the fire," can coincide with John's "second denial," which must also have preceded that which Luke gives as the first, and that John's "third denial" is distinct again from Matthew's third, Mark's third, and Luke's third. Thus he makes John's account entirely supplementary to the synoptists. Peter may have used a variety of expressions on each occasion, and each challenge may have been accompanied by some features not especially noted as to posture or place, but the arrangement adopted in the text represents a threefold assault upon the apostle, which had three crises of intensity and terrible result. Taking Matthew and Mark as virtually identical, Luke's account as a separate tradition with reference to the second denial, and agreeing with Matthew and Mark in the third, and in his first with John's second, we have three denials once more following the prediction. John's account, whether distinct or not from the other two records, bears the same relation to our Lord's previous announcement that the synoptists' do to theirs, and shows that in no quarter was there a general belief in more than three virtual acts of apostasy. Mark alone mentions a twofold warning from the cock, one after the first denial, and on Peter's going out to the προαύλιον, or the enclosure, i.e. between the πυλών and the θύρα, and again after the third denial. M'Clellan and others find a threefold denial before each crowing of the cock. Certainly John has omitted the entire scene detailed by the synoptists in the hail of Caiaphas, viz. the calling of the witnesses; the lack of harmony in the false witnesses; the adjuration of Caiaphas; the wondrous confession of the persecuted and bound Sufferer; the verdict pronounced against him, on the part of all assembled, that he was guilty of death; the first cruel mockery; and the very early assembly of the entire Sanhedrin - all the chief priests (πάντες οἱ αρχιερείς) and. elders of the people (Matthew 27:1, 2; Mark 15:1, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes and all the Sanhedrin). The synoptists assure us that the object of this council - which was probably held in the celebrated chamber of the temple appropriated for the purpose - was to adopt the most suitable measures for immediately carrying their unanimous judgment into effect. As we shall see shortly, John is perfectly aware of such a measure having been taken (see not only Ver. 31, but John 11:47, etc.). Nevertheless, he passes on at once to the legal and civil trial before the Roman proprietor. This is not the place to discuss the twofold trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin. Derembourg, Farrar, and Westcott suppose that the first demands of the high priest, as to whether he was the Christ, as given by Matthew and Mark, were different from the scene described by Luke, where he claimed ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν to be seated on the right hand of the power of God, and suppose that this last was the occasion, when the verdict was given by the Sanhedrin in full session, not in the palace of the high priest, but in the "Gazith," or possibly in the "Booths of Hanan," on the Mount of Olives. Luke clearly discriminates between οϊκος τοῦ ἀρχιερέως (Luke 22:54), and the συνέδριον αὐτῶν of Ver. 66.

Parallel Commentaries ...


One
εἷς (heis)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 1520: One. (including the neuter Hen); a primary numeral; one.

of
ἐκ (ek)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

the
τῶν (tōn)
Article - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

high priest’s
ἀρχιερέως (archiereōs)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 749: High priest, chief priest. From arche and hiereus; the high-priest; by extension a chief priest.

servants,
δούλων (doulōn)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 1401: (a) (as adj.) enslaved, (b) (as noun) a (male) slave. From deo; a slave.

a relative
συγγενὴς (syngenēs)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4773: Akin to, related; subst: fellow countryman, kinsman. From sun and genos; a relative; by extension, a fellow countryman.

of [the man] whose
οὗ (hou)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

ear
ὠτίον (ōtion)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5621: An ear. Diminutive of ous; an earlet, i.e. One of the ears, or perhaps the lobe of the ear.

Peter
Πέτρος (Petros)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4074: Peter, a Greek name meaning rock. Apparently a primary word; a rock; as a name, Petrus, an apostle.

had cut off,
ἀπέκοψεν (apekopsen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 609: From apo and kopto; to amputate; reflexively to mutilate.

asked,
Λέγει (Legei)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 3004: (a) I say, speak; I mean, mention, tell, (b) I call, name, especially in the pass., (c) I tell, command.

“Didn’t
Οὐκ (Ouk)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

I
ἐγώ (egō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

see
εἶδον (eidon)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 3708: Properly, to stare at, i.e. to discern clearly; by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear.

you
σε (se)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative 2nd Person Singular
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

with
μετ’ (met’)
Preposition
Strong's 3326: (a) gen: with, in company with, (b) acc: (1) behind, beyond, after, of place, (2) after, of time, with nouns, neut. of adjectives.

Him
αὐτοῦ (autou)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

in
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

the
τῷ (tō)
Article - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

garden?”
κήπῳ (kēpō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2779: A garden, any place planted with trees and herbs. Of uncertain affinity; a garden.


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NT Gospels: John 18:26 One of the servants of the high (Jhn Jo Jn)