The Last Supper
And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man!” Matthew 26:72 · Berean Standard Bible
This time Peter swears an oath: I do not know the man! The denials are getting more desperate.
Peter went from pretending confusion to swearing under oath that he does not know Jesus. Each denial is more emphatic than the last. Fear is building, not subsiding.
Peter speaks with increasing desperation, adding an oath to reinforce his lie.
He is in freefall now. The man who once declared Jesus to be the Christ now swears he does not even know Him.
Peter's second denial escalates to include an oath (meta horkou), adding sworn perjury to his disavowal: 'I do not know the man!'
Jesus explicitly taught against swearing oaths (Matt 5:34-37). Peter now violates both his loyalty to Jesus and Jesus' own teaching about truthfulness simultaneously.
Peter denies Jesus a second time, reinforcing it with an oath.
The spiral deepens: from evasion to oath-backed denial. Peter now invokes God as witness to a lie about the Son of God.
70But he denied it before them all: “I do not know what you are talking about.”
71When Peter had gone out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.”
72And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man!”
73After a little while, those standing nearby came up to Peter. “Surely you are one of them,” they said, “for your accent gives you away.”
74At that he began to curse and swear to them, “I do not know the man!”
Read all of Matthew 26 — Bread broken. Wine poured. A betrayal predicted. The longest night in history begins around a table.
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