How did Peter and Paul die?
After Jesus’ death, his followers claimed that he rose from death and was with them off and on for about fifty days. The whole of Christianity stands or falls on the credibility of this claim. One of many reasons to believe that they told the truth is that none of them ever renounced the claim, despite persecution and even death.
Peter and Paul were two of the most prominent of those followers. So how did they die?
Peter
We have a 1st century source—the letter of Clement, bishop of Rome, to the Corinthians, written in about 97 A.D.—which tells us that Peter was martyred, although it doesn’t tell us how (emphasis added):
Through envy and jealousy, the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the Church] have been persecuted and put to death. Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours, and when he had finally suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him.
Peter’s martyrdom is corroborated by the Muratorian Fragment, written in about 180 A.D., which states (emphasis added):
The Acts of all the apostles, however, are compiled in only one Book. Luke collected them for the excellent Theophilus because these different events took place in his own presence. These are all he wants to report, as is clearly borne out by his omission of the martyrdom of Peter and by the fact that he does not report anything about the journey of Paul from the City to Spain. (Emphasis added)
John 21:18, written about 90-95 A.D., contains a prophecy of Jesus that seems to hint that Peter died by crucifixion:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself, and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.”
The unanimous tradition that Peter was crucified upside down on Vatican Hill in Rome comes from later Christian writings—including Origen (ca. 185-254 A.D.) and the Christian historian Eusebius (ca. 260-340 A.D.)—which state that he asked to be crucified in this manner because he felt unworthy to die in the same way as Jesus. There is no contrary tradition regarding the manner of Peter’s death.
Paul
Bishop Clement also mentions Paul’s martyrdom in his letter to the Corinthians (emphasis added):
Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience.
Ignatius, the bishop of Antioch, who died in about 107 A.D., also mentions Paul’s martyrdom in his letter to the Ephesians (emphasis added):
I know both who I am, and to whom I write. I am a condemned man; you have been the objects of mercy. I am subject to danger; you are established in safety. You are the persons through whom those pass that are cut off for the sake of God. You are initiated into the mysteries of the gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred, the deservedly most happy — at whose feet may I be found, when I shall attain to God! — who in all his letters makes mention of you in Christ Jesus.
The church historian Eusebius included in his Ecclesiastical History a quotation from a letter of Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, to the church at Rome, written in about 171 A.D., which mentions the martyrdom of both Peter and Paul (emphasis added):
Therefore you also have by such admonition joined in close union the churches that were planted by Peter and Paul, that of the Romans and that of the Corinthians: for both of them went to our Corinth, and taught us in the same way as they taught you when they went to Italy; and having taught you, they suffered martyrdom at the same time.
Tradition says that Paul was beheaded—the approved method of execution for a Roman citizen (which Paul was). The first mention of Paul being beheaded is in The Acts of Paul, which was written in about 160 A.D.
The consensus of history is that Peter and Paul both suffered martyrdom under the Roman Emperor Nero, during the persecution of Christians in 64-68 A.D., after Nero had blamed Christians for starting the great fire in Rome.
For more on the lives and deaths of Jesus’ followers, as well as the many reasons to believe the resurrection truly happened, see Chapter 2 of my book, Beyond Blind Faith, entitled, “Is Jesus’s Resurrection Fact or Fairy Tale?: The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.” You can find a description of the book here, and a list of contents and chapter excerpts here. Or simply click on Don’s Books at the top of this page.
This blog entry is based in part on the following sources:
1. “CLEMENT OF ROME, First Epistle, Letter of Clement to the Corinthians” found at https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/1clement-roberts.html#google_vignette
2. “What happened to the Apostle Paul?,” February 16, 2018, found at: https://etimasthe.com/2018/02/06/what-happened-to-the-apostle-paul/
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