The Christian life is framed by grace—experiencing God’s grace ourselves, and in turn extending grace to others. The Apostle Peter knew this well, as he was shaped into a person of grace by the God of grace over years of walking with Jesus.
The Lord’s words redirecting Peter from his former life as a fisherman are familiar: “From now on you will be catching people” (Luke 5:10, CSB). The context of this calling as recorded by Luke is significant. Jesus has just led Simon Peter and his companions to a miraculous catch of fish, prompting Peter to fall before Jesus saying, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” (Luke 5:8). Jesus instead invites Peter to follow Him and, as Peter does so in response to God’s grace, he embarks upon a whole new life.
Peter still has plenty to learn about grace, though. At one point he comes to Jesus with a question which must have seemed the epitome of gracious generosity: should I forgive someone as much as seven times? Jesus again redirects Peter’s thinking in replying, “I tell you, not as many as seven, but seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22). Of course, Peter would soon experience the breadth of God’s grace at a whole new level when, following his denial of the Lord, Jesus reinstated Peter not only to fellowship but to ministerial leadership (John 21:15–23).
As Jesus extended to Peter His astounding grace, Peter was enabled to reach out with God’s grace in a way that transformed the very composition of the people of God. Being an observant Jew, Peter would have recoiled at the thought of even entering a Gentile house. But in anticipation of calling Peter to do just that, God graciously gave Peter a vision beckoning him to eat food regarded by the Jews as unclean, directing him, “What God has made clean, do not call impure” (Acts 10:15). When, that very day, God sent Peter to tell the Gentile centurion Cornelius and his associates about Jesus, Peter was ready. As he explained to his Gentile audience, “God has shown me that I must not call any person impure or unclean” (Acts 10:28).
As Peter experienced God’s grace in his life, God worked in him to extend the same grace to others. Peter’s experience is not merely an example for us, but an account of how God works in His people’s lives, transforming us into grace-saturated conduits of His grace.