Peter's Blunder - A Lesson for Ourselves

[In last Sunday's evening sermon, Elder Ron described Peter as the disciple with the foot-shaped mouth. But it's not just Peter. I've said things I wish I could take back, so I appreciate the following words from my favorite dead theologian.]

“But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” Acts 10:14.

“Not so, Lord.” This is a very curious expression. I do not mind how you turn it into English from the original, but it is a very strange compound. If Peter had said, “Not so,” there would have been a clear consistency in his language and tone. But “Not so, Lord,” is an odd jumble of self-will and reverence, of pride and humility, of contradiction and devotion. Surely, when you say, “Not so,” it ought not to be said to the Lord, and if you say, “Lord,” you ought not to put side by side with such an ascription the expression, “Not so.” Peter always was a blunderer in his early days, and he had not grown out of his old habits of honest impetuosity. He meant well, and his expression was not intended to convey all that we might easily make of it. At any rate, it is not for us to condemn him. Who are we that we should sit in judgment on a saint of God? Besides, we are not without fault ourselves in the matter of incorrect speech.

You and I have said some very curious things in our time. We have uttered exclamations that have been so good that the Lord accepted them, but they have been so bad that He could not have accepted them if it had not been for His infinite mercy. In our utterances there has been faith mixed with unbelief, love defaced with a lack of submission, gratitude combined with distrust, humility flavored with self-conceit, courage undermined with cowardice, fervor mingled with indifference. We are as strange beings as the image which Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, and our speech betrays the fact. When we were fashioned by nature first of all we were “fearfully and wonderfully made,” but when we fell, and were unmade by sin, we became monstrosities, combinations of contrarieties. I will not dwell upon that topic, but every man who looks within, if the candle of God is shining within him, must often cry out, “Lord, what is man, that You are mindful of him? And the son of man, that You visit him?’ In our speech this mixed estate of ours most plainly shows itself. We often feel as if we could eat our words, or at the least unsay them. Speeches that have had about them real sincerity and true devotion have been greatly marred by expressions which were not fit for the occasion. Our tongues need sanctification sevenfold if we are always to speak that which is good and acceptable, and surely, that is what we desire.

Peter's Blunder - A Lesson for Ourselves, sermon 1823 - Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Graphic by Illustrator of Henry Davenport Northrop's 'Treasures of the Bible', 1894 [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons