Summary
Summary of The Acts of Peter and Simon
Key ideas
Key idea 1
A rivalry becomes a public contest
The Acts of Peter and Simon builds a rivalry around Peter the apostle and Simon the sorcerer. In the Bible, Simon tries to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. Later storytellers turn that brief encounter into a wider struggle over the nature of power.
The setting is Rome, where Simon has gained admirers and powerful friends. With Nero as the great audience, the contest of wonders asks people to judge between two men whose claims point toward very different kinds of trust.
Key idea 2
The tale survives in several forms
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Key idea 3
Spectacle and healing reveal different powers
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Key idea 4
Rome becomes the stage for judgment
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Key idea 5
Stories can endure outside accepted scripture
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Key idea 6
The legend makes belief visible
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Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who love early Christian legends, the history of Rome and the apostles, or stories of rival wonder-workers.
What this book is
The Acts of Peter and Simon belongs to a group of early Christian stories about the apostles, written long after the New Testament. Its subject is a rivalry between the apostle Peter and Simon the sorcerer, also called Simon Magus. Simon first appears in the Acts of the Apostles, in the Bible, where he tries to buy the power of the Holy Spirit. Later storytellers took that short scene and built a long struggle on it.
The story follows Peter to Rome, the capital of the empire. There he meets Simon again, now admired by crowds and close to the powerful. The tale is a contest of wonders, with the emperor Nero as the great audience. It was written by an unknown author in the early centuries of the church. In the next few minutes you will hear how the story is built, who stands in it, and how readers have used it. First, the question of where this text comes from.
In this summary
- 1A story from the early apostolic traditionFree
- 2Simon Magus grows from a Bible figure into a rival
- 3Peter confronts Simon in Rome
- 4How the tale was read and why it stands outside the Bible
Key point 1 of 4
A story from the early apostolic tradition
The tale of Peter and Simon comes from the apocryphal Acts, a body of writing that grew up in the second century and after. These books tell of the travels, miracles and deaths of the apostles, filling in what the New Testament leaves unsaid. The oldest well-known form is the Acts of Peter, first written in Greek. Scholars usually place it in the late second century, though they differ on exactly where.
Much of the Greek is lost. A long Latin version survives in a manuscript kept at Vercelli in Italy, and that copy is much later than the original. Other Latin tellings, in which Peter and Paul appear together, were made in later centuries. They share the same basic conflict but differ in their details.
Because the text lives in several versions, no single form can be called the original in every point. Readers meet a family of related stories rather than one fixed book. The author or authors are unknown. That is why the work is described as anonymous.
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
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Check yourself
What is the central contrast between Simon and Peter?
Right. “One man offers spectacle and admiration.”Not quite. “One man offers spectacle and admiration.”
Why can no single version be treated as original in every detail?
Right. “Because the text lives in several versions, no single form can be called the original in every point.”Not quite. “Because the text lives in several versions, no single form can be called the original in every point.”
How do historians now use the tale?
Right. “Historians now read it as evidence of what Christians of the second century and later believed and hoped, rather than as proof of what happened in Nero's day.”Not quite. “Historians now read it as evidence of what Christians of the second century and later believed and hoped, rather than as proof of what happened in Nero's day.”
Questions about The Acts of Peter and Simon
What is the Acts of Peter and Simon about?
It is an early Christian legend about Peter's conflict with the sorcerer Simon Magus in Rome. The two men compete in wonders before crowds and the emperor, and the story presents Peter's power as true and Simon's as false.
Who was Simon Magus?
Simon Magus is a magician who appears in Acts chapter eight in the Bible, where he tries to buy the apostles' power. Later Christian writers made him a symbol of false teaching and a rival of Peter.
Is the Acts of Peter and Simon a true story?
Scholars treat it as legend. It was written generations after Peter's time by an unknown author. It reflects what early Christians believed and told, and it is not a reliable historical record of events.
Why is the Acts of Peter and Simon not in the Bible?
Early church leaders did not accept the apocryphal Acts as writings from the apostolic circle, so they were not placed in the New Testament. Many copies were still made, and people kept telling the stories.
When was the Acts of Peter written?
Scholars usually date the Greek Acts of Peter to the late second century. Its Greek text is mostly lost, and later Latin versions carry the story of Peter and Simon in different forms.
