Faith Under Pressure · Week 4 · Grades 9–12
Guided Notes: Sts. Peter and Paul
- Name
- Date
- Class
Follow along as your teacher presents. Fill in each section when its slide is on the screen.
Two unlikely foundations
Simon was a blank 1 fisherman. Jesus renamed him Peter, “rock,” and promised him the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He was the first to confess Jesus as the blank 2, and he also denied him three times on the night of the arrest. The risen Jesus restored him with a threefold question, “Do you love me?”, and a threefold charge to tend the flock.
Saul of blank 3 was a Pharisee, a Roman citizen and a fierce opponent of the first Christians. Near Damascus he encountered the risen Jesus, who asked why Saul was persecuting him. Paul later called himself the least of the apostles. He insisted that what he became was the work of God’s grace.
The first Christian generation
Write what happened at each point.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| c. 30 | Write your answer |
| c. 34 | Write your answer |
| c. 37 | Write your answer |
| c. 49 | Write your answer |
| c. 50–58 | Write your answer |
| c. 60 | Write your answer |
| 64 | Write your answer |
| c. 64–67 | Write your answer |
The clash at Antioch
The first great argument in the Church was about belonging. Did Gentiles, people who were not Jewish, have to take on the whole Jewish law to follow blank 4? Peter himself had baptized the Roman centurion Cornelius, and at the Jerusalem meeting he defended the Gentile believers.
Yet at Antioch, Paul reports, Peter stopped eating with Gentile Christians when stricter visitors arrived. Paul says he opposed Peter “to his face” in front of everyone, because the truth of the blank 5 was at stake.
We have only Paul’s account. What is clear is that neither man left the Church or founded a rival one. Tradition holds that they died for the same faith in the same city.
Apply it
A respected student leader quietly drops a friend whenever the popular group is around. Which response is closest to what Paul did at Antioch? Circle one.
- A Say nothing now, and stop trusting that leader afterward
- B Post about the hypocrisy without naming who it was
- C Tell the leader directly that this action betrays the friend
- D Start a separate group and invite the dropped friend to it
Why is that the right answer?
Presence by letter
Paul could not be blank 6, so he wrote. Thirteen New Testament letters carry his name. Scholars agree that he wrote at least seven and debate the authorship of the others.
A letter was costly, slow work. Paul often dictated to a scribe, and one of them, blank 7, added his own greeting in the letter to the Romans. Trusted coworkers carried the letters across land and sea, and communities heard them read aloud and shared them with neighboring churches.
Paul wrote some letters from prison. He named friends one by one, argued, thanked, corrected and consoled. He also said plainly that he longed to see people in person. The letter served the blank 8. It did not replace it.
Apply it
Which online habit best matches the way Paul used letters? Circle one.
- A Messaging faraway friends by name and making plans to meet
- B Posting daily updates so that followers can keep up with you
- C Keeping a long streak going with as many contacts as possible
- D Staying in every group chat so that you never miss anything
Why is that the right answer?
Take a side
Paul corrected Peter in front of the whole community. When a leader does something wrong in public, should the correction be public too?
My side: ☐ Yes, correct it publicly ☐ No, go privately first
- Paul says Peter’s action was public and was leading others astray (Galatians 2:13-14).
- Jesus teaches going to a brother alone first (Matthew 18:15).
- Paul spoke face to face, to a person he knew, inside a shared community.
- Online call-outs reach strangers, last indefinitely and rarely leave room for repentance.
- Silence can protect the powerful and abandon the people being harmed.
My strongest reason, with evidence from the slides:
The best argument for the other side, and my response:
Let us pray
“I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:7
Lord Jesus, you built your Church on forgiven sinners.
Make us honest in correction, patient in disagreement and faithful in friendship.
Sts. Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Amen.
My own prayer or intention:
Well done!
Peter and Paul differed, argued and still died for the same Lord. Communion is not sameness. It is staying bound to one another in the truth.
One thing I learned today:
One question I still have:
How could the example of Sts. Peter and Paul shape the way I live, online and offline?
Challenge: Choose one person you disagree with or have drifted from. This week, contact that person directly and by name, not through a post or a group, and try to arrange time face to face.