Peter’s Denial; John 18:15–18, 25–27.

Church History: 15Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, 16but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the girl on duty there and brought Peter in. 17"You are not one of his disciples, are you?" the girl at the door asked Peter. He replied, "I am not." 18It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself. 25As Simon Peter stood warming himself, he was asked, "You are not one of his disciples, are you?" He denied it, saying, "I am not." 26One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with him in the olive grove?" 27Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

Peter's First Denial; This took place, when he was in the lower hall of Caiaphas's house. He was not in the higher part where Christ stood before the high priest; but in the lower part with the servants and officers, at the fire kindled in the midst of the hall, The girl who was the doorkeeper had entered into the hall, where she questioned Peter.

Peter's Second Denial; came a short time after the first. Having once denied his Master, he naturally retired from the place where his accuser was to the vestibule of the hall, and it was the time of the first cock-crowing, or soon after midnight. After remaining here a short time, perhaps an hour, another girl saw him, and said to those who were standing by in the vestibule, that he was one of them. Peter, to avoid this charge, withdraws into the hall, and warms himself. The girl, and those to whom she had spoken, follow him; the communication between the two places being immediate. Here a man enforces the charge of the girl, according to Luke; and others urge it, according to St. John; and Peter denies Jesus vehemently.

Peter's Third Denial; He was now in the hall, and also within sight of Jesus, though at such a distance from him that Jesus could not know what passed, but in a supernatural way. And, about an hour after his second denial, those who stood by made a third charge against him, accusing him of being a Galilean, which Luke says, (Luke 22:59), one in particular strongly affirmed; and which, according to John, John 18:26, was supported by one of Malchus's relations. This caused a more vehement denial than before, and immediately the cock crew the second time. The first denial may have been between twelve and one AM; and the second between our two and three AM.

At the time of the third denial, Luke 22:61 proves that Jesus was in the same room with Peter. We must farther observe that Matthew, Matthew 26:57, lays the scene of Peter's denials in the house of Caiaphas: whereas John, John 18:15-23, seems to intimate that these transactions took place in the house of Annas. The time of Peter's denials happened during the space of the third Roman watch, or that division of the night, between twelve and three, which is called cock-crowing, Mark 13:35.