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I cannot agree that Peter wasn't deceived, dear ANOMOS (peace to you!), although perhaps not by the Adversary (as Eve was), because my understanding is that he was indeed deceived... by himself. I state this because, as our dear Lord reminded our brothers, his disciples (John 5:39, 40), the scriptures bore witness to [i]him... even as to his death[/u] (Psalm 22:1-31; 69:1-36; Isaiah 53:1-12). And so he kept reminding them of this... and that the scriptures not only would be... but HAD to be... fulfilled. Mark 10:33, 34
Because of this, what was in the scriptures, there was NO excuse for Peter NOT to know (as there is no excuse for us NOW not to know various things, given the dispensing of holy spirit!)... because up to that time reading the scriptures was virtually mandatory (Psalm 1:1-6, at least for those truly LOOKING for Messiah [to arrive]. Which, if they were listening to Moses, they were doing. Indeed, that is how they FIRST knew him when he called them ("We have found Messiah!" - it was a bit later that they were given and grasped that this "Prophet", raised up after Moses, was actually the Son of GOD!).
So, no excuse... unless he WAS deceived. And he was... by himself; he allowed himself to fool HIMSELF into thinking what had to take place DIDN'T have to. Deceived as perhaps WE are sometimes, regarding things related to Christ. That deception, however, is not limited to the Adversary. We can be deceived by that one, yes, but also by his agents ([b]Matthew 24:24)... AND... most OFTEN... by ourselves.
Deception doesn't always denote a malicious intent to deceive, dear one. Sometimes it's borne of ignorance... or arrogance. And dear Peter certainly was arrogant, as we ALL are, to some degree or another, at some point in our lives. He wasn't HAUGHTY, mind you, which is to the farther, darker side of arrogance... but he was a little TOO self-assured. So much so that he truly didn't KNOW what he didn't know... or UNDERSTAND what he didn't understand.
Peter was deceived... by his own over self-assuredness... which led to his OWN self-deception. As such tends to DO for the overly self-assured. Like most teenagers; you know, those you can't tell anything but must learn the "hard" way? LOLOL!
Otherwise, he (Peter) said what he did INTENTIONALLY... meaning to thwart Christ's intentions (and God's will).
My understanding is that that is not the case, however, but that out of LOVE Peter didn't want our dear Lord to suffer... in any way. Certainly not in the way our dear Lord was saying he was GOING to suffer. So, he (Peter) would have first had to convince HIMSELF that it wasn't necessary... and only self-deception would allow that, ... before he could even TRY to say what he did to our dear Lord. Right? Else, he couldn't have SAID it... because his belief that it WAS necessary, had that truly been his belief... would have LET him say otherwise, as he DID say.
I hope this helps and, again, peace to you!
Your servant and a slave of Christ,
Shellamar
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