Um how many of us have had a social dust up with somebody who we like, and rather than working it out and just moving forward quickly, hey, we both bloodied each other's lips, that probably wasn't the best, whatever, I made a mistake, you made a mistake, whatever, we're moving forward. Instead of doing that, how often do we get in a fight with somebody we care about or have a socially unfortunate interaction? And then we never patch it up because of pride. We don't look dumb in front of people, we're embarrassed or insecure, whatever, and we just have this lingering injury and this broken relationship that you just kind of always feel bad about, but the longer it goes, the harder it is to fix. I think we all probably have an experience or two like that in our lives. And so I think it's understandable that somebody could read about this unfortunate sounding lunchroom incident at Antioch between two guys we really love and root for as we're reading the Bible, that being Paul and Peter. I think it's understandable that all of us could look at that and be like, oh man, uh, if that happened to me, I would like to think that I'd work it out, but it's possible that I wouldn't, and it would linger and it would just be a sore spot and be weird. And so over the last few days, we've been looking at the evidence we have in front of us to sort of work through what did happen. Did they work it out or did it stay weird? And everything that we've seen, I think points to they totally worked it out. This was a short-lived thing. Everything we've seen about one, Peter's character, tells us that they probably just moved forward pretty easy because Peter was really good at making a mistake and then getting corrected on the mistake, and then quickly realizing I was wrong, and then immediately admitting I was wrong, dusting himself up, getting up, and just moving forward. It would actually be a departure from Peter's character for him to dig in his heels here and be like, no way, I don't accept correction. I'm not listening to you. So one, Peter's character says they probably worked it out. Two, they have all the same friends moving forward. They hang out with the same people, they're working on the same projects. So that tells us they probably worked it out. Three, they wrote the same stuff. 1 Peter, 2 Peter, Galatians, Ephesians, the Gospel of Mark, which tradition says Peter had a lot to do with. It's all pulling in the same direction. It's all the same theology. They're all emphasizing the same stuff. All of these things that both Peter and Paul write make it really clear that there is no right standing with God that can be achieved through human effort and really working hard to impress God. Both parties seem to agree early in their ministry, late in their ministry all the way through, that the only way you're ever going to have right standing with God is by the gracious work of God. So they're on the same page about that stuff. A fourth reason it looks like they worked it out and then they're on the same page is that these guys lived parallel lives. How many people could Peter or Paul go to who could better relate to the arc, the story arc of their lives? How many people could Peter go to and say something like, hey, man, remember when we both saw the glory of God and we both handled it wrong and got corrected by God in front of everybody? Me on top of that mountain, you on that road to Damascus? Dang, that was crazy. Remember when we were both on the wrong track with our lives, and then Jesus stepped in and called us out of that and into something else in front of everybody, and we just had to change everything, and people were really suspicious of our motives or what we were doing at first because it was such a dramatic change. That was crazy, right? Remember when we both ran afoul of all of our Jewish friends for saying that the Gentiles could be Christians, and that was really difficult? That was crazy. Hey, like just check it out. Look at it if I just show you my back here. See all these flog marks and all these places where I got gashed up and hit with rocks and whips and stuff? You too? Oh yeah, you too. Ah, it's wild. I mean, they just have so much in common. They've gone through so much of the same stuff that I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't have seen how invaluable that was. Even if they only connected from time to time, it just seems like it would be hard to resent the other person given how parallel their lives played out. And then the final reason, as we wrap things up on this side quest regarding the fate of the relationship between Peter and Paul today, that I think they worked things out, is simply because of their reputation moving forward as being a famous tandem, as being friends. Everybody who knew their names linked their names together. And we've got this too. We've got a whole stack of names that you can't say the one without saying the other because you know that they're friends. They go together. You got the Lone Ranger and Tonto, the La Laurel and Hardy, Batman and Robin. Uh, it was Snoopy and Charlie. All of these people are friends through thick and thin, friends to the very end. So come on, I think you would agree that's how it was for Peter and Paul. Look, everything we have from the early church regarding this subject tells us that all the Christians in the early days regarded Peter and Paul the same way, an inseparable tandem, friends to the very end, a famous duo joined at the hip, pulling in the same direction. And indeed, there is a feast day that is still celebrated to this day in honor of Saint Peter and Paul together. I think it's June 29th. I looked this up a few days ago. I don't remember if that's exactly right, but it's something like that. It's late June. This tradition goes all the way back to at least the 300s AD. And then in the 400s A.D., none other than Saint Augustine of Hippo wrote about that particular feast day shared between Peter and Paul, and this is what he had to say. Quote, Both apostles share the same feast days, for these two were one, and even though they suffered on different days, they were as one. Peter went first, and Paul followed. And so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostle's blood. Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labors, their suffering, their preaching, and their confession of faith. Unquote. Augustine saying the same stuff that you and I have been talking about for a few days around here. He's saying they were on the same page about everything. Well, what was the big controversy between the two? It was a controversy between the two ways that were proposed to have right standing before God. Way number one, you do stuff and earn it. Way number two, God does it. Well, these guys were on the same page coming out of that incident, that spat that lunchroom issue that they had. And so this is Augustine confirming two things. Thing number one, Peter and Paul were pals, they worked it out, they should be viewed together and celebrated together. Two, they were on the same page and Paul was right about the lunchroom incident issue discussed in Galatians chapter two. Awesome. We also know that the early church linked Peter and Paul together, had them joined at the hip as inseparable pals because they crop up all over the place in old school churches. I mean, even in Protestant churches today, Peter and Paul are often depicted next to each other or in the same church. There's no friction here. And indeed, if you go to Sicily, to the city of Palermo, and you go to their big cathedral there, I think it's called St. Peter's and Paul's. I probably should have looked that up, but I'm pretty sure that's right. When you go there, there'll be something, if you kind of know the story of the New Testament, it'll melt your brain a little bit. You'll see all the usual stuff up front. It's a big gold interior cathedral. It's kind of um oh, it's a really neat cathedral. It's got a cool backstory. Man, do I chase this down right now? Time. I'll give you just a little bit. Uh I think the cathedral was built by the Normans, the same Normans who uh conquered England in 1066 AD at the Battle of Hastings. That was William I, the Conqueror. So this is crazy, like a French nobleman, like a French duke went and became owner of England. Wild. Well, then his descendants did some more conquering as well. And one of the places that they put down roots for a while a little bit after William the Conqueror was in Sicily and Palermo. And this cathedral there was commissioned by them. But it's a multicultural cathedral because they had Muslim artists involved, they have Byzantine artists, it's a very Byzantine, Eastern, like kind of Greek Orthodox looking church in terms of art and style, but also it's very Roman in terms of art and style, and also it has Norse and Northern European influences. Very, very interesting place. If you ever had have a chance to go there, it's something that you're definitely gonna want to see. But as you go there, you will notice Peter and Paul prominently placed, and then there are a series of I think about 12, 10 maybe panels that tell a bunch of the big highlights of the story of Peter and Paul, separately, you know, A-plot, B plot kind of stuff. But then you get to the end, and there are maybe two or three panels at the end where the biblically literate observer is gonna look at that and go, What the heck is this story? I mean, it looks like they're in Rome together. And is that the Emperor? Is that Nero? I mean, it seems like they're all getting along pretty well. And who's that guy who's falling out of the sky and splattering all over the ground at the end? I don't know what that is. Well, I'm gonna tell you what that is. In the middle of the first millennium, probably somewhere in the 500s AD, there was some Christian fan fiction that got written. It's not accurate, it's not to be mistaken for Bible, nobody mistook it for Bible, but it gives you a little bit of a sense of some traditions and how the Christians back then viewed the relationship between Peter and Paul. And in this story called The Acts of Peter and Paul, and you can still go read the full text of that on the interwebs if you ever want to, we get the story of this one last hurrah for old Batman and Robin pals, Peter and Paul, in Rome in the court of Nero. It starts out with this rumbling in Rome that the Apostle Paul, the brother of Peter, is on his way to Rome, and sure enough, Paul shows up and is warmly greeted, and everybody's celebrating, and Peter couldn't be happier that he's there. But there is a scourge among them. Simon Magus, the old foe from back on the island of Cyprus, has reared his ugly head again, and with his tricks reminiscent of those of Janice and Jambrae's the court magicians all the way back in the time of Exodus in the court of Pharaoh, the evil dark wizard Simon Magus is wormed into the good affections and good graces of Emperor Nero, and Peter and Paul are going to have the opportunity to confront him. It's round two of Peter versus Simon Magus, except this time he's brought in a ringer. Paul is with him. Over the course of the disputation, and that's really what the whole thing is. It's then Peter said this. Then Nero listened and said, Ah, but what about this? Then Simon Magus said this, and it's all of this back and forth, and Paul remains quiet for a long time, and then finally Paul speaks up, and it all comes down to Nero saying, Hmm, I don't know what to make of all of these claims. Finally, the discussion breaks down because Peter and Paul are just crushing Simon Magus so hard that Simon says, Well, Nero, why don't you just build me a great big tower in the middle of the forum and I'll jump off of it, and God's angels will cause me to ascend to his right hand in heaven. And Nero's like, Cool, that'll settle it. So he builds a great big giant tower in the Campus Martius, and all the people gather around, and Simon Magus goes up on top of the tower. He's like, I'm gonna do it. I'm for real, Zeus. I'm gonna jump off the thing. And Nero and Peter and Paul are like, okay. Like that, yep, that's what you're up there to do. Better do it. And Simon Magus is like, I'm gonna I'm gonna do it. And they're like, okay, get on with it. And Simon Magus jumps off the thing and he flies. It works. He goes up into the air, and Nero's like, Well, there you have it. That proves it. He actually is the son of God or the right representation of God. I guess he was telling the truth, and you two are gonna have to get kill executed. And Peter's like, hang on just one minute. And then Peter steps forward like Moses, staff in hand, kind of thing, and looks steadfastly at Simon flying around up in the air and says, I adjure you, you angels of Satan, who are carrying him into the air to deceive the hearts of the unbelievers, by the God that created all things and by Jesus Christ, whom on the third day he raised from the dead, no longer from this hour to keep him up, but to let him go. And immediately being let go, Simon Magus fell into a place called the Via Sacra, which is Main Street Roman Forum still to this day. If you've ever walked there, you've walked in the place where, according to this story, Simon Magus splattered into a bajillion pieces and died because of the superior power of God. Okay, again, obviously the story is way after the fact, but it gives us a little bit of a sense of how people viewed the Peter and Paul thing. These guys were pals. They worked together. They were sort of superheroes of the Christian faith, and it was fun for a fan fiction writer later on to imagine them teaming up in this way to defeat an old foe. And apparently it was a fun enough and popular enough story that Christians latched onto it and preserved it and were like, yeah, we enjoy this fan fiction. That may not be the true story, but we at least appreciate the sentiment because that's how we think of the inseparable Peter and Paul as well. Long story short, and I know I've way overmade my point on this. We should be very careful not to read some of our modern social proclivities for what happens when we have a little scuffle or social dust up with somebody into this thing. It seems like maybe their superpower back then, or maybe Peter's superpower, was to realize he was wrong, work things out, and just move forward in peace, getting right back on track. Sometimes I'm a little bulky about that. I don't maybe not always the best at that. Sometimes it takes me a little too long between the time that I know I'm wrong and the time that I finally admit that I'm wrong. It'll still be two weeks till I say I'm sorry, but it doesn't seem to be the case here. And for all the reasons we've talked about, I think we can safely move forward saying that was an isolated incident used to teach that was helpful and in the end a win for everybody. And the whole thing moved forward with Peter and Paul going down in history, rightly regarded as a tandem, a pair, a set of pals who were on the same page and pulling in the same direction. Fun side jaunt, on to Galatians 3. Next time around, I'm Matt. This is the 10 Minute Bible Hour podcast. Jeff, you know what to do.