The son of Zebedee and brother of Andrew. Originally called Simon, he was renamed by Jesus as Peter (Greek) or Cephas (Aramaic). He was one of the twelve apostles, and along with James and John, one of the inner three. Soon after the ascension of Jesus, Peter rose to leadership in the church, but that leadership eventually transitioned to James, the brother of Jesus as Peter took on more of itinerant role. There are two epistles in the New Testament…
Philo (20 BC-50 AD) was a Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, Egypt. He represents a Hellenistic Judaism that is heavily influenced by Greek philosophy. He was a prolific writer and many of books are still with us. Much of them are biblical exegesis using an allegorical method to reveal philosophical interpretations. Although he was a contemporary of Jesus, he never mentions Jesus in any of his works. The closest to Philo’s style in the New Testament is the letter…