St. Matthew.: They that stood by said: “Surely thou also art one of them; for even thy speech doth discover thee.” He began to curse and swear that he knew not the man.
St. Mark.: They that stood by said: “Surely thou art one of them; for thou also art a Galilean.” He began to curse and swear, saying: “I know not this man of whom you speak.”
St. Luke.: Another man said: “Surely this man was with him, for he is a Galilean.” “Man, I know not what thou sayest.”
St. John.: One of the servants of the high priestsaith: “Did I not see thee in the garden with him?” Peter then denied again.
Thus, it is plain that there is no difficulty in regard to the first denial, whether we suppose that St. Peter made use of the different expressions attributed to him, or, as seems more probable in regard to this first occasion, used only one expression, which is substantially reported by the four Evangelists.
In regard to the second denial it is to be noted—
(a) That according to SS. Matthew and Mark the maid does not address herself to Peter, but to those who were around; so that there is no difficulty when we learn from St. Luke that Peter was addressed by a man (alius) on the occasion.
(b) St. Matthew, in the account of this denial, speaks of a different maid from her who brought about the first denial. St. Mark seems to speak of the same maid, for he has ἡ παιδίσκη (xiv. 69), which would seem to refer to the maid already mentioned. There is nothing improbable, however, in supposing that two maids spoke to those around on the occasion of the second denial.
(c) As to the place of the second denial, St. John says that it occurred while “Peter was standing and warming himself,” while St. Matthew says it occurred “as he went out to the vestibule,” or more correctly, according to the Greek, “after he had gone out” (ἐξελθόντα) into the vestibule. But again we may readily explain by saying that on this occasion Peter was challenged in both places, and denied in both.
In regard to the third denial, the reason given, in St. John, by the high-priest's servant, for identifying Peter as a follower of Jesus, is different from that given in the other Evangelists; but there is no difficulty in supposing that several different reasons were given by different persons.