Bible Synapse

Did Jesus first meet Peter and Andrew by the Sea of Galilee or near the Jordan?

Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate

Two different events
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The passages

John 1:35–42

Beyond the Jordan, Andrew, a disciple of John the Baptist, follows Jesus and spends the day with him, then brings his brother Simon, whom Jesus names Cephas.

Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. …

Matthew 4:18–22

After John’s arrest, Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, calls Simon and Andrew from their nets: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

Mark 1:16–18

Mark’s account of the same call by the lake: “straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.”

Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.

The objection

John says that Andrew and Simon Peter first met Jesus beside the Jordan, where John the Baptist was baptising, and that Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. Matthew and Mark say that Jesus came upon them by the Sea of Galilee, casting a net, and called them to follow him. The Gospels seem to describe two different first meetings.

The answer

Matthew and Mark do not say that the call by the lake was the first time Peter and Andrew met Jesus. John tells of the first meeting, and the other Gospels of a later call. John’s account comes soon after Jesus’ baptism, at “Bethabara beyond Jordan” (John 1:28), where Andrew was a disciple of John the Baptist. He spent a day with Jesus, then fetched his brother Simon, whom Jesus named Cephas (1:35–42). Jesus’ first disciples then went with him to Galilee, to Cana and Capernaum, and later to Jerusalem and Judea (2:1–2, 12, 17; 3:22), but they seem not yet to have left their trade for good.

Matthew and Mark begin their account of Jesus’ preaching in Galilee after John the Baptist had been put in prison (Matthew 4:12; Mark 1:14). John’s early chapters are set before that, as he notes: “For John was not yet cast into prison” (John 3:24). By then the brothers had gone back to fishing. Walking by the lake, Jesus called them to leave their nets and follow him for good: “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19). That they left their nets “straightway” is easier to understand in men who already knew him and had heard the Baptist point him out as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:36). Ellicott makes the same point: those called by the lake had accepted Jesus as the Christ some months before.

Other answers Christians give

Luke’s account

Luke 5:1–11 tells of a great catch of fish, after which Simon, James and John “forsook all, and followed him”. Ellicott and many others take it as Luke’s fuller account of the call by the lake; some think it a further stage in the same story. Either way it comes after the first meeting John describes.

From the classic commentators

In no part of the Gospel history is it more necessary to remember St. John’s record as we read that of the Three, than in this call of the disciples. Here, everything seems sudden and abrupt. There we learn that those who were now called had some months before accepted Him as the Christ ( John 1:35-43 )Charles Ellicott (ed.), Commentary for English Readers, on Matthew 4:18 (1878)

Sources

Further reading

Raised by: Shabir Ally, 101 Clear Contradictions in the Bible. Only the verse references come from these lists.

Checked 2026-10-22. All hard questions