Two stories of calling of Andrew and Peter?

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bengeorge

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Hi,

There seems to be two contradictory stories of how Andrew and Peter were called to be apostles:
MATT.4:
18While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
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and
JOHN.1:
35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. 40One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
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Anyone have an explaination for this discrepancy?
 
It’s a discrepancy of perspective only. Each author of the Gospels wrote from his own perspective–from what he saw and/or what he wished to convey to his readers. And each author had a specific audience in mind. Matthew wrote primarily to his fellow Hebrews while John wrote more universally. John’s version is also quite simple–in fact it has less details that Matthew’s account, but it doesn’t mean that Matthew’s account isn’t true. John simply skipped over such details to simply tell us what he thought more important. It’s really just that simple. 🙂
 
One possible explanation is that the account in John happened first. Jesus was baptized, went out into the desert, and a short time after he returned, he heard John had been arrested, and then Jesus was free to start his ministry, and so called the 12 Apostles including the account in Mt.
 
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anawim:
One possible explanation is that the account in John happened first. Jesus was baptized, went out into the desert, and a short time after he returned, he heard John had been arrested, and then Jesus was free to start his ministry, and so called the 12 Apostles including the account in Mt.
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Kudos, Anawim!! Jesus meets the Apostles, Andrew and Peter, in the account described in John. Jesus calls the Apostles to follow Him in the account described in Matthew. This would have happened sometime after the John incident.

Notworthy
 
Ben,

Another respondent has given you the correct answer, but if I may I would like to make it a bit more explicit. The account in John’s Gospel happens a day or two after Jesus’ baptism. The apostles in question meet Jesus, spend a few days with Him, attend the wedding in Cana with Him, and then (and this is what is not written down) went back to their fishing business while He went out into the desert to be tempted. After Jesus came back from the desert, and after John had been arrested, Jesus started preaching and called the apostles to follow Him as recounted in the Synoptic Gospels.
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