<p>22:32- see on Mt. 16:18; Lk. 22:3; Acts 3:19; 8:24; 2 Cor. 13:7; 2 Pet. 1:12.</p><p><i>But I prayed for you, that your faith should not fail- </i>Not only did the Lord pray that Peter&rsquo;s faith wouldn&rsquo;t fail. He repeatedly made the point in the lead up to Peter&rsquo;s temptations that His disciples really <i>did </i>know Him, therefore they should never deny this (Jn. 14:7,17; 15:21; 17:3), and He taught them that all men <i>must</i> know they were His disciples, if they truly were (Jn. 13:35). He was trying to strengthen Peter against the trial He knew would come: to deny that he knew Him. Likewise we may try to strengthen those prone to specific temptation, but the power of it depends on their recognition of their own weakness, and whether they have ears to hear. It would seem Peter didn&rsquo;t, so confident was he of his own strength. Moses of his own freewill chose to intercede for Israel, concerning things which at the time they knew nothing about; things which were almost against their will, in fact. And this is the prototype of the Lord's mediation for us who know not what to pray for as we ought. Consider how he prayed for Peter when Peter didn't realize he was being prayed for.</p><p><i>And when you have been converted, strengthen your brothers</i>- Paul referred to the Jews to whom he preached as his &ldquo;brothers&rdquo; (Acts 13:26), and it may be that Peter at least initially understood his commission to &ldquo;strengthen your brothers&rdquo; as meaning preaching to his unbelieving Jewish brethren (although the same Greek word is used by Peter regarding his work of upbuilding the converts, 1 Pet. 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:12). Gal. 2:8-10 informs us that Peter had a ministry to the Jews of the diaspora in the Roman empire just as much as Paul did to the Gentiles living in the same area (Gal. 2:8-10). Because the Acts record focuses more on Paul&rsquo;s work rather than Peter&rsquo;s doesn&rsquo;t mean that Peter was inactive. 1 Peter is addressed to Jewish converts living in the provinces of Asia Minor, and we can assume that Peter had spent years travelling around building up groups of believers based around the families of the individual Jews he had converted in Jerusalem at Pentecost. It would seem from 1 Cor. 1:12 that Peter had made a number of converts in Corinth, and 1 Pet. 5:13 strongly suggests Peter lived for a while in &ldquo;Babylon&rdquo; and had begun an ecclesia there. Whether this be taken as a code name for Rome or as literal Babylon (where there was a sizeable Jewish community), this was somewhere else Peter reached. All through this remarkable life of witness, he was motivated by his own experience of the Lord&rsquo;s greatness, and His all sufficient grace toward him in his weakness. And a similar life of powerful witness lies before any who are touched likewise.&nbsp;</p><p>The command to strengthen brothers is given again in the Lord&rsquo;s interview with Peter in Jn. 21. Three times He asks him: &lsquo;do you love me?&rsquo;, and three times he invites Peter to care for the lambs and sheep- to strengthen his brethren. The triple denial and the triple re-instatement and triple confession of love both occurred by a fire, a <i>charcoal</i> fire on each occasion (Jn. 18:18; 21:9) just to heighten the evident connection. Peter&rsquo;s conversion can therefore be equated with his response to the denials- the repentance, the realization of his own frailty, and desperate acceptance of the Lord&rsquo;s gracious pardon. Yet Peter invites his fellow elders: &ldquo;feed the flock of God&rdquo;, repeating the Lord&rsquo;s commission to him, as if he saw in himself a pattern for each man who would take any pastoral role in Christ&rsquo;s ecclesia. The implication is that each man must go through a like conversion. And Peter points out that we are &ldquo;a royal priesthood&rdquo;, as if he saw each believer as a priest / pastor. Peter is our example. We all deny our Lord, camouflage it and justify it as we may. We all stand in Peter&rsquo;s uncomfortable shoes. We do in principle what Judas did.</p><p>&ldquo;When you are converted...&quot; elicits the obvious response that Peter was converted already The Lord had spoken of conversion as really seeing, really hearing, really understanding, and commented that the disciples (including Peter) had reached this point (Mt. 13:15,16). But He also told them that they needed to be converted and become as children, knowing they knew nothing as they ought to know (Mt. 18:3). Quite simply, there are different levels of conversion. Baptism isn&rsquo;t conversion: it&rsquo;s a beginning, not an end.</p>