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Reading the writings of Peter and Paul, we get the impression that they knew they would be martyred. Peter writes…
I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me (2 Peter 1:13-14, ESV).
And the Apostle Paul also says…
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:6-8a).
Jesus warned both of them about the difficulties/deaths that they would suffer, having said to Peter at the end of the Gospel of John, “‘You will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.’ (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.)” (John 21:18b-19). With Paul, Jesus predicted to Ananias at Paul’s conversion, “He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles … for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9:15-16).
My Reason #9 for the Reliability of the New Testament: The Bible’s prophetic accounts match historically the way Peter and Paul died.
With indicators of extreme suffering and martyrdom in the New Testament for both Peter and Paul, the chances it would play out as predicted were minimal. Easy to claim a future martyrdom, but to have the Roman Emperor Nero pass the death sentence was beyond their control. Both could have easily died because of disease, shipwrecks, or being murdered by thieves.
Clement (probably discipled by Peter) wrote around A.D. 90 that both Peter and Paul were martyred, and Tertullian in A.D. 190 said that Peter suffered crucifixion and that both Peter and Paul were martyred by Nero.
Many suffered martyrdom in the early church, but Nero was the first Roman emperor to systematically persecute Christians, and both Peter and Paul, as apostles of the church, became primary targets. Ancient church tradition has them both killed on the same day (a fact disputed by some historians); however, their deaths as witnesses for Jesus have universal support by scholars.
Tertullian wrote about Peter, Paul, and other early Christian martyrs, “The oftener we are mowed down, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed.” Years later, Augustine said that the church conquered Rome not with sword but by dying!
The totality of surrender inherent within the New Testament, a teaching followed by both Peter and Paul to their deaths, makes us consider that only a reliable Bible could cause such devotion. This testimony of martyrdom makes us ask…
Are we willing to shed blood for the cause of Christ?