Watch: Saul seeks Peter’s forgiveness in a sneak peek from the next episode of A.D. The Bible Continues

Watch: Saul seeks Peter’s forgiveness in a sneak peek from the next episode of A.D. The Bible Continues May 28, 2015

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Most weeks, the makers of A.D. The Bible Continues have released multiple clips from their upcoming episodes, to whet our appetites. This week, however, they have released only one clip so far — but it’s an important one that brings together two of the most important characters in the New Testament: Peter and Saul (aka Paul).

Here is the clip in question:

One of the interesting things about scenes like this is that the book of Acts never actually mentions any conversations between Peter and Saul, so films that dramatize the relationship between them have to be somewhat creative about it.

It’s implicit that Peter met Saul in Acts 9:26-30, when Saul meets “the apostles” — that’s the passage that this clip is based on — and it’s also implicit in Acts 15, where Peter and Paul address the Council of Jerusalem separately and presumably could have addressed each other, as well. But if Peter and Saul ever actually exchanged any words personally on either of those occasions, the text doesn’t mention it.

The one book in the New Testament that does tell us about the conversations between Peter and Paul is Paul’s own epistle to the Galatians.

In chapter 1, Paul says he went to Jerusalem three years after his conversion (I assume A.D. will accelerate the timeline somewhat) and spent fifteen days with Peter.

(Paul adds: “I saw none of the other apostles — only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.” How to reconcile that with the statement in Acts that Paul met and stayed with “the apostles” when he went to Jerusalem is an interesting question, and outside the scope of this blog post.)

And in chapter 2, Paul describes how he met with the apostles at the Council of Jerusalem fourteen years after his meeting with Peter, and how he confronted Peter to his face when Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles in Antioch.

So, the best insight we have into the relationship between Peter and Paul actually comes from Paul’s letters, not from Acts. But very few adaptations of Acts have incorporated the information from Paul’s letters; most films have been content to rely on Acts alone. (The 1981 miniseries Peter and Paul is a major exception to this.)

So will A.D. fill the gaps in Acts by incorporating any of the information that is unique to Paul’s letters? Will it integrate Acts and the epistles? We’ll find out on Sunday.

June 1 update: A longer version of the clip is now available:

Check out earlier trailers and other videos here (though be warned: it appears that the network has taken some of the trailers and clips offline already):


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