Luke 6:14

‘Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip and Bartholomew,'

The list of the twelve is also found in Acts 1:13; Matthew 10-2-4; Mark 3:16, with slight variations. Many people in those days had two names, and Jesus may have given each a new name as He did Peter. Peter always comes first in every list and Judas last. Thus there may be a deliberate contrast in Luke, ‘Simon who is called a Rock, -- and Judas who became a traitor.' But ‘became' makes clear that at first he was genuinely committed to following Jesus, even if it might have been for the wrong reasons.

Simon's new name of ‘Peter' was first given to him when he met Jesus after being introduced to Him by Andrew in John 1:42. We must thus read it here as indicating ‘Simon, to whom He had given the new name Peter'. The name given was actually the Aramaic Cephas (kepha) which meant a rock (John 1:42), but when translated into Greek it became petros (masculine - which means small rock) and not petra (feminine - a large foundation rock, rocky ground). This was, of course, because Simon was male. However the distinction was maintained in Matthew 16:18, where petros could have been used both times as a translation of kepha if Jesus had there been speaking in Aramaic. But there the switch is not to petros but to petra. This was in order to signify that the rock in mind there was either Peter's statement. Out of 76 of the early church fathers only 18 thought that the reference was to Peter, and that at a time when Peter was seen as prominent. Over forty applied it to the statement that he made.

Jesus chose Peter not only to be one of the twelve, but also to be one of the inner three, Peter, James and John (Luke 5:37; Luke 9:2; Luke 14:33). He clearly saw in him one who, once he had conquered his impetuosity and occasional unreliability (Mark 8:32; Mark 14:37; Mark 14:68; Mark 14:70; Galatians 2:11 following), would in the end prove to be a rock. Perhaps the giving of the name was intended to make him consider his need to do exactly this. He is always named first and became a natural leading figure among the twelve (Luke 8:40; Luke 9:20; Luke 9:32; Luke 12:41; Luke 18:28; Matthew 17:24; John 21:3; Acts 1:15; Acts 2:14; Acts 8:14 (with John)), but not officially so, or in such a way that he could not be challenged. See Acts 11:2 - where he had to back up his position with reason, not by claiming special personal God-given authority - see also Galatians 2:11.

With Peter He chose Andrew his brother and James and John. Along with James and John, Peter formed the inner three (see above). They have already been introduced to us previously in 5/1-11. It is likely that Jesus gave new names to all His disciples but the others tend to be ignored here, probably because they were not so prominent later on.

Philip was the first that we know of who was called to ‘follow Me' (John 1:43). Bartholomew may be ‘son of Ptolemy' or ‘Talmai' and by his association here with Philip may quite likely be Nathanael (Bartholomew is not a first name). Nathanael may in fact not have been one of the Twelve, although John 21:2 may suggest that he was. It partly depends on what John meant there by ‘disciple'..