Person New Testament
John
Also known as John =ESV, NIV; Jonas =KJV, Jonah =ESV, NIV; Jona =KJV
John, also known as Jonah, was the father of Simon Peter, one of Jesus' closest disciples. Mentioned in 4 verses across 2 books, first at Matthew 16:17.
Why it matters. The father of Simon Peter
- Primary passages
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About John
John, also referred to as Jonah, is mentioned in the New Testament as the father of Simon Peter, one of the twelve apostles and a prominent figure in the early Church. In the Gospel of John, Jesus addresses Peter as "Simon, son of John" on several occasions (Jhn.21.15,16,17). This patronymic identifier was common in Jewish culture and served to distinguish individuals with the same name.
In Jhn.1.42, when Andrew brings his brother Simon to Jesus, Jesus gives Simon the name "Cephas" (which means "Peter" or "rock"). Here, Simon is also identified as the son of John. Similarly, in Mat.16.17, when Peter declares Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus responds by calling him "Simon Bar-Jonah," using the Aramaic equivalent of "son of Jonah."
These references provide insight into Peter's family background but do not offer any additional details about his father, John or Jonah. The use of both names has led some scholars to suggest that John may have been a bilingual name, with Jonah being the Hebrew form and John the Greek form. However, the exact reason for the variation is not explicitly stated in the biblical text.
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
No reviewed connections yet.
Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
Appears in Scripture
Named in 4 verses across 2 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.