Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed.
Peter's third denial reaches its apex: he curses and swears, calling destruction upon himself if he knows Christ. Yet this sin, however grave, springs from weakness of the flesh, not from the incurable malice that constitutes blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Fear extinguished his affection where knowledge remained.
AI summary
And Peter remembered the words of Jesus,.... Forgetfulness of God, of his works, of his words, and of his law, of his revealed mind and will, is often the cause of sin; and a remembrance of things is necessary to the recovery of a fallen or backsliding professor; as, of what he is fallen from, of the love and kindness of God formerly shown to...
Peter, driven past endurance by repeated accusation and his own exposed accent, throws in cursing and swearing to shore up his denial. He knew it was false, but fear and irritation pushed him to that final, deepest aggravation of his sin.
AI summary