Luke 6:15

6:15 Matthew, Thomas, ¹  James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, ² 

Luke 6:14

6:14 Simon ³  (whom he named Peter), and his brother Andrew; and James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, ⁴ 

Luke 5:4

5:4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and lower ⁵  your nets for a catch.”

Luke 23:26

The Crucifixion

23:26 As ⁶  they led him away, they seized Simon of Cyrene, ⁷  who was coming in from the country. ⁸  They placed the cross on his back and made him carry it behind Jesus. ⁹ 

Luke 5:10

5:10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s business partners. ¹⁰  Then ¹¹  Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on ¹²  you will be catching people.” ¹³ 

[6:15]  ¹ sn This is the “doubting Thomas” of John 20:24-29.

[6:15]  ² sn The designation Zealot means that Simon was a political nationalist before coming to follow Jesus. He may not have been technically a member of the particular Jewish nationalistic party known as “Zealots” (since according to some scholars this party had not been organized at that time), but simply someone who was zealous for Jewish independence from Rome, in which case the descriptive term applied to Simon means something like “Simon the patriot” (see L&N 25.77 and especially 11.88).

[6:14]  ³ sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (Matt 10:1-4; Mark 3:16-19; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.

[6:14]  ⁴ sn Bartholomew (meaning “son of Tolmai” in Aramaic) could be another name for Nathanael mentioned in John 1:45.

[5:4]  ⁵ tn Or “let down.” The verb here is plural, so this is a command to all in the boat, not just Peter.

[23:26]  ⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[23:26]  ⁸ sn Jesus was beaten severely with a whip before this (the prelude to crucifixion, known to the Romans as verberatio, mentioned in Matt 27:26; Mark 15:15; John 19:1), so he would have been weak from trauma and loss of blood. Apparently he was unable to bear the cross himself, so Simon was conscripted to help. Cyrene was located in North Africa where Tripoli is today. Nothing more is known about this Simon. Mark 15:21 names him as father of two people apparently known to Mark’s audience.

[23:26]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “was coming in from his field” outside the city (BDAG 15-16 s.v. ἀγρός 1).

[23:26]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “they placed the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.”

[5:10]  ⁹ tn Or “business associates.”

[5:10]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[5:10]  ¹¹ sn From now on is a common Lukan expression, see Luke 1:48.

[5:10]  ¹² tn The Greek term ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used here in a generic sense, referring to both men and women, thus “people.”