---
title: Luke 22:62
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-22-62/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/luke-22-62.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Luke 22:62
testament: NT
section: Gospels
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Luke 22:62

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> And he went outside and wept bitterly.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "And he went outside and wept bitterly."

## JW Usage

Read as Peter's genuine repentance after denying Jesus — an example of godly sorrow leading to restoration. The Watchtower uses it in material on repentance and on returning after serious wrongdoing.

## Protestant Usage

The verse is only half a sentence long and carries no argument by itself. Its value is where it sits in the story. Peter has just denied Jesus three times, publicly, under no torture and no real threat. He weeps bitterly. And within weeks he is preaching at Pentecost, and at John 21:15 Jesus has already restored him personally, by a charcoal fire, with three questions to answer the three denials. Nothing was earned back. There is no probationary period in the text, no demonstration of renewed loyalty required before reinstatement. Jesus asks whether Peter loves him and gives him work to do. That is worth having in mind in any conversation about how a person who has failed is treated — whether restoration in a congregation looks like the charcoal fire, or like a waiting period. Compare John 21:15, 2 Corinthians 2:7, Luke 15:5.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Paul Restored Mark — What Did Russell Restore?](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/founder-character-contrast.md) — Apostolic reconciliation vs Bethel schism — the fruit test applied to founders [Authority]