New Testament Mentions St. Peter More Than St. Paul

Yes, it's true! And I was surprised myself when I "ran the numbers." I was interacting with a Brazilian Protestant apologist, who claimed that Peter was mentioned "at least 171 times" but that Paul was mentioned more than he was. Well, I did a search concerning St. Paul, and his name appears 184 times in the NT (23 of those as Saul).

But St. Peter is referfenced 191 times (162 as Peter or Simon Peter, 23 as Simon, and 6 as Cephas: derived from the Aramaic kepha; i.e., "rock"). So by this comparison, the high importance of Peter is seen, even related to the great Apostle Paul (whom I have always loved, and sought to model my apostolate after). Moreover, it's not only the number of times Peter is mentioned; it's also how he is mentioned. I wrote in my first book, A Biblical Defense of Catholicism:

Peter's name occurs first in all lists of Apostles (Matth. 10:2; Mark 3:16; Luke 6:14; Acts 1:13). Matthew even calls him the "first" (10:2). (Judas Iscariot is invariably mentioned last.) Peter is almost always named first whenever he appears with anyone else. In one (only?) example to the contrary, Galatians 2:9, where he (Cephas) is listed after James and before John, he is clearly pre-eminent in the entire context (for example, 1:18-19, 2:7-8). . . .

Peter's name is always the first listed of the "inner circle" of the disciples (Peter, James and John -- Matthew 17:1; 26:37, 40; Mark 5:37; 14:37). . . . 

Peter's name is mentioned more often than all the other disciples put together . . . and  Peter is present 50% of the time we find John in the Bible! Archbishop Fulton Sheen (Life  of  Christ, Garden City, New York: Doubleday Image, 1958, 106) reckoned that all the other disciples combined were mentioned 130 times. If this is correct, Peter is named a remarkable 60% of the time any disciple is referred to! (pp. 234, 236-237).

St. Peter and St. Paul had very different roles. It’s like comparing apples to oranges. But there is some validity to the argument from predominance of mentions of Peter, based on how the Bible overall presents persons of importance. There is a reason that these elements exist in the New Testament, and we contend that it is Petrine primacy, which is an analogy to the papacy.

Undaunted, our Protestant apologist had another failed argument, stating that "if the occurrence of names is a sign of hierarchy, you should know that the apostolic name most mentioned in the Gospels after Peter is that of Judas Iscariot." This isn’t true, either. Judas Iscariot is mentioned 22 times in the NT. The apostle John was mentioned 48 times. This number includes thirteen generallyaccepted instances  of  St. John's humble referral to himself as "the disciple," or, "the disciple whom Jesus loved" in John 18-21. We know this from John 21:24, John's style, and deductive logic. Also included are five occurrences in Revelation, assuming the same John is its author, which is the traditional view.