Is there a contradiction with the second person who accused Peter of knowing Jesus? Let’s read the texts:
Then seizing him, they led him away and took him into the house of the high priest. Peter followed at a distance. And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, “This man was with him.”
But he denied it. “Woman, I don’t know him,” he said.
A little later someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.”
“Man, I am not!” Peter replied.
About an hour later another asserted, “Certainly this fellow was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
Yet it seems like Mark tells a different story? (Mark 14:66-72)
While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came by. 67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him.
“You also were with that Nazarene, Jesus,” she said.But he denied it. “I don’t know or understand what you’re talking about,” he said, and went out into the entryway.
When the servant girl saw him there, she said again to those standing around, “This fellow is one of them.” Again he denied it.
After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.”
He began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know this man you’re talking about.”
Immediately the rooster crowed the second time. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times.” And he broke down and wept.
The first and third accusations are clear. The first one was the servant of the high priest. The last accusation it was “those standing near Jesus.” But what about the second accusation?
Mark seems to say it was the same girl who “again” said to Peter that he was a follower of Jesus. While Luke says it was “someone else.” Could they not get their facts straight?
The Greek here in Mark is the word “the servant girl.” In Greek, the definite article “the” doesn’t necessarily mean “the same” person. The KJV actually shows this as a greater likelyhood that it was another servant.
And a maid saw him again, and began to say to them that stood by, This is one of them. (KJV – Mark 14:69)
Also the context indicates multiple people were accusing him (v. 70).
After a little while, those standing near said to Peter, “Surely you are one of them, for you are a Galilean.” (Mark 14:70)
The courtyard was full of people and after the initial servant girl accused Peter, others were doing so as well. The second person was likely a servant girl also, just a different one.