Charles Spurgeon Commentary John 18:16

"but Peter was standing at the door without. So the other disciple, who was known unto the high priest, went out and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter." — John 18:16 (ASV)

But Peter stood at the door without.

It would have been better for him if he had kept there. He would probably have been more out of the way of temptation than he was inside the palace of the high priest.

Then went out that other disciple, which was known unto the high priest, and spake unto her that kept the door, and brought in Peter.

John doubtless acted in this way out of kindness to Peter, but he was the means of bringing his friend into a place where he was not strong enough to keep his feet. You and I may act like that, perhaps, in perfect innocence, and even with commendable kindness; yet we may be unintentionally doing our friends a great wrong. I notice that John seems to have been the first of the apostles to associate with Peter after his terrible fall; and in his record of Peter's denial of his Lord he does not mention his cursing and swearing as Matthew and Mark do. He appears to have felt great tenderness towards Peter; perhaps all the more so because he had been the innocent means of getting him into the place of temptation.