The continuation of the narrative in Peter is as different from that of our canonical Gospels as its commencement:
43. These, therefore, took counsel together whether they should go and declare these things to Pilate. 44. And whilst they were still considering, the heavens again appeared opened, and a certain man descending and going into the grave. 45. Seeing these things, the centurion and his men hastened to Pilate by night, leaving the tomb they were watching, and narrated all things they had seen, fearing greatly, and saying: “Truly he was a Son of God” (ἀληθῶς υἱὸς ἦν θεοῦ). 46. Pilate answered and said, “I am pure of the blood of the Son of God, but thus it seemed good unto you” (ἐγὼ καθαρεύω τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὑμῖν δὲ τοῦτο ἔδοξεν). 47. Then they all came to him beseeching and entreating him that he should command the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing of what they had seen, 48. “For it is better,” they said, “to lay upon us the greatest sins before God, and not to fall into the hands of the people of the Jews and be stoned.” 49. Pilate, therefore, commanded the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing.
As the first Synoptic is the only Gospel which relates the story of the application to Pilate for a guard and the watch at the sepulchre, so of course it is the only one which gives the sequel to that episode; but this differs in every respect from the account in Peter. It is as follows (xxviii. 11 f.):
Some of the guard came into the city, and told unto the chief priests all the things that were come to pass. And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night and stole him away while we slept. And if this come to the governor’s ears, we will persuade him, and rid you of care. So they took the money, and did as they were taught: and this saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continueth until this day.
When the centurion and soldiers in Peter go to Pilate after witnessing the events described as occurring at the resurrection, “fearing greatly” (ἀγωνιῶντες μεγάλως), they say, “Truly he was a Son of God” (ἀληθῶς υἱὸς ἦν θεοῦ). It will be remembered that, in the first Synoptic, when the centurion and they that were watching Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that were done when he expired, they “feared exceedingly” (ἐφοβήθησαν σφόδρα), and said, “Truly this was a Son of God” (ἀληθῶς θεοῦ υἱὸς ἦν οὗτος). The tradition of the astonished centurion bearing such testimony to Jesus is known to both writers, but under different circumstances, and independently treated. In similar fashion, the reply put into the mouth of Pilate in Peter, “I am pure of the blood (ἐγὼ καθαρεύω τοῦ αἵματος) of the Son of God, but thus it seemed good unto you,” is, to a certain extent, the same as Pilate’s declaration to the multitude after washing his hands (xxvii. 24 f.): “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous man (ἀθῶός εἰμι ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ δικαίου τούτου): see ye to it;” but in this case, as well as the other, the details and the language show an independent use of a similar source. In the Synoptic, the centurion and soldiers do not go to Pilate at all, but are bribed by the chief priests and elders to say that his disciples stole him by night when they slept. They are warned by Pilate to be altogether silent, in Peter. As the desire of the author is represented to be to remove responsibility from Pilate and throw it all upon the Jews, it is difficult to conceive that, if he had this account before him, he could deliberately have left it unused, and preferred his own account.