He served as the first Bishop of the (modern-day) Diocese of Stavanger from its re-establishment in 1925 until his retirement in 1940.

Jacob Christian Petersen was born on 22 February 1870 in Drammen, Norway to the merchant Peter Petersen and his wife Kristine Marie Svendsen.

In 1910 he became the parish priest at Stranda and a year later he was called to be the dean of the Østre Sunnmøre deanery, a job he held from 1911 to 1919.

In 1919, he was called to be the parish priest at St. Petri Church in Stavanger.

On 1 January 1925, the new diocese came into existence and Jacob Christian Petersen was appointed to be its first Bishop.