Peter and the Papacy

There is ample evidence in the New Testament that Peter was first in authority among the apostles. Whenever they were named, Peter headed the list (Matt. 10:1-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, Acts 1:13); sometimes the apostles were referred to as "Peter and those who were with him" (Luke 9:32). Peter was the one who generally spoke for the apostles (Matt. 18:21, Mark 8:29, Luke 12:41, John 6:68-69), and he figured in many of the most dramatic scenes (Matt. 14:28-32, Matt. 17:24-27, Mark 10:23-28). On Pentecost it was Peter who first preached to the crowds (Acts 2:14-40), and he worked the first healing in the Church age (Acts 3:6-7). It is Peter’s faith that will strengthen his brethren (Luke 22:32) and Peter is given Christ’s flock to shepherd (John 21:17). An angel was sent to announce the resurrection to Peter (Mark 16:7), and the risen Christ first appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34). He headed the meeting that elected Matthias to replace Judas (Acts 1:13-26), and he received the first converts (Acts 2:41). He inflicted the first punishment (Acts 5:1-11), and excommunicated the first heretic (Acts 8:18-23). He led the first council in Jerusalem (Acts 15), and announced the first dogmatic decision (Acts 15:7-11). It was to Peter that the revelation came that Gentiles were to be baptized and accepted as Christians (Acts 10:46-48).

Peter’s preeminent position among the apostles was symbolized at the very beginning of his relationship with Christ. At their first meeting, Christ told Simon that his name would thereafter be Peter, which translates as "Rock" (John 1:42). The startling thing was that—aside from the single time that Abraham is called a "rock" (Hebrew: Tsur; Aramaic: Kepha) in Isaiah 51:1-2—in the Old Testament only God was called a rock. The word rock was not used as a proper name in the ancient world. If you were to turn to a companion and say, "From now on your name is Asparagus," people would wonder: Why Asparagus? What is the meaning of it? What does it signify? Indeed, why call Simon the fisherman "Rock"? Christ was not given to meaningless gestures, and neither were the Jews as a whole when it came to names. Giving a new name meant that the status of the person was changed, as when Abram’s name was changed to Abraham (Gen.17:5), Jacob’s to Israel (Gen. 32:28), Eliakim’s to Joakim (2 Kgs. 23:34), or the names of the four Hebrew youths—Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to Belteshazzar, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Dan. 1:6-7). But no Jew had ever been called "Rock." The Jews would give other names taken from nature, such as Deborah ("bee," Gen. 35:8), and Rachel ("ewe," Gen. 29:16), but never "Rock." In the New Testament James and John were nicknamed Boanerges, meaning "Sons of Thunder," by Christ, but that was never regularly used in place of their original names, and it certainly was not given as a new name. But in the case of Simon-bar-Jonah, his new name Kephas (Greek: Petros) definitely replaced the old.

Not only was there significance in Simon being given a new and unusual name, but the place where Jesus solemnly conferred it upon Peter was also important. It happened when "Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi" (Matt. 16:13), a city that Philip the Tetrarch built and named in honor of Caesar Augustus, who had died in A.D. 14. The city lay near cascades in the Jordan River and near a gigantic wall of rock, a wall about 200 feet high and 500 feet long, which is part of the southern foothills of Mount Hermon. The city no longer exists, but its ruins are near the small Arab town of Banias; and at the base of the rock wall may be found what is left of one of the springs that fed the Jordan. It was here that Jesus pointed to Simon and said, "You are Peter" (Matt. 16:18).

The significance of the event must have been clear to the other apostles. As devout Jews they knew at once that the location was meant to emphasize the importance of what was being done. None complained of Simon being singled out for this honor; and in the rest of the New Testament he is called by his new name, while James and John remain just James and John, not Boanerges.

When he first saw Simon, "Jesus looked at him, and said, ‘So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas (which means Peter)’" (John 1:42). The word Cephas is merely the transliteration of the Aramaic Kepha into Greek. Later, after Peter and the other disciples had been with Christ for some time, they went to Caesarea Philippi, where Peter made his profession of faith: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matt. 16:16). Jesus told him that this truth was specially revealed to him, and then he solemnly reiterated: "And I tell you, you are Peter" (Matt. 16:18). To this was added the promise that the Church would be founded, in some way, on Peter (Matt. 16:18).

Then two important things were told the apostle. "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matt. 16:19). Here Peter was singled out for the authority that provides for the forgiveness of sins and the making of disciplinary rules. Later the apostles as a whole would be given similar power [Matt.18:18], but here Peter received it in a special sense.

Peter alone was promised something else also: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 16:19). In ancient times, keys were the hallmark of authority. A walled city might have one great gate; and that gate had one great lock, worked by one great key. To be given the key to the city—an honor that exists even today, though its import is lost—meant to be given free access to and authority over the city. The city to which Peter was given the keys was the heavenly city itself. This symbolism for authority is used elsewhere in the Bible (Is. 22:22, Rev. 1:18).

Finally, after the resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples and asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" (John 21:15-17). In repentance for his threefold denial, Peter gave a threefold affirmation of love. Then Christ, the Good Shepherd (John 10:11, 14), gave Peter the authority he earlier had promised: "Feed my sheep" (John 21:17). This specifically included the other apostles, since Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me more than these?" (John 21:15), the word "these" referring to the other apostles who were present (John 21:2). Thus was completed the prediction made just before Jesus and his followers went for the last time to the Mount of Olives.

Immediately before his denials were predicted, Peter was told, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again [after the denials], strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:31-32). It was Peter who Christ prayed would have faith that would not fail and that would be a guide for the others; and his prayer, being perfectly efficacious, was sure to be fulfilled.

Now take a closer look at the key verse: "You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church" (Matt. 16:18). Disputes about this passage have always been related to the meaning of the term "rock." To whom, or to what, does it refer? Since Simon’s new name of Peter itself means rock, the sentence could be rewritten as: "You are Rock and upon this rock I will build my Church." The play on words seems obvious, but commentators wishing to avoid what follows from this—namely the establishment of the papacy—have suggested that the word rock could not refer to Peter but must refer to his profession of faith or to Christ.

From the grammatical point of view, the phrase "this rock" must relate back to the closest noun. Peter’s profession of faith ("You are the Christ, the Son of the living God") is two verses earlier, while his name, a proper noun, is in the immediately preceding clause.

As an analogy, consider this artificial sentence: "I have a car and a truck, and it is blue." Which is blue? The truck, because that is the noun closest to the pronoun "it." This is all the more clear if the reference to the car is two sentences earlier, as the reference to Peter’s profession is two sentences earlier than the term rock.

The previous argument also settles the question of whether the word refers to Christ himself, since he is mentioned within the profession of faith. The fact that he is elsewhere, by a different metaphor, called the cornerstone (Eph. 2:20, 1 Pet. 2:4-8) does not disprove that here Peter is the foundation. Christ is naturally the principal and, since he will be returning to heaven, the invisible foundation of the Church that he will establish; but Peter is named by him as the secondary and, because he and his successors will remain on earth, the visible foundation. Peter can be a foundation only because Christ is the cornerstone.

In fact, the New Testament contains five different metaphors for the foundation of the Church (Matt. 16:18, 1 Cor. 3:11, Eph. 2:20, 1 Pet. 2:5-6, Rev. 21:14). One cannot take a single metaphor from a single passage and use it to twist the plain meaning of other passages. Rather, one must respect and harmonize the different passages, for the Church can be described as having different foundations since the word foundation can be used in different senses.

Opponents of the Catholic interpretation of Matthew 16:18 sometimes argue that in the Greek text the name of the apostle is Petros, while "rock" is rendered as petra. They claim that the former refers to a small stone, while the latter refers to a massive rock; so, if Peter was meant to be the massive rock, why isn’t his name Petra?

Note that Christ did not speak to the disciples in Greek. He spoke Aramaic, the common language of Palestine at that time. In that language the word for rock is kepha, which is what Jesus called him in everyday speech (note that in John 1:42 he was told, "You will be called Cephas"). What Jesus said in Matthew 16:18 was: "You are Kepha, and upon this kepha I will build my Church."

When Matthew’s Gospel was translated from the original Aramaic to Greek, there arose a problem which did not confront the evangelist when he first composed his account of Christ’s life. In Aramaic the word kepha has the same ending whether it refers to a rock or is used as a man’s name. In Greek, though, the word for rock, petra, is feminine in gender. The translator could use it for the second appearance of kepha in the sentence, but not for the first because it would be inappropriate to give a man a feminine name. So he put a masculine ending on it, and hence Peter became Petros.

Furthermore, the premise of the argument against Peter being the rock is simply false. In first century Greek the words petros and petra were synonyms. They had previously possessed the meanings of "small stone" and "large rock" in some early Greek poetry, but by the first century this distinction was gone, as Protestant Bible scholars admit (see D. A. Carson’s remarks on this passage in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, [Grand Rapids: Zondervan Books]).

Some of the effect of Christ’s play on words was lost when his statement was translated from the Aramaic into Greek, but that was the best that could be done in Greek. In English, like Aramaic, there is no problem with endings; so an English rendition could read: "You are Rock, and upon this rock I will build my church."

Consider another point: If the rock really did refer to Christ (as some claim, based on 1 Cor. 10:4, "and the Rock was Christ" though the rock there was a literal, physical rock), why did Matthew leave the passage as it was? In the original Aramaic, and in the English which is a closer parallel to it than is the Greek, the passage is clear enough. Matthew must have realized that his readers would conclude the obvious from "Rock . . . rock."

If he meant Christ to be understood as the rock, why didn’t he say so? Why did he take a chance and leave it up to Paul to write a clarifying text? This presumes, of course, that 1 Corinthians was written after Matthew’s Gospel; if it came first, it could not have been written to clarify it.

The reason, of course, is that Matthew knew full well that what the sentence seemed to say was just what it really was saying. It was Simon, weak as he was, who was chosen to become the rock and thus the first link in the chain of the papacy.

Iscool, I want to thank you for writing me a 955 word essay and for the multiple questions you want me to answer.

Mrs Don-o: Whenever the Apostles were listed, Peter's name was at the top of the list
Iscool: Are you, like your church leadership a purveyor of false information???

Please do not automatically default into the accusatory mode (“false information”). You misconstrued what I said.

I said every the Apostles are listed, not every time any of them is mentioned. There are only four listings of the Twelve Apostles in the New Testament (Mark 3:13-19, Matthew 10:1-4, Luke 6:12-16, and Acts 1:13), and in every one of them, Peter is listed first.

Mrs Don-o: Peter spoke for the rest (Matt. 18:21, Mark 8:29, Luke 12:41, John 6:68-69), This prominence is not the exception, but the rule.
Iscool: That certainly doesn't mean he spoke for anyone other than himself.

“Certainly”? On the contrary, in each of these three accounts by Matthew, Mark, and John, Jesus is explicitly asking the disciples (plural) what did they (plural) say, and when no other Apostle speaks up, Peter answers in all three accounts. They are evidently satisfied to let Peter speak for them, because nobody adds to or contradicts what Peter said. And each time it is THE key statement of faith: “You are the Messiah!” and “We (plural) have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

”Those disciples followed Jesus, not Peter...”

False dichotomy. Of course the disciples followed Jesus: they also followed the Apostles who followed Jesus; and they followed Peter,who followed Jesus, and whom Jesus had appointed Chief Shepherd, with a solemn, threefold commission.

”All this proves is Peter was faltering while Jesus was trying to get Peter to admit that he loved Jesus...”

“Trying to get him to admit”?? Fer cryin’ out loud… Peter came right out and SAID he loved Jesus, three times. Jesus asks “Do you love Me more than these?” More than these” implies a comparison. What Jesus is telling Peter, who loves Him “more than these”, is that He’s giving him the commission of Chief Shepherd, which he will assume in practice on earth after Jesus ascends into heaven.

"Obviously Jesus didn't ~~have that problem with~~ give the Head Shepherd ministry to the other disciples... As one can easily see, all the apostles and overseers were sanctioned to feed Jesus' sheep..."

...which they did with the guidance and confirmation of Peter, who was singled out and told to “confirm the brethren.” (Luke 22:32)

”None of the apostles strengthened the brethren more than the apostle Paul.”

Paul had unmatched prominence as a writer. He wrote 14 of the 27 books of the New Testament (if you count Hebrews), and the last half of Acts is all about him too.

Jesus never said that Peter, with his 2 short Epistles, would be a great writer. And so what? Jesus Himself didn’t write anything at all! All we can say of Peter is what Jesus said, that he is “Rock,” that he has the “Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven,” that he was called out by name and given the explicit role of “confirming the brethren” and “feeding the sheep.”

Both Peter and Paul demonstrated the Lord’s approval spectacularly with miracles --- Peter even raising a girl from the dead --- and the people were so impressed that they wanted Paul to touch their handkerchief and aprons so they could take them back to the sick and obtain a healing; and people wanted just to get Peter’s shadow to fall on the sick, that they might be healed. Peter and Paul are co-workers, not rivals; both of them realize that the miracles come from Christ and not from their own power or piety.

Did any one praise Peter???

No. All of them, including Peter, realized that this miracle came from God.

Did anyone canonize Peter???

Category error. People aren’t canonized until they’re proclaimed to be in heaven. That’s what “canonization” means.

"...to Peter was sent an angel to proclaim Christ's rising from the dead (Mark 16:7) More disinformation...Why do you do that???"

Sorry, my mistake. That is an error (not “disinformation”, which implies dishonesty) -- and it comes from reading three different texts at the same time and mixing up my references.

Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalen. Then in Luke 23, Jesus appears to the men on the road to Emmaus. Then, when they run back to Jerusalem to deliver this amazing news, they “ found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!”

So Simon (Peter) was the first Apostle to whom Jesus appeared after His resurrection.

"...and he received the first converts (Acts 2:41) Really??? Since when is Peter a 'them'???"

Iscool, if you will kindly read the whole of Acts 2, you will see that what is quoted is Peter’s robust first street-preaching to the people of Jerusalem. It goes on to say,

“Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”

Then Peter said to them, (BTW, again speaking for “the rest of the apostles”), “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

"And with many other words he (singular, Peter)_ testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his (singular, Peter’s) word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them."

Of course they were not just added “to Peter,” they were added “to them,” Christ’s Church. For which Peter was, in chapter 2, the obvious principal spokesman.

"Peter inflicted the first punishment (Acts 5:1-11)? Peter may have been the first one to be revealed..."

Did you actually READ this, Iscool? The whole thing happens right in from to Peter’s face and in response to Peter’s words. It says “immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last.” At Peter’s feet.

I would like to amend what I said, however, to eliminate my word “inflicted” (above.) There is nothing here that says Peter killed them. It just says that they collapsed at Peter’s feet and breathed their last.

"Peter excommunicated the first heretic (Acts 8:18-23)? Same thing..."

Same...Did you actually READ this, Iscool? There are only two people talking in Acts 8:14-24---- Simon Magus, and Peter. Peter tells Simon Magus, “You have neither part nor portion in this matter” because Simon Magus’ ”heart was “not right in the sight of the Lord.”

It couldn’t be any plainer than that. Simon Magus is to have 'no part' with them. What do you want: “Bell, Book and Candle”?

Mrs. Don-o: "Of all the Apostles who later participated in the first council in Jerusalem (Acts 15), it was Peter alone who received the miraculous message from Heaven that Gentiles were to be received into the Church (Acts 10:46-48).
Iscool: Probably because Peter was the hardest one to convince...

What I see on your part is a pattern of resenting, minimizing and “explaining away” all the great things Christ had done through Peter. Every marvel and sign is greeted by the equivalent of “Oh, that’s not so great.”

So here's my 1,200+ words. It went long because I had to quote so much from the last two volleys, for the questions to make sense. I'm nouned out and verbed out.

It's now 10:08 PM and I need to get ready for bed. I will get to your other questions if I get a chance.

God bless you. ZZZzzzzzz.....

Because not one of the Scriptures you cited makes that claim. The burden is on the catholic to show the scripture that says, “Mary is the mother of God”.

The Scriptures I cited state that Mary gave birth to and is the mother of a child who:

is the child of the Holy Ghost
shall save his people from their sins
they shall call Emmanuel, which means God with us
shall be called the Son of the Highest
shall be called the Son of God
Elisabeth called “the mother of my Lord”
is a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord
is the Lord’s Christ
the wise men worshipped as the King of the Jews

All of these statements refer to the divinity of Jesus and clearly reveal the essential truth that Mary is the mother of God in the person of Jesus. The burden is to show how these verses do not reveal this essential truth.

This is not to say that Mary is the mother of all three persons of the Trinity. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. But the Father is not the Son, nor is the Holy Spirit the Son. Mary was the mother of God only in the person of Jesus, the Son of God.

I have not seen anyone dispute Catholic teaching on Joseph. Catholics do have a high regard for St. Joseph, though. His feast day is March 19 and yesterday he was honored as St. Joseph the worker. In fact, a group of men in our parish put on a presentation of St. Joseph in his workshop, speaking to us about his life as the foster father of Jesus. It was very interesting.

I hope this doesn’t make your head explode, but there is actually a St. Joseph Rosary. The following prayer is substituted for the Hail Mary’s:

Joseph, son of David, and husband of Mary; we honor you, guardian of the Redeemer, and we adore the child you named Jesus.

Saint Joseph, patron of the universal church, pray for us, that like you we may live totally dedicated to the interests of the Savior. Amen.

I am off to bed for the night.

Peace

Iscool: That certainly doesn't mean he spoke for anyone other than himself.

Naw...That just means Peter was the first person out of the gate...Slow to think but quick to answer...

And of course no one would contradict what Peter said...They believed it as well...And we don't know if anyone added to it since what Peter says apparently sufficient to be passed on to us...Jesus didn't record every word spoken...

False dichotomy. Of course the disciples followed Jesus: they also followed the Apostles who followed Jesus; and they followed Peter,who followed Jesus, and whom Jesus had appointed Chief Shepherd, with a solemn, threefold commission.

Now there you go again...There was no chief shepherd...Peter however was a shepherd...One of twelve...He was a shepherd to the Jewish nation...Which pretty much ceased to exist for all practical purposes...So Peter's ministry (and the position of successive popes, in the Catholic version) clearly were/was short lived...

It is Paul who was made the (human) head of the Gentile church...A student of the bible can't possibly deny that...Yet no one speaks of apostle Paul succession of bishops...

All popes in the Catholic list of popes could not have had anything to do with the Gentile church, which is what we are...They were successors of Peter who was sent to Israel...

“Trying to get him to admit”?? Fer cryin’ out loud… Peter came right out and SAID he loved Jesus, three times. Jesus asks “Do you love Me more than these?” More than these” implies a comparison. What Jesus is telling Peter, who loves Him “more than these”, is that He’s giving him the commission of Chief Shepherd, which he will assume in practice on earth after Jesus ascends into heaven.

Not fer crying out loud at all...

Joh 21:15 So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these?

Jesus ask Peter if Peter loved him...

ἀγαπάω
agapaō
ag-ap-ah'-o
Perhaps from ἄγαν agan (much; or compare [H5689]); to love (in a social or moral sense): - (be-) love (-ed). Compare G5368.

You can see what Jesus was really asking...But here is Peter's answer...

He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs.

Now here's the 'love' Peter answered with...

φιλέω
phileō
fil-eh'-o
From G5384; to be a friend to (fond of [an individual or an object]), that is, have affection for (denoting personal attachment, as a matter of sentiment or feeling; while G25 is wider, embracing especially the judgment and the deliberate assent of the will as a matter of principle, duty and propriety: the two thus stand related very much as G2309 and G1014, or as G2372 and G3563 respectively; the former being chiefly of the heart and the latter of the head); specifically to kiss (as a mark of tenderness): - kiss, love

Jesus ask Peter if Peter loved him...Peter says, 'sure Jesus, I am a friend of yours...

Obviously frustated, Jesus ask him the identical question in the next verse...Peter answered the same way...

And finally in the 3 verse Jesus gave up and ask Peter, 'Peter, am I a friend of yours...And Peter responds, 'Yes Jesus, I am a friend of yours...

Now you know why Peter was asked 3 times...

"Obviously Jesus didn't have that problem with give the Head Shepherd ministry to the other disciples... As one can easily see, all the apostles and overseers were sanctioned to feed Jesus' sheep..."

...which they did with the guidance and confirmation of Peter, who was singled out and told to “confirm the brethren.” (Luke 22:32)

Well, Peter was told to strengthen the brethren...

Luk 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

And what brethren was Peter told to strengthen??? The Jewish brethren...

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