Was Peter a pope? Catholics believe that Jesus made Peter the first pope when He said, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church” (Matthew 16:18). The interpretation of this verse is actually important for Catholic theology. He says, “You are Peter (Πέτρος, Petros), and on this rock (ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ, tautē tē petra) I will build my church.” ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ cannot refer to Simon Peter since it’s in the feminine gender; if it was referring to Peter, it would be in the masculine. Also, petros would have referred to a small rock, while petra would have referred to a huge immoveable rock—one suitable for a foundation stone. So Jesus is saying, “You are a small pebble, Simon, but on this boulder I am going to build my church!” So Peter is not the rock—his confession is, according to many Church Fathers—about half of whom spoke Greek as their native language. Many other Church Fathers thought that the rock was Jesus, and even those who thought that the Rock was Peter believed that it was a personal promise to him alone, not to any successors based in Rome.3 We also see that Peter was not treated with unusual deference by the apostles and early church. In Acts 11, the Jerusalem Church makes Peter defend his actions regarding fellowship with Gentiles. This was as it should be, since the apostles had previously sent Peter from Jerusalem (Acts 8:14). And when Peter justifies himself, he does not do so with an ex cathedra statement about the new inclusion of Gentiles, but by recounting Jesus’ instruction through the vision and the Holy Spirit falling on the Gentile converts, signaling divine approval. Then in another debate about what requirements should be placed on gentile Christians in Acts 15, the final decision is made by James, the leader of the Jerusalem church. Later, both Peter and James, as well as John, “seemed to be pillars” of the early Church (Galatians 2:9). And in Galatians 3, Paul recounts a time when he opposed Peter because he was acting inconsistently with regard to fellowship with Gentiles. Surely if Peter were some sort of divinely ordained leader, an infallible intermediary, Paul would not have been able to do this! Also, Paul wrote an epistle to the Church of Rome, expecting this church to submit to his letter as Scripture, which contradicts the Catholic teaching that the Church is above the Bible. Scripture itself teaches that Peter was an apostle, hand-picked by Jesus. But outside of his inspired letters, even Peter could err, and there is no hint of the idea that there were successors to Peter’s office (in fact, for a couple of decades, that would result in popes 2–4 having authority over the apostle John, who lived well into the ‘papacy’ of Clement!).
Posted on: Sat, 01 Nov 2014 11:53:51 +0000
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