Theology

Peter is the Rock

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There is a passage in the Bible used by Catholics to support their view of the papacy.

He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter [rock], and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 16:15-19)

Observations:

• Peter clearly was the leader and spokesman of the apostles.
• There is no biblical evidence whatsoever that the commission given to Peter was to be passed-on to subsequent generations, nor was there any provision made for how to pass it on.
• Peter is the rock, not his confession. (Many Protestant theologians agree with this.)
• The person giving the keys gives authority. (Isaiah 22.22) The keys here are the keys of the kingdom, referring to the church and to salvation.
• The other apostles were also given the power to bind and loose. (Matthew 18:18)

Peter openly acknowledged that Jesus was (1) the Messiah, and (2) the Son of God — this at a time when others were saying he was something else. This confession is foundational to Christianity. The defense of these two facts were central in the early development of Christianity. (Many heretical groups appeared which denied these two facts.)

The church is founded on these two facts and Peter boldly proclaimed these two facts. (Acts 2:36; 3:13,15; 4:10-12; 5:31; 10:16). God gave Peter a vision which provided the divine evidence that the early Christians were to allow Gentiles to join the church.

Jesus built his church on Peter and his unwavering confession of who Christ was.

As Americans we commonly say that our nation was built on the founding fathers. If they had not decided to revolt against the British and to form a new nation there would be no America. (I am not here addressing the topic of whether or not this revolt was morally justified: I have my doubts.) Now America is based on the laws and principles established by these founders.

It is like this with the church. Peter was the leader of the apostles and likely kept them from adopting strange views about Christ (in the early church there were plenty of people with strange views about Christ). While it is necessary that Peter's confession about Christ endure as the foundation of the church, it is not necessary to say that Peter's mantle was passed-on to the next generation and that there would always be a single person to lead the church as Peter did. In fact, history shows that there were plenty of popes who were heretics and wicked and who worked to tear down the church. At times it was a Saint in opposition to the pope who was the true spiritual leader of the church.

It took several hundred years after the birth of Christianity before the bishops of Rome began to claim that this verse supported the notion that they had a special role. Increasingly they claimed more grandiose powers from this verse and increasingly the eastern church rejected these claims. Today the Orthodox church rejects the Catholic teachings of the papacy.

I joined the Catholic Church without being convinced of the Catholic claims about the papacy. I anticipated that I would eventually come to embrace the Catholic view. I supported the Catholic teaching out of loyalty but I never embraced it completely. As I studied the popes through history and the political struggles of the papacy I finally became convinced that the church was never intended to be a unified political entity; that it was always to remain a collection of communities and groups of people who all confessed as Peter did that Jesus is Lord, Christ, and deity.

My view now is that God does not use wicked and Godless people to lead his true church (although he caused good to come out of evil — but he does not anoint and ordain the evil, he merely responds to it). When Israel's leaders became Godless and corrupt God sent the prophets to correct them; these prophets were the true spiritual leaders of the people because their message was from God and because they remained faithful to God.

Featured article: Binding and Loosing

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