Apostolic Authority - The Papacy-St Peter

So how did the Church end up with a “Pope”, and why do Catholics believe he is the supreme leader of Christ’s Church? The answer is not easy and it takes some work, and that for some, including many Catholics, is a challenge. Catholics, Protestants and Evangelicals could not possibly be farther apart on any issue. Apostolic Authority and the Papacy is an outright rejection by most all other religions. That is unfortunate, because the one thing that I have discovered in this study, is that it is clear, concise and without confusion, Jesus Christ installed the first Pope, a leader for His Church. Scripture supports it in the Holy Bible. Establishing leaders by God was not new when Jesus did it. God established a “living, continuing authority” in the Mosaic priesthood when He made His Covenant with the Nation of Israel. (See 2 Chr 19:11; Mal 2:7) This was the safeguard of God’s word and the real interpreter of Sacred Scripture. When Jesus established His Church, the New Israel, He too set up a “living, continuing authority” to “teach, govern and sanctify in His name”. Because it began with the 12 Apostles and continues through their successors, it is called “Apostolic”. From the beginning, this Apostolic authority has preserved and interpreted the Revelation of Jesus Christ. It is this same Apostolic authority that determined which writings or books would make up the Holy Bible because they were inspired writings of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 16:13-19 says When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Now, I’ve heard many arguments on how this didn’t mean Jesus wasn’t building a Church and He didn’t mean the Catholic Church and on and on. Even though Jesus says “I will build my Church”. It is so clear on what Jesus is doing and saying that its hard to believe any argument can be made to the contrary. But I was wrong there are many many arguments against this saying of Jesus. I used to hang my hat on this one and say that this is why the Catholic Church is the true Church of Christ and Peter was the first Pope. I mean it should be enough right? I mean how many other human beings received the keys to the kingdom of heaven? I can answer that, none. I want to share one of the best arguments made by others here. They point out that the Greek text for Peter is Petros (a masculine noun) while the word used for rock is petra ( a feminie noun). Petros means “small stone”, while petra means “massive rock”. They claim, therefore, that the “massive rock” (petra) upon which Christ will build His Church must not refer to Peter the “small stone” (Petros) but rather to Peter’s profession of faith or to Jesus. The problem with that argument is simple, Jesus spoke Aramaic which leaves no room for the Greek (petro/petra distinction. In Aramaic the word is one word, “kepha”. What Jesus said was, “You are Kepha” (Rock) and upon this Kepha (Rock) I will build my Church.” In Aramaic the identification of Peter as the Rock is clear. In the translations some of this was lost, the writer could have in no way used a feminine word to describe a male. Jesus is drawing this image of “the keys” from Is 22:19-22. From this context, at least 3 concepts are included. 1st The keys are a symbol of authority given to the chief official-the Prime Minister-of the kingdom of David. 2nd. Remember, “Pope” comes from the Italian word for “Papa”-father. 3rd. The office implies a dynasty succession. The office of prime Minister continued as long as the kingdom of David did. Catholics believe that Christ is the King, and that the Pope is the Prime Minister of His heavenly kingdom, the Church. Christ is the head of the Church, the Pope is His earthly representative. For me, this was so tough, it is no wonder so many disagree over the validity of the Papacy and the issue of whether or not the Catholic Church is the Church Jesus began. I’m not a language expert and neither are most Christians but simple prayer and reflection on these so important scriptures have helped to give me a better understanding. I encourage you to ponder some other things after reading all this. Jesus is God, He changed Simons name to Peter (Rock), Jesus says that nothing will prevail against His Church until the end of time, and yet He knew everything, He must have known Peter would be dead by 70 AD. Christ must have intended the office of St Peter to last until the end of time. St Peter is given the keys to the kingdom of heaven, an awesome gift, He gave this gift to no one else, this ruling power, this unique privilege was given to one man and one man alone. Why would Jesus give such an awesome authority to St Peter and not intend for it to be passed on? Learning about the Gospels in the early Church was much easier 2000 years ago, many of the early Christians were hearing it right from Jesus himself and then the Apostles, many of them knew the Apostles, but then the Apostle’s died. Of course Jesus knew that His Church would come under attack early on, when so many enemies tried to corrupt the teachings of Christ, the need for the power of the keys would have been and still is an absolute must! The Apostles as a group were given the power “to bind and to loose” Mt 18:18, but it is St Peter who is given power individually when he receives the “keys”. Remember, Jesus guaranteed to back up St Peter and his successor’s doctrinal teachings. He would not have done any of this unless He was going to protect them from false teaching as shepherds of His Church. Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would not fail; Peter in turn would strengthen the other disciples. (Luke 22:31-32). So it’s pretty obvious, Jesus clearly makes Peter the Shepherd of the Church telling him to “feed my sheep” in John 21:15-17. St Peter is the Rock on which Jesus builds His Church, He is given the Keys to the kingdom of heaven and is made shepherd of Christ’s flock, all of this is pretty solid evidence that Jesus made Peter the first Pope. An account of the first Church council being established can be read in Acts 15, this was the “Council of Jerusalem”, it was called at the request of St Paul to decide whether both the Law of Moses and the Law of Christ had to be followed. There was much discussion among the Apostles and presbyters, but, after Peter spoke the assembly fell silent. His statement ended the discussion and it is obvious that this council viewed Peter’s authority the final word. However, more argument, others conclude because James gave the concluding remarks including some discussion on marriage and dietary regulations that he must have been the head of the Church. I am going to be quick to point out that the other Apostles look to St Peter for answers in all the Gospels. St Peter is always presented as the leader among them, not St James. If you read the first 12 chapters of Acts which really describe the early Church in Jerusalem, every chapter except chapter 6 and 7 which describe Stephen’s martyrdom, shows St Peter as a leader of the Church. In Gal 1:18-19 we’re told that after St Paul’s conversion he went to Jerusalem to seek council with St Peter. He stayed with Peter for 15 days. The Bible speaks only of a brief visit to St James by St Paul. At the “Council of Jerusalem” everyone was silenced after Peter spoke, including James. St James was the Bishop of Jerusalem and as Acts 21:15-25 describes, his main concern was the Jewish Christians who were upset about their ancient customs being turned inside out by the great number of Gentile converts. This information explains why he would have made the final remarks during the council assembly in Jerusalem. Others say that Peter himself did not view himself as leader when he referred to himself as a fellow elder in 1 Peter 5:1, which of course is ridiculous. It’s kind of the same thing as the President of the United States saying “my fellow Americans”, that doesn’t indicate to us fellow Americans that the President has equal or less authority than do we. Peter definitely considered himself to have more Authority than an ordinary elder. He went on to admonish these same elders 1 Pet 5:2-4. It bugs me for those who insist that St Peter an Apostle, had no greater authority than a regular Church elder, if they truly believe that, it really shows how little they appreciate what Scripture says about the great office of Apostle. The question of Peter’s infallibility is always raised by others as well. Many will quote Gal 2:11-14 to show Peter was not infallible and Paul did not consider him the head of the Church. That’s not a supportable position to take. First, if Peter was not infallible why do they accept Peter’s two letters as inspired and therefore infallible? We have to accept the fact that all the Apostle’s were infallible. Remember, Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit onto them to guide them in their teachings. After the Apostles, the popes individually and the bishops as a group in union with the pope. As far as St Paul correcting St Peter for his behavior is no different then St Cathrine of Sienna correcting the weak popes in the middle ages. He wasn’t correcting him over doctrine. The issue was already settled by Peter at the Council of Jerusalem, and remember, St Paul was one of those who was silenced after Peter spoke. St Paul was correcting St Peter for his unwillingness to confront the Judaizers from Jerusalem. St Peter was mentioned and conspicuously involved in all the Church’s firsts. He led the meeting that elected the first successor of an Apostle when they replaced Judas (Acts 1:13-26). At Pentecost he preached the first sermon (Acts 2:14). And received the first converts (Acts2:41). Peter preformed the first miracle after Pentecost (Acts 3:6-7). Executed the first excommunication on Simon the magician (Acts 8:21). Peter is the one who received the revelation to admit Gentiles into the Church (Acts 10:9-16). And he commanded them to be baptized (Acts 10:44-48). Peter spoke so many times on behalf of the Apostles (Mt 19:27; Mk 8:29; Lk 12:41; Jn 6:69) The Apostles are sometimes referred to as Peter and his companions (Lk 9:32; Mk 16:7; Acts 2:37). Peter’s name always heads the list of Apostles (Mt 10:1-4; Mk 3:16-19; Lk 6:14-16;Act 1:13). Peter’s name is mentioned 191 which is more than all the other Apostles combined (130 times) the Apostle John is 2nd at 48 times. The history of the Papacy is clear. As early as 80 AD, the Church in Corinth (the Church St Paul established just a few years before) removed all its leaders. (Fired everybody) Pope Clement I, the 4th Bishop of Rome, was called in to settle the craziness even though St John the Apostle was still alive and living much closer to Corinth than to have someone come from Rome. The Romans certainly knew who the leader of the Church was. For 250 years Roman Emperors tried to destroy the Church and Christianity through persecution. Every Pope but one, in the first 200 years was martyred! I am going to end this by asking a question and of course giving you the answer. Use your own logic in this. If the owner of the company you work for, calls everyone together and tells them he is going away for awhile, but before he leaves he gives the Vice President of the company his keys to the joint and tells the entire company he is doing so and whatever the Vice President says in my absence I will back him up. Is there any doubt who is in charge? Of course not!