Difference between revisions of "Petrine Primacy"

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Revision as of 13:23, August 16, 2019

Petrine Primacy, also called the Primacy of Peter, commonly refers to the Catholic Church doctrine that Jesus Christ conferred on Saint Peter chief authority as head of the Twelve Apostles and Prince of his Church, and that the same prerogatives of authority, honor, dignity and leadership conferred on Peter by Christ, as evident in the New Testament, have been handed down to each and all of his successors in an unbroken line of apostolic succession as Patriarch of Rome and Patriarch of the West. The primacy exercised by the Patriarch of Constantinople, for example, has included such things as the right to convoke councils in cooperation with the other Patriarchs, and an emergency right of intervention when help is requested by another Patriarchate.

Among the Orthodox, there has been an attempt to recognize the various expressions of primatial leadership in the life of the Church, and to place primacy within the framework of conciliarity and collegiality. All chief bishops, episcopoi, are seen as successors of Peter. The prerogatives of the five ancient Patriarchates nevertheless contain principles applicable to universal primacy as well.

Primacy in Orthodox ecclesiology

For the Orthodox, Roman primacy has been understood as a pragmatic, rather than theological, issue, growing out of a principle of accommodation. Honor and primacy must be linked to practical ministry and service, and the Pope must function as head of his see, as one who is among, rather than over, the other bishops. Primacy involves more than simply "honor and dignity," but is linked to a universal pastoral concern, the prime importance of harmony among all, bound together by the bond of love, a "presidency in love." This means leadership, not necessarily juridical authority. If the most preeminent member of the Church, who occupies the position of the head, is not maintained in his proper honor, the body of the Church functions in a disorderly and faulty manner; just as organic physical bodies function disably, or are completely useless, if the head does not maintain its activity in good health.

From the time of the first Ecumenical Council on, Byzantine canon law had always assigned primacy of honor to Rome[1] The fathers attributed the prerogatives of primacy of leadership, honor and dignity to the the most ancient see of Rome because it was the imperial city. Even when the capital of the Empire was moved to Constantinople, the "new Rome," the priority of the "old Rome" was safeguarded. Constantinople canon 3 states:

"As for the Bishop of Constantinople, let him have the prerogatives of honor after the bishop of Rome, seeing that this city is the new Rome."

To the Byzantine emperors of that period, both Zonaras and Balsamon firmly maintained that the expression "after the bishop of Rome" certainly shows hierarchical inferiority, not simply a subsequent, chronologically successive hierarchical superiority over Rome upon the establishment of Constantinople as the new capital city of the Empire. The ministry or Chair of Peter was universally understood in moral terms, rather than in terms of formal power, or rights. The actual exercise of this power depended upon political circumstances, as well as the orthodoxy, the wisdom, and the prestige of the "first bishop" himself as traditionally constituting the reliable standard of orthodox doctrine.[2] Orthodox theologians have never rejected the concept of primacy, but, in response to the present Roman Catholic understanding of the primacy of the Petrine Office, reject only its increasing development as defined by the Church of Rome over the span of centuries. It was only when it became undeniably evident that the Patriarch of Rome decisively and consistently expressed the authority of the moral "privilege" of the Church of Rome[3], as exercised in forms of actual jurisdictional and doctrinal power, that the Patriarchs of the Orthodox East refused to allow it.[4]

Matthew 16:18-19 and 18:18. Conflicting and contradictory exegeses

"whatever things you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will be released in heaven." Matthew 16:19; 18:18. Compare John 20:23.

The Catholic Church, numerically constituting the majority of Christians, emphasizes the fact that in Matthew 18:18 relating the words addressed to the apostles together, Jesus does not speak of the "keys of the Kingdom of Heaven", and therefore the keys were entrusted only to Peter and to his successors in fulfillment of Isaiah 22:20-25. Verse 25 of Isaiah 22 is understood as referring by analogy to the high priest of the Jews in Jerusalem as "the peg that was fastened in a secure place".[5] This prophesy is understood as a type foreshadowing the reality that when Jesus bestows on his Apostle Peter the keys of the kingdom of God, the authoritative position of the Jewish high priest in Judaism "will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken."[6]

On the principle of sola scriptura, there is no linguistic textual basis for saying that Jesus gave the "keys" to all the apostles on that occasion (Matthew 18:18), but only that he gave them all the collective authority to bind and loose together, an authority which is distinctly different from the authority to open and shut the "Kingdom of Heaven"[7]. In the Greek text of Matthew 16:18-19, where Jesus directly addresses Peter in the presence of the other apostles saying to him "you", the Greek word σοι is explicit. The Greek word σοι in all of its variant forms σύ, σοῦ, σοί, σέ is the second person singular personal pronoun "you", as designating only one person. This textual fact is cited in Catholic apologetics in defense of the doctrine of the primacy of Saint Peter as Prince of the Apostles and Ambassador Vicar (Representative) of Christ the Lord.[8]

Protestant and Orthodox apologetics point out that the same authority conferred on Peter with the keys to bind and to loose (Matthew 16:19) is given to all the apostles equally (Matthew 18:18), the Lord Jesus implicitly entrusting the keys of the kingdom of heaven to them as well. The formal term denoting shared responsibility and authority is "Collegiality".[9]

As God referred to Abraham as the "Rock" from which Israel was formed, Jesus referred to Peter as "Rock", saying "on this Rock I will build my Church". Compare the King James Version of Isaiah 51:1-2; Jeremiah 1:18-19.
See multiple commentaries on Isaiah 51:1; 51:2 and Jeremiah 1:18; 1:19.

The Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion and The Episcopal Church, and all Evangelical, Reform and Fundamentalist churches absolutely reject Petrine Primacy, and find no scriptural basis in support of it. They point to biblical texts such as Ephesians 2:20 and Revelation 21:14 showing that all twelve apostles are the foundation of the Church.[10]

"I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" Matthew 16:19.

The Greek word σοι "to you" here is singular, not the plural ὑμῖν "to you" (all), and therefore was not addressed to the entire immediate group of his assembled disciples, as some would have it, but only to Peter.
In the later apparently parallel text of Matthew 18:18 the phrase "keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" does not appear (see verses 15-20 of Matthew 18). On the principle of sola scriptura, there is no linguistic textual basis for saying that Jesus gave the "keys" to all the apostles on that occasion, but only that he gave them all the collective authority to bind and loose together, an authority which is distinctly different from the authority to open and shut the "Kingdom of Heaven".[11]

Catholics maintain that there is a significant distinction here, and that the previous occasion in Matthew 16:18 is a specific fulfillment of the prophesy in Isaiah 22:22 pointing to one man, not many.

Other Christians maintain that the "keys" are necessary to bind and to loose, to "open and no man shall shut, and shut and no man opens" (Revelation 3:7), thus equating binding and loosing with opening and shutting, and that this therefore does linguistically imply that all of the apostles were each given the "keys of the Kingdom of Heaven" simultaneously together in Matthew 18:18, so that what he had conferred on Peter is now expanded and conferred on all of them.

Old Testament parallels show that God gave to particular men divine authority to act, and that He obeyed their word:

Exodus 14:15-16 and Joshua 10:12-14; see also 1 Kings 17:1, 2 Kings 20:9-11, Matthew 9:8, Luke 2:51, and John 9:31 and 20:21-23; Romans 13:1-2, 1 Timothy 1:19-20, Hebrews 13:17, and Revelation 3:7.[12]

The controversy over divine authority is a key doctrinal issue in the Protestant Reformation.[13]

In Matthew 16:18 there is a difference in the Greek words for "stone" and "rock". Petros Πέτρος is the masculine form, meaning "stone", "boulder" or "large rock", and petra πέτρα is the feminine form, meaning "stone", "boulder" or "massive rock". They essentially mean the same thing.
In stark contrast to Πέτρος and πέτρα, lithos λίθος, a primary word, is the masculine form of the Greek word meaning "a stone", "(small) rock" or "pebble", such as one can throw by hand: Strong's 3037.

  • Πέτρος, Πέτρου, ὁ (an appellative proper name, signifying 'a stone,' a rock, ledge or cliff).
  • πέτρα, πέτρας, ἡ, from Homer down; the Septuagint reading for סֶלַע and צוּר; a rock, ledge, cliff.
  • λίθος, λίθου, ὁ, the Septuagint reading for אֶבֶן (from Homer down); a stone: small stones; a large stone; building stone.

Compare multiple versions of John 1:42. Neither the Greek lithos nor the Aramaic evna appears in this verse (the Aramaic evna means "little stone, small rock"). The King James Bible reading of "stone" in John 1:42 ("which is by interpretation, A stone") carefully avoids using the reading "rock" only in this one verse of the New Testament, apparently for doctrinal reasons. Of the 51 entries in Strong's under STONE this verse is the only one keyed to number 4073 in the Greek Dictionary of the New Testament

—4073. πέτρα pĕtra, pet′-ra; fem. of the same as 4074; a (mass of) rock (lit. or fig.):—rock.

All of the other 50 NT entries for STONE are keyed to numbers 3037, 2642, 2991, 3035, 3034, 3036, 5586. Yet there are 13 NT entries in Strong's under ROCK, all keyed to number 4073. John 1:42 is not included. If the KJV translators had been consistent, the King James Version of John 1:42 would have read: "which is by interpretation, Rock".[14] And Matthew 16:18 would have read, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Rock, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

See Peter the Rock, by Tim Staples (catholic.com)— "One of the most respected and referenced Greek dictionaries among Evangelicals is Gerhard Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.[15] In a most candid statement about Matthew 16:18, Dr. Oscar Cullman, a contributing editor to this work, writes:

" ' The obvious pun which has made its way into the Greek text...suggests a material identity between petra and Petros...as it is impossible to differentiate strictly between the two words... . Petros himself is this petra, not just his faith or his confession... . The idea of the Reformers that he is referring to the faith of Peter is quite inconceivable... . For there is no reference here to the faith of Peter. Rather, the parallelism of “thou art Rock” and “on this rock I will build” shows that the second rock can only be the same as the first. It is thus evident that Jesus is referring to Peter, to whom he has given the name Rock... . To this extent Roman Catholic exegesis is right and all Protestant attempts to evade this interpretation are to be rejected. ' "

See also Bam! Bam! The "pebbles" argument goes down!, by Patrick Madrid (patrickmadrid.blogspot.com)—“And just as Greek has a word for 'small stone,' lithos, so does Aramaic. That word is evna. But Jesus did not change Simon's name to Evna, He named him Kephas, which translates as Petros, and means a large rock.”

Compare Strong's numbers
4074 a rock, ledge or cliff
and 4073 a rock, ledge or cliff. See also
2786, "equivalent to Πέτρος", a rock, ledge or cliff.

Κεφας, κεφα, ὁ (Chaldean כֵּיפָא, a rock), Cephas (equivalent to Πέτρος, a rock, ledge or cliff), the surname of Simon the apostle.
(Jesus did not give Simon Bar Jonah a feminine name.) [16]
A more literal translation of Matthew 16:18 is, "I tell you, you are Rock, and on this Rock I will build my gathering (my assembly)". Linguistically, according to the Greek construction, and Greek grammar, the person indicated by the phrase "on this rock" is Peter, not Jesus.
καὶ ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ kai epi taute te petra "and on this rock".
The emphasis here is on ΤΑΎΤῌ ταύτῃ, which points to Peter (not to Jesus, as Augustine would have us suppose), and to be understood thus: on no other than on this rock [Petros, Peter].
He did not say you are stone, pebble [lithos], and on this rock [petra] I will build....
—λίθος, λίθου, ὁ, is the Septuagint reading for אֶבֶן ; a stone: small stones; a large stone; building stone. A lithos [λίθος] is not a massive rock cliff [πέτρᾳ, Πέτρος].
The equivalent Aramaic term in the Syriac Peshitta translation of the New Testament is κεφα Kepa / Cepha, simply "rock":
"I tell you, you are Kepha, and on this Kepha I will build my church.

The Greek form of this Aramaic word is "Cephas", pronounced "kepas". This can be seen as a fulfillment of the prophesy of the stone (rock) formed without hands which became a great mountain which filled the whole earth in Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45, and in Isaiah 2:1-5.. Protestant exegetes understand the stone in Daniel 2 as Christ himself. Catholics point to the fact that the whole Catholic Church "founded by Jesus on Peter the Rock" is worldwide and the largest Christian denomination on earth. Isaiah 51:1-2; Jeremiah 1:18-19. The second largest is the Orthodox Church. The third largest is the Anglican Communion

Protestant view of Petrine Primacy

Martin Luther was one of the most important leaders in Christian and German history. An Augustinian monk, priest, and professor of theology, he unintentionally launched the Protestant Reformation and founded the Lutheran Church.

See also: Protestantism and Protestant Reformation

The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod (WELS) states:

“ There is no biblical or historical evidence for the claims of the Roman Catholic church that Peter was the first pope. In fact there is no evidence that there even was a pope in the first century. Even Catholic historians recognize this as a historical fact....We honor Peter and in fact some of our churches are named after him, but he was not the first pope, nor was he Roman Catholic. If you read his first letter, you will see that he did not teach a Roman hierarchy, but that all Christians are royal priests.[17] ”

The Baptist Donald A. Carson III, who is a Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Seminary, argues:

“ Although it is true that petros and petra can mean "stone" and "rock" respectively in earlier Greek, the distinction is largely confined to poetry. Moreover the underlying Aramaic is in this case unquestionable; and most probably kepha was used in both clauses ("you are kepha" and "on this kepha"), since the word was used both for a name and for a "rock". The Peshitta (written in Syriac, a language cognate with Aramaic) makes no distinction between the words in the two clauses. The Greek makes the distinction between petros and petra simply because it is trying to preserve the pun, and in Greek the feminine petra could not very well serve as a masculine name.[18] ”

Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM) indicates:

“ The Roman Catholic Church Puts a great deal of emphasis on Peter and claims that Jesus said he would build his church on him...

There are problems with the Roman Catholic position. First of all, when we look at the Greek of Matthew 16:18, we see something that is not obvious in the English. "...you are Peter (πέτρος, petros) and upon this rock (πέτρα, petra) I will build My church..." In Greek nouns have gender. It is similar to the English words actor and actress. The first is masculine, and the second is feminine. Likewise, the Greek word "petros" is masculine; "petra" is feminine. Peter, the man, is appropriately referred to as Petros. But Jesus said that the rock he would build his church on was not the masculine "petros" but the feminine "petra." Let me illustrate by using the words "actor" and "actress:" "You are the actor; and with this actress, I will make my movie." Do see that the gender influences how a sentence is understood? Jesus was not saying that the church will be built upon Peter but upon something else. What, then, does petra, the feminine noun, refer to?

The feminine "petra" occurs four times in the Greek New Testament:

Matt. 16:18, "And I also say to you that you are Peter (petros), and upon this rock (petra) I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it." Matt. 27:60, "and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock (petra); and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away." 1 Cor. 10:4, "and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock (petras) which followed them; and the rock (petra) was Christ." 1 Pet. 2:8, speaking of Jesus says that he is "A stone of stumbling and a rock (petra) of offense"; for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed." We can clearly see that in the three other uses of the Greek word petra (nominative singular; "petras" in 1 Cor. 10:4 is genitive singular) we find it referred to as a large immovable mass of rock in which a tomb is carved out (Matt. 27:60) and in reference to Christ (1 Cor. 10:4; 1 Pet. 2:8). Note that Peter himself in the last verse referred to petra as being Jesus! If Peter uses the word as a reference to Jesus, then shouldn't we?

In addition, Greek dictionaries and lexicons give us further insight into the two Greek words under discussion:

1. Petros:

  • Petros, "πέτρος, a stone, distinguished from πέτρα (Source: Liddell, H., 1996. A lexicon : Abridged from Liddell and Scott's Greek-English lexicon (636). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.).
  • Petros, Πέτρος, Peter, meaning stone. The masc. of the fem. pétra (4073), a massive rock or cliff.” (Spiros Zodhiates, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament, electronic ed., G4074, Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2000, c1992, c1993).
  • Petros, Πέτρος, “a noun akin to 4073, used as a proper name; “a stone” or “a boulder,” Peter, one of the twelve apostles:— Peter(150), Peter’s(5).” (Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition, H8674, Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998, 1981).

2. Petra:

  • Petra, πέτρα , Ion. and Ep. πέτρη, , a rock, a ledge or shelf of rock, Od. 2. a rock, i.e. a rocky peak or ridge . . . Properly, πέτρα is a fixed rock, πέτρος a stone." (Source: Liddell, H. (1996). A lexicon : Abridged from Liddell and Scott's Greek-English lexicon (636). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.).
  • Petra, πέτρα , (4073) denotes a mass of rock, as distinct from petros, a detached stone or boulder, or a stone that might be thrown or easily moved." Source: Vine, W., & Bruce, F. (1981; Published in electronic form by Logos Research Systems, 1996). Vine's Expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words (2:302). Old Tappan NJ: Revell)
  • Petra, πέτρα, ας, ἡ (1) literally, living rock, bedrock (MT 7.24), in contrast to πέτρος (isolated stone); (Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg and Neva F. Miller, vol. 4, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament, Baker's Greek New Testament library, 311, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2000).
  • Petra, πέτρα, noun feminine; ≡ bedrock, (James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages With Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament), electronic ed., GGK4376 (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

3. Petros & Petros

  • πέτρα petra; a prim. word; a (large mass of) rock:--rock(10), rocks(3), rocky(2). Πέτρος Petros, “a noun akin to 4073, used as a proper name; “a stone” or “a boulder,” Peter, one of the twelve apostles:— Peter(150), Peter’s(5).” (Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition, H8674, Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998, 1981).
  • "On this rock (ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ). The word is feminine, and means a rock, as distinguished from a stone or a fragment of rock (πέτρος, above)." (Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, 1:91, Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2002).
  • Petros, "πέτρος, a stone, distinguished from πέτρα. Petra, πέτρα , Ion. and Ep. πέτρη, , a rock, a ledge or shelf of rock, Od. 2. a rock, i.e. a rocky peak or ridge . . . Properly, πέτρα is a fixed rock, πέτρος a stone." (Source: Liddell, H. (1996). A lexicon : Abridged from Liddell and Scott's Greek-English lexicon (636). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.).

A stone is movable, unstable; and this is exactly what we see with Peter, who doubted when he walked on water, who denied Jesus, and who was rebuked by Paul at Antioch.

Matt. 14:29-30, "And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, "Lord, save me!" Luke 22:57-58, "But he denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know Him." 58 And a little later, another saw him and said, "You are one of them too!" But Peter said, "Man, I am not!" Gal. 2:11,14 "But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned . . . 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?" Jesus, who knew the heart of Peter, was not saying that Peter, the movable and unstable stone, would be the immovable rock upon which the Church would be built. Rather, it would be built upon Jesus; and it was this truth that Peter had affirmed what he said to Jesus, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," (Matt. 16:16). This is consistent with scripture elsewhere where the term rock is sometimes used in reference to God but never of a man.[19]

”

Got Questions Ministries states:

“ Question: "What is the rock in Matthew 16:18?"

Answer: The debate rages over whether “the rock” on which Christ will build His church is Peter, or Peter’s confession that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:16). In all honesty, there is no way for us to be 100% sure which view is correct. The grammatical construction allows for either view. The first view is that Jesus was declaring that Peter would be the “rock” on which He would build His church. Jesus appears to be using a play on words. “You are Peter (petros) and on this rock (petra) I will build my church.” Since Peter’s name means rock, and Jesus is going to build His church on a rock – it appears that Christ is linking the two together. God used Peter greatly in the foundation of the church. It was Peter who first proclaimed the Gospel on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-47). Peter was also the first to take the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48). In a sense, Peter was the rock “foundation” of the church.

The other popular interpretation of the rock is that Jesus was referring not to Peter, but to Peter’s confession of faith in verse 16: “You are the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus had never explicitly taught Peter and the other disciples the fullness of His identity, and He recognized that God had sovereignly opened Peter’s eyes and revealed to him who Jesus really was. His confession of Christ as Messiah poured forth from him, a heartfelt declaration of Peter’s personal faith in Jesus. It is this personal faith in Christ which is the hallmark of the true Christian. Those who have placed their faith in Christ, as Peter did, are the church. Peter expresses this in 1 Peter 2:4 when he addressed the believers who had been dispersed around the ancient world: “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

At this point, Jesus declares that God had revealed this truth to Peter. The word for “Peter,” Petros, means a small stone (John 1:42). Jesus used a play on words here with petra (“on this rock”) which means a foundation boulder, as in Matthew 7:24, 25 when He described the rock upon which the wise man builds his house. Peter himself uses the same imagery in his first epistle: the church is built of numerous small petros “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5) who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and those confessions of faith are the bedrock of the church.

In addition, the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Christ is both the foundation (Acts 4:11, 12; 1 Corinthians 3:11) and the head (Ephesians 5:23) of the church. It is a mistake to think that here He is giving either of those roles to Peter. There is a sense in which the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the church (Ephesians 2:20), but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone, not assigned to Peter. So, Jesus’ words here are best interpreted as a simple play on words in that a boulder-like truth came from the mouth of one who was called a small stone. And Christ Himself is called the “chief cornerstone” (1 Peter 2:6, 7). The chief cornerstone of any building was that upon which the building was anchored. If Christ declared Himself to be the cornerstone, how could Peter be the rock upon which the church was built? It is more likely that the believers, of which Peter is one, are the stones which make up the church, anchored upon the Cornerstone, “and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6).[20]

”

Bible.org indicates:

“ The name Peter (Gk., Petros) means “rock” or “rock-man.” In the next phrase Christ used petra (upon this rock), a feminine form for “rock,” not a name. Christ used a play on words. He does not say “upon you, Peter” or “upon your successors,” but “upon this rock”—upon this divine revelation and profession of faith in Christ.

The following comment on this verse from The Bible Knowledge Commentary sums up the issue:

16:17-20. Peter’s words brought a word of commendation from the Lord. Peter was blessed because he had come to a correct conclusion about the person of Christ and because great blessing would be brought into his life. The Lord added, however, this was not a conclusion Peter had determined by his own or others’ ability. God, the Father in heaven, had revealed it to him. Peter was living up to his name (it means “rock”) for he was demonstrating himself to be a rock. When the Lord and Peter first met, Jesus had said Simon would be named Cephas (Aram. for “rock”) or Peter (Gr. for “rock”; John 1:41-42).

But his declaration about Messiah’s person led to a declaration of Messiah’s program. Peter (Petros, masc.) was strong like a rock, but Jesus added that on this rock (petra, fem.) He would build His church. Because of this change in Greek words, many conservative scholars believe that Jesus is now building His church on Himself. Others hold that the church is built on Peter and the other apostles as the building’s foundation stones (Eph. 2:20; Rev. 21:14). Still other scholars say that the church is built on Peter’s testimony. It seems best to understand that Jesus was praising Peter for his accurate statement about Him, and was introducing His work of building the church on Himself (1 Cor. 3:11).[21]

”
R.C. Sproul is the founder and chairman of Ligonier Ministries.

Ligonier Ministries declares:

“ The most disputed text on ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church) is Matthew 16:13–20. Protestants and Eastern Orthodox alike contest the use of Christ’s affirmation of Peter by Roman Catholics to establish the papacy.

Unfortunately, we can consider the issues raised by today’s passage only in brief. Foremost among these is what Jesus does not say in His commendation of Peter. Though invested with authority in verse 19, Peter is not thereby given supreme authority over the church universal. As a steward over God’s house, Peter’s keys give him (but not only him) authority among God’s people. For example, he can assure repentant sinners of divine pardon, not because he is able to forgive sin, but because he proclaims the free Gospel of forgiveness. Therefore, the keys also enable him to assure the impenitent that they can by no means inherit the kingdom of God. Yet Peter’s keys also belong to every apostle and, in a qualified sense, church leaders today as well (18:15–20; Eph. 2:19–20). Furthermore, Matthew 16:13–20 says nothing about Peter passing on a “unique” office to successive bishops, and it gives no support for papal infallibility.

Historic Protestantism recognizes such truths, and often says that Peter’s confession is the rock to which Jesus refers. This makes good sense, but we err if we say that Peter himself is not in any sense a rock upon which the church is built (Eph. 2:22). There is a play on words in the original Greek text: Peter’s name, Petros, is based on petra, that is, “rock” (v. 18). In other words, Jesus declares, “Simon, you are the rock, and on this rock I will build my church.” Peter has primacy in the church — a historical primacy, not papal primacy. Aside from being the first to confess Christ, Peter is the first apostle to extend the Gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10), and his leadership and teaching set the stage for the church’s expansion and maturity (chap. 1–15; 1 and 2 Peter). Thus, we conclude with John Calvin: “It is a foolish inference of the Papists, that he received the primacy, and became the universal head of the whole Church. Rank is a different thing from power, and to be elevated to the highest place of honor among a few persons is a different thing from embracing the whole world under his dominion.”[22]

”

Eastern Orthodox view of Petrine Primacy

See also

Consensus
Precedent
Patriarch
Ecumenical Patriarch
Pentarchy
Ecumenical council
Magisterium (not to be confused with College of Cardinals.)
Schism
Great Schism
First Vatican Council
Second Vatican Council

References

  1. ↑ for example Nicea canon 6
  2. ↑ Just as in the Acts of the Apostles dispute over doctrine was referred to the judgment of the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem. Acts 15:1-35.
  3. ↑ "Auctoritas"
  4. ↑ See Romans 13; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 2:13-17
  5. ↑ See multiple commentaries on Isaiah 22:22.
  6. ↑ Compare Supersessionism (theopedia.com).
  7. ↑ see Revelation 1:17-18; 3:7
  8. ↑ Compare Matthew 16:16-19 and 18:15-20; Romans 13:1-7; 2 Corinthians 5:20 "ambassadors for Christ"; 2 Timothy 1:13-14; 2:2; John 14:16-17.
  9. ↑ See dictionary definitions of "collegiality" and "collegial"
  10. ↑ See multiple commentaries on Ephesians 2:20 and multiple commentaries on Revelation 21:14.
  11. ↑ See Revelation 1:17-18; 3:7
  12. ↑ Compare the Catholic Bible footnotes on these verses with multiple Protestant commentaries.
  13. ↑ See Apostolic succession.
  14. ↑ See the interlinear text of John 1:42—Petros: "a stone" or "a boulder," Peter, one of the twelve apostles.
  15. ↑ See a critical evaluation of Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, by Frederick E. Blume (wlsessays.net)
  16. ↑ Compare the following articles:
  17. ↑ Responses to previous questions.... WELS Topical Q&A. Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Retrieved on 16 Mar 2017.
  18. ↑ Who is the Rock?. Users.stargate.net. Archived from the original on 2012-02-16. Retrieved on 2012-07-16.
  19. ↑ Is Peter the rock on which the Church is built? by Matt Slick at CARM
  20. ↑ What is the rock in Matthew 16:18?, Got Questions Ministries
  21. ↑ What did Jesus mean when he said, “Upon this rock I will build my church”?, Bible.org
  22. ↑ Peter, the Rock, Ligonier Ministries

External links

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