SAINT PETER AND PAPAL PRIMACY
SCRIPTURE
It has been said by those outside the Church that if you disprove the primacy of St. Peter (i.e., show that he was not the leader of, but only equal to, the other Apostles) you undermine the very foundations of the Catholic Church.
From the Bible it is evident in numerous places that St. Peter was chosen by Christ and regarded by others as the head of the Apostles:
(1) The keys of the Kingdom of Heaven to bind and loose on earth were given by Our Lord to St. Peter. (St. Matt. 16, 19);
(2) St. Peter’s name is listed first when he, St. James and St. John are mentioned as being with Our Lord at the Transfiguration (St. Matt. 17, 1);
(3) Our Lord made St. Peter’s home His headquarters while staying in Capernaum (St. Mark 1, 29);
(4) The resurrection of Christ was first pronounced by the angel to St. Peter (St. Mark 16, 7);
(5) Our Lord prayed for St. Peter alone and instructed him to "strengthen your brethren" (St. Luke 22, 31-32);
(6) After His resurrection, of all the Apostles Our Lord first appeared to St. Peter (St. Luke 24);
(7) At His first meeting with St. Peter, Our Lord gave him the new name of "Cephas" (Rock) (St. John 1, 42);
(8) It was to St. Peter that Our Lord entrusted the care of His flock, lambs and sheep (St. John 21, 15-17);
(9) The election that chose St. Matthias as the replacement for Judas was conducted by St. Peter (Acts 1, 25);
(10) The first miracle at the Temple was performed by St. Peter (Acts 3);
(11) St. Peter replied to the Sanhedrin on behalf of the Church (Acts 4);
(12) The case of Ananias and Saphira was judged by St. Peter (Acts 5);
(13) St. Peter was the first to preach to the Jews (Acts 2, 14) and to receive Gentiles into the Church (Acts 11);
(14) At the Council of Jerusalem, the multitudes "kept silence" after St. Peter rose up and spoke (Acts 15, 12);
(15) After his conversion St. Paul first went to St. Peter (Gal. 1, 18);
(16) The lists of Apostles in St. Matt. 10; St. Mark 3; St. Luke 6; Acts 1, all place the name of St. Peter first;
(17) In the New Testament, St. Peter is mentioned 195 times. St. John is the next highest, only 29 times.
Commenting on St. Luke 22, 31-32, Ethelbert Stauffer, a Lutheran scholar notes:
"What is the basis of Peter’s unique position? Not upon any special qualification of the apostle, but upon the intercession of the Lord...In praying specially for Peter, Jesus is protecting and delivering the young community as a whole. He prays for fallen Peter so that Peter uplifted might strengthen his brethren in the faith, and so all attain the goal reserved for them - the Kingdom. So in this one saying it is made clear that the only possible ground of the Church’s existence and the very basis of its life is the mediatorial office of Christ, and also that Peter’s own mediatorial function is to be co-ordinated with and subordinated to this Christological office of the mediator."1
It is unreasonable to assert that the unique power and authority held by St. Peter was to die with him. To believe this would be to believe that Christ would leave the Church on earth without central leadership for more than nineteen centuries. On the contrary, it has always been the universal view of Christendom that St. Peter continues to govern the Church with the same power and authority given him by Christ in the person of his lawful successors, that is, those who occupy the See of Rome, namely, the Popes.
The Church Fathers:
Tertullian
"Was anything withheld from the knowledge of Peter, who is called ‘the rock on which the Church would be built’ [Matt. 16:18] with the power of ‘loosing and binding in heaven and on earth’ [Matt. 16:19]?" (Demurrer Against the Heretics 22 [A.D. 200]).
"[T]he Lord said to Peter, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, I have given you the keys of the kingdom of heaven [and] whatever you shall have bound or loosed on earth will be bound or loosed in heaven’ [Matt. 16:18–19]. . . . What kind of man are you, subverting and changing what was the manifest intent of the Lord when he conferred this personally upon Peter? Upon you, he says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the keys" (Modesty 21:9–10 [A.D. 220]).
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The Letter of Clement to James
"Be it known to you, my lord, that Simon [Peter], who, for the sake of the true faith, and the most sure foundation of his doctrine, was set apart to be the foundation of the Church, and for this end was by Jesus himself, with his truthful mouth, named Peter" (Letter of Clement to James 2 [A.D. 221]).
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The Clementine Homilies
"[Simon Peter said to Simon Magus in Rome:] ‘For you now stand in direct opposition to me, who am a firm rock, the foundation of the Church’ [Matt. 16:18]" (Clementine Homilies 17:19 [A.D. 221]).
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St. Clement of Rome, Letter to the Corinthians (C. 98 A.D.):
"The Church of God which sojourns in Rome to the Church of God which sojourns in Corinth...Owing to the sudden and repeated calamities and misfortunes which have befallen us, we must acknowledge that we have been somewhat tardy in turning our attention to the matters in dispute among you."
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Shepherd of Hermas (C. 140-150 A.D.):
[Hermas recounts that the old woman who is the Church came to him in a vision and said:] "Therefore shall you write two little books and send one to Clement and one to Grapte. Clement shall then send it to the cities abroad, because that is his duty; and Grapte shall instruct the widows and the orphans. But you shall read it in this city along with the presbyters who are in charge of the Church."
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St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies (C. 180 A.D.):
"The successions of the bishops of the greatest and most ancient Church known to all, founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious Apostles, Peter and Paul, that Church which has the tradition and the faith which comes down to us after having been announced to men by the Apostles. For with this the whole world; and it is in her that the faithful everywhere have maintained the Apostolic tradition..."
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St. Cyprian of Carthage, Letter to all His People (251 A.D.):
"There is one God and one Christ, and one Church, and one Chair founded on Peter by the word of the Lord. It is not possible to set up another altar or for there to be another priesthood besides that one altar and that one priesthood. Whoever has gathered elsewhere is scattering."
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St. Jerome (+420 A.D.), Ad Damasum:
"I speak with the successor of the fisherman...Though I acknowledge none as first except Christ, I am joined in communion with your Holiness, that is to say, in communion with the Chair of Peter. I know that it is upon that rock that the Church has been built."
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St. Augustine of Hippo (+430 A.D.), Ps. In Par. Donat.:
"Run through the list of those priests who have occupied the See of Peter Himself; and in that list of Fathers, see who succeeded to whom. This is the Rock which the proud Gates of Hell do not overcome."
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