Apologetics Session 9 - Peter and the Papacy.

Challenges against the office of Peter come from all sides! Both the Orthodox churches, and Protestants, will not recognize the authority given to the pope. We have solid support for the papacy, however, in Scripture, in history, and in simple human "common sense."

Challenge 1: Peter was one among 12 apostles - he became bishop in Rome - he has no primacy over any other apostle, so how do Catholics give special place to the bishop of Rome today?

Response 1: Scripture records many ways that Peter is singled out, and recognized as distinct, among the Twelve.

1) To Peter alone was given the revelation of the Christ even before the resurrection, which drew forth Jesus's commission to him:

[Mt 16:15] He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"
[16] Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
[17] And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
[18] And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.
[19] I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Upon the rock, Peter, alone will the Church be built, and to Peter alone were the keys of the kingdom given.

2) And again, to Peter alone this unique role of shepherd was given:

[Jn 21:15] When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."
[16] A second time he said to him, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."
[17] He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

3) Every list of the Apostles in Scripture name Peter first. (Matt. 10:1-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, Acts 1:13) Sometimes the apostles were referred to as "Peter and those who were with him" (Luke 9:32). Peter was the one who generally spoke for the apostles (Matt. 18:21, Mark 8:29, Luke 12:41, John 6:68-69), and he figured in many of the most dramatic scenes (Matt. 14:28-32, Matt. 17:24-27, Mark 10:23-28). On Pentecost it was Peter who first preached to the crowds (Acts 2:14-40), and he worked the first healing in the Church age (Acts 3:6-7).

Jesus gave Peter alone the unique concern, after the trial that would test him, to build up the other Apostles:
[Lk 22:31] "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,
[32] but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren."

Challenge 2: How can Peter be "the rock" on which the Church was founded in Mt 16:18? Jesus said Simon was "Petros", and upon this petra He will build His Church. Two different Greek words were used!

Response 2: The argument from the Greek against this teaching of the Church doesn't hold up. Jesus didn't speak in Greek to His Apostles, He spoke in Aramaic, the common language of Palestine in that time. The text of Matthew's Gospel is in Greek, but it had to be translated from the Aramaic words that they all spoke. The question is, then, what did Jesus say in the Aramaic?

We find the answer to this in John's Gospel, where the Aramaic word was transliterated into Greek.
[Jn 1:42] …Jesus looked at him, and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter [Petros]).
The Aramaic word Kephas, then, transliterated into Cephas for the Greek text of John, was the name given Simon. Kephas means "rock".
The Greek word for "rock" is petra. Petra, however, is a feminine word in Greek! Hence, it is inappropriate for a masculine name as is, and is made into Petros, having a masculine ending, when used for a man. Thus Jesus actually said in Aramaic to Peter, "you are Kephas (rock), and upon this kephas (rock) I will build my Church."

Thus the Faith of the Church concerning the authority and the burden of the papacy built upon Peter: it was given to him by Jesus. The early Church accepted this, as early writings testify.

Challenge 3: What is special about the Bishop of Rome? Aren't all bishops equal as successors to the Apostles?

Response 3: The bishops of Rome who followed Peter were recognized in the early Church as having primacy.
1) "The church of God which sojourns at Rome to the church of God which sojourns at Corinth ... But if any disobey the words spoken by him through us, let them know that they will involve themselves in transgression and in no small danger."
Clement of Rome,Pope,1st Epistle to the Corinthians,1,59:1 (c.A.D. 96)
2) "Since, however, it would be very tedious, in such a volume as this, to reckon up the successions of all the Churches, we do put to confusion all those who, in whatever manner, whether by an evil self-pleasing, by vainglory, or by blindness and perverse opinion, assemble in unauthorized meetings; [we do this, I say,] by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul; as also [by pointing out] the faith preached to men, which comes down to our time by means of the successions of the bishops. For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre- eminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere, inasmuch as the apostolical tradition has been preserved continuously by those [faithful men] who exist everywhere."
Irenaeus, Against Heresies,3:3:2 (A.D. 180)
3) "And he says to him again after the resurrection, 'Feed my sheep.' It is on him that he builds the Church, and to him that he entrusts the sheep to feed. And although he assigns a like power to all the apostles, yet he founded a single Chair, thus establishing by his own authority the source and hallmark of the (Church's) oneness. No doubt the others were all that Peter was, but a primacy is given to Peter, and it is (thus) made clear that there is but one flock which is to be fed by all the apostles in common accord. If a man does not hold fast to this oneness of Peter, does he imagine that he still holds the faith? If he deserts the Chair of Peter upon whom the Church was built, has he still confidence that he is in the Church? This unity firmly should we hold and maintain, especially we bishops, presiding in the Church, in order that we may approve the episcopate itself to be the one and undivided."
Cyprian, The Unity of the Church, 4-5 (A.D. 251/256)
According to St. Irenaeus, writing between 175 and 190 AD, the bishops of Rome up to his time were:
St. Peter (32-67)
St. Linus (67-76)
St. Anacletus (Cletus) (76-88)
St. Clement I (88-97)
St. Evaristus (97-105)
St. Alexander I (105-115)
St. Sixtus I (115-125) -- also called Xystus I
St. Telesphorus (125-136)
St. Hyginus (136-140)
St. Pius I (140-155)
St. Anicetus (155-166)
St. Soter (166-175)
St. Eleutherius (175-189)
- The list now extends up to John Paul II -

Challenge 4: God's Church does not need a human ruler, as the Orthodox and the Protestant churches prove. All we need is the Holy Spirit, as Scripture says:
[Jn 16:13] When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

Response 4: This argument is a great one for the opposite conclusion - the confusion in doctrine and the differences in opinion about just what "the Spirit" teaches in Protestant and even Orthodox churches, proves that one Church with one leader is the only way to have and to keep unity. And God wants unity! Protestant (and on some issues even the Orthodox) churches differ among themselves about many crucial issues: the Church has one Faith.
- Does the Spirit allow or does He forbid contraception? The Church insists that contraception is destructive of the sacred marriage bond, and so cannot be allowed.

- Does He allow, or does He forbid, divorce and remarriage? The Church insists that sacramental marriage is until death. Abortion? Homosexual activity? No, the Church insists that these are gravely wrong.

- Does He require Baptism, or does He merely encourage it? The differences among Protestant and Orthodox churches in matters of very important doctrines illustrate that Christ meant to do exactly what the Catholic Church insists He meant to do: He set Peter as the head in His name of His Church. Thus in matters of faith and morals, the pope speaks with the authority of Christ.