Was Peter the First Pope?

"YOU ARE PETER . . ."

So how are we to understand the words:  "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church"?  To understand an excerpt correctly, we need to read its context.  What were Jesus and Peter speaking about?  Jesus had just asked his disciples:  "Who do you think that I am?"   Without hesitation, Peter answered:  "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."  With that, Jesus commended Peter and then added that he would build his "church," or congregation, on an even more solid "rock," the one in whom Peter had just expressed faith-Jesus himself. -Matthew 16:15-18. 

Consistent with this, many of the "Church Fathers" wrote that the rock of Matthew 16:18 is Christ.  For example, Augustine in the fifth century wrote:  "The Lord said:  "On this rock-mass I will build my Church," because Peter had told him:  "You are the Christ the Son of the living God.'  It is therefore on this rock-mass that you confessed that I will build my Church."  Augustine repeatedly stated that  "the Rock (Petra) was Christ."

Augustine and the others would be considered heretics if judged according to Swiss theologian Ulrich Luz,the consensus of opinion on this subject among Bible scholars today would have been condemned by the 1870 Vatican Council as heresy. 

The Evolution of Papal Primacy

32 C.E.: Jesus foretells he will build his church, or congregation, upon himself; no primacy conferred on the apostle Peter

55-64: The apostles Paul and Peter write various letters with the underlying thought that Jesus is the only foundation of the Christian congregation. 

254_257:  Stephen, bishop of Rome, advances the idea that he has primacy over other bishops as the successor of Peter; but other bishops, such as Firmilian of Caesarea and Cyprian of Carthage, reject Stephen's claim

296-304: First known inscription attesting the use of the title "papa," or "pope," with reference to the bishop of Rome

5th century: Another bishop of Rome, Leo I, uses Matthew 16:18 to affirm  his primacy over other bishops

6th century: Increasing use of papa (pope) as at title for the Roman bishop; however, non-Roman bishops continue to apply the term to themselves until the ninth century 

1075: Gregory VI declares that "pope" is an exclusive title for the bishop of Rome; his Dictatus Papae (Papal Dictates) makes the papacy "appear as a replacement for Christ," according to the historian

1870: The first Vatican Council decree that "the Roman pontiff is the successor of Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and is true Vicar of Christ and Head of the whole Church" 

Next time: Was Peter the First Pope? -THE POPE-PETER'S SUCCESSOR?

From the Watchtower magazine