Theology Thursdays: Was Peter really the first Pope and our Rock?

In an interesting debate about the papacy, I read a post by my husband which attempted to lay out the relevance of Jesus re-naming Simon Peter. He appealed to our biblical understanding of the importance of the names we give, pointing out also that Jesus SPOKE Aramaic, thus the "greek" translation of Cephas holds little relevance in the first place, and further that the whole "in Greek, there is a distinction between "little Rock" and "Big Rock," makes no difference since that is true only of a particular dialect called "Koine" Greek, and the New Testament was not written in Koine Greek. Being an armchair scripture scholar, I certainly cannot claim to know Greek and Hebrew or to be able to tell you "exactly" what I am reading. Further, I can open a Strong's like any other idiot and lay claim to a Greek or Hebrew root word without actually knowing whether or not Strong's is always right on. I trust it, but why?
Suffice to say that the whole "It means this in Greek," "No, it means that!" Argument is ridiculous for the average person on a quest for truth and thus we must appeal to reason, logic, and the LENS through which we read the Scriptures. After all, everyone has a lens. Mine is 2000+ years old and still intact, how's yours?
:D
But I digress.... I thought it would be relevant, then, to attempt to "Speak the language" of the naysayers-- because while I don't speak Greek or Hebrew well, I DO speak Bible. And if you're a Papacy Naysayer, then chances are, so do you. In this post, then, I will attempt to make a PURELY biblical case for Papal Authority to Rule the Church as the Vicar of Christ. I'm not doing this to be difficult. I'm not doing this so that you would convert, although I clearly wouldn't argue if you woke up tomorrow deciding to be Catholic!But fear not-- since Catholics know one doesn't have to be a practicing Roman Catholic to enjoy the mercy of God, we don't worry TOO much about converting everyone to Catholicism. It is the SURE path, but not the only path. We do believe, though, that anything on this beautiful planet which leads you to Jesus came to you through His established Church in some way, which makes all of the negative press and attention the Catholic Church gets, especially from protestants, all the more frustrating for those of us who get it.
We hear, over and over again, how "unbiblical" everything we do is. In fact, once upon a time I left the Catholic Church because I was told it was unbiblical... and believed it. Thing is, most people forget that the very Bible they are using to try to condemn the Catholic Church was GIVEN to them by the Catholic Church. We're THAT biblical. :P I guess what I'm saying is, it's always good to be able to explain your Catholic Faith by using the Bible, because for some people, (and hey, I'm not placing blame, because I've been one of them!) there's only ONE way to talk about Truth and that is via the Word of God as it is collected in the series of inspired books we know as the Bible.
So first, let's look at some scriptures: 

Mt 10:1-4 says: "1He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil^a spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him."

Mark 3:16-19 says: "16These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder); 18Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him."

Luke 6:14-16 says: "14Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. "

Acts 1:13 says: "13When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James."

Luke 9:32 says: "Peter and his companions were very sleepy, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him."

 Do you notice anything about these Scriptures? Peter is always named first, as the foremost apostle. These are the times when the "12" are named.... this should give us a clue about the importance of Peter's position within the early Church.

Next, we will go to a few other scriptures. 

Matthew 18:21: "Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?..."

Mark 8:29: "He said to them: 'Who do YOU say that I am?' and Peter answered Him: 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Luke 12:41: "Then Peter said to Him: Lord, do you speak this parable only to us or to all people?"

John 6:69: "Jesus said to the twelve: do you also want to go away? But Simon Peter answered Him, saying 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the Words of Eternal Life. Also we have come to know and believe that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

What about these? Notice anything they have in common?In all of these Scriptures, where the Lord addresses the twelve,  Peter spoke for all of the apostles.
 He literally represented them when speaking to Christ. Still not convinced? Let me take you to the feast of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down upon them, birthing the Church:

"But peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them: 'Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem. Let this be known, and heed my words...." (Acts 2:14) In other words, Peter got up and preached TO and FOR the Church directly after the descent of the Holy Spirit that birthed the Church. This is again connected to the verse 6 and 7 of Acts Chapter 3, where Peter was the one who worked the first healing: "Then Peter said: Silver and Gold I do not have , but what I Do have, I give to you. Rise and Walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." Clearly, we're onto something here.

But there's more!

In Acts 10:46-47, the gentiles who were to be baptized were revealed to Peter first. 

Then we have John 1:42.... Jesus renames Simon Cephas (Peter.) Kepha which means "ROCK" in Aramaic. (Not big rock, not little rock, just ROCK. With that in mind, how can we but see what our Lord means in Matthew 16:18-19.... "18And I tell you that you are Peter,^c and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades^d will not overcome it.^e 19I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^f bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^g loosed in heaven.”  It becomes so simple: He gives the keys to the kingdom to Peter. Protestants quote this verse all the time, to remind us that we have Spiritual Authority, which is somewhat true. But in the passage, Jesus does not say "I will give believers the Keys...." but "I will give YOU the keys...." and He is talking specifically to Peter. 

So what are these keys? The Bible uses the same word, keys, as a symbol of Spiritual Authority. 

Isaiah 22:22 says- " "Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder, When he opens no one will shut, When he shuts no one will open." And again, Revelations 1:18 says: "I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever more, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."

So thusfar, we have seen that Peter was always "first" among equals, that he was the spokesman for the Apostles, that He was a preacher for them, that he was called "the rock" and that on this rock the Church was to be built, for he was given "keys" which are authority.Now let's look at John 21:17, where Jesus gives a very specific directive to Peter.

"He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, 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 all things; You know that I love You.”
Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep."

Feed my Sheep. What else could Christ possibly have meant? As if to emphasize this point, we turn to Luke 22:31-32. "And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”Strengthen your bretheren. Feed My Sheep. This is a clear picture of the task Christ is annointing Peter for. But How do we know he was to be received as the Vicar (substitute) of Christ?

Luke 10:1-2, 16: After these things the Lord appointed seventy others also,and sent them two by two before His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Then He said to them, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. He who hears you hears Me, he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him who sent Me.”

John 13:20: Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” (A Bible teacher I LOVE says that when scripture repeats itself, it's going to be on the test. ;))

2 Cor 5:20: We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  

Galatians 4:14:  and even though my illness was a trial to you, you did not treat me with contempt or scorn. Instead, you welcomed me as if I were an angel of God, as if I were Christ Jesus himself. 

Acts 5:1-5:  ¹ Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. ² With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

 ³ Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? ⁴ Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”
 ⁵ When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened.

Again, we see that not only did Peter take on a special role to be able to represent the apostles to Christ, but vice versa, He represented Christ to the apostles. 

I hope this helps you to see that when Catholics lay claim to the verifiable fact that our concept of the Papacy, which is built on Peter, who was firmly established in Christ, is a biblical concept, we aren't just being weird, uneducated, or biblically illiterate. We LOVE our Pope as much as we do because we are so thankful to have a Pope at all... someone to lead the WHOLE church, to feed His sheep (with the Eucharist) and to guide us. the very fact that a Pope exists, that there is an unbroken line of popes, and that these popes were "created" by the passing down of ACTUAL spiritual authority by the laying on of hands which can be traced back to the appointment Christ himself made in annointing first Peter, then the eleven, for the task of guiding His people.... it's a miracle. Praise to be God, always, for the miracle and blessing of the Papacy!
Can you be a Christian without a Pope? Surely you can, but why would you?

"“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”" -Matthew 7:24-27

V. Let us pray for our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI:


R. May the Lord preserve him, give him long life, make him
blessed upon the earth, and not hand him over to the power of his enemies.


V. You are Peter.


R. And upon this Rock I will build my Church.
Let us pray.


God our Father, Shepherd and Guide, look with love on your servant, Pope Benedict XVI, the pastor of your Church. Grant that his word and example may inspire and guide the Church, and that he, and all those entrusted to his care, may come to the joy of everlasting life. We ask this through Christ,our Lord. Amen.


Mother of the Church, pray for us.


Saint Peter, pray for us.