It is claimed by many that Peter (formerly Simon) was the first Pope, but it is stated plainly in the Bible (Mark 1:30) that he had a mother-in-law, and that he had (per 1 Corinthians 9:5) spoken of a “believing wife”; so it would then have been impossible for him, as a married man, to have been the first Pope, given the prohibitions within the Catholic Church forbidding its leaders to marry.
It is also important to note that, when Jesus said that He was to build His Church upon “this rock,” this translation of “rock” (“Petra”) appears throughout the Bible expressly where He is referring to Himself — using distinctly different language (“Petra,” meaning “large foundational rock”) from the name Peter (“Petros,” meaning “small stone”). As it is written in Ephesians 2:20, “Jesus Christ Himself [is the] chief cornerstone.” Additionally, in Luke 6:48, Jesus describes a wise man who, while building a house, “dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock [petra],” enabling the house to withstand floods and storms: “When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.” The use of the term “petra” is a recurring theme further reinforcing Christ as the source of strength and stability for the believer and the unshakeable and indispensable foundation of the Church.
Thus, the argument that Peter alone was the foundational “rock” of the Church is linguistically and theologically flawed. Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:18 — “You are Peter [Petros], and on this rock [Petra] I will build my Church” — hinge on two different Greek terms. “Petros” refers to a small stone, while “Petra” means a large, foundational rock and is used elsewhere in the Bible to refer to Christ Himself, as in Ephesians 2:20: “Jesus Christ Himself [is the] chief cornerstone.” This verse also affirms that the Church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,” clearly indicating that Peter was not singularly elevated above the others, but was one among many foundational figures — with Christ as the “chief cornerstone.” Taken together, these passages demonstrate that the foundation of the Church rests first and foremost on Christ, and secondarily on the collective witness of the apostles — not on Peter as an individual nor on a papal office said by mortal men to have derived from him; an office termed ‘divine’ (yet assumed by mortal men) operating from the false assumption of ‘papal succession’ and ‘divine appointment’.
Furthermore, 1 Timothy 3:5 underscores the necessity of leadership experience as the head of a family for those who aspire to lead God’s Church: “If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?”
Therefore, leaders lacking such experience are decidedly unqualified by biblical standards. Should Scripture itself fail to satisfy the reader, then leave it to proper historical context to fill in the blanks: this context not only implies that men are assumed to be (or to eventually become) fathers and husbands, but it also includes an expectation that all men are to become leaders of their families; thus, just as every man is expected to breathe, so too is every Church leader expected to have already proven himself as the leader of his family.
Given this necessity, the Latin Rite’s requirement of celibacy is not just extra-biblical but impractical; and it is also in disagreement with the First Epistle to Timothy, which, in 1 Timothy 4:3, cautions believers to be wary of the sinister influences of those who “forbid people to marry,” and, in 1 Timothy 3:2, commands that “A bishop must then be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach…” and (per 1 Timothy 3:4) “one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence.”
Additionally, 1 Timothy 6:3–5 warns against those who promote doctrines betraying godliness, stating, “Anyone who teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wrangling of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain”; believers are urged to avoid these kinds of men. This passage calls into question any theory that places unquestionable Divine Authority on fallible mortal men. Indeed, history decrees that the Pope of the Catholic Church — having often failed morally and doctrinally, and having been consistently unmarried and childless and tending toward clerical mismanagement, wars of destruction, and extra-biblical politics and political participation that undermines Christian teachings and interferes in the deeply spiritual and personal connections between man, Scripture, and Christ — is thereby devoid of any biblical or moral basis for authority in the Church.
Ultimately, when Jesus handed Peter “the keys” to the Church, it was in appointing him as the man in the flesh to guide and influence in the name of Christ; it was in granting the Church power to declare forgiveness or retain sin, each exercised through preaching, absolution, and church discipline; it was not to give Peter or anybody else sole authority over the Gospel or the world’s believers, nor to secure for one man the sole authority to subvert or distort the Word of God, or the absolute power to corrupt absolutely or singlehandedly destroy the Church — and it was most assuredly not to grant any office or Pope sole and unquestioned authority over the worldwide church of believers who, through the mass distribution of the Bible, have themselves taken possession of the true “key.” The “keys”, as they are referenced in Matthew 16:19, represent a high responsibility rather than unquestioned centralized authority over the Gospel; and, likewise, the limits attending the appointment of Church leaders are much the same — that Christ alone is the true head of the Church and the ultimate authority in matters of faith.
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