Following the directives of Jesus after his resurrection and ascension, his followers reached out to foreign parts of the world. Christianity did not automatically march into Rome to become its main religion replacing the paganism, superstitions, and philosophies that had run rampant among the intellectuals. The apostles and believers for centuries were persecuted by kings and emperors. In reviewing our text for today, there arose an immediate confusion what Jesus meant. Did Jesus really intend to build his church on Peter? Did he impart to him the right of the first pope? Did the leaders of Christianity gain their positions as successors to Peter?
To help answer these questions, we must look to the text and see how it unfolded in the historical drama of Christianity. Peter did not assume any authority as a Pope. In fact, he was recognized as a leader but himself was martyred without a successor. To understand what Jesus meant when he said upon this rock I will build my church, we must look to the Greek text. The vernacular of the Greek language did not reflect back onto Peter. It actually reflected onto the confession that Peter made that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Just by the fact that Peter assumed the same obligations and efforts to evangelize as all the other disciples, it demonstrates that there was no direct line between Peter and any position later to be known as Pope 300 years later. Unfortunately, it is believed by some that the dictates of the Pope while sitting on his throne supersedes Holy Scripture.
Initially, churches grew under the direction of the Holy Spirit. There were no priests or church officials of any kind. Any meeting or ceremony fell on the management of those men recognized as elders who were active in the congregation. Soon, concerns arose that as more congregations came into being, there were issues that individual congregations could drift apart from each other in matters of doctrine and practice. It became clear that they needed some kind of leader. Using a pattern of Scriptures for the appointment of deacons whose job was to administer the ordinary daily affairs of church, they followed the example of the Roman Empire.
An individual was recognized as an overseer or episcopus from which we today get the word Bishop. By the end of the second century, it was obvious that they needed clergy who would be set aside as real priests. For several centuries the congregation chose their own bishops who was able to develop a monarchial power within the church. As time went on, a new position called Archbishop was selected for their location to the Roman capital. These were men who were called metropolitans. They met from time to time and held councils. Because the Bishop of Rome had a particular position regarded as the head of the church located in the capital city of the Empire, other bishops elsewhere in the Empire claimed to be equal in authority. Ambrose who was a bishop in Milan in the fourth century was the most influential bishop of his day. Later, it was accepted within the churches that because of this verse we have cited, Jesus delegated some special authority to Peter which would include to any successor. This became known as the apostolic succession. It must be noted that there was no Bishop or Pope at the time of Peter. It must also be noted that there were no popes in existence for several centuries until the church decided that that should be the location and home of church authority under the direction of the designated Bishop or Pope of Rome.
You can see by comparing history to Scriptures, there was a major jump of assumptions that Jesus intended Peter to be the head of the church when history tells us he was only the Bishop of Rome and suffered martyrdom. He had no successor to immediately follow him that would validate apostolic succession. Emperor Valentinian III of Ravenna conferred upon a bishop full authority over all the bishops in the empire. He became known as Pope Leo who demanded explicit obedience for his final decisions in matters of doctrine. In 367 A.D. the influential patriarch of Alexandria declared that the present New Testament books should be accepted as canonical, leaving out others without authority. In the year 325 A.D. Constantine summoned the Council of Nicaea where he presided in person. The district gathered together and formed what became known as the Nicene Creed. In addition to these steps the leaders of the church found it necessary to differentiate between various questions such as the identity of Christ and his relationship with the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus also said in verse 19 that he would give the keys of the kingdom of heaven for whatever he would bind would be bound in heaven as well as earth and vice a versa. But what did Jesus mean when he said the keys? Did he say that to Peter alone or those present also? This extended to other apostles and believers at the time. Peter demonstrated no authority as it related to forgiveness or any other function mentioned in that verse. The keys for the binding and loosing was a shared authentication by the early believers so that new converts would gain an understanding of forgiveness, death and the place of the departed. We know this because later, Scriptures detail that those other than Peter performed miracles and authority equal to him as directed by Jesus.
Let us outline what we are saying. Jesus said in that verse that he was the founder of the church. He wanted his followers to fulfill his ministry after he ascended to heaven by the way outlined for forgiveness and the denial of forgiveness or the binding and losing of spiritual details. (This question will be dealt with in another blog ) Nowhere in Scripture did Peter declare himself the leader of the church. Nowhere in Scripture did any other follower of Christ recognize him as the head of the church. In fact, James was the head of the council in Jerusalem that dealt with questions regarding salvation. Nowhere in Scripture or in history does it say that members of the clergy had a succession that could be traced back to Peter. All authority was given to all the believers so that anywhere and everywhere outreach would be accomplished. It would have been totally cumbersome at that time to rely on a single leader while the other apostles and evangelists were extended into further parts of the world. Not until approximately the year 300 A.D. did the church become more organized and later have a central leader. Today Protestants do not recognize the authority of the Pope because they claim that authority goes beyond which Jesus intended. We all have the responsibility to represent Christ in whatever option or opportunity he gives to us for the salvation of souls. We may not perform the miracles of the early saints, but we still have the obligation and responsibility for the outreach of converts.
Christian Writer 