3173.—The Oldest Church
By Editor
The Roman Catholics claim on the ground of Matt. 16:18 that Peter was the first pope, and it seems to look that way. Will you please explain? W. P. M. This has been explained often in the SIGNS. The text teaches nothing of the kind. Jesus had inquired of His disciples as to who men said that He was, and they had told Him the different opinions that men expressed. He asked His disciples, "But whom say ye that I am?" and Peter, impressed by the Spirit, said, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." What did Jesus reply? He said that flesh and blood had not revealed that to him. It is not something which Peter had found out or which he by any superiority had learned, but the Father in heaven revealed it, and because of this Jesus said, "I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter [stone], and upon this Rock [this One whom thou hast confessed] I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." Peter himself tells us in the first part of the second chapter of his first epistle who the Rock is,—the One on whom we are builded, and that is Christ; and that those who are builded in Christ are simply living stones. Paul expresses the same thing when he declares that there is but one Rock on which we can build, and that is the Rock Christ Jesus. 1 Cor. 3:11. So the Rock on which God's church is built is Christ; and every one who confesses Christ, yielding himself to Him as did Peter, is a living stone upon that Rock. See also the last part of Ephesians 2, and many other scriptures. "The keys of the kingdom of heaven" simply means the opening of the door of the kingdom to others. God graciously granted the privilege of that to Peter. He first preached the Gospel on the Day of Pentecost, showing just what that Gospel meant, to the Jews; and he also preached it to the Gentiles down in the house of Cornelius, according to Acts 10, thus opening to both Jews and Gentiles the Gospel of Christ. In other words he was a man having keys, who unlocked treasure-houses to masses of waiting and needy people. But that Peter was superior to the other apostles is emphatically denied. Read what the apostle Paul says in Gal. 2:7-14 of Paul's rebuke to Peter. Again the apostle declares that he was "not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles." 2 Cor. 11:5. If Peter had been the first pope, it would naturally seem that he would preside at the councils of the church. The first council was held at Jerusalem, the account of which is given in the fifteenth chapter of Acts; but while Peter was present at that council, he himself did not preside, nor did he give sentence. It was James who presided, and it was James who gave the sentence of the council. Then as to the binding and the loosing. That is true of every true minister of Christ who preaches God's Word. It is explained by the prophets, as for instance Jer. 1:10. The Lord tells the young prophet that "I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant." How did he do it? This is explained in the 18th chapter, verses 7-10. The power is in the Word of God which the prophet proclaimed. If the nation that the Lord had thought to destroy would heed that Word, the Lord would turn from His wrath and save the nation; but if the nation which He sought to save turned from righteousness, that nation itself would be destroyed. And so when the apostles went out and preached the Gospel of Jesus, he that believed should be saved, but he that believed not should be condemned. So in the very word that they preached there was the condemnation or the salvation, the binding or the loosing. And only so has God placed that gift in His church.