Thursday, November 11, 2010
It might help to understand the Papacy and the role of the Pope, by first looking back to the Old Testament and our salvation history.
All throughout salvation history, God has raised up leaders for His chosen people, i.e. Moses, David and Abraham. These leaders spoke on behalf of God with His full authority to speak. They taught and directed the chosen people in the practice of their beliefs, in determining right from wrong and in making moral decisions.Peter was singled out in the scriptures as the first in authority among the apostles. Peter is generally mentioned first when Christ speaks of the apostles (Matthew 10:1-4, Mark 3:16-19, Luke 6:14-16, and Acts 1:13). Peter also speaks on behalf of the apostles in several instances (Matthew 18:21, Mark 8:29, Luke 12:41 and John 6:69). Peter is also the first to speak at Pentecost!
When our Lord first chose Peter, his name was Simon. Our Lord changed it to Peter which in and of itself is no small statement by our Lord. For the Jews of that time, a change in name was very significant. Consider those who had their names changed by God the Father, i.e. Abram to Abraham.
When Peter made his profession of faith in Matthew 16:16, that Jesus was the Son of the living God, Jesus responded in a unique way. He declared to Peter that he was rock and on this rock He would build HIS church. That the gates of hell would not prevail against it. He would give Peter the keys of the kingdom and what he bound on earth would be bound in heaven and what he loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven. After the resurrection, Peter was asked by our Lord three times to confirm his love and then he was instructed three times to feed His sheep. There can be no doubt about this responsibility or this authority since it was given directly by Christ to Peter.
Why would Christ give such responsibility and authority to a man who would follow him to the Father relatively soon? What is it that Peter could do in his short lifetime that Christ had not already accomplished? If we take Christ's promises to Peter seriously and if we trust in the Old Testament as a prefiguring of the events of the New Testament, it is not to hard to conclude that the authority given to Peter was indeed to be passed on to his successors in order to have an authoritative teacher as Christ's representative here on earth.
