St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture
Now from123 what has been said, it appears that Peter in Holy Scripture is set forth as the source and principle of ecclesiastical unity under a double but cognate image, as Foundation, and as Confirmer. Of the former we will here say nothing further, but a few consequences of the latter it is desirable here to group together. I. The unity, then, which consists in the profession of one and the same faith, is conspicuous among those124 modes of unity by which Christ has willed that His Church should be distinguished. Now, first, S. Paul declares that the whole ministerial hierarchy, from the Apostolate downwards, was instituted by our Lord, for the sake of obtaining and preserving this unity. "He gave some Apostles, and some Prophets, and other some Evangelists, and other some pastors and doctors, for the perfecting" (literally, the fitting in together, the same word which S. Peter had used in his prayer, ch. v. 10,) "of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; until we all meet into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the age of the fulness of Christ."125 To this living hierarchy he expressly attributes preservation from doctrinal error, proceeding thus: "That henceforth we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive." And, secondly, this hierarchy itself was knitted and gathered up into a monarchy, and its whole force and solidity made to depend on association with Peter, to whom alone was said, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not;" to whom alone was enjoined, "And thou, in thy turn, one day confirm thy brethren."
II. Accordingly the pre-eminence of Peter is well expressed by the words,126 "Primacy of faith," "chiefship of faith," "chiefship in the episcopate of faith," meaning thereby a peculiar authority to prescribe the faith, and determine its profession, and so protect its unity and purity. This is conveyed in the words of Christ, confirm thy brethren. Thus127 S. Bernard addressed Innocent II., "All emergent dangers and scandals in the kingdom of God, specially those which concern the faith, are to be referred to your Apostolate. For I conceive that we should look especially for reparation of the faith to the spot where faith cannot128 fail. That indeed is the prerogative of this see. For to whom else was it once said, 'I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not?' Therefore what follows is required of Peter's successor: 'And thou in thy turn one day confirm thy brethren.' And this is now necessary. It is time for you, most loving father, to recognise your chiefship, to approve your zeal, and so make your ministry honoured. In that you clearly fulfil the part of Peter, whose seat you occupy, if by your admonition you confirm hearts fluctuating in faith, if by your authority you crush those who corrupt it."
III. All who have received the ministry of the word, and the charge of defending the faith and preserving unity, and are "ambassadors in Christ's name," have a claim to be listened to, but he above all who holds the chiefship of faith, and who received the charge, "Confirm thy brethren." He therefore must be the supreme standard of faith, which is just what S. Peter Chrysologus, in the fifth century, wrote to Eutyches: "We exhort you in all things, honourable brother, to pay obedience to what is written by the most blessed Pope of the Roman city; for S. Peter, who both lives and rules in his own see, grants to those who ask for it the truth of faith."129
IV. And in this prerogative of Peter, to be heard above all others, we find the meaning of certain ancient expressions. Thus130Prudentius calls him, "the first disciple of God;"131S. Augustine, "the figure of the Church;"132S. Chrysostome, "the mouthpiece of the disciples, and teacher of the world;"133S. Ephrem Syrus, "the candle, the tongue of the disciples, and the voice of preachers;"134S. Cyril of Jerusalem, "the prince of the Apostles, and the highest preacher of the truth." In these and such like continually recurring expressions we recognise his chiefship in the episcopate of faith, his being the standard of faith, and his representing the Catholic faith, as the branches are gathered up in the root, and the streamlets in the fountain.
V. Our 135Lord has most solemnly declared, and S. Paul repeated, that no one shall be saved without maintaining the true and uncorrupt faith. Of this Peter's faith is the standard and exemplar. Accordingly by the law of Christ unity with the faith of Peter is necessary to salvation. This law our Lord set forth in the words, "Confirm thy brethren." And to this the Fathers in their expressions above quoted allude.
VI. The true faith and the true Church are so indivisibly united, that they cannot even be conceived apart from each other, faith being to the Church as light to the sun. But the true faith neither is, nor can be, other than that which Peter, "the first disciple of God," "the teacher of the world," "the mouthpiece of the disciples," and "the confirmer of his brethren," holds and proposes to others. No communion, therefore, called after Christ, which yet differs from that faith, can claim either the name or dignity of the true Church.
VII. If any knowledge have a special value, it is surely that by which we have a safe and ready test of the true faith and the true Church. It is of the utmost necessity to know and embrace both, and the means of reaching them are proportionably valuable. Now that test abides in Peter, by keeping which before us we can neither miss the true faith nor the true Church. For no other true faith can there be than that which he delivers, who received the charge of confirming his brethren, nor other true Church than what Christ built, and is building still. Hence the expression of S. Ambrose,136 "where Peter is, there is the Church;" and of Stephen137 of Larissa, to Pope Boniface II. (a. d. 530.) "that all the churches of the world rest in the confession of Peter."
VIII. With all these agrees that famous and most early testimony of S. Cyprian,138 that men "fall away from the Church into heresy and schism so long as there is no regard to the source of truth, no looking to the head, nor keeping to the doctrine of our heavenly Master. If any one consider and weigh this, he will not need length of comment or argument. It is easy to offer proofs to a faithful mind, because in that case the truth may be quickly stated." And then he quotes our Lord's words to Peter, Matt. xvi. 16, and John xxi. 17, adding, "upon him being one He builds His Church." Therefore that Church can neither be torn from the one on whom she is built, nor profess any other faith, save what that one, who is Peter, proposes.
CHAPTER III.
THE INVESTITURE OF PETER
Our Lord has hitherto, while on earth,139 ruled as its visible head that body of disciples which He had chosen out of the world, and which His Father had given Him. And this body He for the first time called the Church in that famous prophecy140 wherein He named the person, who, by virtue of an intimate association with Himself, the Rock, should be its foundation, and the duration of which until the consummation of the world, He pronounced at the same time, in spite of all the rage of "spiritual wickedness in high places" against it, because it should be founded upon the rock which He should lay.
Secondly, He had, at that period of His ministry when He thought it meet, the second year, selected out of the rest of His disciples, after ascending into a mountain and continuing the night long in prayer, twelve whom He named Apostles – as before and above all sent by Him – for "He called whom He would Himself, and they came to Him," to whom "He gave authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every weakness," whom He chose also "to be with Him," His personal attendants, "and to send them to preach;" to whom, moreover, He subsequently made a promise that whatever they should bind on earth, should be bound in heaven, and whatever they should loose on earth should be loosed in heaven.141
Thirdly, as at a certain time in His ministry, that is the second year, He had selected twelve to be nearer His person than the rest of His disciples, so at a yet later time, the third year of His ministry, He had set apart one out of the twelve, to whom from the very first, and before either he, or any one, had been called to be an Apostle, or even, as it would seem, a disciple, He had given a prophetic name; whom by word and deed, in correspondence with that name, He designated to be the future Rock of His Church, to be the Bearer of the keys, which opened or shut the entrance to His mystical Holy City, to be endued with power singly to bind and to loose; and whom at last, on the very eve of His being taken away from His disciples, He pointed out as the future "First one," "Greater one," or "Ruler," among them, having, as such, had given to him a special and singular charge, after the departure of the Head, to "confirm his brethren."
It is manifest that this was all which, before His offering Himself up for the sin of the world, and the withdrawal of His visible presence thereupon ensuing, He could do for the government of His Church. For as long as He was there, the Son of Man among men, seen, felt, touched, and handled, the sacred voice in their ears, and the divine eyes gazing bodily upon them, He was not only the fountain of all headship and rule, but He exercised in His own person the highest functions of that headship and visible rule. He daily encouraged, warned, corrected, taught, united them; in short, to use His own words, "while He was with them, He kept them in His Father's name."142
But now another time, and other dangers were approaching. The sword was drawn which should "strike the shepherd," there was a fear that "the sheep would be scattered," not only for a moment, but for ever. To meet this the care of the divine guardian was necessary in a further disposition of those powers which He received at His resurrection from the dead. For henceforth His visits, as of a risen King, were to be few and sudden, when He pleased, and at times they expected not, "for forty days appearing to them and speaking of the kingdom of God," and as soon as His final injunctions had been thus royally given, "the heavens were to receive Him till the time of the restoration of all things." The Apostles could no longer "be with Him," as before, nor He "keep them," as in the days of His flesh.
How, then, does He complete the ministerial hierarchy which sprung from His own divine Person on earth, and which is to rule His Church and represent that Person from His first to His second coming?
Now, first, we must remark, that while great care is taken to make known to all the Apostles the resurrection of the Lord, yet a special solicitude is shown with regard to that one who was to be "the Ruler." Thus the angels, announcing the fact to the holy women at the sepulchre, "He is risen, He is not here, behold the place where they laid Him," add, "but go, tell His disciples and Peter, that He goeth before you into Galilee."143 The expression indicates his superior place, as when Peter, himself delivered from prison, recounted to the disciples at the house of Mark his escape, and added, "Tell these things to James and to the brethren," where no one fails to see the pre-eminence given to James, by such a mention of him, that apostle being the Bishop of Jerusalem, and so put over the brethren, and, with himself, one of those who "seemed to be pillars." Again, to Peter our Lord appeared first among the Apostles. S. Paul exhibiting a sort of sum of Christian doctrine, as he says "the Gospel which I preached unto you," begins, "I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures; and that He was seen by Cephas, and after that by the eleven." By him alone, first, then by them in conjunction with him. And further, St. Paul's words seem to express a sort of descending ratio, "Then was He seen by more than five hundred brethren at once, of whom many remain until this present, and some are fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the Apostles. And last of all He was seen also by me, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the Apostles."144 And while they were yet in doubt, and for joy could not receive the marvellous tidings, when brought by the women, as soon as our Lord appeared to Peter, their hesitation was removed, and the two disciples returning from Emmaus – themselves full of His wonderful conversation with them – "found the eleven gathered together and those that were with them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon," as the Church in her exultation repeats, where philologists tell us that the Greek and bears what is often the Hebrew meaning, and signifies "for," as if no doubt could remain any longer of their happiness, when Peter had become a witness of it.
These are indications of superiority, slight perhaps in themselves, if they stood alone, but not slight as bearing tacit witness to a fact otherwise resting on its own explicit evidence. If one of the Apostles was destined to be the head of the rest, this is what we should have expected to happen to that one, and this did happen to Peter, who is elsewhere made the head of the Apostles.
But now we come to those most important injunctions which our Lord gave to His Apostles after His resurrection, concerning the government of His Church. And here it becomes necessary to mark with the utmost accuracy what He said and what He gave to all the Apostles in common, and what to Peter in particular.
First of all, then, we may remark our Lord's care to redeem the promises which He had made to the Twelve, and to convey to them their legislative, judicial, and executive powers. These are mentioned by each of the four Evangelists, in somewhat different terms, but alike involving the distinctive apostolic powers of immediate institution by Christ, and universal mission; as Apostles they are sent, and they are sent by Christ. The form recorded in S. Matthew is, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and make disciples all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world."
The form of S. Mark is, "Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature."
S. Luke refers specially in two passages to the descent of the Holy Ghost, as being Himself as well the Divine "Gift," and the immediate worker of all graces in man, as the principle of the ecclesiastical hierarchy. "And I send the promise of My Father upon you, but stay you in the city till you be endued with power from on high." And again, "Eating together with them, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father, which you have heard," saith He, "by My mouth; for John, indeed, baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." "You shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth."
The form recorded by S. John is, "As the Father hath sent Me, I also send you. When He had said this, He breathed on them; and He said to them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."145
Now, it may be remarked that these passages of the several evangelists are identical in their force; that is, they each convey all those powers which constitute the Apostolate. These are received by all the Apostles in common, and together; and in the joint possession of them consists that equality which is often attributed by the ancient writers to the Apostles, as notably by S. Cyprian, "He gives to all the Apostles an equal power, and says, 'as the Father sent Me, I also send you.'" And again, "Certainly the other Apostles also were what Peter was, endued with an equal fellowship, both of honour and power."146
And these Apostolic powers, legislative, judicial, and executive, are afterwards referred to as exercised; as in Acts ch. xv., where the first council passes decrees which bind the Church, nay, which go forth in the joint name of the Holy Ghost, and the rulers of the Church, "It hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us;" – which are delivered by S. Paul to the cities to be kept: Acts xvi. 4 – as in Acts xx. 28, where bishops are charged to rule the Church, each over his flock, wherein the Holy Ghost has placed him – as in 1 Cor. v. 1-5, where S. Paul, "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ," excommunicates – as in 2 Cor. x. 6, where he sets forth his apostolic power – as in the Epistles to Titus and Timothy, where he sets them in authority, enjoins them to ordain priests in every city, and commands them to "reprove," or "rebuke."
And all these powers S. Peter, of course, as one of the Twelve, had received in common with the rest. The limit to them would seem to lie in their being shared in common by twelve; as, for instance, universal mission dwelling in such a body must practically be determined and limited somehow to the different members of that body, or one would interfere with the other. But there is nothing in these powers which answers to the images of "the rock," on which the Church is built, the single "bearer of the keys," and "confirmer" of his brethren, which Christ had appropriated to one Apostle.
In like manner, then, as our Lord fulfilled His promises to the Twelve, so did He those to S. Peter, and we find written the committal of an authority to him exactly answering to these images; an authority, which expresses the full legislative, judicial and executive power of the head, which can be executed by one alone at a time, and is of its own nature supreme, and responsible to none save God. It remained for our Lord to find an image setting forth all this as decisively as that of the Rock, the Bearer of the keys, and the Confirmer of his brethren.
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1
Matt. xvi. 18. – "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it," i. e., as founded on that rock. The foundation and the superstructure coexist for ever.
2
John xvii.
3
Matt. xvi. 18.
4
Matt. xxviii. 19, 20.
5
Matt. v. 14; Psalm xlvii. 2; cxxxi. 13, 14.
6
1 Tim. iii. 15.
7
John x. 11-16.
8
Eph. v. 32, 30.
9
Mark iii. 13.
10
Dan. ix. 26.
11
1 John i. 1.
12
Luke xxii. 26.
13
Vid. John i. 42; Mark iii. 16; Matt. xvi. 18; Luke xxii. 32; John xxi. 15.
14
Passaglia, p. 35-7.
15
John i. 35-42.
16
S. Chrysostome on the text. S. Cyril on John i. 42.
17
Isai. xxviii. 16; Ps. cxvii. 22; Dan. ii. 35; Zach. iii. 9; Eph. ii. 20.
18
Theodoret on Dan. ii. 34.
19
Ambrose on Luke, Lib. 6, n. 97.
20
Serm. iv. 2.
21
For the name Boanerges, which in one place is given to the two sons of Zebedy, is in the first place a joint name; secondly, it is nowhere else referred to, and does not take the place of their birth-names; thirdly, it indicates not an official dignity, but an inward disposition. We cannot doubt that such a name bestowed on the two brothers was a mark of great distinction, but, for the above reasons, it cannot come into competition with the name of Peter. See Passaglia, p. 44, n. 38.
22
Mark iii. 14; Matt. x. 1; Luke vi. 14.
23
Cont. Marcion. L. 4, c. 13.
24
Apoc. xxii. 16; iii. 7.
25
S. Chris. on Matt. 16, Hom. 54.
26
S. Leo, Serm. 3 on his anniversary.
27
Hilary of Poitiers on Matt. xv. n. 6; on Ps. cxxxi. n. 4; on the Trinity, L. 6, n. 20. Gregory Naz. Orat. 26, p. 453. Ambrose in his first hymn, referred to also by Augustine, Retract. lib. 1, c. 21, and Epiph. in ancor. n. 9.
28
Tertullian de monogam. c. 8. Origen on Ps. 1, quoted by Eusebius, Hist. I. 6, c. 25. Cyprian, Ep. 71, and Firmilian, among Cyprian's letters, 75.
29
Basil cont. Eunom. lib. 2, n. 4. Zeno. lib. 2, tract. 13, n. 2.
30
By the same.
31
Epiphan. hær. 59, n. 7.
32
August. in Ps. cont. par. Donati. Leo, serm. 98.
33
Theodoret, ep. 77.
34
Maximus of Turin, serm. pro natali Petri et Pauli.
35
Greg. Nazian. in hom. archieratico inserta.
36
Origen on Exod. hom. 5, n. 4.
37
Gallican sacramentary, edited by Mabillon, T. I. Mus. Ital. p. 343. Synod of Ephesus, act. 3.
38
Peter Chrysologus, serm. 154.
39
Ambrose on Virginity, c. 16.
40
Ambrose on Luke, lib. 4, n. 70.
41
Chrysostome, hom. on debtor of ten thousand talents, Tom. 3, p. 4.
42
Philip, legate of the Apostolic See, in Act. 3 of Council of Ephesus.
43
Council of Chalcedon, act. 3. in deposing Dioscorus.
44
For the above references see Passaglia, p. 400.
45
Vid. Passaglia, p. 54, note 47.
46
Gen. x. 25; xvii. 19; xxx. 18; xii. 51, 52.
47
Gen. xxv. 26; xxvii. 36; xxv. 25; xxv. 30; Exod. ii. 10; 1 Macc. ii. 4; Mark iii. 17.
48
Isai. vii. 3; Os. i. 4, 6, 9; Gen. v. 29; xxxii. 28; Numb. xiii. 17; Gen. xvii. 15; Matt. iii. 1.
49
Passaglia, p. 51.
50
Passaglia, p. 52.
51
Gen. xii. 1; Mark 1. 16, 17; Luke v. 10.
52
Gen. xii. 4; Mark i. 18.
53
Gen. xvii. 5; John i. 42.
54
Gen. xxii. 1; Matt. xvi. 15; John xxi. 15.
55
Gen. xxii. 10; Matt. xvi. 16; John xxi. 15.
56
Gen. xviii. 17; Acts x. 10; xv. 7; Luke xxii. 32.
57
Gal. iii. 7.
58
Gal. iii. 16.
59
Matt. i. 1.
60
Is. xxviii. 16; Eph. ii. 21.
61
Passaglia, p. 58.
62
Ps. lxxxii. 6, with John x. 34.
63
1 Cor. iii. 11.
64
Matt. xxiii. 9.
65
John xiv. 16.
66
Rom. viii. 15.
67
Rom. viii. 17.
68
1 Cor. xiii. 12.
69
John xx. 23.
70
John xiv. 12.
71
John xv. 9, 15.