If Peter was the first pope, then why did he have a wife?

Answer 1

Because he's not the first pope.

Answer 2

The celibate clergy did not come into full bloom until about 1000 A.D. There were many married priests, bishops, and popes before this time.

This idea of a celibate clergy came from the Jews, John the Baptist, Jesus, and the Apostle Paul.

The Jews. The Talmud argues that a person whose “soul is bound up with the Torah and is constantly occupied with it” may remain celibate (Maimonides, Laws of Marriage 15.3). For example, Yahweh ordered the prophet Jeremiah not to marry (Jeremiah 16:1-4). Moreover, the Essenes was a group that was active in Jesus’ time that practiced celibacy and thought by most scholars to be the authors of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

WWJD? What would Jesus do? Jesus did not marry.

John the Baptist and Jesus are both believed to have been celibate for their entire lives. Some scholars believe that the example of the Essenes influenced either or both Jesus and John the Baptist in their celibacy.

The Apostle Paul is explicit about his celibacy (see 1 Cor. 7). There is also evidence in the gospel of Matthew for the practice of celibacy among at least some early Christians, in the famous passage about becoming “eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 19:12).

The concept took many twists and turns over the years and will probably take a few more before Christ returns in glory.

A priest is "married" to the Church. Some people think that a priest who takes his duties seriously cannot take proper care of a wife and family. "A man cannot serve two masters."

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

The tradition that Peter was the first pope is rather retroactive.

In the true teachings of Jesus Christ there is no teaching that priests should not be married. There is a segment of the New Testament where Paul teaches this, but he was speaking specifically to certain missionaries, and it's been taken out of context.

After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the original church of Christ was quite spread out in different congregations all over the place. The original 12 apostles that Jesus had chosen were martyred and the congregations diverged from each other in their beliefs and practices because of the loss of their leaders. Eventually the individual congregations just became essentially their own churches and the true gospel of Jesus Christ was lost from the earth.

During this period of darkness, the Catholic church decided that the Bishop of Rome was the pope, so they just went back to whoever had been the leader of the congregation in Rome and said that those people were all popes. But it wasn't so at the time; this happened retroactively. It's my understanding that if you look up "pope" in some encyclopedias you will see asterisks next to the names of the early popes, indicating that they were called pope later.

With the death of so many of the true disciples of Jesus Christ and the fragmentation and subsequent decay of His original church, there was no organized church on the earth that had the authority to administer the things that Jesus Christ taught. This authority was restored to the earth in the 1800s through the prophet Joseph Smith, first president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith received the authority directly from John the Baptist and Peter, James, and John, the original apostles. That's why we have the authority to administer the Church of Jesus Christ today. To learn more about this, see www.mormon.org.

Answer 4

Yes, he had a wife. The Catholics are wrong on so many points. To say that Peter was any kind of Pope is not based on Scripture. It is also not part of the Bible that a person cannot get married.

It's a funny thing--a priest that molests boys gets moved around from parish to parish; but if a priest does the honorable thing and gets married, he gets the boot. Why is that?

Answer 5

Peter was the first one filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. Not a pope. That came with Catholics, when the PAGANS of Rome put up a cross and said "now we are christian"
ITS B-S

David

Answer 6

In the very early days of "The Catholic Church", both the priest ande the popes were allowed to marry. I believe that the priest's vowel to celibacy, was enacted around 900 A.D. My recollections are a bit foggy, but I do remember the "1981 Guiness Book of World's Records", had a passage, regarding the last married pope, and Popes, who had fathered children. You may wish to look for books, regarding midievel "Roman" and "European" history. I hope this helps.

Answer 7

Popes were not required to be unmarried and celebate at the time. That rule came in later, as people worried that a pope with a wife and kids would be too distracted to really care about his followers.

Answer 8

Wasn't a requirement for bishops to be celebate (still technically isn't as a non priest could be made a bishop or POPE, but this NEVER happens.

The celibacy came about in the dark ages/middle ages to discourage nepotism in the church. A good reason then an antiquated reason now.

There weren't priests in those days either, just bishops.

Answer 9

The bible for priests is written many years after Peter. At the time of Peter there was no biblical instruction about wife.

Answer 10

The requirement for Catholic priests is to be 'celibate' - which technically is just not getting married. This practice was put in place so that church lands couldn't be inherited by the children of priests, and wasn't introduced until the Middle Ages. (During this time, it was not uncommon for priests - even Popes - to have illegitimate children.) True, the requirement has evolved to include "chastity" (not having sex), but I seem to recall that the Catholic church was willing to offer exemptions to married priests of other faiths (Anglican?) who converted to Catholicism.