Does the Bible say that the Pope has inherited apostolic authority from Peter?

Question

The idea that Jesus appointed Peter as the first pope is not supported in this verse or in any other New Testament passage.

I can't find one occasion when Peter claimed authority over the other apostles and there is no one in the first century took to himself the authority that the Roman Catholic Church claims for the Pope. The nearest I've found is Constantine's title of Pontifex Maximus.

Charles,

To understand Matthew 16:17-18 correctly you need to consider two statements made by the apostle Paul about the foundation of the church.

1st, he declared that the body of Christ is "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone" ( Ephesians 2:20 ).

Neither of these passages indicates that Peter is the foundation of the church. As one of the apostles, he is included, but he receives no special recognition.

2nd, in 1 Corinthians 3:10-11 Paul referred to himself as a builder erecting a superstructure on Jesus Christ, who is the foundation of the church.

J.P.,

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 2 Timothy 3:16

Psalms 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

Our beliefs must rest solidly on the teachings of the Holy Bible. Jesus said, "word is truth" (John 17:17).

What about other books like the Book of Mormons, Catholic & Orthodox Book of Catechism, Islamic Quran, etc,?

Do other books beside the bible can keep you from Sin, can lights your way, enlightens you, instructs you, purifies you, frees you and saves you?

The Purpose of the Bible is to keeps us from Sin, Lights our Way, Enlightens Us, Instructs Us, Purifies Us, Frees Us and Saves Us. II Peter 1:21

Giggly,

tell me about your Bishop?

Seven of 26 pontiffs succumbed to vicious deaths in that era.

Throughout history, 15 popes are thought to have been murdered.

John VIII (872-882): Poisoned and clubbed to death.

Adrian III (d.885): Foul play suspected because his body was never returned to Rome.

Stephen VI (d.897): Strangled.

Leo V (d.903): After 30 days in office, ousted by a priest, jailed then murdered.

John X (d.928): Suffocated with a pillow.

Stephen VII (VIII) (d.931): Believed to have been murdered.

Stephen VIII (IX) (d.942): Thrown into prison and brutally mutilated; died from his injuries.

John XII (d.964): Either died of a stroke while in bed with a mistress or was killed by her husband.

Benedict VI (d.974): Strangled by a priest on the orders of the Pope Boniface VII.

John XIV (d.984): After four months in jail, died of either starvation or poisoning.

Gregory V (d.999): Died suddenly, provoking rumors that he was

Then in 855, Joan (a woman) became Pope, She was stoned to death after she was discovered to be a woman.

She was suddenly gave birth during a procession from the Vatican to the Lateran Palace.

Then in 955, John XII was made Pope at age 18. He was sexually wanton and was eventually indicted on charges of incest, perjury, blasphemy and murder.

The next Pope was not one but three. Benedict IX, Sylvester III and Gregory VI all claimed to be Pope at the same time.

Pope John X was eventually murdered, supposedly by a married man who surprised John with his wife.

"YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS"

“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."

I hope this will help you think more deeper.

DougLawrence, Do you know the History of Dogma?

Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church. The unbroken line of succession beginning with the apostles and perpetuated through bishops, considered essential for orders and sacraments to be valid.
Origin: 1830–40

So tell me how can this be biblical? 1830? Jesus Christ brought no new doctrine.

Jesus Chirst himself did not found a new religious community, but gathered round him a circle of disciples and chose Apostles whom he commanded to preach the Gospel.

Please show me in biblical scripture that the Bishop is the successor for the apostles? I beat, you'll find them in man made dogma. That will be unbiblical then.

Men claiming authority from God by appealing to special revelations, some were even in­venting lineages of teachers supposedly going back to Christ or the Apostles. Give me a break!

Answer 1

Where in the Bible does Jesus definitively state, using unambiguous terms, that he is God?

We know that Peter was the first leader of the earthly church because the church was there to witness his term in office, and it duly recorded it.

Due to the persecutions, there were also 4 other popes in office by the end of the 1st century alone, although the office wasn't yet called by that name.

You attempt to make scripture take the place of the authentic life and practices of the church, and to rewrite history, based only on the sketchy accounts we find in the new testament, but that covers only about the first 40 years of the Church's existence, and the story is much, much bigger than that.

Ther ample evidence for Peter's primacy among the apostles, some scriptural, some practical.

That there has always been an earthly leader of the authentic Christian church is a foregone conclusion, proven by history. The same remains true to this day.

There is also ample old testament precendent for it.

Abram recieved a new name, and then a new mission. So did Simon Peter.

There was always a leader of God's people on the earth.

The old testament priesthood was organized in a hierarchical structure, with a high priest as leader, just as the pope is for the church.

Peter is the one who declares Christ, the one who steps out on the waters, the one who is reconciled by Christ after the Resurrection, the one who speaks out and baptizes at Pentecost, and the one who declares the end of the first Jerusalem Council.

Peter is also the one who set up the church in Rome, and whose bones are buried beneath the basilica named after him there, at the Vatican.

Jesus wasn't kidding when he said, "On this Rock, I will build my Church."

And all the late-day protestant rhetoric and other attempts to rewrite history will never change that fact.

Answer 2

Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom to Peter. Back in the day it was the second in charge who carried the keys...the king himself never carried the keys. All of Peter's successors in turn have charge of the church. Let's face it....every religion has its pope...irregardless of what they are actually called. For example, the head of the Assembly of God is General Superintendent Thomas E. Trask (now there's a biblical title!). The larger the organization the more you need to have final authority reside in one person. To have two or more means perhaps not having a "tie breaker" if disagreements exist.

The issue with having elected officials rather than someone named by a higher authority is that no-one in Scripture was elected to their post. No-one voted for the tax-collector Matthew. Who would? Who would have elected Judas Iscariot? Who elected Paul?

Answer 3

That's right. There's absolutely nothing in the Gospels which suggests that Christ intended anything like what the Church later became to exist. He certainly didn't believe in hierarchies - you just have to look at the washing of the Disciples' feet in John and the injunction to his disciples to always sit in the lowest place at table.

The big clash in the Middle Ages was when groups like the Cathars, the Lollards, the Waldensians, the Free Spirits, the Hussites and even the Franciscans challenged the Pope on the issue of the materialism and hierarchialism of the Church. Christ taught the Apostolic ideal of equality, anti-materialism and brotherhood in which nobody lorded it over anyone else. Indeed, I seem to remember something about the First being Last and the Last being First.

THe existence of a temporal power such as the Church is in no way born out by the Gospels. Christ says 'My kingdom is not of this world'. The whole thing is something of a lie - as are concepts like Original Sin which aren't in the Gospels at all (or indeed the New Testament!)!

Added to which the translation of the Greek into the word 'Church' is disputed. Tyndale, who wrote the first great translation of the New Testament into English, translated the word as 'Congregation', giving a completely different connotation to the word and undermining Rome's claim that Christ, in appointing Peter his chief apostle, was the first Pope.

It should also be remembered that the four Gospels of the NT were chosen by the established church who revered Peter. Other Christian movements, including many of the Gnostic ones, felt that Mary of Magdala was the chief Apostle and not Peter. Indeed several talk about Peter's fued with Mary and feeling that she should not be favoured over the men. NB I'm not pushing a Dan Brown interpretation here, just reporting what different Gospels say.

Answer 4

Here is one Place,

When Peter and Paul ( I think it was Paul but could have been another apostle) ran to the tomb, Peter was much older, and the other apostle waited for Peter to arrive before going inside. This is a sign of respect for another.

That is just one at the top of my head.

Jesus gave Peter the keys to heaven, and told him whatever sins you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever sins you loose will be loosed in heaven. What does that mean to you?

It means that Jesus appointed Peter as the leader of the Church. The Catholic Church was around for 300 years carrying on the tradition and teachings of Jesus before the Bible was compiled.

The Protestants did not appear until 1600 years after the time of Jesus, where is their authority to change laws going to come from?

I will stick to the original.....

Good Luck and God Bless!

Answer 5

861 "In order that the mission entrusted to them might be continued after their death, [the apostles] consigned, by will and testament, as it were, to their immediate collaborators the duty of completing and consolidating the work they had begun, urging them to tend to the whole flock, in which the Holy Spirit had appointed them to shepherd the Church of God. They accordingly designated such men and then made the ruling that likewise on their death other proven men should take over their ministry." < LG 20; cf. Acts 20:28; St. Clement of Rome, Ad Cor. 42, 44: PG 1, 291-300 >

864 "Christ, sent by the Father, is the source of the Church's whole apostolate"; thus the fruitfulness of apostolate for ordained ministers as well as for lay people clearly depends on their vital union with Christ . In keeping with their vocations, the demands of the times and the various gifts of the Holy Spirit, the apostolate assumes the most varied forms. But charity, drawn from the Eucharist above all, is always "as it were, the soul of the whole apostolate."

865 The Church is ultimately one, holy, catholic, and apostolic in her deepest and ultimate identity, because it is in her that "the Kingdom of heaven," the "Reign of God," already exists and will be fulfilled at the end of time. The kingdom has come in the person of Christ and grows mysteriously in the hearts of those incorporated into him, until its full eschatological manifestation. Then all those he has redeemed and made "holy and blameless before him in love," will be gathered together as the one People of God, the "Bride of the Lamb," "the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God." For "the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb."

Answer 6

On the flip side, Sola Scriptura is itself not scriptural.

Prior to 300AD and even later, there was no canon for the Bible. The choice of books in the Bible... is tradition, not scripture.

With Sola Scriptura knocked out, Sola Fide's all that's left.

------------

Yes, you can quote the Bible. But the Bible would not exist without Tradition.

You cannot be Christian without Scripture & Tradition. Anything less is a sham.

Answer 7

nope and your right he didn't infact James was the head of the church in Acts 15

What was given to the Apostles Peter being the cheif cause he was such a dynamic guy was the authorty to judge issues between members of the church. They were no longer to go to the sanhidren when they had a matter with a brother or to a secular judge but they were to ajudicate for the church.

Answer 8

Besides which, Peter was married (Matthew 8:14). Jesus paid a visit to Peter's mother-in-law.

Answer 9

Isn't it rather difficult to picture Peter allowing anyone to kneel before him, or kiss his ring?
Can you picture Peter even wearing a ring?
Peter had a wife, aren't popes supposed to be celibate?
James actually lead the church in Acts...Peter and Paul both deferred to his authority.
PEACE

Answer 10

The Catholic Church misinterpreted Matthew 16:18. Jesus was speaking to Peter about Jesus' role in the Church.

18
'And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock (if one could have witnessed the conversation, one would have seen Jesus point toward himself) I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. '

Many say that Peter is to be defined as rock. But in truth, Peter is defined as stone or pebble. The proof of what I say can be found in 1 Corinthians 10:4:

'And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.'

Jesus' intent in Matthew 18 can be clearly understood as a reference to himself and his role as the Church Rock.