Primacy of Peter in the Early Church

In many verses in the NT when the disciples of Jesus are named, we see that the authors always write the name of Peter first and in one occasion his name is said apart from the rest of disciples. The primacy of Peter is implied in the NT, in the book of Acts we can see that after great debate in the first council of the Church held between 48-50 AD, Peter rose and spoke to those who were meeting in Jerusalem and all the assembly kept silent after he finished speaking.

Acts 15:7–12 (RSV2CE)

7 And after there had been much debate, Peter rose and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us; 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

12 And all the assembly kept silence.

Another prove of the primacy of Peter is this: Jesus choose Peter to feed and guide his Church and the rest of the Apostles:

John 21:15–17 (RSV2CE)

15 ¶‡ When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 ¶ A second time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep”.

The primacy of Peter and the reason behind calling him the first Pope, is coming from the event when Jesus changes his name from Simon to Cephas “rock”, from the statement “and on this rock I will build my Church... and to you a I give the keys of the kingdom” also from these words that Jesus spoke after his resurrection “Feed my lambs... tend my sheep, feed my sheep”, but besides this, what evidence do we have from the first centuries of the Church about his primacy or his apostolic succession or about others recognising him as the chief of the apostles and the one upon whom the Church was built?

St. Ignatius of Antioch [Died c. 110 AD]

Now it occurs to me to mention, that the report is true which I heard of thee whilst thou wast at Rome with the blessed father Linus, whom the deservedly-blessed Clement, a hearer of Peter and Paul, has now succeeded.

“The Epistle of Ignatius to Mary at Neapolis, near Zarbus,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 122.

In this writing from one of the disciples of John the Apostle, it is implicit the apostolic succession, although Irenaeus’ account (disciple of Polycarp who was disciple of John the Apostle) is helpful to know that Peter and Paul worked together in the foundation of the Church of Rome, the Church Fathers coincide that Peter is the rock, which gives him the primacy.

St. Irenaeus of Lyon [125-202 AD]

Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching at Rome, and laying the foundations of the Church.

I say, by indicating that tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul… For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-eminent authority, that is, the faithful everywhere… The blessed apostles, then, having founded and built up the Church, committed into the hands of Linus the office of the episcopate. Of this Linus, Paul makes mention in the Epistles to Timothy. To him succeeded Anacletus; and after him, in the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric. This man, as he had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them, might be said to have the preaching of the apostles still echoing [in his ears], and their traditions before his eyes.

“Irenæus against Heresies,” in The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, vol. 1, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 415–416.

One of the claims of the papacy and the primacy of Peter is based in the foundation of the Roman Church and how this Church has also the primacy as Irenaeus says, “For it is matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this [Roman] Church, on account of its pre-eminent authority”. This Church is described to have an apostolic tradition about the office of the episcopate (papacy) being Linus and Clement two Popes which names are found in the Pauline Epistles, one in the Epistles to Timothy and the other in the Epistle to the Philippians.

Tertullian [155-220 AD]

Was anything withheld from the knowledge of Peter, who is called “the rock on which the church should be built,” who also obtained “the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” with the power of “loosing and binding in heaven and on earth?

“The Prescription against Heretics,” in Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. Peter Holmes, vol. 3, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1885), 253.

Hippolytus of Rome [170-235 AD]

First of all Peter, the rock of the faith, whom Christ our God called blessed, the teacher of the Church, the first disciple, he who has the keys of the kingdom, has instructed us to this effect: “Know this first, children, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts. And there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies.”

“A Discourse by the Most Blessed Hippolytus, Bishop and Martyr, on the End of the World, and on Antichrist, and on the Second Coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. S. D. F. Salmond, vol. 5, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 244.

In this work of Hippolytus (disciple of Irenaeus), from the second century AD is saying that Peter is the rock of the faith which is an allusion to the words of Jesus “And on this rock I will build my Church...”, he is described as the first disciple, he who is the only one who has the keys of the kingdom.

By this Spirit Peter spake that blessed word, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” By this Spirit the rock of the Church was stablished.

“The Discourse on the Holy Theophany,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. S. D. F. Salmond, vol. 5, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 237.

Origen [184-253 AD]

But if this promise, “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” be common to the others, how shall not all the things previously spoken of, and the things which are subjoined as having been addressed to Peter, be common to them? For in this place these words seem to be addressed as to Peter only, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,”10 etc;

“Origen’s Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew,” in The Gospel of Peter, the Diatessaron of Tatian, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Visio Pauli, the Apocalypses of the Virgil and Sedrach, the Testament of Abraham, the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena, the Narrative of Zosimus, the Apology of Aristides, the Epistles of Clement (Complete Text), Origen’s Commentary on John, Books I-X, and Commentary on Matthew, Books I, II, and X-XIV, ed. Allan Menzies, trans. John Patrick, vol. 9, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1897), 456.

As Origen describes the keys and the authority to bind and loose is in singular, not plural, therefore, Peter is who receives the keys and the authority.

St. Cyprian of Carthage [210-258 AD]

But what is the greatness of his error, and what the depth of his blindness, who says that remission of sins can be granted in the synagogues of heretics, and does not abide on the foundation of the one Church which was once based by Christ upon the rock, may be perceived from this, that Christ said to Peter alone, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

“The Epistles of Cyprian,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. Robert Ernest Wallis, vol. 5, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 394.

The Lord cries aloud, that “whosoever thirsts should come and drink of the rivers of living water that flowed out of His bosom.” Whither is he to come who thirsts? Shall he come to the heretics, where there is no fountain and river of living water at all; or to the Church which is one, and is founded upon one who has received the keys of it by the Lord’s voice? It is she who holds and possesses alone all the power of her spouse and Lord. In her we preside; for her honour and unity we fight; her grace, as well as her glory, we defend with faithful devotedness.2 We by the divine permission water the thirsting people of God; we guard the boundaries of the living fountains. If, therefore, we hold the right of our possession, if we acknowledge the sacrament of unity, wherefore are we esteemed prevaricators against truth? Wherefore are we judged betrayers of unity? The faithful, and saving, and holy water of the Church cannot be corrupted and adulterated, as the Church herself also is uncorrupted, and chaste, and modest. If heretics are devoted to the Church and established in the Church, they may use both her baptism and her other saving benefits. But if they are not in the Church, nay more, if they act against the Church, how can they baptize with the Church’s baptism?

“The Epistles of Cyprian,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. Robert Ernest Wallis, vol. 5, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 382.

St. Cyprian stated the one Church based by Christ upon the rock, who is Peter because Christ gave to Peter alone the power of binding and loosing, this alone, implies primacy. He says that this Church is one, therefore, there are no denominations or many churches, she is one Church founded upon one (Peter) who has received the keys of it by the Lord’s voice, thus she holds and possesses alone all the power of her spouse and Lord. Because of all that was mentioned, Cyprians says: For her honour and unity we fight, her grace, as well as her glory, we defend with faithful devotedness acknowledging the sacrament of unity, thus, the Church herself also is uncorrupted, chaste and modest. If you think these passages are not so clear about Peter’s primacy, we can read another portion of Cyprian’s works, specially where he talks on the unity of the Church where he explains it broader:

If any one consider and examine these things, there is no need for lengthened discussion and arguments. There is easy proof for faith in a short summary of the truth. The Lord speaks to Peter, saying, “I say unto thee, that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” And again to the same He says, after His resurrection, “Feed my sheep.”5 And although to all the apostles, after His resurrection, He gives an equal power, and says, “As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they shall be remitted unto him; and whose soever sins ye retain, they shall be retained;” yet, that He might set forth unity, He arranged by His authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one. Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power; but the beginning proceeds from unity.

“On the Unity of the Church,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. Robert Ernest Wallis, vol. 5, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 422.

Saint Cyprian says, "The beginning proceeds from unity." To what unity is he referring? What he wrote just before that sentence: "To arranged by his authority the origin of that unity, as beginning from one (Peter)," that is why he previously alludes to the words of Jesus that are exclusive to Peter. Saint Cyprian also says:

There is one God, and Christ is one, and there is one Church, and one chair founded upon the rock by the word of the Lord.

“The Epistles of Cyprian,” in Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Novatian, Appendix, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, trans. Robert Ernest Wallis, vol. 5, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1886), 318.

Clearly he says there is one Church (not many), and one chair (although the commission was given to all the apostles there is one episcopal chair with authority and the keys) founded upon the rock (Peter). Scholars find in these words the universal episcopate (papacy) as one cathedra (like Moses Cathedra or the seat of Moses in the Jewish tradition), so, this chair can be called the chair of Peter, again, another writing showing the primacy of Peter.

St. Augustin of Hippo [354-430 AD]

This same Peter therefore who had been by the Rock pronounced “blessed,” bearing the figure of the Church, holding the chief place in the Apostleship,

Augustine of Hippo, “Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament,” in Saint Augustin: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. R. G. MacMullen, vol. 6, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888), 340.

St. Augustin is using one of the names given to Jesus “the Rock”, which is related to the rock in the Old Testament that became the corner stone and the rock when the Israelites were at the desert. This is the rock that Paul referred to in his first letter to the Corinthians, when he used the rabbinic tradition (it is not found this passage in the OT), to describe this supernatural Rock.

1 Corinthians 10:4 (RSV2CE)

4 ¶ and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

So, going back to what St. Augustin wrote, this same Peter (rock with lower case letter), had been by Jesus (the Rock with upper case letter) pronounced blessed, bearing the figure of Christ’s Church and the Apostle Peter is who is holding the chief place in the Apostleship, in other words, the primacy.

This is like what Pope Leo the Great wrote in the following letter:

Pope Leo the Great [391-461 AD]

as I have said, the rock (petra) of the catholic Faith, from which the blessed Apostle Peter took his name at the Lord’s hands, rejects every trace of either heresy; for it openly and clearly anathematizes Nestorius for separating the nature of the Word and of the flesh in the blessed Virgin’s conception, for dividing the one Christ into two, and for wishing to distinguish between the person of the Godhead and the person of the Manhood: because He is altogether one and the same who in His eternal Deity was born of the Father without time, and in His true flesh was born of His mother in time; and similarly it eschews Eutyches for ignoring the reality of the human flesh in the Lord Jesus Christ, and asserting the transformation of the Word Himself into flesh, so that His birth, nurture, growth, suffering, death and burial, and resurrection on the third day, all belonged to His Deity only, which put on not the reality but the semblance of the form of a slave.

“Letters,” in Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Charles Lett Feltoe, vol. 12a, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1895), 86.

But this mysterious function the Lord wished to be indeed the concern of all the apostles, but in such a way that He has placed the principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the Apostles: and from him as from the Head wishes His gifts to flow to all the body: so that any one who dares to secede from Peter’s solid rock may understand that he has no part or lot in the divine mystery. For He wished him who had been received into partnership in His undivided unity to be named what He Himself was, when He said: “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church11:” that the building of the eternal temple by the wondrous gift of God’s grace might rest on Peter’s solid rock: strengthening His Church so surely that neither could human rashness assail it nor the gates of hell prevail against it.

“Letters,” in Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, ed. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace, trans. Charles Lett Feltoe, vol. 12a, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1895), 8.

The fourth ecumenical council: The council of Chalcedon [451 AD]

Wherefore the most holy and blessed Leo, archbishop of the great and elder Rome, through us, and through this present most holy synod together with the thrice blessed and all-glorious Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith

“The Council of Chalcedeon: Session III,” in The Seven Ecumenical Councils, trans. Henry R. Percival, vol. 14, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1900), 259–260.

Conclusion

Here I have presented at least one quoting from each of the first five centuries AD, with information that implicitly or explicitly confirms the primacy of Peter and the office of the episcopate of his successors, this is the evidence we have of what we define as the Papacy. This also confirms that the Church Fathers understood the words “you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church” and “to you I give the keys of the kingdom to bind and loose” and later “feed my lambs... feed my sheep and tend my sheep” as the moment when the Church was founded on Peter and his episcopate was established directly from the words of our Lord.

Because Peter has the primacy, St. Augustin said in one place, Peter is “holding the chief place in the Apostleship”. Leo the Great said that “the Lord has placed the principal charge on the blessed Peter, chief of all the Apostles” and the fourth ecumenical council describes “Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the orthodox faith”, we can be sure that everything in the first five centuries is coherent about his role and authority and I close with what St. Irenaeus said linking the pre-eminent authority of the chair of Peter applied to the Roman Church:

“Tradition derived from the apostles, of the very great, the very ancient, and universally known Church founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul… For it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its pre-eminent authority”.

Leo Ramirez - BTh.