St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture

texts contradictory to it can be produced. But so far is it from the case that texts considered in themselves contradict it, that, on the contrary, they immediately express it of themselves, and can be distorted from it only by violating all the laws of interpretation. Accordingly, that view of the texts about Peter, which establishes his Primacy, is wonderfully confirmed by analogy, and by its harmony with what the Scriptures tell us of the Church, as instituted by Christ.

4. And nothing will be wanting to give full assurance to this confirmation, if we add the fourth or external criterion, that derived from consent of witnesses. I am not going to urge here the divine force and infallible authority of Christian tradition: I shall merely allege what no person of discretion can deny or question. The first point is, that in the actual controversy the testimony of the most ancient witnesses cannot be disregarded: and the second, that it carries the very strongest prejudice in favour of whichever interpretation it supports.

Now here we have to do first, with the interpretation of a series of dogmatic texts; and, secondly, with a point of doctrine, which, being of the utmost moment, could not be unknown to any one. But are these matters on which ancient witnesses, such as the Christian Fathers, and ecclesiastical writers, can be safely past by unheard? If it were a matter of geography, chronology, or archæology, one might allow it, though with regret: but this is out of the question, in a matter of dogmatic texts, and those relating to a most important doctrine. For notorious is the zeal with which the ancient Fathers laboured to preserve and interpret the dogmatic texts of Scripture. We know their care to prevent the introduction of new and false interpretations, and new and false doctrines thence arising. And we know that, together with the Scriptures, they received from the Apostolic teaching the kindred power of interpreting them. For, as Origen remarked, "Since there are many who think that they believe what is of Christ, and some of them believe what is different from those before them, yet, since the preaching of the Church is preserved, as handed down by the order of succession from the Apostles, and to the present day abiding in the Church, that verity alone is to be believed, which in nothing is discordant from the ecclesiastical and Apostolical tradition."[29]

Moreover, can it seem safe to enter upon a track most divergent from that which the Apostles marked out, and the Christian people constantly followed? S. Paul[30] taught us to listen to witnesses, and Christendom, whether assembled in council, or everywhere diffused, was content to depend on them. Most clear is what is said on this point about the Fathers at Nicea[31] and Ephesus,[32] and no less so the words of Leontius[33] of Byzantium, John Cassian,[34] Theodoret,[35] Augustine,[36] Jerome,[37] Epiphanius,[38] Basil,[39] Origen,[40] Tertullian,[41] Clement[42] of Alexandria, and the oldest of all, Irenæus,[43] who says, "The true knowledge is

the doctrine of the Apostles, and the ancient state of the Church in the whole world, and the character of the body of Christ, according to the succession of bishops, by which they handed down the Church, which is in every place, which hath reached even to us, being guarded without fiction, with a most full interpretation of the Scriptures, admitting neither addition nor subtraction, and the reading without falsification, and legitimate and diligent exposition according to the Scriptures, without danger, and without blasphemy, and the chief gift of charity, which is more precious than knowledge, more glorious than prophecy, more eminent than all graces." For, as he says elsewhere, "We ought to learn the truth, where the gifts of the Lord are placed; among whom is that succession of the Church, which is from the Apostles, sound and irreproachable conversation, and discourse unadulterated and incorrupt. For these maintain that faith of ours in one God, who made all things: these increase that love towards the Son of God, who has made for our sake so great dispositions: these explain to us the Scriptures without peril."

And, besides, where is the Protestant who does not praise the Hebrew illustrations of Lightfoot, Schoettgen, and Meuschen? or who does not at least make much of the commentaries of Aben Ezra, Kimchi, Jarchi, and others, in the interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures? They all see the advantage of approaching such sources of information, and using them for their own purpose. But are we to refuse to the Fathers, and ancient doctors of the Church the deference which we allow to Rabbins and Thalmudists? This is at least a reason for hearing the testimony of the Fathers.

And if it be concordant, constant, and universal, it most powerfully recommends that scriptural interpretation, which agrees with it. In this, all Catholics without exception, and the most judicious and learned Protestants, are agreed. In good truth, it would be incredible that an interpretation could be false, which was adopted unanimously by the Fathers of every age and country. And it ought to be as incredible to find any one so conceited, as not to be greatly moved by the witness and consent of Christian antiquity.

One point of enquiry remains, whether the Fathers have given their opinion, and that unanimously, on Peter and the texts, which relate to him. But their words[44] inserted in the foregoing pages entirely terminate this controversy, and show that they were all of the mind expressed by Gregory the Great, in these words, which, it is well to remember, were directed to the supreme civil authority of those days, for he tells the emperor:

"To all who know the Gospel, it is manifest that the charge of the whole Church was entrusted by the voice of the Lord to the holy Apostle Peter, Prince of all the Apostles. For to him it is said, 'Peter, lovest thou Me? Feed My sheep.' To him is said, 'Behold, Satan hath desired to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not; and do thou, one day, in turn, confirm thy brethren.' To him is said, 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church,' &c. Lo, he hath received the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the power of binding and loosing is given to him, the care and the chiefship of the whole Church is committed to him."[45]

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.

72

Passaglia, p. 442. n. 38.

73

[Greek: O tou Theou Logos enênthrhôpêsen H hina hêmeis theopoiêthômen.] St. Athan. de Incarn. Factus est Deus homo, ut homo fieret deus. St. Aug. Serm. 13, de Temp.

74

S. Chrys. Tom. vii. 786. Hom. 82, in Matt.

75

Tom. viii. 525. Hom. 88, in Joan.

76

Hom. 3, de Pœnitentia. Tom. ii. 300.

77

Passaglia, p. 48, 9.

78

Passaglia, p. 68.

79

Eph. i. 10.

80

2 Pet. i. 14.

81

Passaglia, p. 69.

82

1 John v. 6, 7.

83

Luke ix. 32.

84

Matt. xxviii. 36.

85

Mark v. 35.

86

Passaglia, p. 72.

87

Matt. xvii. 23.

88

On Matt. Hom. 58, n. 2.

89

Origen on the text, in Matt. Tom. xiii. 14.

90

S. Chrysostome on the text, Hom. 58, Tom. 7, p. 587.

91

Passaglia, p. 77, note 38.

92

Luke xviii. 34.

93

Passaglia, p. 78.

94

Matt. xviii. 2.

95

Luke xxii. 25.

96

Passaglia, p. 77.

97

Matt, xx. 20.

98

[Greek: Hêgoumenos.]

99

John xiii. 13.

100

Passaglia, p. 82.

101

Matt. xxiii. 8.

102

John chps. x., xiii., xvii.

103

Dialog. cont. Lucif. n. 9.

104

St. Cyprian, Ep. 46.

105

Passaglia, p. 89.

106

[Greek: exêtêsato]. The word in classic Greek has this force.

107

Serm. 4, c. 3.

108

Rom. xvi. 25; 2 Cor. i. 21; 1 Pet v. 10.

109

Col. ii. 6; 1 Cor. i. 7; 2 Thess. ii. 16.

110

John xvi. 13; xiv. 16, 26; Eph. iii. 16.

111

Passaglia, p. 563.

112

1 Pet. v. 10.

113

Apoc. iii. 2.

114

Rom. xvi. 25; 1 Thess. iii. 13; 2 Thess. ii. 17; 1 Pet. v. 10.

115

Rom. i. 11.

116

Apoc. iii. 2.

117

S. Cyprian, Ep. 55.

118

As far as the words by themselves go, it is the opinion of the best commentators that they may be equally well rendered, "And thou, when thou art converted," or, "And thou, in thy turn, one day," &c. But as it is impossible to bring a discussion turning on a Hebrew idiom conveyed in a Greek word before the English reader, we must here restrict ourselves to the proof arising from the sense and context. And here one thing alone, among several which may be urged, is sufficient to prove that the sense preferred in the text, "And thou in thy turn one day confirm thy brethren," is the true one. For the other rendering supposes that the time of Peter's conversion would also be the time of his confirming his brethren; whereas this was far otherwise. He was converted by our Lord looking on him that same night shortly after his denial, and "immediately went out and wept bitterly." But he did not succeed to the charge of confirming his brethren till after our Lord's ascension. It must be added that the collocation of the original words [Greek: kai su pote epistrepsas stêrixon] is such as absolutely to require that the joint action indicated by them should belong to the same time, and that an indefinite time expressed by [Greek: pote]. Now this would be false according to the rendering, "And thou, when thou art converted, confirm thy brethren," for the conversion was immediate and definite, the confirmation distant and indefinite; whereas it exactly agrees with the rendering, "And thou in thy turn one day confirm thy brethren."

Those who wish to see the whole controversy admirably drawn out may find it in Passaglia, b. 2, ch. 13.

119

Mansi. Concilia, x. 894.

120

Baronius, Annal. a. d., 817, xxi.

121

Passaglia, p. 545.

122

Passaglia, p. 547.

123

Passaglia, p. 571.

124

For which see hereafter, ch. 7.

125

Eph. iv. 11.

126

Petrus uti audivit, vos autem quid me dicitis? Statim loci non immemor sui, primatum egit; primatum confessionis utique, non honoris; primatum fidei, non ordinis. Ambros. de Incarn. c. 4, n. 32, Tom. 2, p. 710.

127

Ep. 190, vol. 1, p. 649.

128

Observe the exact identity with S. Cyprian's expression nine hundred years earlier, quoted p. 55.

129

Twenty-fifth letter among those of St. Leo.

130

Con. Symmachum, Lib. 2, v. 1.

131

Sermon 76.

132

Hom. 88, on John.

133

Encom. in Petrum et cœteros Apostolos.

134

Cat. xi. n. 3. [Greek: ho prôtosthatês tôn Apostholôn kai tês ekklêshias koryphaios khêryx.]

135

Mark xvi. 16; John iii. 18; Rom. iii. 3, &c.

136

Ambros. in Ps. 1. n. 30.

137

Mansi, Tom. viii. 746.

138

De unitate Ecclesiæ, 3.

139

Passaglia, p. 93.

140

Matt. xvi. 16.

141

Matt. x. 1; Mark iii. 13-15; Luke vi. 12-13; Matt. xviii, 18.

142

John xvii. 12.

143

Mark xvi. 6.

144

1 Cor. xv. 1-9.

145

Matt. xxviii. 18; Mark xvi. 15; Luke xxiv. 49; Acts i. 4-8; John. xx. 21.

146

De unitate ecclesiæ, 3.

147

Mark i. 16; Luke v. 3.

148

Mark iv. 38; Luke viii. 24.

149

John vi. 21.

150

John xxi. 1-14.

151

St. Augustine's 122nd discourse on St. John, who has thus set forth this chapter: "Piscis assus Christus est passus."

152

Ezech. xxiv. 33; Isai. xl. 9-11; Mich. v. 2; Matt. ii. 6; John x. 11, 14, 16.

153

Acts xx. 28; 1 Pet. v. 10; Matt. xxviii. 19; Mark xvi. 15.

154

Bossuet, sermon on unity.

155

Acts xx. 28; 1 Pet. v. 10; Ps. ii. 9; Apoc. xix. 15; ii. 27.

156

[Greek: Poimahinein] used in the text of John, and in all these.

157

Bossuet, sermon on unity.

158

St. Jerome.

159

Amoris sui veluti vicarium.

160

In Lucam, Lib. 10, n. 175.

161

St. Chrys. in Joan. Hom. 88, p. 525-7; and De Sacerdot. Lib. 2, Tom. 1. p. 372.

162

St. Leo. Serm. 4.

163

St. Basil, Constit. Monas. xxii. Tom. 2, p. 573.

164

St. Cyprian, de unit. 3.

165

Stephen of Dora, in the Lateran Synod, a. d., 649. Mansi, x. 893.

166

Passaglia, p. 106.

167

Passaglia, p. 109.

168

Matt. x. 2-5; Mark iii. 16-19; Luke vi. 14-17; Acts i. 13.

169

St. Chrysostome on Matt. Hom. 32.

170

Origen on John, Tom. 32, n. 5, T. 4, p. 413.

171

1 Paral. xxvii. 33; Neh. xii. 45; 2 Paral. xxvi. 20.

172

Matt. xx. 27; Luke xv. 22; 1 Tim. i. 15.

173

Matt. xvii. 1; Mark v. 37; xiii. 3; xiv. 33; Luke viii. 51; xxii. 8; John xxi. 2.

174

De Consensu. Evang. Lib. 2, c. xvii. n. 39.

175

Mark i. 36; Luke viii. 45; Matt. xii. 3; Mark ii. 25; xvi. 10.

176

Luke ix. 32; Matt. xxvi. 40.

177

Matt. xvii. 24.

178

De Præsc. c. 22.

179

John xiv. 8; xi. 16.

180

Matt. xviii. 21; John xiii. 6.

181

Passaglia, p. 134.

182

Matt. xix. 23.

183

John vi. 67.

184

Luke xii. 41.

185

In Matt. Hom. 54.

186

Passaglia, p. 510.

187

Passaglia, p. 518.

188

These testimonies have been set forth at length in another work, "The See of St. Peter, the Rock of the Church," &c. Pp. 97-118.

189

Serm. 4.

190

Matt. xviii. 1; xx. 20; Luke xxii. 24.

191

Bossuet, Sermon on unity.

192

[Greek: poimahinein], gubernare, to govern, the particular word which our Lord employs to convey His powers to Peter, is also the particular word which gives such offence to temporal governments, when acted on by Peter: [Greek: bhoskein], pascere, to feed, they find more endurable, and probably they would all be content, from the heathen Roman emperors to the present day, to allow the Church to feed, so long as they are allowed to govern the faithful. The objection on the part of the Church is, that our Lord gave both to Peter.

193

Passaglia, p. 591.

194

[Greek: ho katartismos tôn hagiôn]. Eph. iv. 12.

195

Petavius, de Ecc. Hier. Lib. 3, c. 14.

196

St. Cyprian de unitate, c. 3. St. Aug. to Pope Innocent, Ep. 177, n. 19. Pope Innocent to the Councils of Carthage and Numidia.

197

Mansi x. 919.

198

St. Aug. Serm. 46. St. Leo, Epistle 10.

199

St. Optatus, cont. Parm. Lib. 2, c. 6.

200

Lib. 3, c. 12.

201

De Petro Apostolo, Hom. 4.

202

Ad Eugenium Toletanum.

203

Mausi, Concil. T. xii. 972.

204

Passaglia, p. 138.

205

Passaglia, p. 140. St. Chrys. in Acta, Hom. 1.

206

St. Chrys. Hom. in Ascens., and on Acts, Tom. 3, p. 773.

207

Acts xvii. 28-9, and compare 1 Cor. xii. 12-17 with Eph. iv. 16.

208

Dionys. de Cœl. Hier. cap. 1, § 3.

209

S. Cyril. Thes. lib. 34, p. 352, and lib. 9, on John, p. 810.

210

Passaglia, p. 143.

211

Passaglia, p. 144.

212

Acts i. 13; ii. 14; iii. 1-3; iv. 19; viii. 14.

213

Acts i. 15; ii. 14, 37; iii. 4; v. 29.

214

Acts ii. 13, 37, 38; iii. 11, 12.

215

St. Chrysostome.

216

Euthalius, apud Zaccagnium, p. 410.

217

On Acts, Hom. 21, n. 2.

218

Hom. on beginning of Acts, n. 8. Tom. 3, 764.

219

Passaglia, p. 148.

220

Ps. lxix. 26; cviii. 8.

221

Hom. 3, in Act. n. 1, 2, 3.

222

[Greek: authentikôs.]

223

[Greek: authentei.]

224

Acts 2.

225

On the Acts, Hom. 4, n. 3.

226