When I was in High School, I loved this passage because it felt like the passage that proved that Catholics were right and Protestants were wrong about the Pope. I remember that during Junior year, I had an ongoing debate happening with one of the seniors. His plans after graduation were to become a Baptist preacher, and he loved trying to win me over to his way of seeing things. I guess, to his credit, that he wanted to see me “saved.”
I couldn’t wait to talk about the Pope, because I was ready to jump on the topic, proudly proclaiming “Mt. 16:18” as a clear text giving the right foundation to this institution that is so central to the Catholic stance on doctrine and tradition.
Now, many years later, I recognize a certain risk to such an attitude when we make the faith more about polemics and less about the truth. I think the passage still tells us something important about the papacy. But I no longer think its deepest significance is winning an argument with a Baptist.
The passage is worth exploring more deeply, reflecting on what Jesus was doing when he spoke to Peter at Caesarea Philippi. Why did Jesus choose Peter, and what does that mean for our faith today?
Who Do People Say that I am?
Even before reflecting on the papacy, the passage invites us to reflect on Jesus. Who do you say that Jesus is? It kills me when people reduce the person of Christ to just another religious figure. If it is just symbolic, some human wisdom, forget it. I don’t want to give my life for a symbol nor sacrifice so much in life to pretend that I am enlightened. I am giving my life to a person.
Pope St. John Paul II reflected on this passage at the Mass beginning his pontificate, and for good reason. His pontificate, lasting over twenty-five years, would be a constant proclamation of the person of Jesus Christ, and this is who we are called to encounter through this passage.
All of you who are still seeking God, all of you who already have the inestimable good fortune to believe, and also you who are tormented by doubt: please listen once again, today in this sacred place, to the words uttered by Simon Peter. In those words is the faith of the Church. In those same words is the new truth, indeed, the ultimate and definitive truth about man: the son of the living God—”You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Pope St. John Paul II, 22 October 1978).
Through our prayer, reflection, and service, we should come into contact with the living God. Jesus is truly an historical figure, but he impacts us still today, especially through the Church and through the Eucharist. Jesus is not a guru; he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (cf. Jn. 14:6).
The Pope isn’t important in isolation. His purpose is to point us to Christ.
Peter’s Confession
At least once, Peter got it right. After hearing what other people said about Jesus, it was Peter who spoke correctly on behalf of the disciples. It is the role of the Pope to speak up for the People of God and to speak to this same Church, reminding us always who Jesus is. In spite of scandals and weak men throughout the history of the Church, we still have the unbroken witness of orthodoxy in proclaiming Jesus to be the Son of God and our Savior from sin.
When Jesus turns to the disciples and asks them their answer to the pivotal question, Peter answers in the best possible way:
“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt. 16:16).
Keeper of the Keys
Because of this tremendous answer, Jesus chose Peter to be the one. After Jesus established the Church, he chose Peter to carry out a specific role within the Christian Church after his own death. Peter, one of the Apostles who received the power of the priesthood at the Last Supper, also became the first among the Apostles. We see it in the way he is listed among the Apostles throughout the Gospels and in how his authority is respected throughout the New Testament.
Down through the centuries, there has always been someone filling the role that Peter played for the primitive Church. We call this bishop the Pope.
The Church and the Truth
It is not his role to make up doctrine, but rather to preserve the doctrine handed down from Christ through the Apostles. We call this the Deposit of Faith. We owe obedience to the Pope, not because he is perfect, not because he is a saint, not because he can never be wrong about anything, but because he receives a charismatic gift to maintain the true doctrine of the Church.
Our relationship with the Church is not ultimately about winning arguments. It is about receiving what Christ has entrusted to his Church and allowing that truth to shape the way we live.
The rock is not Peter and the keys are knowledge of the kingdom which obviously Rome does not have possesion of
THE "CHURCH FATHERS"
1 Corinthians 4:6.. ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written..
= Acts 20:28...Holy Ghost hath made YOU OVERSEERS.....29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves …not sparing the flock..30..OF YOUR OWN SELFS (🚨THE OVERSEERS!!🚨).. speaking perverse things, to draw away …
By your traditions and vain imaginations have taken the words of God and made them of no effect, rejecting & inverting the DIRECT & SPECIFIC DESCRIPTIONS of God replacing with "possible inferences", obscure extropolations & refashioning God into an "Incomprehisable", absurdities of “true faith”.
The church cannot be identified by how old its museums are. & even having the oldest physical institutions does nothing wrt validating the truth or the legitimacy of any church authority.
The spirit of God is not bound to physical lines of succession nor physical institutions.
Institutions are nice & can be valuble for socities in aggregate but they can never hold onto or be the gaurds of a spirit. That was the point in destroying the old system and world of biologicsl & institutional Israel.
GOD ORIGINSLY HAD USED THE VERY PEOPLE (THAT WERE SO WICKED HE DESTOYED THEM ALL) TO “PRESERVE THE SCRIPTURES…. NAMELY ISREAL. …. THAT FACT DID NOT VALIDATE THEIR RIGHTEOUSNESS NOR THEIR “AUTHORITY” IN INTERPRETATIONS …. THEY UNDERSTOOD THEM SO WELL THAT THEY REJECTED & KILLED THEIR OWN MESSIAH……. PHYSICAL INSTITUTIONS NEVER VALIDATED THE TRUTH OR INTERPRETATIONS ….
PRESERVATION IS / WAS A GOD FUNCTION NOT A “ACHIEVEMENT BY GREAT MEN OR (INSTITUTIONS) OF GOD
People have no absolultly clue what the gospel is but they argue about translations. If people knew what the message was they wouldnt be arguing nonsense over most translations or "who gave us this book" because all the people that lay claim to its preservation obviously had no idea what it is they preserved
God never promised a infalable book for His people. Nor is Jesus who is the word a bible!?! However, his message is found in the writtings and compilations of the writtings of various men some greater then others. Gods preservation is not an accomplishment of man NOR does it require infalable books sent down from heaven floating on a cloud of infalability. God is smart enough to preserve his message within the pages of compilations & writtings of mere mortals.
if someone had been rewriting & trying to preserve a fake or random word of God, they obviously had no idea what they created with the Bible we do have. Because, what we have is clearly 180⁰ from what IS taught, practiced & or even widely known.
preservation of scripture is a GOD FUNCTION not a human achievement through time with men of unknown righteousness or position wrt to Gods favor..
HISTORY & “AUTHORITY” IS NOT WHAT VALIDATES TRUTH….. LIKE A JIGSAW PUZZEL A BLIND MAN CAN PUT TOGETHER CORRECTLY & KNOW ITS TRUE WITHOUT “AUTHORITY” TO TELL HIM BRCAUSE THE ONE CORRECT SOLUTION IS INTRINSIC TO THE PUZZLE NOT THE ONE PUTTING IT TOGETHER OR ANY OUTSIDE “AUTHORITY” ……..
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