The Apostle Peter Research Paper

‘“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church”’ (English Standard Version, Mt. 16.18). Jesus appointed Peter as the Church’s leader upon its founding. Perhaps this is due to Peter’s outspokenness, for his profession of faith in Jesus was more profound than that of the other apostles, and he was also the only apostle to openly reprimand Jesus. “And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you’” (Mt. 16.22). Moreover, Peter serves as an example of Christ’s forgiving nature because he openly doubted Christ three times, yet Jesus favored him above the other Apostles, nevertheless. Peter’s primacy—and that of his successors, the Popes—is rooted in Christ and is the continuation of Christ’s reign on Earth. Saint Jerome asserts the Peter’s preeminence several times throughout his writings, the most notable of which was in De Viris Illustribus where he stated, “Simon Peter, the son of John, from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee, brother of Andrew the apostle, and himself chief of the apostles” (1). Jerome also explains that Peter sets the best Christian example through his humility as it is made

16.19). By giving Peter the ‘keys to the kingdom of heaven,’ Christ grants Peter absolute authority on matters of the Church’s teachings on faith and morality. This exemplifies Peter’s prevalence over the Apostles and the Church as whole, because Jesus grants this only to him. The infallibility which Jesus granted unto him is first seen during the Council of Jerusalem, when Peter suggests that the Apostolic Degree be created. Jesus’ promise to Peter also has a literal meaning in that Paul is given the keys to Heaven, leaving him to discern whether each person may or may not enter into