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The pope and Peter

Did Jesus make Peter the head of the church, and does the bishop of Rome hold that office today?

The passage it turns on

Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.” Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he was Jesus the Christ.

Matthew 16:13-20In context. Near Caesarea Philippi Jesus asks the Twelve who he is. Peter answers, ‘the Christ, the Son of the living God’. Jesus blesses him, names him Peter, speaks of a rock, an assembly, keys, binding and loosing, then tells them to tell no one.

Jesus renames Simon “Rock” and in the same breath builds on “this rock” and hands him the keys. In Aramaic, which Jesus spoke, both words are kepha. The keys echo Isaiah 22:22, where a steward holds the king’s authority over the house. An office like that outlives its first holder.

The rock is what Peter has just confessed, Jesus himself as Christ and Son of God, or Peter as the one confessing it, speaking for all twelve. The binding and loosing of verse 19 is given to the whole assembly two chapters later (Matthew 18:18). Peter is first, but nothing here says Rome, or successor.

Press a reading to put the lamp behind the words that side leans on. The passage does not change.

What each side holds

Catholics hold that Jesus gave Peter a real office, that the bishops of Rome have held it since, and that the pope can, in defined conditions, teach without error. Most Protestants hold that Peter had a real leading place among the apostles, and that nothing in the New Testament makes that place an office passed on in one city. Both sides read the same five passages.

The points people make

Peter is the rock, and holds the keys

So then you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom the whole building, fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22In context. Paul to the Ephesians on what Gentile believers now are: fellow citizens, a household built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself the chief cornerstone.

Scripture states it. Jesus renames Simon, says “on this rock I will build my assembly”, and gives him the keys. In the usual sense of the wordplay the rock is Peter, as many Protestant scholars also hold; the confession and Christ readings need the referent to shift in mid-sentence. Binding and loosing is given to the disciples together (Matthew 18:18), and Paul names the apostles and prophets as the foundation, with Christ the cornerstone. Scripture is silent on the keys passing to a successor.

The Catholic reading

Jesus renames Simon and says he will build on “this rock”; a new name in Scripture marks a new role (Abram, Jacob). Then he gives him the keys, which in Isaiah 22:22 belong to the steward over the king’s house, an office refilled when its holder dies.

“The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church 881

The Protestant reading

The fathers read the rock three ways: Peter, Christ, and the confession. If the rock is Peter, he is a foundation stone laid once, like the other apostles in Ephesians 2:20. Revelation 3:7 gives the key of David to Christ himself, and after Pentecost and Cornelius the keys are never mentioned again.

“we err if we say that Peter himself is not in any sense a rock upon which the church is built”

Ligonier devotional, Peter, the Rock, 2008

Feed my sheep, strengthen your brothers

So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself, and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you, and carry you where you don’t want to go.” Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

John 21:15-19In context. The risen Jesus by the lake with Peter, who had denied him three times: three times he asks ‘do you love me’ and three times says to feed and tend his sheep, then tells Peter how he will die.

Scripture is silent on it. Jesus tells Peter alone, three times after his denials, to feed and tend his sheep, and before the denials tells him “when once you have turned again, establish your brothers”. Both are a real charge to Peter. Scripture is silent on that charge giving him authority over the other apostles, and Peter later writes to elders “as a fellow elder” under the chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:1-4).

The Catholic reading

After the resurrection Jesus three times tells Peter alone to feed and tend his sheep (John 21), and at the Last Supper prays for Simon alone that he will strengthen the others (Luke 22:32). A shepherd set over the shepherds is what Catholics mean by pope.

“a primacy of jurisdiction over the whole church of God was immediately and directly promised to the blessed apostle Peter and conferred on him by Christ the lord”

Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus, chapter 1, 1870

The Protestant reading

Both scenes answer Peter’s three denials; they restore a fallen man rather than install an officer. Peter later tells other elders he is a “fellow elder” and that the “chief Shepherd” is Christ (1 Peter 5:1-4), and Paul says all the Ephesian elders are overseers of the flock (Acts 20:28).

“Assuredly the rest of the apostles were also the same as was Peter, endowed with a like partnership both of honour and power”

Cyprian, On the Unity of the Church 4, about 251

Peter at Antioch, and the council at Jerusalem

But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy; so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?

Galatians 2:11-14In context. Paul to the Galatians, recalling Antioch: he opposed Peter to his face because Peter stopped eating with Gentile believers when men from James arrived, and others followed him.

Scripture states it. Scripture says Paul opposed Peter to his face at Antioch. At the Jerusalem council Peter spoke first and “all the multitude kept silence” (Acts 15:12), James then gave his judgment, and the apostles and elders, with the whole assembly, sent the decision together.

The Catholic reading

Paul rebuking Peter for his conduct (Galatians 2) shows the pope can sin, which Catholics have always said; infallibility is about defining doctrine, not about behaviour. At the Jerusalem council Peter speaks first and the dispute ends (Acts 15:7-12).

“Peter’s actions had to do with matters of discipline, not with issues of faith or morals.”

Catholic Answers, Papal Infallibility, 2021

The Protestant reading

At the council James speaks last and frames the decision, and the letter goes out from “the apostles and the elders”, not from Peter. Paul says he received his gospel from no man and treated Peter as an equal he could oppose to his face.

“That the Pope is not, according to divine law or according to the Word of God the head of all Christendom”

Luther, Smalcald Articles II.4, 1537

Did the office pass to Rome?

Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood. For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Men will arise from among your own selves, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.

Acts 20:28-31In context. Paul to the Ephesian elders at Miletus, his farewell: watch over the flock the Holy Spirit made you overseers of, for wolves will come, some from among yourselves.

Scripture is silent on it. Scripture is silent on a successor to Peter, and never names Rome as his see; Peter writes from “Babylon” (1 Peter 5:13), which many on both sides take to mean Rome. The case rests on history, which both sides read and reach different ends.

The Catholic reading

Peter died in Rome, and the early church looked to Rome. Clement of Rome corrects Corinth around AD 96; Irenaeus about AD 180 lists the bishops of Rome from Peter and says every church must agree with that church. The office grew into its full shape, as doctrine does.

“if the doctrine of the papacy is true, everyone should be Catholic. If the doctrine of the papacy is false, no one should be Catholic.”

Joe Heschmeyer, Catholic Answers, 2025

The Protestant reading

Irenaeus also says Peter and Paul together founded the Roman church and ties its weight to its founders and its orthodoxy. Rome was one of five great sees; the East never accepted its universal jurisdiction, and the first papal claims to it came from Rome itself.

“as far as we can tell for the first time a bishop of Rome quoted the words of Jesus to Peter”

W. Robert Godfrey, Ligonier, on the mid third century

Can the pope teach without error?

“I have yet many things to tell you, but you can’t bear them now. However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming. He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you. All things whatever the Father has are mine; therefore I said that he takes of mine, and will declare it to you.

John 16:12-15In context. Jesus to the eleven in the upper room, the night before he died: the Spirit of truth will guide them into all truth and tell them what is to come.

Scripture is silent on it. Jesus promises the apostles in the room that the Spirit will guide them into all truth. Scripture is silent on that promise passing to a line of bishops.

The Catholic reading

Vatican I (1870) defined that when the pope, as shepherd of all Christians, defines a doctrine of faith or morals for the whole church, he teaches infallibly. The gift is narrow: Catholic writers count only a handful of such definitions, and no pope is sinless or always right.

“the holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine”

Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus, chapter 4, 1870

The Protestant reading

Jesus promised the Spirit would lead the apostles into all truth (John 16:13); he made no promise to a line of bishops. Honorius was condemned by a council, and the definition of 1870 came eighteen centuries after Peter. A gift that cannot be found in the New Testament cannot bind consciences.

Watch

One talk from each side, chosen for making its own case well. Each loads from YouTube only when you press play.

The Counsel of Trent. 38 min. Trent Horn’s reply to Ortlund on the papacy, on the same early evidence read the Catholic way. Open on YouTube
Gavin Ortlund. 46 min. Gavin Ortlund’s case that the papacy as defined in 1870 is a later development, from the early evidence on Rome. Open on YouTube

Sources on this page

Every quotation above, with the page it comes from and the day it was read. Primary documents first where a side has one.