Peter the Apostle

One of the most striking statements Jesus ever made to one of His disciples is found in Matthew 16:16-19:

“Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.’

“Jesus replied, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.  And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.  I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’”

In Aramaic, Jesus would have used the same word – Cepha – for ‘Peter’ and ‘rock’.  He is literally saying, “And I tell you that you are Rock, and on this Rock I will build my church…”  Jesus apparently meant for Peter to be the leader of the Early Church. 

In fact, Peter already seemed to be a leader among the twelve disciples.  He was always named first whenever the disciples were listed, and first among the three disciples who were closest to Jesus, the three who alone witnessed many of the most amazing and moving events in Jesus’ ministry.  He often acted as a spokesman for the other disciples (Mark 8:29, Luke 12:41, Luke 6:67-69).  He is mentioned in the Bible far more than any other disciple.  After Jesus rose from the dead, He first “appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve” (1 Cor. 15:5), and told Peter to “Feed my lambs.” (John 21:15)

After the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, Peter continued his role as leader and spokesman of the church.  He presided over the choosing of a new apostle to replace Judas (Acts 1:15), preached to the crowd on Pentecost (Acts 2:14), to another crowd at the healing of the beggar in the temple (Acts 3:12), and to the Sanhedrin (Acts 4:8).  He pronounced God’s judgment on Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), rebuked Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8:20-24), and was the first to preach to the Gentiles (Acts 10).  He presided over the Council of Jerusalem, along with James, who was the bishop of Jerusalem, according to Eusebius.  Peter also traveled widely in spreading the Gospel, acting as the bishop of Rome, according to Eusebius (which is also implied in 1 Peter 5:15), but also appearing in Antioch (Gal. 2:11) and Jerusalem (Acts 15:7).  In Antioch, Paul sees it as a very serious thing when Peter tries to distance himself from the Gentiles in trying to avoid offending Jews.  Seeing others, including Barnabas, following Peter’s example, Paul takes Peter to task on it.

Given Peter’s behavior as a disciple, this was rather astonishing.  Jesus had to rescue Peter from drowning when he tried to walk on water, stop Peter from attacking the High Priest’s servant, and forgive Peter for denying Him three times after Peter had promised that he would never deny Jesus.  In addition, Peter always seemed to speak before thinking, embarrassing himself on the Mount of Transfiguration and getting a sharp rebuke from Jesus right after the ringing commendation in Matthew 16. 

But perhaps many of these occasions show crucial qualities of leadership in Peter: He had enough faith to attempt walking on water.  He boldly sprang forward to defend Jesus from the mob.  He wasn’t afraid to speak out.  He wept bitterly when he realized that he had denied Jesus.

And perhaps there is another reason that Jesus chose Peter.  As G.K. Chesterton said, “When Christ at a symbolic moment was establishing His great society, he chose for its cornerstone neither the brilliant Paul nor the mystic John, but a shuffler, a snob, a coward – in a word, a man.  And upon this rock he has built His Church, and the gates of Hell have not prevailed against it.  All the empires and the kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men and upon strong men.  But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason it is indestructible.  For no chain is stronger than its weakest link.”