Should There Be a Pope?

Catholic and Protestant challenge each other on the papacy

Did Christ institute a perpetual office of Peter, continuing in the Bishop of Rome? And where does final authority lie: in Scripture alone, or in Scripture and Tradition as interpreted by the Church's teaching office?

Catholic

Christ is the Church's head and its chief cornerstone; he built his Church on the apostles, made Simon alone the rock, gave him the keys and made him shepherd of the whole flock. That office continues in the Bishop of Rome, Peter's successor and the Vicar of Christ, the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the Church's unity, who with the bishops in communion with him guards the faith. God's word, complete in the apostles, reaches us in Scripture and apostolic Tradition, one sacred deposit, and the Church's teaching office, which is "not above the word of God, but serves it", interprets both.

And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat: but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.

So when they had broken their fast, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Feed my lambs. He saith to him again a second time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith unto him, Tend my sheep. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Catechism §881–882

The Lord made Simon alone the rock of his Church; the Pope, as Vicar of Christ, has full, supreme and universal power over the whole Church.

Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus ch. 1

A primacy of jurisdiction over the whole Church was promised to Peter and conferred on him by Christ.

Dei Verbum 10

The teaching office is not above the word of God, but serves it.

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.2

"It is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority."

Protestant

Christ alone is the head and foundation of his Church, and the faith was once for all delivered unto the saints in the apostles' teaching, which we now have in writing. Scripture is sufficient, and it is the final judge of every council, father and pope; the Church is its witness and keeper, not its master. The keys belong to the whole Church and are used through the ministry of the word. Peter was an honored apostle and a fellow-elder, but the New Testament gives him no successor and no see.

For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished completely unto every good work.

Beloved, while I was giving all diligence to write unto you of our common salvation, I was constrained to write unto you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered unto the saints.

Westminster Confession 1.6, 1.10

The whole counsel of God is set down in Scripture or deduced from it; the supreme judge of all controversies is the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.

Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. VI

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation.

Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope §§7, 24 (1537)

The Roman bishop "is not by divine right above ... other bishops and pastors"; "the keys belong not to the person of one particular man, but to the Church".

Campbell–Purcell debate (1837)

Campbell defended "the bible alone, as the only perfect and sufficient rule of faith".

The rock and the keys

Peter confessed, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and on that rock, the truth he confessed, Christ builds his church. Paul says other foundation can no man lay than Jesus Christ. Two chapters later the power to bind and loose is given to all the disciples, so it was never Peter's alone. And even if the rock were Peter himself, the passage says nothing of a successor, of Rome, or of an office whose definitions cannot err.

Calvin, Institutes 4.6.6

"On this rock Christ builds his Church, because it is the only foundation."

Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope §§23, 25 (1537)

The keys are "given alike to all the apostles"; "the Church has not been built upon the authority of man, but upon the ministry of the confession which Peter made".

Campbell–Purcell debate (1837), on Matthew 16:18

"Thou art stone, and upon this rock (on this great truth which flesh and blood has not revealed to thee), I will build my church."

Jesus answers Simon himself, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah, and names him Cephas, the Aramaic word for rock: you are Rock, and on this rock I will build. We gladly confess that Christ built on the faith Peter confessed, and "because of the faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakeable rock of the Church"; the keys go to him alone, and in Matthew 18 the others bind and loose as a college united to him as its head. Nor does Peter displace the cornerstone: the Church is built on the apostles and on Peter their chief, "Christ Jesus Himself being the supreme cornerstone". And by Christ's institution Peter has perpetual successors, because the Church, "founded as it is upon a rock, will stand firm until the end of time".

Catechism §424

"On the rock of this faith confessed by St. Peter, Christ built his Church."

Catechism §552

"Because of the faith he confessed Peter will remain the unshakeable rock of the Church."

Catechism §881

Simon alone is the rock and holds the keys; binding and loosing was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head.

Lumen Gentium 19

The Church is built "upon blessed Peter, their chief, Christ Jesus Himself being the supreme cornerstone".

Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus ch. 2

By Christ's institution, that is by divine law, Peter has perpetual successors in the primacy; the Church, founded upon a rock, will stand firm until the end of time.

Then the faith Peter confessed is common ground, and the question comes down to succession, which the text never raises. Paul says the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, all of them, with Christ Jesus as the chief corner stone. A foundation is laid once; it is not laid again in each generation. We confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only head of the Church, and that a line of successors to Peter has no foundation in the Bible.

Westminster Confession 25.6

Christ is the only head of the Church. (The rest of the section is worded differently in the 1646 text and in later American revisions.)

Campbell–Purcell debate (1837), Proposition 2

Rome's "notion of apostolic succession is without any foundation in the Bible, in reason, or in fact".

Catholic teaching grants that Christ built on the faith Peter confessed (Catechism §424) and that binding and loosing was also given to the college of apostles united to its head (§881); it holds both alongside, not instead of, Peter himself being the rock and alone receiving the keys (§552–553).

Peter among equals

When the apostles and elders met at Jerusalem, it was James who gave the decision: Wherefore my judgment is. Paul names James before Cephas among those reputed to be pillars, and at Antioch he resisted him to the face, because he stood condemned. Peter calls himself a fellow-elder. That is a respected brother, not the ruler of the others.

It is Peter who rises at the council to declare that God chose his mouth to bring the gospel to the Gentiles; after he speaks, all the multitude kept silence, and James begins his judgment from what Symeon hath rehearsed. Antioch was a lapse in conduct, not in teaching: "the fault surely was one of conversation, not of preaching". A superior can rightly be corrected by a subordinate: Aquinas holds that Paul, though Peter's subject, rightly rebuked him in public because the faith was endangered, and, citing Augustine, that Peter "gave an example to superiors" not to disdain reproof from those under them. Matthew names him The first of the Twelve, and a man can hold that place, be corrected by a brother, and call himself a fellow-elder out of humility.

Tertullian, Prescription Against Heretics 23

Peter's fault at Antioch was "one of conversation, not of preaching".

Aquinas, Summa Theologiae II-II q.33 a.4 ad 2

"Paul, who was Peter's subject, rebuked him in public, on account of the imminent danger of scandal concerning faith"; quoting Augustine's gloss, "Peter gave an example to superiors, that if at any time they should happen to stray from the straight path, they should not disdain to be reproved by their subjects."

Catechism §552

"Simon Peter holds the first place in the college of the Twelve."

Then we agree Peter could be publicly corrected by a fellow apostle, and the question is what "first place" means. Paul was intrusted with the gospel of the uncircumcision, even as Peter with the gospel of the circumcision: two fields, not a ruler and a subject. Paul says in nothing was I behind the very chiefest apostles, and of the men of repute, they ... imparted nothing to me. A first among brothers who can be withstood to the face is not a head over them.

Calvin, Institutes 4.6.7

"The utmost you will find is, that Peter was one of twelve, their equal and colleague, not their master."

Aquinas grants that Paul rightly rebuked Peter in public, "on account of the imminent danger of scandal concerning faith", and was "in some way his equal as regards the defense of the faith" (Summa Theologiae II-II q.33 a.4 ad 2); he still calls Paul "Peter's subject", and the Catechism holds Peter first in the college (§552).

Infallibility and Honorius

Vatican I teaches that the see of Peter "always remains unblemished by any error", resting on Christ's prayer that Peter's faith fail not. Yet the Third Council of Constantinople, which Rome counts as ecumenical, anathematized Pope Honorius because he followed the monothelite Sergius "in all respects" and "confirmed his impious doctrines", and Pope Leo II confirmed the council. If a pope's doctrinal letter can be condemned as heresy, in what sense is the see unblemished?

Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus ch. 4

"This see of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error", citing Luke 22:32.

Third Council of Constantinople (681), Session 13

Honorius, "some time Pope of Old Rome", is anathematized for following Sergius and confirming his doctrines.

Infallibility was never a promise that a pope cannot err in any letter: Vatican I limits it to the pope speaking ex cathedra, defining a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church. Honorius' reply to Sergius was official, but it defined nothing and bound no one. Leo II confirmed the sentence on Honorius, who "did not attempt to sanctify this Apostolic Church with the teaching of Apostolic tradition", and where the Greek of his letter adds that Honorius "permitted its purity to be polluted", the Latin reads that he "attempted to pollute its purity", a milder reading the Catholic Encyclopedia judges "just as likely to be original": he tried, and did not succeed. To the bishops of Spain Leo named the fault as failing to quench heresy at its start, which Honorius "fostered ... by his negligence". The same council received Pope Agatho's letter as the rule of faith and acclaimed, "Peter spoke through Agatho". We accept the condemnation: a pope can fail, even in an official letter, when he does not define, and the dogma never denied that.

Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus ch. 4

The definition: the Roman pontiff is infallible when he speaks ex cathedra, defining a doctrine of faith or morals to be held by the whole Church.

Leo II, letter confirming the council; letter to the bishops of Spain

Both quoted in the Catholic Encyclopedia, "Pope Honorius I", which gives the Greek of the confirmation ("permitted its purity to be polluted") and the Latin ("attempted to pollute its purity"), says "the milder reading of the Latin is just as likely to be original", and judges the letter official but not ex cathedra.

Third Council of Constantinople, Address to the Emperor

"Peter spoke through Agatho."

The council did not judge Honorius negligent only: it found his letter "quite foreign to the apostolic dogmas" and cried anathema to him as a heretic, and Leo's confirming letter, in either reading, speaks of the purity of the Roman church itself. A test first defined in 1870, which Rome has never applied to a published list of papal statements, cannot be checked against that record. We hold with the Articles that general councils "may err, and sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God", and with Paul that even an apostle or an angel stands under the gospel once preached.

Third Council of Constantinople (681), Sessions 13, 16

Honorius' letter, with Sergius', found "quite foreign to the apostolic dogmas" (Session 13); "To Honorius, the heretic, anathema!" (Session 16).

Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. XXI

General councils "may err, and sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God".

Catholic sources grant that an ecumenical council anathematized Honorius for his official letter to Sergius and that Pope Leo II confirmed the sentence; the Catholic Encyclopedia ("Pope Honorius I") holds that the letter defined nothing, so it falls outside the conditions for infallibility in Pastor Aeternus ch. 4.

Scripture alone and the canon

Where does Scripture teach that Scripture alone is the rule of faith? Paul tells the Thessalonians to hold the traditions which ye were taught, whether by word, or by epistle, and he calls the Church, not a book, the pillar and ground of the truth. No inspired table of contents exists: in the fourth century Eusebius still listed James, Jude, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John as disputed. It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings belong in the canon, so everyone who holds a 27-book New Testament relies on that discernment.

Catechism §120

"It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in the list of the sacred books."

Eusebius, Church History 3.25

James, Jude, 2 Peter, and 2 and 3 John are listed among the disputed writings, "which are nevertheless recognized by many".

Scripture says of itself that it is given that the man of God may be complete, and the apostles already counted apostolic letters as Scripture: Peter sets Paul's epistles beside the other scriptures. Jesus judged the traditions of his day by the written word, making void the word of God by your tradition, and no one can now produce an apostolic teaching kept outside Scripture. The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth because it holds up and hands on that word, as Israel was intrusted with the oracles of God without being their author. It recognized the canon as a witness recognizes a signature, for Scripture's authority "dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God". As Campbell told Purcell, notwithstanding Rome's claim to have given us the Bible, "we are perfectly independent of her for our knowledge of that book".

Belgic Confession, Art. 5

We believe without a doubt all things contained in them, "not so much because the church receives and approves them as such but above all because the Holy Spirit testifies in our hearts that they are from God".

Calvin, Commentary on 1 Timothy 3:15

The Church is called the pillar of truth because "she defends and spreads it by her agency".

Westminster Confession 1.4

Scripture's authority "dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or church, but wholly upon God".

Campbell–Purcell debate (1837), Proposition 6

"Notwithstanding her pretensions to have given us the Bible, and faith in it, we are perfectly independent of her for our knowledge of that book, and its evidences of a divine original."

Jesus condemned traditions of men that make void God's word; Paul commands the apostolic traditions, whether by word, or by epistle. You ask for an apostolic teaching kept outside Scripture: the list of the books is one, for no book of Scripture gives it. The Anglican Articles grant the Church "authority in Controversies of Faith" and call it "a witness and a keeper of holy Writ", and Westminster says her testimony may move us to esteem Scripture; a keeper who sorted the disputed books from the rest was exercising exactly the authority we mean. And 2 Timothy 3 speaks of the sacred writings Timothy had known from a babe, before most of the New Testament was written, so it cannot settle which later books belong.

Dei Verbum 8–9

"Through the same tradition the Church's full canon of the sacred books is known"; "it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed."

Thirty-Nine Articles, Art. XX

"The Church hath ... authority in Controversies of Faith"; it is "a witness and a keeper of holy Writ".

Westminster Confession 1.5

"We may be moved and induced by the testimony of the Church to an high and reverent esteem of the Holy Scripture."

The Articles grant the Church "authority in Controversies of Faith" and call it "a witness and a keeper of holy Writ", but forbid it to ordain anything "contrary to God's Word written" or, besides Scripture, to "enforce any thing to be believed for necessity of Salvation" (Art. XX); Westminster grants that the Church's testimony may move us to esteem Scripture, but rests assurance on the Spirit's witness (1.5) and Scripture's authority "wholly upon God" (1.4).

The early fathers on Rome

Around AD 96 the church at Rome wrote to settle a quarrel at Corinth and warned that anyone who "shall disobey the words spoken by Him through us" would fall into "transgression and serious danger". Ignatius greets Rome as the church that "presides over love" and tells her, "you have taught others". About 180 Irenaeus answers the heretics by pointing to the church "founded and organized at Rome by the two most glorious apostles, Peter and Paul", lists her bishops from Linus on, and says "it is a matter of necessity that every Church should agree with this Church, on account of its preeminent authority". The earliest church looked to Rome.

1 Clement 59

"If, however, any shall disobey the words spoken by Him through us, let them know that they will involve themselves in transgression and serious danger."

Ignatius, To the Romans, greeting and ch. 3

The church "which presides over love"; "you have taught others".

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.2–3

We do not deny the honour: Calvin wrote that the early Christians "uniformly give high honour to the Roman Church", and traced it to Rome's reputed founding by Peter, its place as the capital and its steadiness in doctrine. But honour is not rule. Irenaeus wrote in Greek, and his words here survive only in an old Latin version, "propter potentiorem principalitatem necesse est omnem convenire ecclesiam", whose key terms are disputed: many read convenire as "to resort to", so that the faithful from everywhere come to Rome, not that every church must submit to her. He points to Rome as the plainest example, then to Smyrna and to Ephesus, "a true witness of the tradition of the apostles", and Ignatius, who urges other churches to heed their bishop, names no bishop at Rome. When Victor of Rome tried to cut off the churches of Asia, other bishops sharply rebuked him, Irenaeus among them, and when Stephen of Rome condemned the African decrees on baptism, Cyprian told his council that "neither does any of us set himself up as a bishop of bishops". The fathers are witnesses to be tested, not a rule of faith.

Calvin, Institutes 4.6.16

"I deny not that the early Christians uniformly give high honour to the Roman Church"; he gives three causes: its reputed founding by Peter, the seat of empire, and its steadiness in doctrine.

Catholic Encyclopedia, "St. Irenaeus"

Of his Greek works, "None of these writings has come down to us in the original text"; Against Heresies survives entire in a Latin version.

Catholic Encyclopedia, "The Pope"

Gives the Latin of Against Heresies 3.3.2 and records that non-Catholic writers translate convenire "to resort to" (a rendering the article rejects).

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.4

The church at Ephesus "is a true witness of the tradition of the apostles".

Eusebius, Church History 5.24

Victor tries to cut off the churches of Asia; bishops, Irenaeus among them, rebuke him.

Seventh Council of Carthage (256), Cyprian's opening address

"Neither does any of us set himself up as a bishop of bishops"; the ANF heading places the council "When Stephen, Bishop of Rome, Had by His Letters Condemned the Decrees of the African Council on the Baptism of Heretics".

Clement's letter itself says the apostles gave instructions that "other approved men should succeed them in their ministry", and Irenaeus names Clement as Rome's third bishop after the apostles. Nor will his Latin bear "to resort to": his whole argument rests on the apostolic founding of Rome's doctrine, which visitors to the capital could add nothing to. Victor's act shows that the bishop of Rome already acted for churches far beyond his own, and Irenaeus pleaded with him for peace without denying that he could act. The Cyprian who would have no "bishop of bishops" also called Rome "the throne of Peter, and ... the chief church whence priestly unity takes its source", and on rebaptism it was Stephen of Rome's position that the Church kept. The Catechism still quotes Ignatius and Irenaeus to say that Rome "presides in charity".

1 Clement 44

The apostles "gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry".

Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.3

"In the third place from the apostles, Clement was allotted the bishopric."

Catholic Encyclopedia, "The Pope"

On the rendering "to resort to": "Such a rendering, however, is excluded by the construction of the argument", which rests on Rome's doctrine being pure from its apostolic founders.

Cyprian, Epistle 54.14 (ANF numbering)

Rome is "the throne of Peter, and ... the chief church whence priestly unity takes its source".

Catechism §834

Particular Churches are fully catholic through communion with the Church of Rome "which presides in charity".

Calvin grants that the early Christians gave Rome "high honour" (Institutes 4.6.16), which he traces to its reputed founding by Peter, its place as the imperial capital and its steadiness in doctrine; he denies that this honour was "a primacy and supreme authority over other churches" (4.6.17).

Peter's own charge

At the Last Supper Satan asked to sift you, all of them, but Jesus prayed for thee, Peter, and charged him to establish thy brethren. After the resurrection he gave Peter alone, three times over, the charge to feed and tend his sheep. The keys echo Isaiah 22, where God lays the key of the house of David on the steward Eliakim, an office that passed to him from Shebna. Christ gave his house a steward, and a steward's office outlasts the man who holds it.

Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus ch. 1

To Peter alone Jesus confided "the jurisdiction of supreme pastor and ruler of his whole fold, saying: Feed my lambs, feed my sheep".

Vatican I, Pastor Aeternus ch. 4

Christ's prayer that Peter's faith fail not is applied to Peter's successors in the Roman see.

The same evening the Twelve disputed which of them was accounted to be greatest, and Jesus answered, The kings of the Gentiles have lordship over them ... But ye shall not be so. He prayed for Peter because Peter, of all of them, was about to deny him and would need restoring, when once thou hast turned again; three questions after three denials are that restoration. Peter then passes the same charge to every elder: Tend the flock of God which is among you. Revelation gives Isaiah's key to Christ, he that hath the key of David. Calvin could allow, for argument's sake, "Let Peter have the preeminence", and still insist on "a great difference between the honour of rank and the possession of power".

Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope §8 (1537)

On Luke 22:25: Christ "teaches that there shall not be lordship or superiority among them, but that the apostles should be sent forth as equals to the common ministry of the Gospel".

Calvin, Harmony of the Evangelists, on Matthew 26:31 and Luke 22:31

Christ spoke "in the person of one man, who was to be admonished more than all the rest, and who needed extraordinary consolation" after denying him.

Calvin, Institutes 4.6.3, 4.6.5

Peter "exhorts all other presbyters to feed the Church"; "Let Peter have the preeminence, still there is a great difference between the honour of rank and the possession of power."

Restoration and commission are not rivals: Jesus restored Peter by entrusting him with the whole flock. In forbidding the lordship of the Gentiles, Jesus did not abolish rule among his disciples but defined it: he that is chief, as he that doth serve. Every elder tends the flock which is among you; only Peter is told to feed the Lord's sheep without limit and to establish his brethren. Christ holds the key of David as the King, and in Matthew 16 he gives the keys of the kingdom to Peter, as the king gave his key to Eliakim; the steward serves the King's authority and does not replace it.

Catechism §553

Peter is "the only one to whom he specifically entrusted the keys of the kingdom"; the power of the keys "designates authority to govern the house of God, which is the Church".

Calvin "willingly" grants Peter "the honour of being placed among the first in the building of the Church" and notes that the apostles usually let him speak first (Institutes 4.6.5); he calls Peter "one of twelve, their equal and colleague, not their master" (4.6.7) and denies any office passing to successors.

Common

• Scripture is the inspired word of God, and Christ is the chief corner stone on whom the Church is built.
• Peter often spoke and acted first for the Twelve, and was honored among them.
• The early church gave the church at Rome high honor.
• Paul rebuked Peter to his face at Antioch, and was right to do so.
• An ecumenical council anathematized Pope Honorius, and Pope Leo II confirmed it.
• The early churches' testimony helped Christians recognize the canon, and the Church is a witness and keeper of Scripture.

Both hold that the apostolic faith was delivered once for all; they divide over two linked questions: whether Christ instituted a perpetual office of Peter that continues in the Bishop of Rome, and where that finished word is found and who may settle its meaning: in Scripture alone, which judges every office, or in Scripture and apostolic Tradition together, entrusted for authoritative interpretation to Peter's successor and the bishops in communion with him.

My faith does not rest on winning this argument: the Church teaches that those who have accepted the faith under her guidance "can never have any just cause for changing this faith or for calling it into question" (Vatican I, Dei Filius ch. 3). But I grant what would count against the claim: proof that the Church of the first centuries knew no Petrine role for Rome at all, or a pope binding the whole Church to heresy by a solemn ex cathedra definition.

My faith does not rest on winning this argument: my "full persuasion and assurance" of Scripture's authority "is from the inward work of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness by and with the Word" (Westminster Confession 1.5). But I grant what would count against my position: Scripture itself giving Peter's office to successors in Rome, or a teaching of the apostles shown to have come down outside Scripture and to have been kept by Rome without error.

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