What Evidence Is There That The Apostle Peter Was Not The First Pope?

"Pope" is the Bishop of Rome. Peter was the Leader of the Christ's Church, the Catholic Church.

We, as Catholics, are taught that St. Peter was the leader of the Christian Church, The Vicar of Christ (Christ's representative on earth). However some Non-Catholics says that St. Peter was just one of the Apostles and never the leader of the Church.

Well, let's check scripture and see:

Matthew 16:18 And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

We see here that Jesus chose St. Peter as his Rock to build his Church on and he gave him he "Keys to the Kingdom".

Some will say that Peter (Petros) in Greek means small pebble not "Rock" which is true, but Jesus didnt speak Greek, he spoke Aramaic and he called St. Peter "Cephas" which means "Rock". In Greek Petros (Pebble) is masculine and Petra (Rock) is Feminie, the translators couldnt use the Feminine to describe a Male so they went with the masculine Petros. When confronted by someone who says the "Greek" translation of "Petros" is Pebble be sure to remind them that Jesus didnt speak Greek.

But is this all we've got to prove St. Peter is the leader? No, there is much more.

We see here that at Pentecost, it is Peter among the 11 that is the voice to the Jews.

Acts 2:14 Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: "Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say.

Here after ending a debate about the Gentiles, as the leader of the Church he reminds the Apostles that God chose him to be the voice of the Gentiles as well:

Act 15:7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: "Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

After Jesus' resurrection, Jesus again officially hands all authority of his flock to St. Peter:

John 21:15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed my lambs."

16 He then said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you." He said to him, "Tend my sheep."

17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was distressed that he had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." (Jesus) said to him, "Feed my sheep."

Is this all? Nope, there is more.

Who was the first person Mary Magdalene told of Jesus rising from the dead? St. Peter!

John 20:2 So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, "They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him."

Peter addresses the crowds:

Acts 1:15 During those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers (there was a group of about one hundred and twenty persons in the one place). He said,

Who did Ananias and his wife Sapphira answer to? St. Peter of course.

Acts 5:3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you lied to the holy Spirit and retained part of the price of the land?

Peace be with you

<<<Devout Catholic>>>

"So really, what evidence is there to support the claims of the fundamentalists, that he was not a pope?"

It doesn't matter. If he was a pope, he was certainly a different pope from the other Popes. He taught repentance by the blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:2, 22). The other Popes taught different ways to attain salvation. They should be following Peter's example and preaching repentance by the blood.

Addressing other parts of your question:

"Giving the keys was a term use to indicate stewardship, and in this case, the stewardship of The Church on Earth."

The church is the body of the believer (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Timothy 3:15). No religious institution can replace it.

There is much evidence that supports the Pope. As far as the Greek goes, I think people also forgot that you would not describe a man with a feminine noun (hence the use of Petros), just like in any modern language like Spanish or French. And you also brought up another good point that the Aramaic supports otherwise anyhow.

Actually not just Fundamentalist say that but other Churches also. Where we differ from Protestants that Tradition with a capital T is equal in Catholic teachings as is the bible. Being as it is by Tradition that we believe Peter was the First Bishop of Rome. And it is by later writings that the authors who lived in that period who also support the Catholic claim. Then yrs later bones believed to be of Saint Peter were found buried where Tradition had said Peter was buried all along.

What a great question, thank you for asking it! The answer is simple: There is no evidence in sacred scripture that disproves Peter was the first pope. @ X Andre.... gives the best answer. I will copy his answer down to use in the future. The two of you should get together and write a book on "The true Christian faith"!

your questions and comments require much more teaching and biblical references that yahoo can allow. You must be more specific, but please remember, that Peter's name was Simon, and the truth that he answered when Jesus asked, 'Who do men say that I am?' was: 'you are the Christ'.

Jesus commended Simon's answer with, 'flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,but my Father in heaven'. Henceforth Simon was called, 'Cephas' meaning, little stone, or pebble. the Truth he spoke, however, is the Rock.

Upon this rock of truth the New Covenant is based and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Jesus is the Rock, the immutable Truth, the Life and the Resurrection.

If you have questions, He is the Answer. Seek and you shall find.

I admire and respect the answer given by "XAndrewX", and highly recommend it for "Best Answer", however, I always try to make my answers brief and to-the-point, and maybe I'm too tired for too much research at this late hour, and since it is evident that you have obviously "done-your-homework" before asking your question, I'd simply like to answer your question thus: None whatsoever! It's very refreshing to read a question where someone shows a bit of intelligence and has taken the responsibility to ask it in a knowledgeable fashion, so, seeing that you have done both, it's easier simply to reply as I did: None whatsoever. God Bless you.

Ignatius of Antioch (110 AD), student of John the Apostle, mentioned one the first two successors of St. Peter (Anacletus and Clement of Rome).

"For what is the bishop but one who beyond all others possesses all power and authority, so far as it is possible for a man to possess it, who according to his ability has been made an imitator of the Christ off God? And what is the presbytery but a sacred assembly, the counselors and assessors of the bishop? And what are the deacons but imitators of the angelic powers, fulfilling a pure and blameless ministry unto him, as…Anencletus and Clement to Peter?" (Ignatius, To the Trallians, 7 (110 A.D.).

True, the apostle Peter features prominently in the Gospels. Jesus singled out three of his apostles—John, James, and Peter—to be present with him on a few special occasions. (Mark 5:37, 38; 9:2; 14:33) Jesus entrusted Peter with “the keys of the kingdom of the heavens,” which Peter used to open up the way to the Kingdom—first to the Jews and proselytes, then to the Samaritans, and finally to the Gentiles. (Matthew 16:19; Acts 2:5, 41; 8:14-17; 10:45) In accord with his outgoing personality, Peter at times served as spokesman for the apostles as a whole. (Acts 1:15; 2:14) But do these facts make Peter head of the early congregation?

The apostle Paul did write that Peter was entrusted with an “apostleship to those who are circumcised.” (Galatians 2:8) However, the context of Paul’s words shows that he was not saying that Peter directed the congregation. Paul’s comments were about Peter’s role in preaching to the Jews.

Although Peter was given great responsibility, nowhere in the Bible do we find him claiming to be the head of the congregation and, as such, making decisions for the disciples as a group. In his letter, he called himself “an apostle” and “an older man”—nothing more.—1 Peter 1:1; 5:1.

ALSO, that Peter was not head of the congregation in Rome is that when the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, he included an extensive list of Christians there. Yet, he did not mention Peter at all. (Romans 16:1-23) If Peter were head of the congregation, could we imagine that Paul overlooked Peter or snubbed him?

Note, too, that about the time that Peter wrote his first inspired letter, Paul wrote a second letter to Timothy. In that letter, Paul did not hesitate to mention Rome. Actually, Paul wrote six letters from Rome, all without any mention of Peter.

Some 30 years after Paul wrote his letters, the apostle John wrote three letters and the book of Revelation. Nowhere in these writings did John mention that the congregation in Rome was the most prominent one, nor did he refer to a leader of the church who held the supreme office of an alleged successor of Peter. Neither the Bible nor the evidence from history supports the claim that Peter established himself as the first bishop of the congregation in Rome.

The apostles did not understand Jesus’ statement to signify that Peter was the rock-mass is evident from the fact that they later disputed about who seemed to be the greatest among them. (Mr 9:33-35; Lu 22:24-26) There would have been no basis for such disputing had Peter been given the primacy as the rock-mass on which the congregation was to be built. The Scriptures clearly show that as foundation stones, all the apostles are equal. All of them, including Peter, rest upon Christ Jesus as the foundation cornerstone. (Eph 2:19-22; Re 21:2, 9-14) Peter himself identified the rock-mass (peʹtra) on which the congregation is built as being Christ Jesus. (1Pe 2:4-8) Similarly, the apostle Paul wrote: “For they [the Israelites] used to drink from the spiritual rock-mass that followed them, and that rock-mass meant the Christ.” (1Co 10:4) On at least two occasions and in two different locations the Israelites received a miraculous provision of water from a rock-mass. (Ex 17:5-7; Nu 20:1-11) Therefore, the rock-mass as a source of water, in effect, followed them. The rock-mass itself was evidently a pictorial, or symbolic, type of Christ Jesus, who said to the Jews: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”—Joh 7:37.

It is also of interest that Augustine (354-430 C.E.), usually referred to as “Saint Augustine,” at one time believed that Peter was the rock-mass but later changed his view. Lange’s Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Mt 16:18, ftn, p. 296) quotes Augustine as saying: “The rock is not so named from Peter, but Peter from the rock (non enim a Petro petra, sed Petrus a petra), even as Christ is not so called after the Christian, but the Christian after Christ. For the reason why the Lord says, ‘On this rock I will build my church,’ is that Peter had said: ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ On this rock, which thou hast confessed, says he, I will build my church. For Christ was the rock (petra enim erat Christus), upon which also Peter himself was built; for other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”—Translated and edited by P. Schaff, 1976.

All the apostles were in a sense rocks or bricks that, by their preaching, the church would be built.

There is no such thing as a pope, or Christ's representative on earth or whatever. The Holy Spirit represents Christ, and nobody else. All believers are priests in that we make sacrifices, offer prayers for others, and teach.