St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture. Allies Thomas William
just in the same manner is Peter the Rock of the Church, and the cause next to Christ of that firmness with which the Church shall remain impregnable to the end. For therefore is he the Rock and Foundation of the Church, because he has been called into a sort of unity with Him of whom it is said, "Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious, and he that believeth on it shall not be ashamed: " and in whom, as Paul explains, "the whole building fitly framed together increaseth unto a holy temple in the Lord."60 Therefore is he the Church's Rock, because as he, by his own confession, declared the Godhead of the Foundation in chief, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," so from Him, who is the chief and substantial Foundation, he received the gift of being made partner in one and the same property: "And I too say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church;" one with Me by communication of My office and charge, My dignity and excellency. Hence the stability of Peter is that of Christ, as the splendour of the ray is that of the sun; Peter's dignity that of Christ, as the river's abundance is the abundance of the fountain. Those who diminish Peter's dignity may well be charged with violating the majesty of Christ; those who are hostile to Peter, and divorced from him, stand in the like opposition to Christ.
Now this parallel is an answer61 to those who object to Peter's supereminence as the Foundation, that this dignity is entirely divine, surpassing by an almost infinite degree the capacity of man. For is not that a divine dignity which consists in the paternity of all the faithful? Is not that prerogative beyond man's capacity by which one becomes the author of a blessing diffused through all nations? Yet no one denies that such a dignity and such a prerogative were granted to Abraham. In divine endowments, therefore, their full and natural possession must be carefully distinguished from their limited and analogous participation. The one, as inherent, cannot fall to the creature's lot; the other, as transferable, may be granted as God pleases. For what further removed from man than the Godhead? Yet it is written, "I have said, ye are Gods."62
Not weightier is the other objection, that the office of being the Foundation is too important to be entrusted to human care. Was there less difficulty in blessing being diffused from one man among all nations? Rather we must look on man not as he is by, and of, himself, apart from God, and left to his own weakness, but as upborne by divine power, according to the promise, "Behold, I am with you all days, until the consummation of the world." Who can doubt that man, in union with God, may serve for a foundation, and discharge those offices in which the unity of a structure consists? It is confidently and constantly objected, that "other foundation no man can lay beside that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."63 As if what has been laid by Christ Himself, and consists in the virtue of Christ alone, can be thought other than Christ; or as if it were unusual, or unscriptural, for things proper to Christ to be participated by men. Therefore the chief difficulties against Peter's pre-eminence, and character as the Foundation, seem to spring from the mind failing to realise the supernatural order instituted by God, and the perpetual presence of Christ watching over His Church.
Thus it is no derogation to Abraham's being the Father of the faithful, or to the hierarchy of the Church instituted by Christ Himself, that our Lord says,64 "Call none your father upon earth, for one is your Father who is in heaven;" inasmuch as Scripture abundantly proves that divine gifts are richly conferred upon men. What more divine than the Holy Spirit? Yet it is written,65 "And I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever." What a higher privilege than filial adoption? Yet it is said, 66"Ye have received the spirit of filial adoption, by which we cry, Abba Father." What a greater treasure than co-inheritance with Christ? Yet we read, 67"but if children, also heirs: heirs of God, but joint heirs with Christ." What higher than the vision of God? Yet S. Paul bears witness,68 "We see now through a glass darkly, but then face to face." What more wonderful than the power of remitting sins? Yet this very power is granted to the Apostles, 69"Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them." What further from human weakness than the power of working miracles? Yet Christ establishes this, 70"Amen, amen, I say unto you, he that believeth on Me, the works which I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do." Indeed, the participation and communion of heavenly gifts have the closest coherence with that supernatural order, which God in creating man chose, and to which He called fallen man back through His only begotten Son; with that dispensation of Christ by which He loved the Apostles as He Himself was loved by the Father, by which He called them, 71"not servants, but friends," and gave them that glory which He had Himself received from the Father. And the tone of mind which denies Peter's prerogative as the Foundation of the Church, under pretence that it is an usurpation of divine power, tends to deny some one or all of the privileges just cited, and, as a fact, does deny some of them. It is 72wonderful to see how only common and vulgar things are discerned by modern eyes, where the Fathers saw celestial and divine gifts. Those without the Church have fallen away as well from the several parts and privileges, from what may be called the standing order, of the Incarnation, as from its final purpose and scope; and it is much if they would not charge with blasphemy that glorious saying put forth by the greatest of the Eastern, as by the greatest of the Western Fathers, "that God became man, in order that man might become God."73
Was, then, S. Chrysostome wrong when he said that our Lord, in that passage of Matthew, showed a power equal to God the Father by the gifts which He bestowed on a poor fisherman? "He who gave to him the keys of the heavens, and made him Lord of such power, and needed not prayer for this, for He did not then say, I prayed, but, with authority, I will build my Church, and I will give to thee the keys of heaven."74 Was he wrong when he called him "the chosen of the Apostles, the mouth-piece of the disciples, the head of the band, the ruler over the brethren?"75 Or where he saw these prerogatives in the very name of Peter, observing, "When I say Peter, I mean the impregnable rock, the immovable foundation, the great apostle, the first of the disciples?"76
To sum up, then, what has been hitherto said, we have advanced so far as this; first the promise, and then the bestowal of a new name, expressing a singular pre-eminence, and in its proper sense befitting Christ alone, have distinguished Simon from the rest of the apostles. But much more the power signified by that name, and explained by the Lord Himself, carries far higher Peter's privilege, and indicates him to be the possessor of authority over the Apostles. For if Simon is the Rock of the Church, and if the property of Foundation, on which the structure of the Church rests, belongs to him immediately after Christ, and analogously with Christ, there arises this relation between Christ and Simon, that as He is first, and chiefly, and by inherent power, so Simon is secondarily, by participation and analogy, that which underlies, holds together, and supports the Apostles and the whole fabric of the Church.
Now such a relation carries with it not merely precedency of honour, but superior authority. The strength of the Apostles lay in their union with Christ, and subordination to Him. The like necessity of adhering to Peter is expressed in his new name. Take away that subordination, and you destroy the very image by which the Lord chose to express Peter's dignity; and you remove, likewise, Peter's participation in that property which the Lord communicated to him in the name of the Rock. For if the Apostles needed not to be joined with him, he had no title to be called the Foundation; and if he had no coactive power over the Apostles, he did not share the property by which Christ is the Rock and Foundation. Thus the name, and the dignity expressed by the name, show Peter to have been singly invested by the Lord with both honour and power superior to all the Apostles.77
CHAPTER
Is. xxviii. 16; Eph. ii. 21.
Passaglia, p. 58.
Ps. lxxxii. 6, with John x. 34.
1 Cor. iii. 11.
Matt. xxiii. 9.
John xiv. 16.
Rom. viii. 15.
Rom. viii. 17.
1 Cor. xiii. 12.
John xx. 23.
John xiv. 12.
John xv. 9, 15.
Passaglia, p. 442. n. 38.
[Greek: O tou Theou Logos enênthrhôpêsen H hina hêmeis theopoiêthômen.] St. Athan. de Incarn. Factus est Deus homo, ut homo fieret deus. St. Aug. Serm. 13, de Temp.
S. Chrys. Tom. vii. 786. Hom. 82, in Matt.
Tom. viii. 525. Hom. 88, in Joan.
Hom. 3, de Pœnitentia. Tom. ii. 300.
Passaglia, p. 48, 9.