Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 12/8/2011

Question
I hear sometimes Peter of the Bible being called the first pope or that he set up the Catholic church. But so many people say Catholicism is not christian, so could you talk a little about this. Thanks so much.

Answer
Hi Josh,

Thanks for this great question.   The debate is over the meaning of this verse:

Matthew 16:18 (AV)
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.


Roman Catholics assume that this means that Peter is the rock upon which the church ( in their mind the catholic church) is built.  We must look at the context, the Greek, and other scriptures to see if this is true.

Matthew 16:13–18 (AV)
13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.


Context shows us that the subject is "who is Jesus" not who is Peter.  So when Peter confessed that Jesus was the Christ, or the Messiah, it was upon the foundation of Christ that the church was built, not on the guy that denied Jesus 3 times not too long after this confession.  

The Greek is also informative.  Jesus said thou are Peter ( petros - "little stone")  Jesus was pointing out a neat play on words.. then He said upon the ROCK (Petra - foundation stone... different than Peter's name) I will build my church.  

Lastly we must compare scripture with scripture.  Since the word for Rock literally means foundation stone or bedrock... we must see if there are other scriptures that tell us what the foundation stone of the church is.

1 Corinthians 3:10–11 (AV)
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.


So the Bible plainly tells us that the foundation for the Church is Jesus, not Peter... Peter is not the first Pope.

Now as to whether or not one would consider Catholics Christians... clearly they believe in Jesus not another diety.  In the loose and nominal sence of the word, of course they would be considered Christians.  Now do they represent the doctrine taught by the Bible, no.  There are several clear and important differences between what Roman Catholicism teaches and what the Bible teaches.  One we just discovered, the foundation of the Church is Jesus, not Peter.

I hope that this gives you some things to think about and I hope it is a help.

In Christ
Pastor Don