Thomas Allies - St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture

It is, then, setting a seal on His former acts, drawing out and corroborating their meaning, that He once more, and in the most emphatic way of all, recurs to this name, attaching to it the most signal promises, and establishing its prophetic power. In the third year of His ministry our Lord "came into the quarters of Cesarea Philippi: and He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do men say that the Son of Man is? But they said, Some John the Baptist, and others Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets. Jesus saith to them, But whom say ye that I am? Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answering, said to him, Blessed art thou Simon Bar Jonas, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father who is in heaven. And I say to thee that thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."

When we reflect that the first act of our Lord to Peter was to look upon him, and to promise him this name, a token of His omnipotence to Simon yet knowing him not, as that seeing him under the fig-tree was to Nathaniel of His omniscience; and that when He chose His twelve apostles, it is said markedly "to Simon He gave the name of Peter," the force of His reply cannot well be exceeded. The promise of our Lord answers part by part to the confession of His apostle. The one says: "Thou art the Christ," that is, the anointed one; the other, "Thou art Peter," that is, the Rock, the name which I gave thee myself: my own title with which I invested thee. The one adds, "the Son of the living God;" the other, "And upon this rock I will build my Church," that is, as it is true what thou confessest, that I am "the Son of the living God," so my power as such shall be shown in building my Church upon thee whom I have long named the Rock, "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Not only this, but I will unfold to thee the full meaning of thy name, and declare the gifts which accompany it. "And 24 24 Apoc. xxii. 16; iii. 7. I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven." That is, "The root and the offspring of David," "the holy one and the true one, He that hath the key of David; He that openeth and no man shutteth; shutteth and no man openeth;" as He gave to thee to share His name of the Rock, so He shall give to thee to bear in His name His own symbol of supreme dominion, the key which opens or shuts the true city of David; all ages shall own thee, all nations acknowledge thee, as The Bearer of the Keys ; as long as my Church shall last, against which the gates of hell shall not prevail, thy office shall last too; as long as there are souls to be saved, they shall pass by thy ministry into the gate of the Church. And further, as long as there need in my spiritual kingdom laws to be promulgated, precepts issued, sins forgiven, "whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven."

Who, indeed, can adequately express the gifts which the world's Creator and Redeemer here promises to His favoured servant? Thus in the fourth century S. Chrysostome labours to set them forth. "See how He raises Peter to a higher opinion of Himself; and reveals and shews Himself to be the Son of God by these two promises. For what belongs to God alone, to loose sins, and to render the Church immovable in such an assault of waves, and to make a fisherman more solid than any rock, when the whole world was at war with him, these are what He promises to give him; as the Father addressing Jeremias, said: 'I have made thee an iron pillar and a wall,' but him to one nation, whereas the other to the whole world. Willingly would I ask those who wish to diminish the dignity of the Son, which are the greatest gifts, those which the Father gave to Peter, or those which the Son. For the Father bestowed on Peter the revelation of the Son; but the Son disseminated that of the Father and of Himself through the whole world; and put into the hands of a mortal man power over all things in heaven, when He gave the keys to him who extended the Church through the whole world, and showed it to be firmer than the heaven." 25 25 S. Chris. on Matt. 16, Hom. 54. And not many years later S. Leo says, "That which the Truth ordered remains; and blessed Peter persisting in that strength of the rock which he received, has not deserted the guidance, once undertaken, of the Church. For thus was he set before the rest, that while he is called the Rock, while he is declared to be the foundation, while he is appointed the door-keeper of the kingdom of heaven, while he is advanced to be the judge of what shall be bound and what loosed, with the condition that his sentence shall be ratified even in heaven, we might learn through the very mysteries of the names given to him, how he was associated with Christ ." 26 26 S. Leo, Serm. 3 on his anniversary. This association passed, indeed, into the very mind of the Church, for among all the titles given by fathers and councils and liturgies to Peter, and expressing his prerogatives, the one contained in this name is the most frequent. Thus he is termed, 27 27 Hilary of Poitiers on Matt. xv. n. 6; on Ps. cxxxi. n. 4; on the Trinity, L. 6, n. 20. Gregory Naz. Orat. 26, p. 453. Ambrose in his first hymn, referred to also by Augustine, Retract. lib. 1, c. 21, and Epiph. in ancor. n. 9. "the rock of the Church," 28 28 Tertullian de monogam. c. 8. Origen on Ps. 1, quoted by Eusebius, Hist. I. 6, c. 25. Cyprian, Ep. 71, and Firmilian, among Cyprian's letters, 75. "the rock of the Church that was to be built," 29 29 Basil cont. Eunom. lib. 2, n. 4. Zeno. lib. 2, tract. 13, n. 2. "underlying the building of the Church," 30 30 By the same. "receiving on himself the building of the Church," 31 31 Epiphan. hær. 59, n. 7. "the immovable rock," 32 32 August. in Ps. cont. par. Donati. Leo, serm. 98. "the rock which the proud gates of hell prevail not against," 33 33 Theodoret, ep. 77. "the most solid rock," 34 34 Maximus of Turin, serm. pro natali Petri et Pauli. "he to whom the Lord granted the participation of His own title, the rock," 35 35 Greg. Nazian. in hom. archieratico inserta. "the foundation second from Christ," 36 36 Origen on Exod. hom. 5, n. 4. "the great foundation of the Church," 37 37 Gallican sacramentary, edited by Mabillon, T. I. Mus. Ital. p. 343. Synod of Ephesus, act. 3. "the foundation and basis," 38 38 Peter Chrysologus, serm. 154. "founding the Church by his firmness," 39 39 Ambrose on Virginity, c. 16. "the support of the Church," 40 40 Ambrose on Luke, lib. 4, n. 70. "the Apostle in whom is the Church's support," 41 41 Chrysostome, hom. on debtor of ten thousand talents, Tom. 3, p. 4. "the support of the faith," 42 42 Philip, legate of the Apostolic See, in Act. 3 of Council of Ephesus. "the pillar of the Church," and by an authority sufficient alone to terminate all controversy, the great Council of Chalcedon, 43 43 Council of Chalcedon, act. 3. in deposing Dioscorus. "the rock and foundation of the Catholic Church, and the basis of the orthodox faith." 44 44 For the above references see Passaglia, p. 400.

Thus, then, we have the name of Peter first promised, next conferred, then explained. And further light will be shed on this by the consideration of the purpose for which names in Holy Writ were bestowed by divine command on individuals, or their former names changed.