Appendix I: St Peter in Scripture

I — St Peter in Scripture

AS regards the Petrine texts appended below, John notices the following points, to which his attention is drawn in a small controversial work which he meets with in the course of his studies:

i. Their full recognition has been of comparatively late date. By divine guidance St Peter himself sought the city and established his See just where he would gain all the aid that natural and human surroundings could give him for the swift and sure development of the final supremacy of his Chair. This supremacy was no more the result of mere worldly circum stances than the healthy growth of a tree is the result of the mere soil in which its seed once found a congenial home. If the authority on the one hand, and the seed on the other, had not existed, neither the Chair of Peter nor the tree would have emerged.

It was not, then, until the head had been fully established as supreme over the body '153 I0

The RELIGION of the PLAIN MAN that men had eyes to see how it had been so ordained and indicated from the begin ning. After it had come to pass it was seen to have been inevitable. All this is paral leled, of course, by the ordinary course of affairs. Laws of nature, as well as laws of grace, act quite apart from man's perception or appreciation of them; and it is not until the law is recognized that its significance and inevitability, its illustrations and effects, are intelligently recognized either. 2. The weight of the following list of passages rests in its cumulative force. The direction of one or two or even three straws falling in a certain direction may be the result of a chance draught; thirty straws all falling in one direction practically indicate a steady wind.

1. St Peter's name occurs first in all lists of apostles (Matt, x, 2; Mark iii, 16; Luke vi, 14; Ac~ts i, 13).

2. He alone receives a new name, solemnly con ferred (John i, 42).

3. The name he receives is peculiarly inapplicable to his personal character and history; presumably, therefore, it is applied to his official position, and, moreover, it embodies a metaphor which is specially applied by him to CHRIST in an analogous sense (i Peter ii, 4-8; cf. Matt, xxi, 42).

4. He is the first to confess CHRIST'S divinity, and receives special promises, namely, (a) "On this rock I will build My Church"; (b) "The keys of the king dom of heaven"; (c) he alone is told that he has received divine knowledge by a special revelation (Matt, xvi, 17-19).

ST PETER in SCRIPTURE

5. He is treated by the world as CHRIST'S representative; and he is so accepted by CHRIST, who by an unique miracle specially associates together Him self and Peter (Matt, xvii, 24 ff.)

6. From his boat CHRIST teaches; and the miraculous draught and its interpretation follow that incident (Luke v, 3 ff.)

7. He is indicated as being the object of CHRIST s special prayer, distinct from the others ("Satan hath desired to have you... I have prayed for thee... ") and as the support of the others (Luke xxii, 31, 32).

8. He was the first of the apostles to set out for and, in spite of his age, to enter the empty tomb (Luke xxiv, 12; John xx, 6); and he is distinguished by the angel as the leader and representative of the rest (Mark xvi, 7).

9. He leads the apostles in fishing (John xxi, 2, 3) — a significant metaphor.

10. He alone casts himself into the sea to come to JESUS (John xxi, 7).

11. He alone receives a special threefold commission as vicar of the Good Shepherd (John xxi, 15 ff.); and he is addressed by CHRIST as if in some special sense he was was to abide till CHRIST'S second coming (John xxi, 22).

12. He takes the lead in filling up the vacant apostolate (Acts i, 15).

13. He first preaches at Pentecost and summons men to salvation (Acts ii, 14); and is accepted by the world as the leader and interpreter of the rest (Acts ii, 37,

14. He works the first Church miracle, even though associated with John (as if to show his official relation as distinguished from John's personal relation to CHRIST) (Acts iii, i-io); and comments on it to the crowd (Acts iii, 12).

15. He is the defender of the Church before the rulers (Aas iv, 8ff.)

The RELIGION of the PLAIN MAN

16. He utters the first anathema, and it is ratified markedly by GOD (A6ls v, 2-11).

17. His shadow, alone among all, works miracles (Acts v, 15).

18. He is the first to raise the dead (Acts ix, 40).

19. He is indicated by GOD as the proper person to apply to for instruction and baptism; and is the first to receive the Gentiles (Acts x, 5, 34, 47).

20. He receives an unique threefold revelation x, 10 ff.)

21. He instructs the other apostles on the catholicity of the Church (Acts xi, 5-17).

22. He is the object of the first divine interposition on behalf of an individual; and is rescued from death when another apostle is killed (Acts xii, 5-17).

23. He opens the first Council, and lays down prin ciples afterwards accepted by it (Acts xv, 7-11).

24. St Paul mentions the appearance to Cephas as first in importance (i Cor. xv, 5).

25. St Paul goes to visit him, specially, at Jerusalem, considering him of more importance than James the local bishop (Gal. i, 18).

26. St Paul twice speaks of resisting him, as if it were a very serious step (Gal. ii, n, 14).

27. He is spoken of as if in some sense distinct from the rest, many times (Mark i, 36; Luke ix, 28; Acts ii, 37, and v, 29, etc.); and he is often spokesman for the rest.

28. He is spoken of as the first of the inner three several times (Matt, xvii, i; Mark v, 37; Matt, xxvi, 37, 40; Mark xiv, 37).

29. He himself refers twice to the " shepherding " of CHRIST; as if this function of his Master's were much in his mind (i Pet. ii, 25, and v, 4; cf. John xxi, 15).