The Exercise of Authority in Scripture
Scripture is the story of God, the One who says of Himself, "I AM WHO I AM" (Exodus 3:14). In his original state, man knew God face to face. There was no need for human authority, for God made His law known to humans directly. After the fall, the situation changed.
Men became more and more corrupt, and grew farther from God. Out of pure love for men, God wished them to know Him, despite their corruption and distance from Him. Now, He could have chosen any method He wished to make Himself known to men. He could have let each man speak to his guardian angel, and the angel could tell men what God wanted them to do. God could have invented television thousands of years ahead of time, so all men had to do was turn on the television, where God would appear to them, and tell them what He wanted men to do.
But God did not choose to use those methods. What God chose to do was to use men to lead men. He demonstrated His love for the creature called "man" by using men to lead men.
Patriarchal Authority
In God's salvation history, as revealed in Scripture, God started with very small beginnings. God's people, those He chose to be with Him, were very few in numbers at the beginning.
In the earliest stages of God's revelation, in the very first pages of Genesis, man's authority is patriarchal, the God given authority of a father. Although this authority was not set in legislation until much later (Exodus 20:12 "Honor your father and your mother"), Scripture makes clear that patriarchal authority was God's law from the very beginning, as the quote from Genesis 3:16 above shows.
When God commands Noah to go into the ark with his family, they do so. God told Noah, Noah told his children, and they obeyed him. All his children went into the ark and were saved because of their obedience to God through him.
Isaac obeyed his father Abraham to the point of death. Jacob obeyed his father Isaac, but Esau did not. Jacob became the bearer of God's promise because of his obedience, a type for those good souls who follow God's Word. Esau became a type for evil men, because of his disobedience. "'Is not Esau Jacob's brother?" says the LORD, 'Yet I have loved Jacob but I have hated Esau' (Malachi 1:2-3).
Patriarchal authority is still the law. The Church teaches that all of the Ten Commandments, including the fourth, are still in force today (cf. Matthew 5:17, Ephesians 6). Such authority was sufficient through the time of Jacob. Until that time, God's chosen people consisted of small family groups, and the authority of a father was suited for the task of leadership.
Higher Authority
Beginning with Jacob's children, the twelve tribes of Israel, God slowly began to change the pattern of leadership and authority. While Jacob certainly exercised patriarchal authority, which was more or less obeyed by his children, God, through His wondrous ways, began to do things differently. The forthcoming population growth of the chosen people meant that it was necessary for God to begin to exercise His authority in a different way. But, as before, it would always be humans leading humans.
Joseph, one of the youngest sons, began to exercise authority over his brothers in a mysterious and wonderful manner. By dint of his uncomplaining suffering, which he did nothing to deserve, and his unswerving obedience to God's law, despite tremendous temptation, Joseph became a ruler in Egypt, and master of his brothers. "His brothers also came and fell down before him, and said, 'Behold, we are your servants' (Genesis 50:18). This is the first time in scripture that spiritual authority was exercised over God's children by one who was not their biological father. But this authority was not invested in Joseph because of his high civil authority in Egypt. No, Joseph ruled his brothers because God gave him authority over them. ". . . it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt" (Genesis 45:8).
But this was merely a foreshadowing, for Joseph's authority died with him. There followed an interregnum of many years, where Scripture is silent regarding the leaders of the chosen people and their authority.
The silence was broken with Moses, but not right away. In the second chapter of Exodus, Moses, ". . . saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the man that did the wrong, 'Why do you strike your fellow?' He answered, 'Who made you a prince and a judge ovex us?' (Exodus 2:12-14).
Now think about this situation. Moses was brought up as a child of the Pharaoh's daughter. ". . . Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds" (Acts 7:21-22). He could have said this to the Hebrew who questioned him: "Look, I am a Hebrew, but I was raised in the royal family. All the other Hebrews are slaves. I am the highest-ranking Hebrew in Egypt. I'm just like Joseph. There has been no human spiritual authority over the Hebrews for four hundred thirty years. Based upon the precedent of Joseph, I declare myself to be the spiritual ruler of the Hebrews in Egypt, and I'm going to lead my people to freedom."
Moses could have said all that and it would have been reasonable. From a worldly point of view, it would have been proper for him to say that. In human history, many men have become national leaders with less justification.
But Moses did no such thing because, ". . . Moses was very meek, more than all men that were on the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3). Moses knew he had no authority to be the leader of the Israelites, so he held his tongue and fled into the desert, all by himself. He became, ". . a sojourner in a foreign land" (Exodus 2:22) and he worked as a shepherd. This sounds exotic to us now, but his occupation was a hard and lowly one.
It was as a shepherd, of course, that Moses had his famous epiphany at the burning bush, where God Himself said to Moses, "Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring forth my people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:10). The dictionary tells us that an apostle is one who is sent on a mission. Thus, in this passage, when God sends Moses to Pharaoh, He is appointing Moses as a proto-apostle, as one of the first to spread God's Good News to the people. Jesus Himself affirmed this, when He said, "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote of Me" (John 5:46).
High Priesthood Established by God
After the burning bush, when Moses speaks to the Israelites, he speaks to them with God given authority. He has been appointed their ruler, not by any secular power, but by God Himself. In the priestly world, he is definitely superior to Aaron. Psalm 99 makes clear that Moses was a priest. "Moses and Aaron were among his priests" (Psalm 99:6). Moses' superiority is demonstrated by the following: 1) Moses is the one who consecrates Aaron as a priest (cf. Leviticus 8:6-10, Exodus 30:30, Exodus 40:12); 2) In Exodus 32:11, it is only through Moses' intercession that God relents from His plan to destroy Aaron and all the Israelites, due to the sin they committed with the golden calf; 3) In Numbers 12:11 Aaron begs Moses to intercede with God on Miriam's behalf. Moses does so, and Miriam is healed. There are many other examples as well. It is always Moses who talks to God face to face, then he informs Aaron of what God has said.
Even though Moses is clearly superior to Aaron in all his authority, including priestly authority, God tells Moses to appoint Aaron as the high priest (Exodus 30:30), and Moses primarily exercises his authority in civil matters.
Duties of High Priest
Exodus 18 describes the duties of the high priest:" . .the people come to me to inquire of God; when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the statutes of God and His decisions" (Exodus 18:1516).
Moses originally tried to perform this duty entirely by himself, but his father-in-law, Jethro, convinced him that he must delegate some of his responsibilities to lesser officials. Following Jethro's suggestion in Exodus 18, Moses sets up a hierarchy, so that lesser matters can be settled by lesser officials, with only the most serious matters to be decided by the high priest. The office of high priest was now the ruler of all of Israel's priests, . . You shall represent the people before God, and bring their cases to God; and you shall teach them the statutes and the decisions, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover choose able men from all the people, such as fear God, men who are trustworthy and who hate a bribe; and place such men over the people as rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. And let them judge the people at all times; every great matter they shall bring to you" (Exodus 18:19-22).
An important insight into the office of the high priest can be gleaned from a look back at Abraham. The Scripture passage in Genesis 18, when the Lord appears to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, is confusing. In verse 1, it says that the Lord appeared to Abraham, but in verse two it says three men stood in front of him. Was this God appearing in human form, with two angels? Was it three angels? It is unclear whether God is appearing to Abraham, or whether one of God's messengers is appearing to Abraham. The confusion is not accidental. It demonstrates how closely God's messengers are to Him. His messengers are so like God, they might as well be God. Scripture shows this closeness in Exodus 7:1 ". . . the LORD said to Moses, 'See, I make you as God to Pharaoh' (cf. Exodus 4:16). As the high priest is God's highest authority on earth, he is most like God on earth. One who disobeys the high priest disobeys God.
A similar confusion appears in some other early scriptural passages concerning angels. In Genesis 32:24 it says a man wrestled with Jacob. But the "man" says that Jacob has "striven with God," and Jacob says he has, "seen God face to face." Was Jacob wrestling with God in human form, a man, or an angel? Scripture is telling us in these passages how intimately God has connected Himself with His servants. To disobey God's servant is to disobey God, as the next passage shows.
Deuteronomy 17 describes what the Israelites should do when they have a religious question to settle:
If any case arises requiring decision . . . then you shall arise and go up to the place which the LORD your God will choose, and coming to the Levitical priests, and to the judge who is in office in those days, you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision. Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place which the LORD will choose; and you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you; according to the instructions which they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the verdict which they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. The man who acts presumptuously, by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die; so you shall purge the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear, and fear, and not act presumptuously again. (Deuteronomy 17:8-13)
Personal Sin of the High Priest Does Not Remove His Authority
This goes back to what was said previously: God demonstrated His love for the creature called "man" by using men to lead men. Who knows man better than God, the One who created him? As St. John said, Jesus, ". . . knew all men and needed no one to bear witness of man; for he himself knew what was in man" (John 2:25). Wounded by the fall, man's nature is wounded. If the high priest were not a sinner, he would not be a man (cf. 1 Kings 8:46 - ". . . there is no man who does not sin . . . "; see also 1 John 1:8).
Leviticus 16 makes note of this fact. It requires the high priest to make a sin offering for himself before he makes an offering for the sins of the people. The Scriptures make no effort to hide the fact that Aaron, the very first high priest, was a grave sinner. In Exodus 32, Aaron sinned with the golden calf. In Numbers 12, Aaron and Miriam tried to stage a coup d'etat and depose Moses. "And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them" (Numbers 12:9).
Remember, this is the very first high priest we're talking about. What did God do after these incidents? Did He say, "Oops, I made a mistake. I better appoint someone else to be the high priest, maybe Joshua." No. God said nothing of the sort. ". . . the LORD said to Aaron, '. . . I give your priesthood as a gift, and any one else who comes near shall be put to death' (Numbers 18:1&7).
Some Rebelled Against Authority
As we have seen, Moses was given his authority directly by God. No one attempted to lead the Israelites out of Egypt before Moses, and he didn't attempt to take leadership of the Israelites himself until he was give authority to do so by God Himself. Moses manifested his God given powers in very dramatic ways: his role in the ten plagues; his role in the miracle of the Red Sea; and most impressively in his role at Mt. Sinai, where he spoke directly with God and received the ten commandments. Indeed, Moses' face shone so much from his encounters with God that Aaron and the people ". . . were afraid to come near him" (Exodus 34:29-30).
Given such outstanding proofs of his divinely ordained authority, one would expect that all the Israelites would gladly be obedient to Moses and follow his commands. But the ancient Israelites were just like modern men – they had stiff necks, and had a hard time obeying God and His representatives.
Moses' own siblings, Aaron and Miriam, disobeyed him. The high priest refused to obey the one who ordained him. "Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses . . . they said, 'Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?'" (Numbers 12:1-2). God spoke to them, and told them they were wrong to speak against His servant Moses. Miriam was struck with leprosy for seven days as a punishment, and was only cured because of Moses' prayer.
Even still, some of the Israelites rebelled. "Now Korah . . . and Dathan and Abiram took . . . two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation . . . and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, 'You have gone too far! For all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them; why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?'" (Numbers 16:1-3).
God gave frightening proof that these men were gravely wrong to oppose Moses and Aaron. This is what happened to Korah and his band, ". . . the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up" (Numbers 16:32). Dathan and Abiram suffered a terrible fate as well, ". . . fire came forth from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men offering the incense" (Numbers 16:35).
But, some still refused to follow God's servant Moses, and His high priest Aaron. After the incident with Korah, Dathan and Abiram, this happened, ". . But on the morrow all the congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, 'You have killed the people of the LORD' (Numbers 16:41).
God's punishment was severe. He sent a plague upon the Israelites which killed fourteen thousand seven hundred. The plague was only halted when Moses ordered Aaron to run with his censer to make atonement for their sin. "And he stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stopped" (Numbers 16:48).
It wasn't just the plague of physical disease that was stopped. The plague of disobeying the high priest, God's representative on earth, was also stopped. There are no more occasions in scripture where the Israelites refused to acknowledge the authority of the high priest, except for the Samaritan schism (1 Kings 12:2633). The Israelites were severely punished for this act of Jeroboam. Indeed, the lost tribes of Israel are lost to this day due to their sin of schism.
Office of High Priest is Passed to Successors
Inevitably the time came for Aaron to go the, ". . . way of all the earth" (Joshua 23:14). Scripture is crystal clear that his office passed on to his successor. In Numbers 20:28, at God's command, ". . . Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son." ". . . and it shall be to him, and to his descendants after him, the covenant of a perpetual priesthood" (Numbers 25:13).
Moses too passed "some of his authority" (Numbers 27:20) to Joshua by laying his hands upon him (cf. Deuteronomy 34:9). Joshua and Eleazar kept the demarcations established by Moses. Eleazar was the high priest, supreme in spiritual matters, while Joshua was the civil leader, supreme in civil matters.
Deuteronomy is emphatic that the office of high priest, as well as lesser offices, continues beyond the death of the men serving in those positions. It advises the Israelites to take their religious questions to, "the priests . . . who are in office in those days" (Deuteronomy 17:9 & 19:17).
The Office of High Priest After Aaron
"In many and various ways" (Hebrews 1:1) the office of high priest was passed through the years. Moses established the office around the year 1250 BC, and it lasted through to the time of Christ. In those 1,250 years, the office was exercised in many ways. The high priest was always in charge of spiritual matters, but there were also times when the high priest acted as the head of civil affairs as well. This was most notably the case during the Maccabean period (cf. 1 Maccabees 14:47).
The office of high priest was originally handed down from father to son, but its method of transmission varied through the years. Sometimes the means of appointment were quite sordid. Kings deposed and appointed persons to the office, and in the Maccabean period the office went to the one who offered the highest bribe (cf. 2 Maccabees 4:7). In the days of Herod and the Romans, such practices were certainly the norm.
The office of high priest is mentioned in scripture countless times, under various names. There is absolutely no question that the office survived continuously from the time of Moses through to the time of Jesus. (Here are three of many examples: Numbers 35:1; 2 Kings 12:10; Nehemiah 3:1.)
The Office of High Priest in the Time of Jesus
As noted previously, the hierarchy established by Moses consisted of a large "pyramid" of lesser priests, judges and other functionaries overseen by the high priest. Jesus was severe in His condemnation of the practices of these men. In the Gospels (cf. Mark 7, Matthew 23 and Luke 11), he terms them hypocrites, applying Isaiah's prophecy to them, "This people honors me (God) with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Mark 7:6).
Just as in the days of the Maccabees, the high priesthood was in a very evil state at the time of Jesus. The high priests cynically used their office for the benefit of themselves and their accomplices, stopping at nothing to protect their position. The high priests had completely forgotten God's command: "Be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44). Given the evil depths to which they had fallen, it is not surprising that the high priests committed terrible crimes. The crime without comparison was, of course, the judicial murder of Jesus. Infinitely lower were the high priests' other crimes: the murder of Stephen, the jailing of the apostles, the persecution of the Church and so forth.
Given the enormity of such crimes, and the knowledge that a new covenant was replacing the old one, one would conclude easily that the high priest was contemptuously disregarded by the apostles. But such a conclusion, surprisingly enough, is at variance with Scripture.
Consider the case of St. Paul. Look at his conduct in Acts 23:
And Paul, looking intently at the council, said, 'Brethren, I have lived before God in all good conscience up to this day.' And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth. Then Paul said to him, 'God shall strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting to judge me according to the law, and yet contrary to the law you order me to be struck?' Those who stood by said, 'Would you revile God's high priest?' And Paul said, 'I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, 'You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.' (Acts 23:1-5)
Observe St. Paul's meekness! The high priest was a corrupt man who murdered saints and twisted the law to obtain his own ends. St. Paul was a man who had spoken with God face to face, and had been busy about His work for many years. But, even when severely pro- yoked, St. Paul meekly recognized the authority of the high priest. It is easy to sit on a soft chair, well fed, in the comfort of one's home and agree that obedience to proper authority is a virtue. But St. Paul exhibited this virtue in an heroic way while his life was at stake in an unfair trial before the high priest. St. Paul was obedient to the high priest because the high priest was like God to him, so important was his authority.
St. John, too, relates the august nature of the high priest's office. Look at John 11:
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, 'You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.' He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. (John 11:49-52)
In this passage, St. John points out that the high priest does not act, "of his own accord." Because of the immense dignity of the office, the high priest, even if he personally is the worst scoundrel in the world, acts in the place of God, because God has willed that the position have that effect. Caiaphas acts as a prophet, not because he is clever, but because he has no choice-God acts through his office.
Jesus Himself said we must obey the high priest, and Jesus certainly knew what sinners the high priests were in His day: "Then said Jesus to the crowds and to his disciples, 'The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice' (Matthew 23:1-3).
The New Covenant
As Christians, we are fully aware that God established a new covenant with men. "'Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD' (Jeremiah 31:31-32).
Since God established a New Covenant, it was only natural that the old ruler, the high priest, would be replaced by a new ruler. God established the Old Covenant through His holy prophet Moses. He established His New Covenant through His Son, Jesus. As God established the old high priest, Aaron, through His prophet Moses, so He established His new Vicar, Peter, through His Son Jesus Christ.
A change in chief steward was also prophesied in the Old Testament, in Isaiah. The old steward would be replaced by a new steward, Peter.
Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, "Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: . . . I will thrust you from your office, and you will be cast down from your station. In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your girdle on him, and will commit your authority to his hand; and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David; he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father's house. And they will hang on him the whole weight of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. In that day, says the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a sure place will give way; and it will be cut down and fall, and the burden that was upon it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken" (Isaiah 22:15, 19-25).
The foregoing passage indicates that a day would come when the chief steward of the Old Covenant would lose his authority, and it would pass to another, one who would be fastened "like a peg in a sure place."
Peter's Office Was Established by God
Hebrews 3:1 calls Jesus the High Priest, and of course He is. (See Catechism of the Catholic Church "CCC" 1410.) Moses was an Old Testament type for Jesus. Just as Moses excelled Aaron in all authority, so too, does Jesus excel Peter in all authority. But in the case of Jesus, the excellence is infinite, because He is divine. Just as Moses anointed Aaron to be his high priest, with full authority in spiritual matters, so, too, does Jesus anoint Peter to be His Vicar, with full authority in spiritual matters: ". . . you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Matthew 16:18-19).
Matthew 16 specifically looks back to Isaiah 22. Matthew mentions keys, binding and loosing, and Peter the rock is equivalent to Eliakim the sure peg. There is no question that Matthew paralleled the passage from Isaiah, and the main meaning of Matthew's passage is this: Peter is the new chief steward. The old order will be swept away, and a new order has been established to replace it.
The Gospels constantly emphasize the pre-eminence of Peter. His name is mentioned more often than all the other apostles put together. John defers to Peter, to let him enter the empty tomb first in John 20:5. John 21:15, et. seq., eloquently shows Peter's first place in the Church.
In Acts, Peter is the first apostle listed in Acts 1:13. Peter is the one who stands up to announce the replacement procedure for Judas. Peter gives the speech on Pentecost. Peter speaks to the Sanhedrin in Acts 4:8. Peter is the one who decides, moved by the Holy Spirit, to baptize gentiles. He is the one who defends this practice to ". . . the apostles and the brethren", some of whom disagreed with this practice and criticized him. "When they heard this (Peter's speech) they were silenced" (Acts 11:18). Certainly large, rowdy groups are not easily silenced! They were silenced because Peter was the high priest, and when he spoke people listened.
Peter's Duties
Just as the Old Testament high priest was like God to the Israelites, so, too is Peter. He stands in persona Christi, in the place of Christ, as he performs his duties.
The Catechism explains this mystery as follows: "In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis" (CCC 1548).
The foregoing passage is applicable to all ordained priests. Peter, of course, is the head, and his office has the fullness of priestly authority. ". . . [T]he fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders is conferred by episcopal consecration, that fullness namely which, both in the liturgical tradition of the Church and the language of the Fathers of the Church, is called the high priesthood ." (CCC 1557).
But the authority mentioned in the prior paragraph is still not a full description of Peter's power. "The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the 'rock' of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock" (CCC 881). The Catechism continues: ". . . the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered" (CCC 882).
Peter's Office Was Not Vacated Because of His Personal Sins
Just as the high priest's authority was not diminished by his personal sin, neither was Peter's authority diminished by personal sin. In the previous section, we saw where Jesus appointed Peter to be His high priest. But only four lines later, in Matthew 16:23, Jesus calls Peter satan. If God tells you to your face that you are satan, that's a pretty good indication that you have sinned in a big way. So then, what did Jesus do after He called Peter satan? Did He say, "Oops, I made a mistake. Maybe I better make John my Vicar, or maybe Andrew, or James, or someone else. Let Me think about it for a while." No. Jesus knew before He created the world that He would create Peter, and He knew that Peter was going to be His Vicar. Jesus also knew that Peter would be a sinner, just as all men are sinners. We should not be surprised that our leaders act like men – that's what they are. Peter's sin no more diminished his authority than the sin of the high priest diminished his authority. The authority of the high priest comes from God. Only God can take away that authority. Until such time as God takes away that authority, we must obey our Supreme Pontiff as God wants us to.
Some Rebelled Against Peter's Authority
It is interesting that there is no mention made in Scripture of people who rebelled against Peter's authority. Since those days, of course, there has been no lack of such persons. Suffice it to say that men are wrong to oppose Peter and his successors, for the reasons noted in this article.
Peter's Office Was Passed to Successors
In the first chapter of Acts, Peter, decided that a new apostle had to be selected to replace Judas. "For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his habitation become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it'; and 'His office let another take.' So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us–one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection . . . to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside, to go to his own place" (Acts 1:20-22, 25).
Peter's quote from the Psalms is explicit, Judas' office continued after his death. This is the same concept which Moses and Aaron demonstrated, the office is perpetual, the men filling the office are mortal. When the man dies, the office continues, to be filled by a new candidate.
The ceremony of passing on the office was the same used by Moses. The apostles lay their hands on new candidates for office. In the sixth chapter of Acts, the Church established the office of deacon, and ordained the first deacons with the same method used by Moses, the laying on of hands. "These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them" (Acts 6:6).
It is important to note that valid ordinations only came from the apostles, and those bishops who were ordained by the apostles. The principle of apostolic succession is implicit in Scripture. All bishops must be in communion with Peter, and his successor–the Bishop of Rome.
St. Paul had a personal encounter with the Resurrected Jesus. Did he then, after his conversion, immediately go on a missionary journey preaching the Word on his own? No, he was like Moses when he confronted the fighting Hebrews in Exodus 2:12. Paul did limited preaching, as a layman, but he had no authority from God to do more. Paul did not start his great missionary journeys until he was sent by the Church, until he was ordained, in Acts 13. Paul was not even ordained by apostles, but by men who had been ordained by apostles. The fact that Paul had a personal revelation from Jesus meant nothing. The fact that he was ordained by the Church, through apostolic succession, to be a bishop meant everything. He now had the authority to start his missionary journeys.
Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers, Barnabas . . . and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.' Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off (Acts 13:1-3).
Conclusion
One important truth which God has revealed in His Scriptures is that He communicates with us, and leads us, through human leaders. Before the original sin, in the Garden of Eden, God spoke to men face to face, He did not use intermediaries. Since the fall, Scripture makes clear, he has led us by means of various leaders.
In the earliest days, when God's chosen people were few, He led us through fathers. Those men who disobeyed their fathers, like Esau, were guilty of grave sin. Fathers still have important authority over their families, but, since the number of chosen people has increased exponentially, the office of father was insufficient to be the only leader of God's people.
At the time of Moses, God appointed Aaron to be the high priest. There was some initial opposition to the high priest's office, but after God dispatched the rebels in prompt fashion the plague of opposition stopped. The Israelites obeyed their high priest for about 1,300 years. Most of the high priests were wonderful, holy men. Some were not. But the office of high priest, endowed with God given authority, endured for over a millennium. The apostles obeyed the high priest. Indeed, even Jesus Christ our Lord told men that they must obey the high priest.
The Church reveres the Old Testament as the true Word of God, and it comprises about eighty percent of the Catholic Bible. Certainly, given this large percentage, God must have wanted us to pay serious attention to it. Some Old Testament details which seem trivial to us are very important. Who cares about oxen, nowadays? Why would Scripture write about oxen? St. Paul makes this point in one of his letters. While God certainly loves all of His creation, the writings about oxen are not merely for animals. The whole Old Testament was written for us men: ". . . Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake..." (1 Corinthians 9-10).
Now, if even oxen, which are only a tiny portion of the Old Testament, serve a purpose, how much more the office of high priest. Why would God create that office, and keep it in existence for more than 1,300 years, if it served no purpose? Certainly it did serve a purpose in the old covenant, just like the oxen did. But that was not its only purpose. The real purpose of the Old Testament high priest was to prepare God's people for the New Testament high priest-Peter.
Think about it a minute. The office of high priest lasted from 1250 BC through AD 70, when the temple was destroyed by Titus. St. Peter was martyred in AD 67, and his office has remained continuously through this day. Using rough arithmetic, there have been 3,250 years since Aaron was established as high priest. In that time span, 3,250 years, there was only a three-year difference between the death of Peter and the death of the old high priesthood. Coincidence? Not at all. The Scripture's prophecy, in Isaiah 22, that the old chief steward would be replaced by a new, was fulfilled exactly on time, just as predicted.
Just as Jesus told the disciples to obey those who sat in the chair of Moses, so too must we obey those who sit in the chair of Peter. The chair of Peter was not a new concept, it was built on a 1,300 year history. Both chairs were ordained by God. Could He have chosen a different way to lead His Church? Sure, He can do anything, He is God. But Scripture says He founded His Church on Peter. If we want to follow Scripture, to follow God, we must follow those who sit in Peter's chair.
The points of congruence between the old high priest and the new Vicar are striking. Both offices were created by God, and He willed that His people obey the high priest in office. Although the vast majority of high priests were good, holy men, some were sinners. But the high priest's authority was not affected by his personal sin. There were people who disobeyed the high priest, who rebelled against his office. Those who rebelled came to a sorry end, because in rebelling against the high priest they were rebelling against God.
Who can point to a Scripture passage which says the authority of Peter has been superseded? No one can, and no one ever will, for the office of the papacy will remain until the Second Coming of Jesus, a strong bulwark of faith against a culture of death.
Let us close by pondering some recent words of the current Vicar of Christ. In his encyclical Ut Unum Sint, Pope John Paul II said, "Christ calls all his disciples to unity . . . believers in Christ, united in following in the footsteps of the martyrs, cannot remain divided" [1]. "I am convinced that I have a particular responsibility in this regard, above all in acknowledging the ecumenical aspirations of the majority of the Christian Communities and in heeding the request made of me to find a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation" (95). The Successor of Peter wrote: ". . . Could not the real but imperfect communion existing between us persuade Church leaders and their theologians to engage with me in a patient and fraternal dialogue on this subject, a dialogue in which, leaving useless controversies behind, we could listen to one another, keeping before us only the will of Christ for his Church and allowing ourselves to be deeply moved by his plea that they may all be one . . . so that the world may believe that you have sent me (Jn 17:21)?" (96).
© The Catholic Faith, Ignatius Press
This item 9570 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
