St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy ScriptureAllies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Religion
St. Peter, His Name and His Office, as Set Forth in Holy Scripture
Allies, T. W. (Thomas William)
Peter, the Apostle, Saint
Now, first, we must remark, that while great care is taken to make
known to all the Apostles the resurrection of the Lord, yet a
special solicitude is shown with regard to that one who was to be
"the Ruler." Thus the angels, announcing the fact to the holy women
at the sepulchre, "He is risen, He is not here, behold the place
where they laid Him," add, "but go, tell His disciples _and Peter_,
that He goeth before you into Galilee."[5] The expression indicates
his superior place, as when Peter, himself delivered from prison,
recounted to the disciples at the house of Mark his escape, and
added, "Tell these things to James and to the brethren," where no
one fails to see the pre-eminence given to James, by such a mention
of him, that apostle being the Bishop of Jerusalem, and so put over
the brethren, and, with himself, one of those who "seemed to be
pillars." Again, to Peter our Lord appeared first among the
Apostles. S. Paul exhibiting a sort of sum of Christian doctrine, as
he says "the Gospel which I preached unto you," begins, "I
delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how
that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; and that
He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to
the Scriptures; and that He was seen by Cephas, and after that by
the eleven." By him alone, first, then by them in conjunction with
him. And further, St. Paul's words seem to express a sort of
descending ratio, "Then was He seen by more than five hundred
brethren at once, of whom many remain until this present, and some
are fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the
Apostles. And last of all He was seen also by me, as by one born out
of due time. For I am the least of the Apostles."[6] And while they
were yet in doubt, and for joy could not receive the marvellous
tidings, when brought by the women, as soon as our Lord appeared to
Peter, their hesitation was removed, and the two disciples returning
from Emmaus--themselves full of His wonderful conversation with
them--"found the eleven gathered together and those that were with
them, saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon,"
as the Church in her exultation repeats, where philologists tell us
that the Greek _and_ bears what is often the Hebrew meaning, and
signifies "for," as if no doubt could remain any longer of their
happiness, when Peter had become a witness of it.
These are indications of superiority, slight perhaps in themselves,
if they stood alone, but not slight as bearing tacit witness to a
fact otherwise resting on its own explicit evidence. If one of the
Apostles was destined to be the head of the rest, this is what we
should have expected to happen to that one, and this did happen to
Peter, who is elsewhere made the head of the Apostles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account