“But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face,
because he was to be blamed.” We need not magnify nor dwell upon the
mistakes of Peter or any other good man, because that is not profitable
for us; but we must note this overwhelming proof that Peter was never
considered the “prince of the apostles,” and that he never was, and
never considered himself to be, pope. Fancy any priest, bishop, or
cardinal, withstanding Leo XIII. to the face in a public assembly. He
would be considered extremely fortunate if the papal guards allowed him
to escape with his life for thus presuming to oppose the self-styled
“vicar of the Son of God.” But Peter made a mistake, and that upon a
vital matter of doctrine, because he was not infallible, and he meekly
accepted the rebuke that Paul gave him, like the sincere, humble
Christian that he was. If there were such a thing as a human head to the
church, it would evidently be Paul, instead of Peter, as appears from
the whole narrative. Paul was sent to the Gentiles, and Peter to the
Jews; but the Jews formed only a very small portion of the church; the
converts from the Gentiles soon outnumbered them, so that their presence
was scarcely discernible. All these Christians were largely the fruit of
Paul’s labors, and they naturally looked up to him more than to others,
so that Paul could say that upon him daily came “the care of all the
churches.” 2 Cor. 11:28. But infallibility is not the portion of any
man, and Paul himself did not claim it. The greatest man in the church
of Christ has no lordship over the weakest. “One is your Master, even
Christ; and all ye are brethren.” “Be subject one to another.”
[Sidenote: Making a Difference.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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