Primacy of Peter


Matthew 16:18-19 : 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 upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven.
Notice that Jesus didn't tell Peter or anyone else to build His Church. Jesus said that He Himself will build His Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Then Jesus told Peter that He "will give to thee the keys ...". The keys of the kingdom of heaven were given ONLY to Peter. The word thee is the personal pronoun of the second person singular, so thee was addressed to Peter alone, not to all twelve apostles.

Isaiah 22:22 : And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open.
To whom the key is given, authority and power are given.

Revelation 1:17-18: And when I had seen him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying: Fear not. I am the First and the Last, And alive, and was dead. And behold I am living for ever and ever and have the keys of death and of hell.
The above verses of the book of Revelation give us one more example of what it means to possess the keys.

Luke 22:31-32 : And the Lord said: Simon, Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren.
Notice again the contrast between the words you and thee. The word thee is the personal pronoun of the second person singular, so thee was addressed to Peter alone, not to all twelve apostles. Satan desired to sift all of Jesus' disciples as wheat. But Jesus prayed specifically for Peter alone. Jesus indicated here again that Peter was chosen as the leader among the apostles and the disciples.

John 21:15-17 : When therefore they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter: Simon son of John, lovest thou me more than these? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my lambs. He saith to him again: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him: Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him: Feed my lambs. He said to him the third time: Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he had said to him the third time: Lovest thou me? And he said to him: Lord, thou knowest all things: thou knowest that I love thee. He said to him: Feed my sheep.
Even though Peter was a coward and denied Jesus three times, the Lord Jesus, after His resurrection, confirmed Peter as the leader.

Acts 1:15 : In those days Peter rising up in the midst of the brethren, said (now the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty):
After Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus and hung himself, his office as one of the twelve apostles remained vacant. Someone else needed to take over the responsibility of Judas's office. Here we see that Peter called this council to elect a person to replace Judas. Read more in Acts 1:15-26.

Acts 15:5-7: But there arose of the sect of the Pharisees some that believed, saying: They must be circumcised and be commanded to observe the law of Moses. And the apostles and ancients assembled to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter, rising up, said to them: Men, brethren, you know that in former days God made choice among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
After much dispute about the circumcision of the Gentiles, Peter rose and spoke with authority to resolve the matter.

The above list of quotes of the Sacred Scripture is by no means exhaustive. I have selected only the texts that I believe are so obvious.
Unless otherwise indicated, all biblical texts are quoted from the Douay-Rheims Bible.
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